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His life
Fidel Castro was born in Eastern Cuba. His father was a Spanish immigrant who became rich by building rail systems to transport sugar cane. -
Participated in a movement to overthrow the dictator
When Castro was a student, he got involved in revolutionary politics. He later participated in an attempt to overthrow the Dominican dictator Rafael Trujillo organised by Cubans and Dominican exiles.
He continued to participate in urban riots, and he showed his anti-American beliefs. -
Led rebels against Batista
In 1951, Castro ran for a seat in the House of Representatives as a member of the Orthodox party. However, General Fulgencio Batista organised a coup d'etat before the elections were held.
Due to this, Fidel Castro led 160 rebels in an attack on Cuba's second largest military base, on the Moncada Barracks. Although his plan was to seize weapons and announce the revolution from the radio station, he couldn't defeat the defense and was sent to prison for 15 years, along with most of the soldiers. -
26th of July movement
Batista granted a general amnesty to all political prisoners, and this included Fidel Castro. When he was freed, he went to Mexico with his brother, where he organised the 26th of July movement to commemorate the attack of the army barracks that happened two years earlier.
To do this, he also joined Ernesto “Che” Guevara, an Argentinian idealist Marxist. -
Landing on Cuban coast
With other 81 men, Castro landed on the Cuban coast to take over Barista's government. However, all of them were killed except for 12 of them, one of them being Fidel. They retreated into the Sierra Maestra mountain range, and many revolutionary volunteers joined them. They won many battles against Batista's forces, and were supported by the peasants. Meanwhile, the US sent aid to Batista. -
Fidel Castro took control of the government
During 1958, many other Cuban groups opposed Batista, and the US stopped giving him military aid. In December, Batista's forces crumbled under an attack in the city of Santa Clara, so the 1st of January Batista left to the Dominican Republic and Castro took control over the Cuban government. -
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His rule
Since he was more charismatic than the other rebel leaders, Castro was made Prime Minister to the new provisional government.
Cuba under his rule was the first communist state in the Western Hemisphere. -
Bay of Pigs
When Castro declared that his government was Marxist, many rich Cuban citizens went to the United States, where the CIA trained them to overthrow his government. These exiles, in April, tried to invade Cuba in an invasion known as the Bay of Pigs. However, this was really unsuccessful. -
Cuban Missile Crisis
The Soviet Union, in response of the Bay of Pigs, gave more support to Cuba, placing in the island offensive nuclear missiles. The Cuban Missile Crisis started when the US found out about this, because they wouldn't have time to react if the missiles were activated. However, this ended when the US and the Soviet Union agreed to remove these missiles in exchange of the US promising to not try to invade Cuba again. -
Stopped being in power
In 2006, Castro was feeling ill, and he left his younger brother, Raúl, in control of Cuba temporarily. Two years later, he officially left power. -
Death
Fidel Castro died at 90 years of age in La Habana, in Cuba.