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Sandinista Revolution

Nicaraguan Revolution
Part of the Central American crisis and the Cold War
Nicaragua-map
Date 1962–1990 (28 years)
Location Nicaragua
Result

FSLN military victory in 1979

  • Overthrow of Somoza government
  • Insurgency of the Contras
  • Electoral victory of the National Opposition Union in 1990
  • FSLN retained most of their executive apparatus
Belligerents

Nicaragua Somoza government


Contras (1981–90)
Supported by:
 United States
 Israel
 Saudi Arabia
 Honduras

 Chile
Brazil Brazil
 Paraguay
 Argentina (1961–83)
 Panama
 West Germany (until 1990)
 Germany (1990)
 Pakistan
 Philippines
 Iran

FSLN

Supported by:
 Soviet Union
 Cuba
 East Germany (until 1989)
 Bulgaria
 Greece
 Romania (until 1989)
 Czechoslovakia
 Poland
 Libya
 Mexico
 Sweden
Commanders and leaders
Nicaragua Anastasio Somoza Debayle
Enrique Bermúdez
Eden Pastora (1981–84)
Carlos Fonseca(1959–1976) 
Daniel Ortega
Humberto Ortega
Joaquin Cuadra
Tomás Borge
Eden Pastora (1961–81)
Casualties and losses

(1978–79) 10,000 total killed

(1981–89) 10,000–43,000 total killed, best estimate using most detailed battle information is 30,000 killed.

FSLN military victory in 1979

Nicaragua Somoza government

FSLN

(1978–79) 10,000 total killed

The Nicaraguan Revolution (Spanish: Revolución Nicaragüense or Revolución Popular Sandinista) encompassed the rising opposition to the Somoza dictatorship in the 1960s and 1970s, the campaign led by the Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN) to violently oust the dictatorship in 1978–79, the subsequent efforts of the FSLN to govern Nicaragua from 1979 until 1990 and the Contra War which was waged between the FSLN and the Contras from 1981-1990.

The Revolution marked a significant period in Nicaraguan history and revealed the country as one of the major proxy war battlegrounds of the Cold War with the events in the country rising to international attention.

Although the initial overthrow of the Somoza regime in 1978–79 was a bloody affair, the Contra War of the 1980s took the lives of tens of thousands of Nicaraguans and was the subject of fierce international debate. During the 1980s both the FSLN (a leftist collection of political parties) and the Contras (a rightist collection of counter-revolutionary groups) received large amounts of aid from the Cold War super-powers (respectively, the Soviet Union and the United States).


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Wikipedia

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