History Today: How Cold War miscalculation unfolded when CIA-backed forces landed at Bay of Pigs

On April 17, 1961, the CIA-backed Bay of Pigs invasion aiming to overthrow Fidel Castro’s Cuba government began. Poor planning, limited support and fierce Cuban resistance led to a swift and humiliating failure for the US, straining Cold War tensions and pushing Cuba closer to the Soviet Union. It remains a cautionary tale in US foreign policy

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