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Fidel castro and cuban revolution up to missile crisis
Fidel castros rise to power
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Guerrilla Warfare: An Instruction Manual that Provides Little Success From July 26, 1953 to January 1, 1959, Fidel Castro led an uprising against the incumbent Cuban president, Flugencio Batista. This insurrection, known as the Cuban Revolution, was successful in the overthrow of the Batista government and implemented a socialist state under Castro’s rule. By 1961, Fidel Castro became the undisputed leader of Cuba with strong popular and military support. Although Castro was the figurehead for revolution in Cuba, his brother Raúl and friend Ernesto “Che” Guevara were instrumental in helping the revolution to succeed. Guevara, an Argentine native, was passionate about guerrilla movements and social revolution. Throughout his life, he traveled around Latin America and pursued his passion of being a transnational revolutionary. His biggest success was in Cuba, however, his ideas and tactics were transcended into many other movements around the continent with the publication of his 1960 book, Guerrilla Warfare. Here, Guevara illustrates the situations, tactics and skills that are most effective for social revolution to occur. In his book, he delves into innate detail regarding the strategy, tactics and favorable environment for guerrilla warfare. Although he outlines the necessary conditions for a triumphant revolution, Guevara’s book was not useful for sparking any other successful insurgencies throughout Latin America because it downplays the significance of the urban resistance and popular support as important factors to consider within a successful social revolution. Guerrilla warfare played a critical role in the Cuban Revolution, but the mobilization of peasants in rural terrain was not entirely responsible for the... ... middle of paper ... ... We offer an outline, not a bible,” (Guevara, 1961). Therefore, it can be inferred that his writing deals only with the experiences and conditions that were created in context with the Cuban revolution. Many rebels in other Latin American countries however, took his handbook on guerrilla warfare to be a strict guide. Guevara’s tactics and strategies have not led to a successful revolution in any country aside from Cuba. Although he gives helpful guidelines, the guerrilla fight is not the only factor in a successful rebellion. The lack of popular support and unclear urban resistance patterns in countries like Venezuela and Guatemala led to less than ideal conditions for guerrilla warfare. The fact that Guevara glazes over the importance of these two circumstances in the rebel movement makes his book unsuccessful in spawning revolution throughout Latin America.
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.
Fidel Castro, Ho Chi Minh, Mao Tse-tung, “Che” Guevara, Osama bin Laden and others have professed unique qualifications as innovators and practitioners of Guerrilla warfare. However, in our relatively short military history, we have periodically had to use or defend against irregular warfare. During the French and Indian Wars as well as the Revolutionary War, we were the guerrillas. In the Civil War, there were the partisan operations of Mosby, Forrest and the outlaw Quantrill, who played a key role in the Confederacy’s ability to wage effective war against the numerically and industrially superior Union for over four years. It is often forgotten, that regular forces require a ratio of ten to one to prevail against a partisan operating on their native soil3. Nevertheless, one thing remains constant: the adaptability and courage of the American Soldier under the harshest of circumstances continues to allow them to prevail.
The Cuban Revolution began in 1959 when a small group of guerrillas overthrew the dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista. There were several main goals to the revolution that revolved around improvement of the lives of Cuban citizens. Even though these goals were not all completely successful, most of the fundamentals of...
The Andes had a legacy of resistance that was unseen in other Spanish occupied place during the colonial period. There were rebellions of various kinds as a continued resistance to conquest. In the “Letters of Insurrection”, an anthology of letters written amongst the indigenous Andean people, between January and March 1781 in what is now known as Bolivia, a statement is made about the power of community-based rebellion. The Letters of Insurrection displays effects of colonization and how the “lesser-known” revolutionaries that lived in reducción towns played a role in weakening colonial powers and creating a place of identification for indigenous people.
Adams, Jerome R. Liberators and Patriots of Latin America. Jefferson, NC and London: McFarland & Company Inc., Publishers, 1991. Print.
The Castro Revolution, which first started in the early 1950’s, involved a massive number of casualties at the cost of an insurgent victory. The Cuban President at that time, Fulgencio Batista was ousted and replaced with a revolutionary socialist state. Originally seizing power from a military coup, he lost popularity while serving his second term and was highly criticized for his dictatorial leadership resulting in organized crime, high unemployment rates, and a failing water infrastructure (Diaz-Briquets). Later, Fidel Castro listed grievances against Batista for his corruption and private police force. Failing to achieve a response they wanted, Castro organized disgruntled members of the working class to overthrow Batista’s regime. After a failed attempt and being imprisoned, the Castro brothers again tried to organize an overthrow once they were released.
The accounts of Ernesto Che Guevara on his nine month long motorcycle journey through Latin America exhibited the necessity for change and prompted him to become involved in the Cuban revolution. At the height of his passion he showed this by stating, “The future belongs to the people, and gradually, or in one strike, they will take power, here and in every country. The terrible thing is the people need to be educated, and this they cannot do before taking power, only after” (Guevara).
Che Guevara attempted to have a revolution in Bolivia and Guatemala. In Mexico, he trained for his return to Cuba in 1956. The textbook also mentions how Fidel Castro formed local camps as a new revolutionary power (510). They continued to fight in urban areas. It was not until 1959 where they defeated Batista and his government. Many people were happy because Fidel Castro became the president of Cuba. The Cuban people had faith in Fidel Castro to improve the state of Cuba and benefit the people unlike Batista. The Caribbean: A History of the Region and Its People state that, “In 1958 almost all Cubans agreed that a renewed Cuban nationalism would approve their future,”
Che Guevara had developed an “affinity for the poor” from a very young age. (4) During his medical studies he made two motorcycle trips, and wrote an account called The Motorcycle Diaries which would become a The New York Times best-seller. During this time he witnessed vast poverty, and especially in Chile he became enraged at the working conditions of the miners describing them as “the shivering flesh-and-blood victims of capitalist exploitation”. (5) When Guevara began working in a general hospital in Mexico his first wife Hilda noted that he considered going to work as a doctor in Africa and that he continued to be de...
The purpose of my research is to analyze Che Guevara, and what motivated him to be a revolutionist. Che (Ernesto) Guevara was a doctor turned revolutionist, who fought for social equality. He was an immense part of the Cuban revolution, becoming a legend. The concepts I will be discussing are on how his upbringing influenced his social development. His parents raised him with left-wing political viewpoints causing him to support social equality, and oppose hierarchies. He was also severely disturbed by the poverty in the world, especially due to the fact he found the people with the least to be the kindest. He read several books written by revolutionists, and political leaders that were kept in his family library - educating himself on
Che Guevara and Alberto Granado experienced and witnessed firsthand the increasing poverty and injustice during their infamous trip across the continent in 1952. The nature of the revolutionary political and social conditions of Latin America that Che confronts reflect the issues resulting from the capitalist society of northern America. The capitalist economic system in the United States completely ruined the economies of south America. South america was responsible for providing raw materials for the industrial society up north with few benefits in return. As Capitalism had profound effects on south America, it wasn't until Che witnessed these effects with his own eyes that he was able to understand the degree to which the injustice was.
The phrase “militant nonviolence” used to describe the type of protest that Chavez wishes his followers to perform conveys a message to organize in military like peaceful protests, in order to successfully
“The Killing Machine: Che Guevara, From Communist Firebrand to Capitalist Brand.” Llosa, Alvaro Vargas. The New Republic. July 11, 2005.
Already in the 1970s American students, some of whom were activists of the «Panther Party», traveled to Cuba to Castro for cleaning sugar cane and returned home with the book of Carlos Marighella, which was the guidelines for the management of guerrilla warfare in an urban environment. It was popular not only in America, the book became a favorite reading for Italian «Red Brigades», the Irish Republican Army, and for such a group as «Baader - Meinhof». In the 1960s, «Black Panthers» were consumers of multiple sources
Essays and memoirs of the Ten Years War were written by authors who saw their works as writings for a new generation of Cubans. They sought to motivate patriotism with stories of courageousness, and achieve new successes through the telling of past mistakes and failures. They wanted to depict the first war in a way that would inspire activists to prepare for the next one, and by doing so, writings of the old war became a medium in which the course of a new revolt would be influenced. Writing then became more then just words on paper; it became a weapon that was fundamental to the strategy of insurgency (115).