A second reason for the rising interest in the developing nations during this period was strategic. The 1940s though 1970s-precisely the time when these new nations were emerging-were the high point of the Cold War, and the developing nations often became the pawns in the Cold War conflict between the U.S. and the soviet Union. Earlier in the 1950s, the main focus of the Cold War had been the Iron Curtain divide between Western and Eastern Europe; but with the Castro revolution in Cuba and the sudden emergence of so many new and often unstable nations, frequently with internal communist movements, onto the world stage, much of the emphasis shifted to the developing countries. That was particularly true after Cuba not only broke relations with the U.S. and allied itself with the U.S.S.R., but then also imported soviet missiles which it aimed at the U.S. and also began assisting revolutionary guerrilla movements in Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East. Fearing that other nations might go the way of Castro’s Cuba and the balance in the Cold War might tip toward the soviet side if other countries became Marxist-Leninist, the U.S. began to pay far more attention to the developing nations than it had previously. Both the U.S. and soviet Union, though their assistance and other programs, computed for power and influence there.