It’s not hard to imagine a world where 0:08
at any given moment, you and everyone you know could be wiped out without warning at the push of a 0:16
button. This was the reality for millions of people during the 45-year period after World War II, now known as the Cold 0:24
War. As the United States and Soviet Union faced off across the globe, each knew that the other had nuclear weapons 0:31
capable of destroying it, and destruction never loomed closer than during the 13 days of the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1961.
Bay of Pigs
0:41
The US unsuccessfully tried to overthrow Cuba’s new communist government. That failed attempt was known as the Bay of 0:48
Pigs, and it convinced Cuba to seek help from the USSR. Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev was happy to comply by secretly 0:57
deploying nuclear missiles to Cuba, not only to protect the island but to counteract the threat from US missiles 1:04
in Italy and Turkey. By the time US intelligence discovered the plan, the materials to create the missiles were 1:12
already in place.
At an emergency meeting on October 16th, 1962, military advisers urged an air strike on missile sites and 1:21
invasion of the island, but President John F. Kennedy chose a more careful approach. On October 22nd, he announced 1:29
that the US Navy would intercept all shipments to Cuba.
Naval Blockade
There was just one problem: a naval blockade was considered 1:37
an act of war. Although the president called it a quarantine that did not block basic necessities, the Soviets 1:44
didn’t appreciate the distinction.
In an outraged letter to Kennedy, Khrushchev wrote: “The violation of freedom to use 1:52
international waters and international airspace is an act of aggression which pushes mankind toward the abyss of world 1:59
nuclear missile war.”
Nuclear Missile War
Thus ensued the most intense 6 days of the Cold War. While the US demanded 2:08
the removal of the missiles, Cuba and the USSR insisted they were only defensive, and as the weapons continued to be armed, 2:16
the US prepared for a possible invasion.
On October 27th, a spy plane piloted by Major Rudolph Anderson was shot down by 2:25
a Soviet missile. The same day, a nuclear-armed Soviet submarine was hit by a small depth charge from a US Navy 2:33
vessel trying to signal it to come up.
The commanders on the sub, too deep to communicate with the surface, thought war 2:41
had begun and prepared to launch a nuclear torpedo. That decision had to be made unanimously by three officers. The 2:49
captain and political officer both authorized the launch, but Vasili Arkhipov, second in command, refused. His decision 2:58
saved the day and perhaps the world.
Soviet Submarine Shot Down
But the crisis wasn’t over. For the first time in history, the US military 3:06
set itself to DEFCON 2, the defense readiness one step away from nuclear war. With hundreds of nuclear missiles ready 3:14
to launch, the metaphorical Doomsday Clock stood at 1 minute to midnight.
The Crisis Wasn’t Over
But diplomacy carried on in Washington, DC. 3:23
Attorney General Robert Kennedy secretly met with Soviet Ambassador Anatoly Dobrynin. After intense negotiation, they 3:31
reached the following proposal: the US would remove their missiles from Turkey and Italy and promised to never invade 3:38
Cuba in exchange for the Soviet withdrawal from Cuba under UN inspection.
Conclusion
Once the meeting had 3:44
concluded, Dobrynin cabled Moscow, saying, “Time is of the essence, and we shouldn’t miss the chance.” And at 9:00 a.m. the 3:52
next day, a message arrived from Khrushchev announcing the Soviet missiles would be removed from Cuba. The crisis was now 4:00
over.
While criticized at the time by their respective governments for bargaining with the enemy, contemporary 4:06
historical analysis shows great admiration for Kennedy and Khrushchev’s ability to diplomatically solve the crisis. But the 4:14
disturbing lesson was that a slight communication error or split-second decision by a commander could have 4:20
thwarted all their efforts, as it nearly did, if not for Vasili Arkhipov’s courageous choice.
The Cuban Missile Crisis revealed 4:29
just how fragile human politics are compared to the terrifying power they can unleash.
4:44
[Music]
1.2. Answer the questions:
1. What is the main message of the video?
a. Nuclear weapons can put the whole world in danger if leaders make one wrong decision.
b. Politicians always know how to prevent wars and protect ordinary people.
c. The USSR and the USA were the only important countries in the world during the Cuban Missile Crisis.
d. A nuclear attack should always be decided by more than two people.
Type in the letter of the right answer here:
2. Why did Cuba ask the USSR for help?
a. Cuba wanted to become part of the Soviet Union.
b. Cuba was afraid after the failed Bay of Pigs invasion.
c. Cuba wanted to attack Italy and Turkey.
d. Cuba wanted to build a new navy.
Type in the letter of the right answer here:
3. Why was the naval blockade dangerous?
a. It could be seen as an act of war.
b. It stopped all food from reaching Cuba.
c. It made Cuba leave the USSR immediately.
d. It destroyed all Soviet ships near Cuba.
Type in the letter of the right answer here:
4. What nearly caused a nuclear attack from a Soviet submarine?
a. The submarine received a direct order from Moscow.
b. The commanders believed that war had already started.
c. The US Navy asked the submarine to launch a torpedo.
d. The submarine wanted to test a new weapon.
Type in the letter of the right answer here:
5. Why was Vasili Arkhipov important?
a. He ordered the Soviet missiles to be removed from Cuba.
b. He shot down the American spy plane.
c. He refused to agree to the launch of a nuclear torpedo.
d. He wrote the final agreement between the USA and the USSR.
Type in the letter of the right answer here:
6. How was the crisis finally solved?
a. The USA invaded Cuba and removed the missiles.
b. Cuba agreed to stop being a communist country.
c. The USA and the USSR reached a diplomatic agreement.
d. The Soviet submarine destroyed the US Navy ships.
Type in the letter of the right answer here:
7. Which sentence best describes the lesson of the crisis?
a. Powerful weapons make misunderstandings much more dangerous.
b. Countries should never talk to their enemies.
c. Military action is always better than negotiation.
d. Small countries cannot affect world politics.
Type in the letter of the right answer here:
Correct Answers: 0
Incorrect Answers: 0
1.3. [Year 6 English] Task: Summarising a Historical Explanation
Read the script about the Cuban Missile Crisis. Then write a summary of 120–150 words.
Your summary should explain:
why the crisis began;
why the situation became so dangerous;
how the crisis was solved;
what lesson people learned from it.
Success criteria:
Your summary should:
include only the most important information;
be written in your own words;
use time/order linkers, such as first, then, during the crisis, eventually, finally;
avoid copying long phrases from the script;
be written in clear paragraphs;
use accurate punctuation and capital letters.
Challenge:
End your summary with 1 sentence explaining why the Cuban Missile Crisis is still remembered today.
Example ending. Write your own:
The crisis is still remembered because it showed how close the world could come to nuclear war through fear, misunderstanding, and rushed decisions.
2.1. [Russian school tasks] Watch again and write in the gaps English equivalents for the following:
1. быть уничтоженным=to be killed to the last man=to be liquidated = to be
2. нажатием кнопки = at the of a button
3. встретиться лицом к лицу = to be in the state of a confrontation with each other= to
4. способный разрушить= having the ability to crash =
5. надвинуться вплотную = маячить близко = быть близко = угрожать сильно= to closer
6. реактивная ракета=снаряд= a
7. скинуть коммунистическое правительство =to a communist
8. искать помощи у = to help
9. советский генеральный секретарь = a
10. выполнить требование= удовлетворить требование=to satisfy a demand= to
11. направить ядерные ракеты в Кубу = разместить ядерные ракеты на Кубе= to nuclear missiles Cuba
12. противодействовать угрозе= нейтрализовать угрозу = to offset a treat= to neutralise a threat =to a threat
13. разведка =
14. побуждать к атаке с воздуха по местам дислоцирования ракетных комплексов= to on missile
15. вторжение=нашествие= occupation=
16. сельскохозяйственное сырье= agricultural
17. осторожный подход= a
18. флот= a
19. перехватывать поставки = to ceize dispatchments = to
20. военно-морская блокада=блокада на море =
21. вооруженная агрессия = armed aggression= an
22. карантин =a
23. не понять разницы= not to the
24. нарушение свободы =the of freedom
25. толкать мир в пропасть мировой ядерно-ракетной войны=to push the world to the of the world nuclear war
26. последовать= to follow= to set in= to come = to
27. оборонительный =protective =
28. сбить шпионский самолет= to a plane
29.атомная подводная лодка = a nuclear-armed
30. поразить подводную лодку малой глубинной бомбой =to a submarine with a small-depth
31. выпустить /запустить ядерную торпеду = to a nuclear torpedo
32. принять решение единогласно = to make a decision
33. разрешить запуск = to a
34. спасти положение=to
35. привести свои войска в боеготовность уровня 2 =to set up alert level 2 (the last one before actual military actions in a nuclear war)= to one's forces to 2
36. часы судного дня= a clock
36. главный прокурор штата= an
37. советский посол= a
38. убрать ракеты =вывести ракеты= to withdraw missiles =to missiles
39. Время не ждет =
40. помешать попыткам = to hinder attempts = to
41. хрупкая политика людей =
42. выпустить ужасающую (своей разрушительностью) силу = to
Correct Answers: 0
Incorrect Answers: 0
Reload the page and practice again and again until you get all the words in green
2.2. Prepare answers to the questions:
1. What were people afraid of during the Cold War?
2. Should we be afraid of it now? Why?
3. Why did Nikita Khruschev deploy nuclear missiles in Cuba?
a) to protect Fidel Castro's soviet regime
b) to offset the danger of American nuclear missiles deployed in Italy and Turkey
c) both
Enter the letter of the right variant:
4. What was America's reaction to the USSR's activity in Cuba?
a) Shelling the missile site from the air
b) Sanctions against the USSR
c) Interception of all cargo sent to Cuba
Enter the letter of the right variant:
5. What do you think might have happened if the USA had invaded Cuba?
6. Why did the commanders of the Soviet submarine prepare to launch a nuclear torpedo?
7. What was the initial intent of the American warship that dropped the small-depth charge? Was it a clever idea?
a) to make it surface
b) to get it to surface
c) to sink it
Enter the letter of the right variant:
8. What would have happened if all the three commanders decided to launch a torpedo?
9. Who saved the day?
10. What did Robert Kennedy and Anatoly Dobrinin agree upon?
11. How are they viewed now?
12. What is the lesson for us today?
13. Can we degrade to the near-nuclear-war state in our relations with the West now?
14. What can happen if there breaks out a nuclear war? How can humans survive it that case?
Correct Answers: 0
Incorrect Answers: 0
Reload the page and practice again and again until you get all the words in green
In 1961, the Americans placed their missiles in pro- Italy and Turkey. From the Soviet point of view, this meant that the USA could threaten the USSR with a first strike.
In response, the USSR sent nuclear to pro- Cuba, so that the USA could be hit if it attacked first.
“They have no to strike us first,” President Kennedy supposedly thought. Meanwhile, Khrushchev could say, “These idiots have organized a of Cuba, but our missiles are already there!”
Even worse, a Soviet submarine was near the American coast, ready to a torpedo at any moment.
Then, suddenly, the whole world stood at an . An American navy dropped a small charge to signal the Soviet submarine to surface. However, the commanders of the submarine thought that the war had already begun.
Two of them wanted to press the button and a nuclear torpedo at an American target, but one officer, Vasily Arkhipov, refused to authorize the strike.
Meanwhile, Soviet and American diplomats held intense , and did not happen. The Americans their nuclear missiles from Italy and Turkey, and the Soviets withdrew their nuclear missiles from Cuba.
Ugh... That was a narrow escape)
Total Questions: 0
Incorrect Answers: 0
3. Look at the map in the picture below and comment on it. Is there parity in Russia's and NATO's nuclear wepons?
