Who ruled Cuba before the revolution?

Fulgencio Batista
In office March 10, 1952 – January 1, 1959
Prime Minister	Andrés Domingo Jorge García Montes Andrés Rivero Agüero Emilio Núñez Portuondo Gonzalo Güell
Vice President	Rafael Guas Inclán
Preceded by	Carlos Prío Socarrás

What did the Cuban Revolution result in?

Aftermath of the Cuban Revolution

Part of the Cold War
Che Guevara (left) and Fidel Castro (right) in 1961.
Date	1959-1970
Location	Cuba
Outcome	Series of events including… Escambray rebellion Cuban exile Land reform in Cuba Bay of Pigs Invasion United States embargo against Cuba

What Cuba originally called?

The name of Cuba itself, Havana, Camagüey, and many others were derived from Classic Taíno, and indigenous words such as tobacco, hurricane and canoe were transferred to English and are used today.

How did Cuba fall to communism?

Open corruption and oppression under Batista’s rule led to his ousting in January 1959 by the 26th of July Movement, which afterwards established communist rule under the leadership of Fidel Castro. Since 1965, the state has been governed by the Communist Party of Cuba.

What was life like in Cuba during the 1960s?

Cubans grew accustomed to the luxuries of American life. They drove American cars, owned TVs, watched Hollywood movies and shopped at Woolworth’s department store. The youth listened to rock and roll, learned English in school, adopted American baseball and sported American fashions.

What is it like to live in Cuba?

Currently less than five percent of Cubans even have access to the internet. That said, income inequality was huge in the era presented in these photographs. The wealthy, like socialite Aline Johnson de Menocal, the woman you see in the photographs below, lived like royalty compared to your average Cuban person.

What was life like for poor peasants in Cuba?

In the countryside, some Cubans lived in abysmal poverty. Sugar production was seasonal, and the macheteros — sugarcane cutters who only worked four months out of the year — were an army of unemployed, perpetually in debt and living on the margins of survival. Many poor peasants were seriously malnourished and hungry.

What was the mood of the 1959 Cuban Revolution?

Author Carlos Alberto Montaner describes the mood: “the talk was about democracy, freedom and respect for human rights; the… objective was to restore the rule of law that had been swept aside by Batista.” Fidel and Raul Castro with Che Guevara, 1959.