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Describe the Causes and Discuss the Effects of the Cuban Revolution.

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The Cuban Revolution, which began in the early 1950’s, was an overthrow of a very corrupt government. It was an attempt to improve the conditions of the Cuban people, but the path was covered in blood and sweat and an informed historian has to ask, was it really worth it? How much actually changed?

The main causes of the revolution were the corrupt way in which the country was run, the large role the US played in the running of Cuba and the poor treatment & conditions the lower class Cubans lived with. The leader before the revolution was a man named Fulgencio Batista, who came into power via a coup. He suspended the Constitution, effectively establishing a dictatorship, and increased the Cuban dependency on the US. Batista allowed the …show more content…

However although Batista and his friends were worth millions of dollars, the average Cuban lived in poverty and ill health. In Cuba, 600 000 out of 3 000 000 Cubans were unemployed, which, proportionately, was the same amount as were unemployed in the US during the great depression. As well as this, over half the population lived in huts, shacks and slums, without the slightest sanitary facilities. Consequently, they were desperate to see an improvement in their lifestyle, and supported Castro and his revolution wholeheartedly.

However some would argue that they didn’t get what they bargained for. There were definitely improvements in society, such as better education and health care, but were the Cubans free from the manipulations of a more powerful country? Did they have the freedom to dictate their own lifestyle?

After the revolution, health care and education improved enormously. While before the revolution only 30% of rural children had teachers, primary education became compulsory under Castro. However the education was often biased, and information which would undermine Castro’s regime was not taught, and was also kept out of the media, books and newspapers. Half a million Cubans fled Cuba to work in America, and appeared to enjoy a much better life there. The

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