The outcome of the Cuban missile crisis had international consequences because

The Cuban Missile crisis comes to a close as Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev agrees to remove Russian missiles from Cuba in exchange for a promise from the U. S to respect Cuba's territorial sovereignty. This ended nearly two weeks of anxiety and tensions between the U. S and the Soviet Union that came close to provoking a nuclear conflict. The consequences of the crisis were many and varied. Relations between Cuba and the Soviet Union were on shaky ground for some time after Khrushchev's removal of the missiles, as Fidel Castro accused Russians of backing down from the Americans and deserting the Cuban revolution. European allies of the U. S were also angered, not because of the U. S. stance during the crisis, but because the Kennedy administration kept them virtually in the dark about negotiations that might have led to an atomic war.

Answer: an escalation of the conflict could have led to a nuclear strike by either superpower. (Apex)