Cuban Revolution | |||||||
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Revolutionary leaders Che Guevara (left) and Fidel Castro (right) in 1961 |
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Belligerents | |||||||
Directorio Revolucionario Estudiantil | Republic of Cuba | ||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||
Fidel Castro Che Guevara Raúl Castro Frank País † Camilo Cienfuegos Juan Almeida Bosque Huber Matos Abel Santamaría Eloy Gutiérrez Menoyo René Ramos Latour † Rolando Cubela Humberto Sori Marín |
Fulgencio Batista Eulogio Cantillo José Quevedo Alberto del Río Chaviano Joaquín Casillas Cornelio Rojas Fernández Suero Cándido Hernández Alfredo Abon Lee |
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Casualties and losses | |||||||
5,000+ combat-related Cubans killed |
26th of July Movement victory
The Cuban Revolution (Spanish: Revolución cubana) (1959) was an armed revolt conducted by Fidel Castro's 26th of July Movement and its allies against the authoritarian government of Cuban President Fulgencio Batista. The revolution began in July 1953, and continued sporadically until the rebels finally ousted Batista on 1 January 1959, replacing his government with a revolutionary socialist state. The 26th of July Movement later reformed along communist lines, becoming the Communist Party in October 1965.
The Cuban Revolution had powerful domestic and international repercussions. In particular, it reshaped Cuba's relationship with the United States. Efforts to improve diplomatic relations have gained momentum in recent years. In the immediate aftermath of the revolution, Castro's government began a program of nationalization and political consolidation that transformed Cuba's economy and civil society. The revolution also heralded an era of Cuban intervention in foreign military conflicts, including the Angolan Civil War and the Nicaraguan Revolution.
In the decades following Cuba's liberation from Spain in 1898, and formal independence from the U.S. on May 20, 1902, Cuba experienced a period of significant instability, enduring a number of revolts, coups and periods of U.S. military intervention. Fulgencio Batista, a former soldier who had served as the elected president of Cuba from 1940 to 1944, became president for the second time in March 1952, after seizing power in a military coup and canceling the 1952 elections. Although Batista had been a relative progressive during his first term, in the 1950s he proved far more dictatorial and indifferent to popular concerns. While Cuba remained plagued by high unemployment and limited water infrastructure, Batista antagonized the population by forming lucrative links to organized crime and allowing American companies to dominate the Cuban economy.