The revolution wasn’t in favour of any particular thing. It was simply anti-Batista. After the Moncada attack, Castro was imprisoned on the Island of Pines, now the Island of Youth (Isla de la Juventud) In 1954 Batista ‘won’ another election. To make himself more popular, he freed Castro and other rebels in 1955.

Staying in Cuba was dangerous Castro left Cuba for Mexico to “train” as a rebel. He received instruction from successful fighters in rebellions in Mexico, Morocco and Spain. He also recruited others to fight with him when he returned to Cuba. Among those he recruited: Raul Castro (his brother) had also taken part in the Moncada attack. Camillo Cienfeugos, who came from a family of radicals in Spain. Ernesto Guevara, an Argentinian communist who was trained as a doctor and nicknamed ‘Che’.

A 12-man yacht was hired and 83 rebels boarded in 1956 The yacht was called “Granma” It landed in Oriente near Santiago, where Jose Marti had landed Batista knew they were coming and many were killed. 16 escaped to the mountains in the Sierra Maestra, including Che, the Castro brothers, and Cienfuegos. Like Marti and the Independence War fighters, they then fought a guerilla war against Batista’s army. At first they just aimed to survive. By 1957 they were attacking army outposts.

Batista ordered 12,000 soldiers to attack Castro’s force in “Operation Verano”. Morale among the soldiers was low, and it didn’t start well. In the first battle, Che Guevara (who was commanding a group because he was one of the most experienced) lost 3 men but killed 86. In the Battle of La Plata, Batista’s army lost 71 dead and over 400 surrendered. There were no rebel loses. In the Battle of Las Mercedes, Castro’s rebels lost 50 men but managed to negotiate with the army. This made the army look weak and further lowered morale.

After defeating Operation Verano, the rebels began to attack. Cienfuegos besieged and (eventually) defeated the government troops at Yaguajay The decisive battle was the Battle of Santa Clara. Guevara’s group of 300 rebels defeated government troops numbering 2,900 The victory was broadcast over the rebel radio station, “Radio Rebelde” No city now stood between the rebels and Havana On 2 nd January 1959, Cienfuegos and Guevara took Havana and Castro took Santiago with no resistance