It was during the Cuban affair in October 1962, and particularly the Missile Crisis, that the Cold War, now the “hot” Cold War, almost sparked a new world war.
On October 27, 1962, at the peak of the Cuban Missile Crisis, an American U-2 spyplane along with its pilot, Rudolf Anderson, was shot down over the island. The next day, Kennedy and Khrushchev, in the grip of a real power struggle, narrowly avoided nuclear confrontation. Three pieces of sheet alloy from the plane, kept at the Museum of the Revolution in Havana, are now on display at the Caen Memorial museum.
With the aerial photographs taken by an American U-2 plane on October 14, 1962, showing the installation of Soviet Missiles on Cuban soil and Kennedy’s televised speech on October 22, calling international public opinion to witness, visitors can follow all the key stages of the Cuban Missile Crisis, a paroxysm of the Cold War.
This major conflict, certainly the deadliest of the Cold War, which erupted between the US and North Vietnamese forces is presented through a mural showcase exhibiting the uniforms of two fighters: the heavily equipped one of an American GI and the lighter, simpler one of a Vietcong soldier, complete with rubber sandals.
Through shocking images, an archive film reminds visitors of the key moments in this 16-year war, which ended in 1975 with the fall of Saigon and the victory of the Communists.
Photographs, maps, films, and soundtracks bring the defining moments of this period to life, while the walls of pulleys, gears, and chains recall the relentless spiral of the war between the blocks.
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