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Period: to
1952 - 1962
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April 10, 1952- Batista takes over Cuba
Fulgencio Batista led Cuba as a dictator from 1952 to 1959. -
July 26, 1953- Cuban Revolution begins
On July 26, 1953, Fidel Castro led a small group of revolutionaries in an attack against The Moncada Barracks, a military barracks in Santiago de Cuba. The armed attack is widely accepted as the beginning of the Cuban Revolution. -
January 1, 1959- Fidel Castro overthrows Batista
Castro's takeover of the country means that Cuba becomes the first Communist state in the Western hemisphere. President Dwight Eisenhower institutes a ban on all exports to Cuba. -
April 17, 1961- Bay of Pigs Invasion fails
Eisenhower breaks diplomatic ties with Cuba completely. The Bay of Pigs invasion, which is a led by the CIA-sponsored paramilitary group Brigade 2506, fails and ultimately is seen as having the opposite of its intended effect: Castro's leadership is strengthened, and he becomes a national hero. -
October 22, 1962- Cuban Missile Crisis
U.S. President John F Kennedy notified Americans about the discovery of a Soviet missile base on the island, his decision to enact a naval blockade around Cuba, and made it clear the U.S. was prepared to use military force to neutralize this perceived threat to national security. Many people feared nuclear war. Kennedy and Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev negotiated a deal to withdraw Soviet weapons from Cuba and U.S. weapons from Turkey.
