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Cuban revolution summary
Cuban revolution summary
Brief 120 words on 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 US to build casinos, reaping the profits from the casinos and from the growing drug trade. He ignored crimes, allowing many drug dealers to continue under the condition that he got a share of the profits. He, a select group of friends, and businessmen from the US, grew richer and richer while the lower class of Cuba were poor and suffering. The people of Cuba saw this corruption and resented it, causing a gaping rift between leader and people.
However the US played a much larger role in Cuba’s past and present than the building of casinos and the introduction of the first taints of corruption. In the past, even before Batista, Americans were resented by Cubans because the Americans made a lot of Cuba’s decisions. Under Batista, 80% of Cuban imports came from the US, and the US controlled at least 50% of sugar, utilities, phones and railroads. If Cuba was a business in the stock markets, then the US would have been close to owning 50% of its shares. When combined with a long history of US-backe...
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...ies without having to be afraid#.’ Reagans is a man of the United States, so he is, perhaps, a bit biased, but life in Cuba was quite close to how he tells it. The peoples’ civil liberties were restricted under the one-party political system, information was censored, and the government spied on the people, and jailed thousands of political opponents.
So the question to ask is was life better under Castro? The answer is yes, it was an improvement, but there are remaining problems in Cuba waiting to be fixed. The health and general well-being of the population was vastly improved, but the people lived in fear and oppression. Castro didn’t change Cuba as much as he thinks.
Works Cited
Reagan, Ronald W.. Public Papers of Ronald Reagan -- Radio Address to the Cuban People on the 25th Anniversary of Their Revolution. 5-Jan-84. World Book Advanced. Web. 3 Aug. 2010.
On July 26, 1953, the war for Cuba’s independence began, and for 6 years many Cubans fought for their freedom. The most famous of these revolutionary icons being Fidel Castro, who led the main resistance against the Cuban government. On January 1, 1959, Fidel Castro and the rest of the Cuban's succeeded. This revolutionary war went on to affect the entire world and Eric Selbin believes it is still affecting it. Throughout Eric Selbin's article, Conjugating the Cuban Revolution, he firmly states that the Cuban revolution is important in the past, present, and future. Selbin, however, is wrong.
Long before our involvement, the Cubans had been leading revolts and revolutions against Spain. The Spanish empire considered Cuba to be its jewel, not only for its beauty but also for its economics. Cuba’s main source of income was from its expansive sugar plantations that greatly contributed to its wealth (more so to the Spanish Empires wealth). Ironically, even due to the high regard to Cuba, it was neglected and oppressed, as the Spanish Empire began its decline in the middle of the nineteenth century. The Empire was falling due to it slowly loosing its control over its territories, closer to the US then to Spain, because of a lack of industrializing. The Spanish would claim ownership, but never contribute back to their land. This opened the door for what is known as the 10-year war and the struggle for Cuban Independence. The United States never got directly involved, but it sympathized greatly with the Cuban’s cause, for ...
Little by little, the free people of Cuba came to realize it could happen there. The grim facts of life on an island that became a police state” (Frankel 59). Every day, Castro came closer to controlling every aspect of life in Cuba. Fidel Castro even took control of the schools in Cuba, throwing out any teacher who he thought might be “disloyal” or disagreeing with Communism.... ... middle of paper ...
Many have misconceptions of the Cuban Revolution and only see the biased American side of communism and dictatorship. However, there have been positive outcomes from it such as a more united country, one that the people all worked together in support of one cause, a new and improved society. The old was no longer working and change was needed in Cuba and the citizens worked together to make this change. One of the main positive outcomes of the revolutions was the gender relations and roles. Women stood up for themselves, gained confidence, and received respectable roles in society. After decades of having inequite among men and women, women for the first time was minimizing the gender gap that was present in Cuba.
The U.S.’s relationship with Cuba has been arduous and stained with mutual suspicion and obstinateness, and the repeated U.S. interventions. The Platt agreement and Castro’s rise to power, served to introduce the years of difficulty to come, while, the embargo the U.S. placed on Cuba, enforced the harsh feelings. The two major events that caused the most problems were the Bays of Pigs and Cuban Missile Crisis.
“What light is to the eyes - what air is to the lungs - what love is to the heart, freedom is to the soul of man” (Brainy Quotes). Light is essential to the eyes, love is what makes the heart beat, and freedom is the hope of man kind; all of which are essential to the happiness of humanity. Having to live without these rights is a difficult way of living. For example, Cubans have suffered time after time in pursuit of their freedom, but sadly they never accomplish their goal. They live in fear of their broken government, but never stop fighting for freedom. In the early 20th century, Cuba was a democracy. From 1940 to 1944 Fulgencio Batista, a Cuban politician, was Cuba’s president. In 1952 he decided to run again, but when it was apparent he’d lose, Batista seized power before the election took place. The citizens were outraged causing them to turn against their flawed democracy that was brought upon by the election. As a result, Fidel Castro, a communist revolutionary political man, began to plot Batista’s downfall. The Cuban Revolution, also known as Castro’s Revolution, began on July 26, 1952, and ended January, 1, 1959. After Batista, Cuba’s former president, fled the country, Castro took complete control and turned Cuba into a communist country. The Revolution brought upon: many deaths, censored news and publicity, and no freedom of speech. Throughout the years Castro stayed in power, but due to health issues originating on July 31, 2006, he had to step down. After Castro returned, he took control of Cuba up until February 19, 2008. He then abdicated his place as dictator and handed down his position to his brother, Raul Castro.
The United States embargo of Cuba has its roots planted in 1960, 53 years ago, when “the United States Congress authorized President Eisenhower to cut off the yearly quota of sugar to be imported from Cuba under the Sugar act of 1948… by 95 percent” (Hass 1998, 37). This was done in response to a growing number of anti-American developments during the height of the cold war, including the “expropriation of United States-owned properties on the island… [and] the Soviet Union [agreeing] to purchase sugar from Cuba and to supply Cuba with crude oil” (Hass 1998, 37). Bad sentiments continued to pile up as Cuba imposed restrictions on the United States Embassy and especially when, after the United States “officially broke off diplomatic ties with Cuba, and travel by United States citizens to Cuba was forbidden ... Castro openly proclaimed his revolution to be ‘socialist’” (Hass 1998, 38). The day after this, the Bay of Pigs invasion occurred, but it failed in its job to topple Castro (Hass 1998, 38). Left with no diplomatic options and a failed military attempt, the United States decided that the only way to end Castro’s socialist regime was to sever all ties, and from 1961 to 1996, a series of acts were passed prohibiting the majority of trade and interaction with Cuba. (Hass 1998, 38).
Clarke, Philip. “Cuba’s Newest Revolution Bloodless but Plenty Bewildering as New President Breaks Army Grip, Aims at Democracy.” The Washington Post. 22 July. 1945: B3. ProQuest. James Madison University library. 16 September 2003
Cuban Dictator was overthrown by Fidel Castor. The main problem was that the United States
So after Castro had learned a plan to throw the Dominican Republic leader, Rafael Trujillo out of office, nonetheless it had failed due to the United States stressing the continuing invasion on Castro had gone over to Dominican Republic to take over the president, however several people were caught, and detained, with Fidel Castro being one of the people who’ve fled. So after that, Castro had now gone completely Liberal because of American interventionism, and legal corruption.
The Cuban revolution was one that transformed Cuba into an independent socialist society. This revolution sent a message around the globe. The message: “ Socialism can be achieved and capitalism, with its culture stripping mechanism’s can be supplemented”. However, the revolution did leave its mark on Cuba. This can be seen in the events that took place during the early stages of the revolution. The effects of the revolution were positive for certain sections of the population and negative for others.
Before the Cuban Revolution, the U.S. military ruled Cuba when the island became a republic. Throughout the 1800’s, Cubans were revolting against Spanish rule, and in 1898, America helped defeat the Spanish. Since the United States and Cuba were so close, the U.S often intervened with Cuba’s domestic affairs. In 1959, Fidel Castro influenced a revolution, overthrowing Batista. Fidel Castro then switched Cuba’s government to communism and became close with the Soviet Union, which restricted ties with the U.S. Soon after, the United States terminated diplomatic interactions, minimizing their economic relations with Cuba. After the Cuban Revolution, Raúl Castro Ruz became the new leader of Cuba- and still is today. Relations between the U.S. and Cuba are still sparse. Travelers from the United States are still not allowed to vacation to Cuba du...
One mission by Che Guevara was he, “strove to create a proper industrial base and to diminish the economy’s dependence on sugar,” (515). To improve the milk and meat production in Cuba efforts were made to breed a new kind of cattle. This effort failed which resulted in a famine because of this and with the U. S trade embargo the Cuban government began to give rations of daily necessities to citizens, (The Caribbean: A History of the Region and Its People). Guevara efforts were too expensive for Cuba causing a crisis. The government, “decided to resolve its crisis by means of a “revolutionary offensive”: first, the nationalization of all services, restaurants, shops, and petty commercial iinstallations... witha production goal of 10 million tons of sugar (516). That goal did not work causing Fidel Castro to offer to resign. Cuba started to become a communist society. In terms of who was in charge and their role in, The Caribbean: A History of the Region and Its People state, “Castro was the visible head, the spokesman, and the international strategists while his brother Raul would become more and more the chief of personnel, the head of the armed forces and secret services,”
Many factors led to the rise of Castro’s power but finally after popular up-rises and other communistic approaches like the overthrowing the military dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista, led to him being sworn in as Cuba’s prime minister and took power in the winter of 1958 (source A & F). He turned the country of Cuba into a one-party dictatorship with a gulag which evoked fear in the hearts of his fellow
A revolution is no piece of cake. To make a revolution, there are a few necessary ingredients, like a reason to revolt, a well organized battle plan, and a powerful leader. Mix these all together, and there it is. A powerful Revolution. There are two specific revolutions that were very similar, and very successful. The american revolution was about the Colonists from Britain being treated unfairly from British Parliament. America was still under Britain Rule, and King George III was raising the taxes for the people for no reason. The colonists had no choice but revolt. The Cuban revolution was for a very similar cause. Ruler of cuba Fulgencio Batista was destroying Cuba’s economy, and the people were very angered by this. The organization was also very similar. And both countries got what they wanted, too. America got freedom from Britain, and Fidel Castro and his team overthrew Batista and took over the government. These two revolutions were both very effective.The Cuban Revolution and the American Revolution were both for the good of the people, and both revolts got what they wanted-a new, better government.