1954–59 rebellion against the Cuban government led by Fidel Castro
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Cuban Revolution
Part of the Cold War
Fidel Castro and his men in the Sierra Maestra
Date
26 July 1953 – 1 January 1959 (5 years, 5 months and 6 days)
Location
Cuba
Result
26th of July Movement victory
Overthrow of Fulgencio Batista's government
Establishment of a government led by Fidel Castro
Escambray rebellion
Belligerents
Cuba
Cuban National Army
26th of July Movement
Revolutionary Directorate of March 13th
Second National Front of Escambray
Commanders and leaders
Fulgencio Batista
Eulogio Cantillo
José Quevedo Pérez
Alberto del Rio Chaviano
Joaquín Casillas
Cornelio Rojas
Fernández Suero
Cándido Hernández
Alfredo Abon Lee
Fidel Castro
Raúl Castro
Che Guevara
Abel Santamaría
Camilo Cienfuegos
Huber Matos
Juan Almeida Bosque
Frank País †
René Ramos Latour †
Roberto Rodríguez †
Humberto Sorí Marin Eloy Gutiérrez Menoyo
William Alexander Morgan
José Antonio Echeverría †
Rolando Cubela Secades
Strength
20,000 (1958)
3,000 (1958)
Casualties and losses
2,000 killed[1]Arms captured:
1 M4 Sherman tank
12 mortars
2 bazookas
33 machine guns
142 M-1 rifles
200 Cristóbal carbines[2]
1,000 killed[1]
Thousands of civilians tortured and murdered by Batista's government; unknown number of people executed by the Rebel Army[3][4][5][6]
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Cuban Revolution
Moncada Barracks
Domingo Goicuria
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Verano
2nd La Plata
Jigüe
Las Mercedes
Yaguajay
Guisa
Santa Clara
Aftermath
Escambray rebellion
Second National Front of Escambray
La Coubre explosion
Bay of Pigs
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Republic of Cuba (1902–1959)
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1952 Cuban coup d'état
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Republic of Cuba (1959–)
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The Cuban Revolution (Spanish: Revolución cubana) was a military and political effort to overthrow the government of Cuba between 1953 and 1959. It began after the 1952 Cuban coup d'état which placed Fulgencio Batista as head of state. After failing to contest Batista in court, Fidel Castro organized an armed attack on the Cuban military's Moncada Barracks on July 26, 1953. The rebels were arrested and while in prison formed the 26th of July Movement (M-26-7). After gaining amnesty the M-26-7 rebels organized an expedition from Mexico on the Granma yacht to invade Cuba. In the following years the M-26-7 rebel army would slowly defeat the Cuban army in the countryside, while its urban wing would engage in sabotage and rebel army recruitment. Over time the originally critical and ambivalent Popular Socialist Party would come to support the 26th of July Movement in late 1958. By the time the rebels were to oust Batista the revolution was being driven by the Popular Socialist Party, 26th of July Movement, and the Revolutionary Directorate of March 13.[7]
The rebels finally ousted Batista on 1 January 1959, replacing his government. 26 July 1953 is celebrated in Cuba as Día de la Revolución (from Spanish: "Day of the Revolution"). The 26th of July Movement later reformed along Marxist–Leninist lines, becoming the Communist Party of Cuba in October 1965.[8]
The Cuban Revolution had powerful domestic and international repercussions. In particular, it transformed Cuba–United States relations, although efforts to improve diplomatic relations, such as the Cuban thaw, gained momentum during the 2010s.[9][10][11][12] In the immediate aftermath of the revolution, Castro's government began a program of nationalization, centralization of the press and political consolidation that transformed Cuba's economy and civil society.[13][14] The revolution also heralded an era of Cuban intervention in foreign conflicts in Africa, Latin America, Southeast Asia, and the Middle East.[15][16][17][18] Several rebellions occurred in the six years following 1959, mainly in the Escambray Mountains, which were suppressed by the revolutionary government.[19][20][21][22]
^ abDixon, Jeffrey S.; Sarkees, Meredith Reid (2015). A Guide to Intra-state Wars: An Examination of Civil, Regional, and Intercommunal Wars, 1816–2014. CQ Press. p. 98.
^Jowett, Philip (2019). Liberty or Death: Latin American Conflicts, 1900–70. p. 309.
^Jacob Bercovitch and Richard Jackson (1997). International Conflict: A Chronological Encyclopedia of Conflicts and Their Management, 1945–1995. Congressional Quarterly.
^Singer, Joel David and Small, Melvin (1974). The Wages of War, 1816–1965. Inter-University Consortium for Political Research.
^Eckhardt, William, in Sivard, Ruth Leger (1987). World Military and Social Expenditures, 1987–88 (12th ed.), World Priorities.
^"Massacres during Batista's Dictatorship". 26 January 2017. Archived from the original on 9 September 2018. Retrieved 26 January 2019.
^Kapcia, Antoni (2020). A Short History of Revolutionary Cuba Revolution, Power, Authority and the State from 1959 to the Present Day. Bloomsbury Publishing. pp. 15–19. ISBN 978-1786736475.
^"Cuba Marks 50 Years Since 'Triumphant Revolution'" Archived 27 May 2018 at the Wayback Machine. Jason Beaubien. NPR. 1 January 2009. Retrieved 9 July 2013.
^Cite error: The named reference FirstShipCuba2012 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^"On Cuba Embargo, It's the U.S. and Israel Against the World – Again". The New York Times. 28 October 2014. Archived from the original on 6 July 2017. Retrieved 31 October 2014.
^"Cuba off the U.S. terrorism list: Goodbye to a Cold War relic". Los Angeles Times. 17 April 2015. Archived from the original on 18 April 2015. Retrieved 18 April 2015.
^Cite error: The named reference ReOpen2015 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^Lazo, Mario (1970). American Policy Failures in Cuba – Dagger in the Heart. Twin Circle Publishing Co.: New York. pp. 198–200, 204. LCCN 68-31632.
^Cite error: The named reference TheAmCon was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^"The Cuban Army Abroad – Meet Castro's Foreign Cold Warriors". Archived from the original on 17 August 2020. Retrieved 29 February 2020.
^Parameters: Journal of the US Army War College. U.S. Army War College. 1977. p. 13.
^"Foreign Intervention by Cuba" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 22 January 2017.
^Cite error: The named reference HistoryToday1981 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^Tamayo, Juan O. "El alzamiento más prolongado contra Castro". elnuevoherald (in Spanish). Retrieved 29 May 2019.
^"Los rostros del Escambray". elnuevoherald (in Spanish). Retrieved 29 May 2019.
^"¿Quien era el Capitan Tondique? – Proyecto Tondique". ¿Quien era el Capitan Tondique? – Proyecto Tondique (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 29 May 2019. Retrieved 29 May 2019.
^"New Clashes Reported In Cuban Countryside". latinamericanstudies.org. Retrieved 29 May 2019.
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