Fidel Castro Revolution

The Cuban government was not ideal for its people at the time, so they decided to initiate a change. Before Castro’s revolution, Cuba’s economy was highly based on tropical fruits, sugar, and tobacco. During this time, the government of Cuba mainly consisted of wealthy land-owning conservatives. Fidel Castro, a strong liberal who thought the Cuban government was corrupt, decided to bring together a band of two-hundred revolutionaries (Carey, Jr. 15). These revolutionaries attacked the Moncada Military barracks on July 26th, 1953 resulting in a failure that earned both Castro and the revolutionaries a ten-year prison sentence. Two years into his sentence, Castro was exiled to Mexico and began to plot another attempt in Mexico City. After many battles with Cuba’s National Army, Castro’s rebels were able to keep Cuba in a state of turmoil while other rebel groups were able to gain control. Through his actions, he was able to gain the support of the Cuban people who thought he was the logical choice for the new leader (Carey, Jr. 15).

In the 1950’s, tourists visited the island of Cuba for its warm beaches, culture and Spanish colonial architecture. But underneath the surface, was a revolution ready to burst through the Cuban people they just needed the right person to lead them. Cuba at this time was run by a Political Dictator named Fulgencio Batista.

writer is shows a bit of distrust in the words of the new leader. The writer assesses the

On January 8th, 1959, Fidel Castro and his rebel army marched triumphantly into Havana, Cuba, having overthrown corrupt dictator Fulgencio Batista the week earlier. It was the fruition of the Cuban Revolution, and the dramatic shift in power was about to radically alter the country’s political, social and economic course forever. The positive and negative effects of the revolution on the Cuban people, however, as well as the condition of Cuba’s economy pre and post-revolution, is subject to heated debate. Castro’s iron-fisted regime was the introduction of communism into the western hemisphere, and now, over fifty years later, the Cuban Revolution continues to be one of the most controversial events of the twentieth century. Despite the criticism levelled at Fidel Castro and his communist regime, however, the Cuban Revolution was necessary in improving the quality of life for the majority of Cuban citizens. The four fundamental categories on which to assess this are healthcare, education, economy and governance. By comparing the country’s overall performance under Fulgencio Batista versus under Fidel Castro in these areas crucial to a fully-functioning nation, it can be shown that the Cuban Revolution was a necessary and positive change in Cuban society which benefitted the majority of citizens.

On the first of January in 1959, Fidel Castro took over the presidency of Cuba, using his “guerilla army” (“Bay of Pigs Invasion”) to overthrow General Fulgencio Batista, an “American-backed president” (“Bay of Pigs Invasion”). A dishonest and tyrannical dictator, Batista was disliked by his people, yet he was a friend to the United States. He did

When Castro and his followers began their mission, Batista's private police and army soon discovered them. The group was then imprisoned in a small island. That did not stop Castro from aiming for his goal. There, he still held meetings, regarding ways of rebelling against Batista. Here was where Castro decided to name his movement, "The Twenty Sixth of July," since that was the first day that Castro and his men went out, in search of their freedom. It was almost like an ascending ladder towards sovereignty.

The Cuban Revolution began not with Fidel Castro’s takeover, but with Sergeant Fulgencio Batista’s power hungry struggle. In fear of losing the 1952 election, Batista took over the country and eliminated them. Many people were disgusted, even offended that Batista would do such a thing. This is what sparked Fidel Castro 's hatred toward the Batista regime. He began plotting Batista’s downfall, later having the help of Ernesto “Che” Guevara. July 26, 1953 is a day that shall live in infamy in the Cuban history. It is the day in which Castro made his first move. He gathered a group of about 138 men to attack the Moncada compound. He believed that a surprise attack would be more successful due to the lack of weapons at hand. This proved to be rather untrue, since many of the men were captured. Federal soldiers were killed, amounting to about 19 deaths. The rebels that were left were either shot or managed to escape. Fidel and Raul

After the Cuban Revolution, Castro visited the USA in April 1959 in hopes to gain support and aid from the U.S. to improve the Cuban economy. Castro specific pointed out his land reforms to better the Cuban standard of living. Castro addressed the UN nation and pledged that like any other developing nation, Cuba would remain neutral in the Cold War. Castro’s hopes of U.S. was unlikely after President Eisenhower declined to meet Castro and Vice- President Nixon did not fare very well either (Stanley). When Castro returned back to Cuba, he implemented a radical land reform system, which limited large estates to 1000 acres. Castro was able to break off the monopoly held by the wealthy few in Cuba by introducing this Agrarian Reform Law. This law allowed the majority of Cuban to own a portion of land and be part of the larger

Nearly fifty-five years ago, an embargo was placed on Cuba, halting all trade between the two countries. Fidel Castro led the Cuban Revolution, which began in July of 1953, leading to their victory and the previous leader, Fulgencio Batista, surrendering from his position. Castro was an American friend and had gained a great deal of support from Cuban citizens with his promises to restore basic, essential liberties. Castro later began to stray from these promises, starting by nationalizing American businesses within Cuba following by presenting anti-American behavior. In 1960, he initiated talks with the Soviet Union and began to progress toward communism, leading to America creating the embargo in 1961. The embargo was mainly put in place to contain the spread of communism to other South American countries. The terms to lift the embargo included, the discontinuation of their communist ways and move toward democracy, and to improve the freedom of the individuals whom live on the island. These have both yet to have happened, yet fifty-four years later, the embargo is still firmly in place. Lifting the embargo can fix issues related to the Cuban people, it can bring countless trade opportunities, and it can push for positive changes in Cuba. Therefore, the United States should lift the embargo on Cuba.

The Cuban revolution was the spark that ignited the flame of communism in Cuba. The developing nation gained independence only as recently as 1898, and was already filled with an atmosphere of distrust and resentment towards the United States. In July of 1953, a revolution began in Cuba between the United States backed President Batista and Fidel Castro. Fidel and his brother Raul Castro lead a series of guerilla warfare battles against the forces of President Batista. “I am Fidel Castro and we have come to liberate Cuba,” stated Fidel Castro. In January of 1959, Fidel Castro became the President of Cuba. With the regime of Fidel Castro, Cuba would fall to communism.

In addition, people believe that Castro’s speech on revolution was a communist conspiracy as well as a socialist ideologies. However, Fidel deceived the Cuban society and led them to believe that his goals and help him represent democracy. In Castro’s speech, History Will Absolve Me, he discusses different kinds of policies that he would like to enforce on Cuba and make the Cuban society believers of his ideologies. In the end, Fidel did not achieve what he initially wanted for the people of Cuba. Even though, the actual Revolution was successful he failed to abide by his promises to the people regarding a successful economic reform in Cuba. The actions taken by Castro in his trial and his History Will Absolve Me speech really showed his view on the anti-Batista movement. It helped the people of Cuba to understand his passion to reform the country and increase the living situations in Cuba.

Fidel Castro is making plans to overthrow Cuba along with revolutionary Che Guevara. The main reason why Castro and Guevara wanted to overthrow Batista was for the people. We had been suffering too much from the Batista dictatorship for a long time. Che wants the proletariat to have a leader that they can respect for our fair and equal views. One of the major aspects of the Cuban Revolution was the United States getting involved.The reason why the United States got involved was they had a good relationship with Batista and they were nervous that the Cuban rebels could take over property the USA invested in Cuba. The United States also got involved in the war because Castro wanted to become allies with the Soviet Union

Castro’s involvement with the foreign and domestic politics during the early Cold War period greatly influenced the outcome of the Cuban Revolution. Without the actions taken by foreign powers like the United States and Russia, some events on the domestic front may have had very different results. It is important to understand how every nation’s foreign policies can influence more than just one other nation, and this was especially true for Cuba. It was this mix and chain of events which produced the communist Cuba that we are familiar with today.

On July 26th, 1953, Fidel Castro led one hundred and twenty nine men and two women in a daring assault against the Moncada army Barracks in Santiago de Cuba to overthrow the government of Fulgencio Batista. Fidel Castro’s plan to overthrow the government of Fulgencio Batista resulted in eight deaths, twelve wounded and more than sixty Cubans were taken prisoner to be tortured and then executed.

‘A struggle to the death between the future and the past’ a quote by Fidel Castro on the second anniversary of the Cuban Revolution, 5th of January 1961, a view similar to that of other revolutionary leads for example Napoleon Bonaparte who said ‘A revolution is an idea which has found its bayonets’. Both these quotes draw on the idea of violence being at the heart of a revolution, this however is only the opinion of two people. A revolution has not one definition as every revolution is different but there are certain characteristics, which underpin many revolutions, such as bottom up (start with people from the lower classes protesting), usually violent, sudden and dramatic and something which is historically significant in its outcomes. In this essay, I am going to look in further detail at the aptness of the quote by Fidel Castro in terms of defining a revolution from the case of the Mexican Revolution, and parts of the Cuban Revolution.