Cuban Revolution | 3 Minute History

In 1952, former Cuban president Batista

led a military coup and seized power

when it became clear he was not going

to be re-elected. He placed Cuba under

a repressive military dictatorship

and began to establish close relations

with the United States.

This allowed American companies

to buy up the majority of

Cuba's natural resources, plus, under

his rule, the country became a haven

for organized crime syndicates,
all of which

angered a young lawyer named

Fidel Castro. Castro put together

a group of 138 men,

and on July 26th, 1953, attacked an

isolated Barracks in Moncada

in the hope of securing
more weapons.

The attack was a disaster

and the rebels were fought back.

Most of those who were not killed were

captured, including Fidel and
his brother Raúl.

The public trial of the captured

Rebels helped turn public opinion and

Castro's favor when he argued against

the dictatorship and said, "History will

absolve me". He was sentenced to 15 years

in prison, but Batista was under

international and domestic pressure for

reforms and released the political

process in just 2 years

Fidel and Raul fled to Mexico to regroup
and make new plans for the revolution

They met with
other Cuban exiles and an Argentinian

doctor named Che Guevara, who joined the

'26th of July Movement'.

In the meantime a
controversial election and increasing

unemployment in Cuba, led to more and

more anti-Batista riots, although they

weren't necessarily socialist. Batista

responded by becoming even more

oppressive, which led to even more people

calling for him to resign. Back in Mexico,

the revolutionaries purchased a small

yacht named 'Granma' and in November 1956,

82 Men set sail for Cuba. The Cuban

government, however, was aware that the

rebels were returning to Cuba and

attacked them. Only a handful of them

survived to escape up into the mountains.

From their Mountain Base they gathered

new supporters and launched guerrilla

attacks on Military targets. Plus, foreign

journalists were allowed to visit, and

along with their Pirate Radio Station,

this gave their struggle International

attention and ultimately increased their

popularity. Meanwhile, in the cities too,

new rebel groups were launching attacks

against Batista. Angered and desperate, in

1958, Batista sent a large army into the

mountains to try and flush the rebels

out once and for all. However, this was a

disaster and the hardened guerrilla

fighters were able to fight them back,

causing many in the Army to switch sides.

The rebels then saw this as the perfect

opportunity to launch a Counterattack.

Che Guevara took control of one arm of the

Rebel Army and headed to Santa Clara.

Cienfuegos took another and marched into

Yaguajay and Castro followed with the

reinforcements. As they passed through

towns and villages, they were largely

welcomed, demonstrating to the world that

Batista's regime was on the brink of

falling. The International Community

persuaded Batista to flee, allowing the

rebels to move into Havana in January,

1959, relatively unopposed. The

revolutionaries took control of Cuba and

their leaders, Fidel, Raúl and Che,

consolidated their power by wiping out

all remnants of Batista from the island,

and arrested and killed many of those

old supporters. This, as well as a few

other repressive laws, led to a large

number of people fleeing to the US. On

the other hand, they nationalized the

land that was owned by us companies, shut

down the Mob's casinos and set about

reforming and improving health

facilities, housing and schools. These

socialist policies angered the Americans,

who decided to place economic sanctions

on them. The US would also go on to aid a

group of Cuban Exiles, in an attempt to

oust Fidel Castro in 1962.
But, the infamous

'Bay of Pigs' invasion was a disaster. In

the aftermath of the 'Bay of Pigs'

invasion, Castro announced that Cuba was

a Socialist Republic and rushed into

seeking an alliance with the Soviets, and

this friendship led to one of the most

infamous consequences of the revolution,

'The Cuban Missile Crisis'. The revolution

spurred on left-wing idealists in Latin

America, whose actions indirectly led to

far-right reactionary dictatorships in

countries like Argentina and Chile.