Cuban Revolution

The armed movement that overthrew Fulgencio Batista’s government in 1959 and brought Fidel Castro’s revolutionary government to power in Cuba.

Fulgencio Batista: Cuban military officer and politician who ruled Cuba as dictator from 1952 until 1959. His 1952 coup and government became the revolution’s central target.
Sierra Maestra: A mountain range in southeastern Cuba that served as the main rural base of Castro’s insurgency. Rebel forces organized and expanded their guerrilla campaign from its terrain.
Fidel Castro: Cuban revolutionary and political leader who led the insurgency against Batista and governed Cuba after 1959. He commanded the movement and became the new government’s principal leader.
Cuban Agrarian Reform Law of 1959: A Cuban law that redistributed large landholdings and placed limits on private agricultural ownership. It translated revolutionary promises into a sweeping restructuring of landholding.
Cuban Revolution of 1933: A political upheaval that overthrew Gerardo Machado and produced a short-lived revolutionary government in Cuba. Unlike the 1959 victory, it did not establish a durable revolutionary government.
Cuban coup d'état of 1952: The military coup in which Fulgencio Batista seized power in Cuba on March 10, 1952. It ended constitutional government and helped catalyze armed opposition.
Guerrilla warfare: Irregular warfare in which small forces use mobility, concealment, and surprise against stronger opponents. Castro’s rebels relied on this strategy against Batista’s larger military.
Che Guevara: Argentine-born Marxist revolutionary who fought with Castro’s forces and helped lead the Cuban government after 1959. His guerrilla command contributed to rebel victories, especially at Santa Clara.
Cuban literacy campaign: A nationwide 1961 campaign that mobilized volunteers to teach literacy across Cuba. It became a prominent social program launched by the revolutionary government.
Cuban Communist Party: Cuba’s ruling communist party, founded in its present form in 1965 after earlier communist organizations merged. Its institutional dominance developed after the revolution, not as the original insurgency’s defining structure.

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