Cuban History: The Cuban Revolution

The Cuban Revolution was touchy topic for the United States and Cuba. America’s alienation of Cuba didn’t help when communism from the USSR was brewing over the revolution. When the revolution gained Castro as its leader, the worry and hatred from the United States was unbearable, especially when the Soviet Union landed in Cuba to interest Castro in its aid. The US’s fear of communism, Fidel Castro, and aid from the Soviet Union was significant because it changed the US’s political role in Cuba during the Cuban Revolution.

After it became officially globally acknowledged that Cuba was in fact a communist state and was being led through a dictatorship run by Castro, it did not take long before powerful enemies and essential allies were formed. The act of seizing all foreign land with none or very little compensation was received with great hostility amongst those who lost in their property through this process, and probably the reaction that had the biggest impact on Cuba’s economy was that of the US. Castro’s communistic policies did not of course help calm this resentment and also took part in leading to the establishment of trade embargos with Cuba from the US. This meant that Cuba would now lose a very valuable buyer of their precious sugar, [5] but they did however gain another one, a powerful nation that shared quite similar Marxist ideals and were quick to form an alliance with the Cubans, the USSR.

During the Cold War, relations between Cuba and the United States were icy. Cuba was allied with the USSR, America’s enemy, and was well within their sphere of influence. With events like the failed Bay of Pigs invasion and the Cuban Missile Crisis happening on their soil, Cuba was at the center of the Cold War. Between ideological differences and their alliance with Russia, Cuba became an enemy of America as well. It took the efforts of ten American presidents, six Popes, and countless other actors, but Cuba and America are finally in the process of normalizing relations. There is still work to be done, but the path is clear and the time is right. However, one cannot simply ignore the last fifty years. In that time, millions of lives were affected by the lack of social, economic, and political ties between the U.S. and Cuba. In this paper, I will analyze the last fifty years of U.S. - Cuban relations by looking at the involved actors, their means, and their values and interests through the lenses of two paradigms, realism and constructivism.

stated the necessity of the Soviet Union and Cuba to become allies, and this move would also influence many countries in Latin America to become allies with the Soviet Union rather than the U.S and the West.

In the 1950’s, tourists visited the island of Cuba for its warm beaches, culture and Spanish colonial architecture. But underneath the surface, was a revolution ready to burst through the Cuban people they just needed the right person to lead them. Cuba at this time was run by a Political Dictator named Fulgencio Batista.

Until sugar production made Cuba the wealthiest agricultural region on earth in the nineteenth century, the island was considered relatively diverse, compared to others in the Caribbean. The quality of soil was universally unparalleled, and gained countries interest. Although the French and Spanish were in feud over the island, merchants from Portugal, England, and Holland participated in trade, which brought diversity to Cuba. At the end of the eighteenth century, the Haitian Revolution changed the racial, social, and economical demographics on Cuba. Seeing that the Haitian revolution was a triumph of colossus proportions, the individuals who started it, embodied the spirit that initiated the great uprising. From the late eighteenth century, into the nineteenth century, formally freed slaved from Haiti migrated to Cuba in astonishing numbers. This not only altered the demographics on the island, it brought in a new workforce that proliferated local sugar production. Within a short period of time, Cuba became the biggest sugar cane producer in the world. The United States gained interest in capitalizing from the islands newfound wealth, and being close in proximity made the temptation of interfere with France and Spain irresistible. In the late nineteenth century, the United States interfered with Cuba’s fight for independence and increased their investments tenfold. By the beginning of the twentieth century, the US gained control of the island through ownership,

During the same time as Cuba and the Soviet Union's relationship, the significant events of the Bay of Pigs and Cuban Missile Crisis brought in the United States, Cuba, and Soviet Union into conflict. John F. Kennedy believed that Castro was becoming a threat and that he would become to powerful. So on April 16, 1961, the CIA launched the Bay of Pigs Invasion. Over 2,000 "Anti- Castrolies" stormed up the Bay of Pigs in Southern Cuba. In fact, most of the Anti- Castrolies were Cuban exiles who disagreed with Castro's ideas for Cuba. For some months prior, the CIA had gathered these people to train for an assassination attempt on Castro. This group was given the codename "Brigade 2506," and in less then 24-72 hours 100 were dead and 1,189

It was an event that changed the course of socialism on a global scale. It was the unfortunate result of Fidel Castro abusing his power. It was the single most important event in Cuba’s history thus far. The Cuban Revolution, which began in 1953 and ended in 1961, was led by revolutionist Fidel Castro and the "26th of July Movement" to overthrow current dictator Fulgencio Batista. After gaining control of Cuba and setting up a communist party, Castro began a set of land reforms and nationalized all foreign-born private companies. This then led to the U.S. embargo of Cuba, and communist nations around the world rallied at the thought of another instance of communism in Latin America.

January 23 of 1898, numbers of Cuban rebellion is growing and more and more Cubans were coming to the United States through Florida. At the same time, European countries were building empires. Thus more and more americans and I feared that the United States will become overpowered by those great nation and become ineffective. Republicans especially feared that if the United States does not start strengthening our military and gain territories overseas we will soon become nobodies in the eyes of the great European nations. I was informed that in Cuba, natives were be being murdered by the spanish governments for expressing their genuine grievances. The spanish government not once tried to calm the rebellions peacefully, instead they slaughtered them by hundredth. The conflict between Cuba and Spain was heating up, the business and citizens of the United States in Cuba were

After watching Cuba Libre, The Forgotten Revolution was particularly interesting because it discusses events and people fundamental to the eventual overthrow of Batista that are not once mentioned by the Netflix documentary series. Frank País, for example, helped lead the Cuban underground rebellion in Santiago de Cuba, where he was well regarded for his teaching experience, his prolific writing, and his willingness to sacrifice his own wants and needs for the good of the cause. In fact, rather than focusing on establishing his own revolutionary force, he subverted himself to Fidel Castro when Castro was in the Sierra Maestra mountains. He sent men, supplies, and vaccines to Castro and it is impossible to deny the important role País played

In an effort to end Castro's government once and for all, President Kennedy gave the approval for the Bay of Pigs invasion, which seemed like a surefire way to defeat Castro’s government. In this invasion, Kennedy covertly hired 1,400 Cuban exiles from the United States to wage an all-out war against Castro. However, this plan utterly failed, with Castro defeating the Cuban exiles and Kennedy being exposed for ordering such an attack. This failed invasion also spurred the Cuban government to allow the Soviet Union to place nuclear missiles in Cuba, playing right into Soviet interests. Premier Khrushchev, the leader of the Soviet Union during this time, quickly seized this opportunity to stealthily send more than 40 nuclear missiles to Cuba, which gave them the capability of accurately hitting vital American targets, such as Washington, D.C., and New York City, while also protecting their fellow communists in

The Cuban revolution was the spark that ignited the flame of communism in Cuba. The developing nation gained independence only as recently as 1898, and was already filled with an atmosphere of distrust and resentment towards the United States. In July of 1953, a revolution began in Cuba between the United States backed President Batista and Fidel Castro. Fidel and his brother Raul Castro lead a series of guerilla warfare battles against the forces of President Batista. “I am Fidel Castro and we have come to liberate Cuba,” stated Fidel Castro. In January of 1959, Fidel Castro became the President of Cuba. With the regime of Fidel Castro, Cuba would fall to communism.

The Platt Amendment states that the United States has the ability to interfere at various points in Cuba’s history. This gave America the ability to better serve its own interests in the region, including sugar

Before the successful revolution in 1959, Cuba had suffered from bad government and corruption of power for nearly the whole first half of the 21st century. Then in 1952 Fulgencio Batista overruled the Cuban government by force and created a one party dictatorship. Batista’s cruel political strategies left the country in turmoil, causing Cubans everywhere to live in harsh conditions under a totalitarian state. One of the many citizens unsatisfied with Batista’s right wing ways was a young Communist politician named Fidel Castro. After failing to convince the court that Batista had violated the Cuban Constitution, he decided a violent Communist Revolution was the only necessary option to overthrow Batista. Dictatorship was an option because after the failed Moncada Barracks attack, the 26th of July Movement and finally the defeat of Batista in 1959,

In 1940 to 1944, communist Fulgencio Batista withheld power as the president of Cuba and then from 1952 to 1959, United States backed dictator until fleeing Cuba because of Fidel Castro’s 26th of July Movement. Socialist Fidel Castro governed the Republic of Cuba as Prime Minister from 1959 to 1976 and then as President from 1976 to 2008. Fidel Castro’s intent was to provide Cuba with an honest democratic government by diminishing the corrupt way in which the country was run, the large role the United States played in the running of Cuba as well as the poor treatment & the living conditions of the lower class.