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The Revolt Of The Sergeants Essay

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The Battle of Santiago Bay decimated the Spanish fleet and killed almost 1,800 Spaniards. The aging Spanish fleet was no match for the Americans, two weeks later the Spanish forces in Santiago surrendered and on August 11th, 1898 Spain accepted America’s terms of peace. From the war America gained four new territories, Puerto Rico, the Philippines, Guam, and Cuba. Consequently Cuba gained its freedom, yet it was the American flag that flew over Havana in triumph, not Cuba’s.
During the next twenty-five years Fulgencio Batista ruled Cuba with an iron fist. As well as a complete endorsement from the American government. In 1933 Batista deposed the Cuban government in what is known as “The Revolt of the Sergeants”. His coup overthrew the liberal government of Gerardo Machado. Batista took control of the Cuban military, and a new five member presidency was established, each member was decidedly anti-Machado. However, Batista was not a member of the presidency nor did he hold public office during this time.
In 1940, Batista became the first non-white president of Cuba, he was also the first president to be inaugurated under Cuba’s new constitution. Cuba’s 1940 constitution was one of the most progressive of its time, it supported social security, minimum wage, equal pay …show more content…

Castro had formed a revolutionary group called “The Movement”, as well as publishing a paper called El Acusador (The Accuser). Starting July 1952, Fidel and his revolutionaries went on a recruitment drive, gaining about 1,200 members a year. On July 26th, 1953, Castro and 160 of his revolutionaries led an attack on the Moncada Barracks in Santiago. The attack failed miserably and the revolutionaries were forced to retreat into the mountains. Another attack was being carried out on a civilian hospital, which was stormed by soldiers soon thereafter. The 22 rebels that carried out the attack were rounded up, tortured, and

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