Cuba and the Cold War:
Beyond the Missile Crisis

Webinar Leader

Philip Brenner
Professor of International Relations
and Affiliate Professor of History
American University

Webinar Details

The Cold War was a forty-five year confrontation between the United States and Soviet Union, but it was not fought on American or Soviet soil. Rather, its battles took place in the Third World — in Africa, South America, Central America, and Southeast Asia. It was essentially a competition for the allegiance of countries in those areas. Cuba played an important role in that competition because, allied with the Soviet Union, it supported revolutionary movements throughout the Third World. Moreover, it sought to spread its influence as the leader of the Non-Aligned Movement, a loose alliance of nations that tried to avoid falling into the Soviet or American camp. This webinar will go beyond the Cuban Missile Crisis to explore Cuba’s larger role in the Cold War world. It will examine Cuba’s military activities in southern Africa, which contributed to ending of South African apartheid; its often tempestuous relationship with the Soviet Union, including the alleged Soviet use of Cuba as a pawn; and Cuba’s several confrontations with the United States, including tension that resulted from the waves of Cuban émigrés who fled to the United States, especially in 1980 during the Mariel exodus.