The Soviet Union was just as surprised as everyone else when the Cuban revolution succeeded, and their initial attitude towards Castro was cautious, as it was not yet clear where his sympathies lay. The Cuban communist party (the PSP, or Popular Socialist Party) had even supported Fulgencio Batista during his first presidency from 1940 to 1944, and were regarded with suspicion among the Cuban revolutionaries, who came from a diverse range of political backgrounds. However, after the US embargo was established in October 1960 the Soviet Union stepped in to purchase Cuban sugar and provide other economic aid, and this relationship rapidly escalated after the Bay of Pigs invasion, eventually leading to the deployment of nuclear weapons and the Cuban missile crisis in October 1962. Similar to the United States faction, the Soviet Union faction represents especially those within the Soviet government and military who are in favour of using Cuba as a tool to increase their regional influence and extract concessions from the United States.  In this article I will outline some key features of the Soviet Union faction and their new menu of Operations and Special Activities.

As I described in the last article, the Soviet Union and United States are both ‘foreign sponsor’ factions who possess relatively few game pieces and are constrained by an Escalation track rather than Resources. The Soviet Escalation track works in much the same way as the US Escalation track, unlocking Soviet Advisors, Bases, and additional Government Troops (representing Soviet military aid and training). The Soviet Union’s objectives in Cuba are quite different though, seeking to use their presence on the island to extract strategic concessions from the United States, rather than caring so much about the long-term fate of Cuba. In game terms the Soviet Union’s Armed Bases and Materiel on Cuba must exceed US Escalation plus Intel – this is quite an unusual victory condition for the COIN series, giving the Soviet Union a strong focus on establishing their own presence and  countering US intelligence activities (perhaps only the AUC in Andean Abyss have more of a mono-focus than this).

The three Operations and two Special Activities available to the Soviet Union revolve around getting arms and personnel to Cuba without alerting the United States or other international observers. They are able to Deploy to place and move Advisors and Government Troops, Smuggle to place Materiel, Arm Soviet Bases, and increase Government Econ, and Advise to make use of Government Troops or, in extreme circumstances, allow their own forces to engage with Cuban rebels or US agents. They are then also able to Construct to either remove Sabotage or place a Soviet or Government Base, or utilize ‘Maskirovka’ (the Soviet term for military deception) to remove US Intel counters and increase Soviet Escalation. Materiel counters represent military aid to the Cuban government, not only contributing to Soviet victory but also allowing the Government to perform free Operations where they are present.

As a game of Resisting Revolution progresses, the Soviet Union will begin to establish Armed Bases that represent the arrival of nuclear weapons on Cuba. Historically this process culminated in the Cuban missile crisis, a dramatic confrontation that brought the world the closest to nuclear war that it has ever been (and hopefully ever will be). The game will always end at this climactic moment, with a potential US invasion of Cuba being beyond the scope of the COIN system – however, if both US and Soviet Escalation are at their highest level, these two factions will be penalised in final scoring, as their brinkmanship ends in catastrophe and mutually assured destruction. Such an outcome would surely have been disastrous for Cuba, but in this case both Cuban factions can at least claim a degree of moral superiority. In practice this will usually be quite unlikely to happen, as whichever of the US or Soviet Union is in a better position will be encouraged to de-escalate the situation to avoid this penalty. The historical winner at this point is perhaps open to interpretation: did the US win by forcing the Soviet Union to remove their missiles, did the Soviet Union win by extracting concessions elsewhere from the US, or did Cuba win by avoiding a US invasion and maintaining their independence? Resisting Revolution will allow you to consider these questions as you explore this crucial three-year period of Cuban history, and hopefully learn something new in the process.   

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Previous Articles:

Resisting Revolution: The Government

Resisting Revolution: The Resistance

Resisting Revolution: The United States