The Cuban revolution is a long armed struggle for power, which began on July 26, 1953, and ended in early January 1959 with the complete victory of the rebels. This event led to a change in the political system and completely turned the whole future history of the country.
Cuban revolution - reasons
The main problems of the state by the middle of the 20th century remained the same:
- monoculture of agriculture - sugarcane was the basis of the industry;
- widespread latifundia - huge private land holdings that specialized exclusively in export and widely used forced wage labor;
- Dependence of the economy as a whole on US capital.
In early March 1952, a coup d'etat took place in the country, as a result of which a military-police dictatorship was established, led by Fulgencio Batista.
The new government was highly corrupt, political repressions began in Cuba , and the economic course led to a sharp decline in real incomes . Discontent grew in society, which spilled out in the form of another attempt at a coup. The revolutionaries were led by a young lawyer and politician Fidel Castro Rus.
History of revolution
A group of rebels led by Fidel Castro on July 26, 1953 attempted to storm the fortified barracks-fortress Moncada in Santiago. They counted on the support of the masses, because among the population the discontent with the current regime was enormous. However, this did not happen, and the detachment of revolutionaries fought independently for two hours, having suffered a crushing defeat.
Most of the rebels were killed and the rest captured and put on trial. Fidel Castro defended himself at the trial, as he himself was a lawyer. There he said the famous words: "History will justify me."
All defendants received significant sentences - from 10 to 15 years. But the public was on the side of the rebels, which forced Batista to soon sign an amnesty order. The Castro brothers immediately after leaving prison emigrated to neighboring Mexico to create the rebel organization M-26 (July 26 Movement). There Fidel Castro was able to meet with the famous revolutionary Che Guevarra, who immediately joined the ranks of the M-26.
In early December 1956, the Granma yacht sailed to the shores of the province of Oriente, with which 82 armed rebels landed. The Cuban revolution moved from the preparation stage to the stage of active hostilities. Government troops immediately noticed the landing, and it was almost completely destroyed. According to various sources, from 11 to 22 people survived from this detachment.
Despite another failure, the revolutionaries did not think to give up. It was decided to go deeper into the country and move to rural areas. There, the rebels won the trust of the inhabitants, recruited them into their ranks. In cities, too, active work was conducted in the student community. Armed point speeches were organized.
By that time, the Batista regime was already disapproved, not only in its own country, but also in the United States, Cuba's main economic and military partner. This circumstance played into the hands of the revolutionaries.
In the summer of 1958, the Cuban revolution entered the offensive stage. By fall, the rebels took control of the provinces of Las Villas and Oriente, and on the first day of the new 1959, their troops triumphantly entered Santiago. At the same time, Che Guevarra troops captured the city of Santa Clara.
Batista made the decision to flee the country, and his government actually resigned. On January 2, revolutionaries occupied Havana, the capital of Cuba. A few days later, on January 6, Fidel Castro triumphantly arrived in the city to take on the fullness of the new government.
The history of Cuba after the revolution
The country immediately began a radical transformation. The former armed forces were replaced by the Rebel Army, and the People's Police took the place of the police.
In May 1959, an agrarian reform was carried out, as a result of which the latifundia were abolished, and the land passed into the possession of the peasants and the state. Later, in 1963, large peasant farms were also liquidated, and cooperation began in the sugar sector.
In the same 1959, banks and large enterprises became the property of the state, and in 1960 American firms suffered the same fate.
Since 1961, a nationwide campaign was launched to eradicate illiteracy.
The established regime was very far from democracy. The media became completely supervised, the inhabitants of the country began to be carefully checked by the committees for the defense of the revolution.
Religious organizations, including numerous Catholic churches, lost all of their property, most of the priests were expelled from the country.
Relations with the United States after the revolution deteriorated significantly, and Castro decided to actively draw closer to countries from the communist camp - especially the USSR. In February 1960, the first agreement was signed on Cuba receiving Soviet aid.
The Cuban revolution led the country to completely change its political system, and at the end of spring 1961 officially proclaimed itself a socialist state.