How did the cold war of cuba start?

Answer 1

On July 26, 1953, a group of approximately one hundred poorly armed guerrillas attacked the Moncada Barracks. Many of them were killed in the battles after the attack. The survivors, among them Fidel Castro Ruz and his brother Raul Castro, were captured shortly afterwards. In a highly political trial, they were sentenced to long prison terms. Castro was sentenced 15 years in the presidio modelo located on Isla de Pinos.

In 1955, due to pressure from civil leaders, the general opposition, and the Jesuits who had helped educate Fidel Castro, and perhaps because he had known the Castro brothers in their youth, Batista freed all political prisoners, including the Moncada attackers. The Castro brothers went into exile in Mexico, where they gathered more exiled Cubans to fight in the Cuban revolution for the overthrow of Batista. During that period, Castro also met the Argentine doctor Ernesto "Che" Guevara, who joined their forces. They were trained by Alberto Bayo, a former military leader of the failed "loyalists" in the Spanish Civil War.

The group training in Mexico under the leadership of Fidel Castro left for Cuba in November 1956, in a small yacht named, "Granma." They hoped their landing in Eastern Cuba would coincide with planned uprisings in the cities and a general strike, coordinated by the llano wing of the 26th of July Movement. It was their intention to launch an armed offensive and swiftly topple the Batista government.

The Granma was delayed en route to Cuba, arriving late and at a location further east than was planned. This dashed any hopes for a coordinated attack with the llano wing of the movement. After arriving and exiting the ship, the band of rebels began to make their way into the Sierra Maestra mountains, a range in Southeastern Cuba. Shortly after their trek began, they were attacked by men from the army. Most of the Granma participants were killed in this attack, but a small number, between one and two dozen, escaped. The survivors were separated from one another, and alone or in small groups, wandered through the mountains, looking for other survivors. Eventually, this small group of persons, would find one another with the help of peasant sympathizers. This small group of people, which included Fidel Castro, Ernesto Che Guevara, Camilo Cienfuegos, and Raul Castro would form the core leadership of the guerrilla army.

From 1956 through the middle of 1958, Castro with the aid of the Frank Pais and Ramos Latour, Huber Matos, and many others, staged successful attacks on small Batista garrisons in the Sierra Maestra mountains. Batista forces tried bloody repression to retain control and the cities in Cuba remained under Batista's control until the end. Che Guevara and Ra�l Castro helped consolidate political control in the mountains through executions of Batista Loyalists and potential rivals to Castro. The irregular poorly armed escopeteros harassed the Batista forces through the foot hills and the plains of Oriente Province; in addition these much maligned forces provided Castro's main forces with moderate military support, intelligence, and protected supply lines. Thus Castro achieved military control of these mountains.

During this time, Castro's forces were quite small, at times less than 200 men, while the Cuban army and police force numbered between 30,000 and 40,000 in strength (Bockman, Chapter 2). Yet nearly every time the army fought against the revolutionaries, they were the ones who retreated from the fight. The Cuban military was remarkably ineffective. A growing problem for the Batista forces was an arms embargo imposed on the Cuban government by the United States government on March 14, 1958. The Cuban air force rapidly lost its power as planes could not be repaired without spare parts from the U.S.

Batista forces finally responded with an attack on the mountains called Operation Verano (the rebels called it "la Ofensiva"). Some 12,000 soldiers (more than half new, untrained recruits) attacked into the mountains. In a series of small scale fights, the Cuban army was defeated by Castro's determined fighters. In one battle (the Battle of La Plata) which lasted from July 11 till July 21, Castro's forces defeated an entire battalion, capturing 240 men, while losing just 3 of their own. The tide nearly turned on July 29 when Castro's small army (some 300 men) was nearly destroyed at the Battle of Las Mercedes. The Cuban army under General Cantillo lured Castro's forces into a trap. After two days of fighting, Castro's forces lost 70 men, nearly one third of his men. With his forces pinned down by superior numbers, Castro asked for, and was granted, a temporary cease-fire (August 1st). Over the next seven days, while fruitless negotiations took place, Castro's forces gradually escaped from the trap. By August 8th, Castro's entire army had escaped back into the mountains. Operation Verano had been a failure for the Batista government.

August 1958 to Victory

On August 21 1958, after the defeat of the Batista "ofensiva", Castro's forces began their offensive. There were four fronts in the "Oriente" province (now divided into Santiago de Cuba, Granma, Guant�namo and Holgu�n) directed by Fidel Castro, Ra�l Castro and Juan Almeida. Descending from the mountains, with weapons captured during the ofensiva and smuggled in by plane, Castro's forces won a series of victories. The major Castro victory at Guisa, and the succeeding capture of several towns (Maffo, Contramaestre, Central Oriente, etc.) consolidated victory on the Cauto plains.

Meanwhile, three columns under the command of Che Guevara, Camilo Cienfuegos and Jaime Vega proceeded westward toward the provincial capital of Santa Clara. Jaime Vega's column was ambushed and destroyed. The surviving two columns reached the central provinces, where they joined efforts with several other resistance groups not under the command of Castro. Cienfuegos won a key victory in the Battle of Yaguajay on December 30, 1958 (earning him the nickname "The Hero of Yaguajay"). The next day (the 31st), in a scene of great confusion, the city of Santa Clara was captured by the combined forces of Che Guevara, Cienfuegos, and William Alexander Morgan. News of these defeats caused Batista to panic. He fled Cuba for the Dominican Republic just hours later on January 1, 1959.

Castro learned of Batista's flight in the morning and he immediately started negotiations to take over Santiago de Cuba. On January 2nd, the military commander in the city, Colonel Rubido, ordered his soldiers not to fight and Castro's forces took over the city. The forces of Guevara and Cienfuegos entered Havana at about the same time. They had met no opposition on their journey from Santa Clara to Cuba's capital. Castro himself arrived in Havana on January 6th after a long victory march. Officially, the leader of Cuba was the new President Urrutia, in reality, Castro was in control.

Answer 2

The Cuban people were fed up with Fulgencio Batista's corrupt government, Fidel Castro offered them equality and a better way of life. After he overthrew Batista Cuba became a communist country and things got worse than they were during Batista's time.

Answer 3

La Revolución cubana es el principal resultado del movimiento revolucionario cubano de izquierda que provocó la caída del régimen del dictador Fulgencio Batista, y la llegada al poder del líder del Ejército Guerrillero, Fidel Castro, comenzó el 26 de Julio de 1953

Answer 4

it happen as the consequences of few causes: the struggle against Spanish Colonialism, the American influence and interest of Cuba, the rise to the power of the Batista regimiento (regiment) government, Castro's fight and overall succession in 1959 and the involvement of the Cold War on Cuba

Answer 5

The Cuban Revolution actually began in Cuba. It started in the mountains of an area called Havana and then spread.

Answer 6

Fidel Castro was old and sick and it was time for a new dictator.

Answer 7

This was started by a man how wanted rights for his country and wanted to vote out batista because he was corrupt, the name of this man is Fidel Castro.

Answer 8

There was a revolution because the Cubans wanted their freedom.