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Cuba in the Cold War
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General Batista
General Fulgencio Batista is takes control of Cuba after a bloody coup. -
Castro's first coup fails
Fidel Castro's first attempt to overthrow Batista's rule over Cuba fails. He is arrested and then later released in Mexico. -
Castro's second coup fails
Fidel Castro comes invades Cuba for a second time in an attempt to overthrow General Batista's control of Cube and the coup fails. However, Batista continues to lose popular voting and the respect of Cuban citizens. -
Fidel Castro's communist group takes control of Cuba.
Fidel Castro invades Cuba for a third time. Due to his loss of popular opinion with the Cuban people and the combination of Castro's growing forces, General Batista flees Cuba. Fidel Castro's communist army takes control of Cuba implementing communist policies. and Fidel Castro is sworn into office as leader. -
John F Kennedy's elected president of the United States.
The citizens of the U.S. elect John F. Kennedy as president. At the time of his election, the bonds between communist Cuba and Soviet Union were strengthening and seen as a great threat to U.S. borders. -
Bay of Pigs
The United States CIA sent a force of 1400 into Cuba on a secret mission to overthrow the communist regime of Fidel Castro. They were overwhelmed by the Cuban forces over 20,000. It was a humiliating defeat for the U.S. and created stronger ties between Cuba and the Soviet Union. -
Cuban Missile crisis and Kennedy's action
With evidence of the Soviet Union sending missiles and weapons to Cuban territory through naval waters, President Kennedy issues a televised demand to the Soviet Premiere Nikita Khrushchev to remove all missles from Cuba. He also ordered a blockade to prevent Soviet ships from delivering weapons and missiles to Cuba. -
Compromise and new beginnings
The Soviet Union and the U.S. reach an agreement in the face of surmounting tensions and looming war. The Soviets were to remove all missiles from Cuba and dismantle all launch sites. The U.S. would agree not to invade Cuba and would remove nuclear armed missiles from Turkey which could have been used to attack the Soviet Union. New ground is broken for peace talks and diplomacy with the Soviet Union.
