1. The Cuban Revolution
1953-1959
By Ian Sherriff and David
Ran

2. Overview:
● Overthrow of the Batista Regime by
revolutionaries
● Seizure of US Businesses
● Communist-leaning reforms
● Latin American country in the "Soviet Camp"

3. Causes:
● Legacy and ideas of Spanish-American War
● US Imperialism in Cuba
● Poverty and Disparity of Wealth
● Corruption Under US-backed Batista regime

4. Political Cartoon 1898:

5. Spanish-American War
● The Cuban War of Independence
● Cuba gains independence from Spain in
1898
● 30,000 Cubans die fighting
● Cuba becomes an economic colony of the
US, no independence

6. The US in Cuba
● Americans own most Cuban businesses
● American Mafia involved in illicit activities
○ gambling, prostitution, drug trafficking
○ 11,500 prostitutes in Havana
○ Havana becomes a "degenerate playground"
● Cubans starve as their resources are taken
by US businessmen

7. Gambling:

8. US Possessions in Cuba
● In 1950's American investors own approx:
○ 90% of mines
○ 40% of sugar industry
○ 50% of railways
○ 60% of arable land
○ all oil companies

9. Life in Cuba
● Foreign investors and Cuban elites prosper
● Other Cubans in poverty
○ 43% illiterate
○ Mean annual income is $91.25
● shrinking middle class
● US army guards American properties

10. Fulgencio Batista
● Cuban dictator, military man
● Initially a popular reformer
● Leaves office, returns
through a coup d'etat
○ "lazier", more oppressive
● Clearly supported by the US government

11. Fidel Castro
● Born into a
wealthy Cuban family
● Lawyer by profession
● Becomes radicalized
as a university student
● Leader of Cuban revolutionaries

12. Attack on the Moncada Barracks
● July 26, 1953
● Fidel Castro and 160 followers attack the
Moncada Barracks in Santiago, Cuba
● Most are captured, tortured, executed
● Fidel Castro also captured

13. Moncada Barracks:

14. Aftermath of Moncada
● Castro held on trial:
○ Acts as own lawyer
○ Gives a stirring defense in the speech
History Will Absolve Me
○ Pardoned by Batista (overconfident)
● Castro's movement gains recognition
● Attack is a military failure, but political
success

15. The Granma
● Castro exiled, meets Argentine
revolutionary Che Guevara in Mexico
● Creates the 26th of July Movement
○ date of the Moncada attack
● Invades Cuba with 82 men on the yacht the
Granma

16. Granma (Not Grandma):

17. Difficulty in Cuba
● Castro's army ambushed and nearly
destroyed shortly after landing
● A dozen men escape to Sierra Maestra
Mountains
● Guerrilla warfare is conducted
● Ranks later filled by peasants

18. Falling Action
● Batista is hated by the Cubans
● Batista attempts to stifle uprising with
brutality
● Castro gains widespread peasant support
● US redacts support to Batista
○ Aid to the Cuban military is cut.

19. Operacion Verano
● Batista sends 12,000 troops to Sierra
Maestra Mountains
○ Poorly trained and poorly led
○ Aims to defeat the few hundred rebels
● Rebel army more motivated, better led
● Operación Verano fails
● Rebels pursue retreating army

20. Batista Flees
● Rebels capture Santiago and Santa Clara
● Batista flees to Portugal & Spain (F. Franco)
○ Esconds with vast sums of money
● Rebels enter Havana on New Year's Day
1959

21. Immediate Aftermath
● New government composed of different
anti-Batista parties
● Castro lacks power to independently rule
Cuba
○ Yet holds most power in the government
○ Has support of the peasants
● Castro moves towards complete domination
of government

22. Castro's Direction
● Castro denies being a communist
● Plans to pursue neither capitalism nor
communism
● US and Cuba hostile (US backed Batista)
● Cuba looks to the USSR

23. US Alarm
● Cuba leads to communism and dictatorship
under Castro
● Cuba has formal relations with USSR
● Castro nationalizes all US property in Cuba
○ US puts trade embargo on Cuba
○ USSR buys Cuban sugar
● Many Cubans leave country

24. Cubans Flee:

25. Bay of Pigs Invasion
● CIA trains Cuban emigres to invade Cuba
and spark an uprising against Castro
● Most are captured; no uprising occurs
● Embarrassment for Kennedy Administration
● Castro grows yet more popular
● US-Cuba relations further strained

26. Bay of Pigs:

27. Missile Crisis
● Soviets place nuclear missiles in Cuba
● Kennedy demands that the Soviets remove
the missiles
● Cuba acts as a pawn for US-Soviet hostility

28. Political Cartoon:

29. Life in Cuba
● Literacy and health care improves
● Gambling and prostitution lessened
● Loss of democracy and rights
● Dependency on the USSR

30. Photo Credits (in order):
http://etc.usf.edu/clipart/72200/72288/72288_pr_flag_col_lg.gif
http://unitedstatesimperialism.files.wordpress.com/2008/09/300px-10kmiles3.jpg?w=477
http://sylverblaque.files.wordpress.com/2011/09/1950s-cuba-casino.jpg?w=300&h=219
http://test.roundearthmedia.org/wp-content/uploads/2001/07/cuba2.jpg
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ujXB-ghAdUY/T2yco3FTSmI/AAAAAAAAAK0/YIfWiF0B85s/s1600/book-pile.
jpg
http://www.nndb.com/people/118/000023049/fidel-castro-sm.jpg
http://www.workers.org/2007/world/Moncada_barracks.jpg
http://www.cubagob.cu/otras_info/historia/imagenes/hf39.jpg
http://affordablehousinginstitute.org/blogs/us/wp-content/uploads/havana_1959_01.jpg
http://cubanology.com/cubareport/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/CubanrefugeesLifeMag.jpg
http://www.photographytips.com.au/images/bay-of-pigs-cuba-usa-war-photos1.jpg
https://brookwoodhistory.wikispaces.com/file/view/cuban_missile_crisis_cartoon.
gif/33950893/cuban_missile_crisis_cartoon.gif
http://www.trinity.edu/jdunn/images/Castro/castro.jpg