Cuban History
When Christopher Columbus arrived in Cuba for the first time on the 27th of October, 1492, and sailed around the Cuban Northeastern coast during forty days, he not only found a lush vegetation, but also peaceful and naive aboriginals presenting him with cotton, a sort of spin yarn and small pieces of gold, all of which they would trade for valueless trinkets.
Two years later, when exploring the South coast of Cuba during his second trip, the Admiral would realize there were several groups of indigenous inhabitants. The natives from the East of the country that were travelling with him could not understand the language of those that lived in the Western region.
Indeed, settlements in the island started four thousand years before with several migrations: the firsts, most probably coming from the North through Florida, and then several migration waves most probably coming from the Orinoco River through the arc of the Antilles.
When the Spanish conquest began there were about 100 000 natives in the island, each group with different degrees of social and cultural development. The oldest and most backward group —¾ which had almost disappeared by the 15th century ¾ made a living on fishing and fruit collection, and made their instruments with the shells of large mollusks. Another, more advanced, group made instruments mainly of stone and some with shells, and lived on fishing and hunting. The more advanced group, originally from South America, belonged to the aruacos. These practiced agriculture, and with their main crop, tapioca, made the casaba, which could not only be consumed immediately, but could last long enough to be preserved. They made ceramic jars and other objects and manufactured a variety of objects from shells and stone. They lived in "bohíos", thatched palm wood huts grouped in small "aboriginal" settlements. For centuries, the bohíos were an important element in the "habitat" of Cuban peasants.
Spanish settlers established the raising of cattle, sugarcane, and tobacco as Cuba's primary economic pursuits. As the native Indian population died out, African slaves were imported to work the ranches and plantations. Slavery was abolished in 1886.
Cuba was the last major Spanish colony to gain independence, following a 50-year struggle begun in 1850. The fight for independence against Spain began on 10 October 1868, with the War of the Ten Years (1868-1878). At it's height, there were 8,000 troops, badly armed, worse fed and dressed, and without payment. However, they did inflict 80,000 casualties on the Spanish Field army in Cuba.
From the beginning of the insurrection there was a consensus about the necessity to count on a disciplined army and a centralized control. Nevertheless, the predominant regionalism in the Cuban society of that time, together with diverse factors of political, economic and social character -- fundamentally the contradictions of the radical sector of the class landowner who directed the war until the final stage -- prevented that this intention became in fact.
Those were the fundamental causes that they lead to the tragic outcome of that fight with the capitulation of the Pact of the Trench, after the revolutionaries had fought heroically during a decade. The revolutionary cause could be saved for future persistence thanks to the strong protest of Baraguá, carried out by greater general Antonio Maceo.
When again the Cubans rose in arms in 1895, the fight had been prepared politically during several years under the guide of Jose Martí. The lesson of 1868 was learned by the patriots. The Army of Liberation counted on order to lead the war. The greater general Maximum Go'mez assumed the position of Commander in chief from the beginning of the hostilities and remained occupying it to the end of the fight.
After concluded the campaign from Invasion to the West in 1896, the forces of the Army of liberation were organized in 6 Army Corps with 14 divisions, 34 brigades and 84 regiments, of which 34 were of cavalry and 50 of infantry and other forces. This structure responded to the territorial distribution than to the number of troops, that reached at the end of the war around 50 thousand men, of them more tha 25 thousands were under arms.
Without resources this army almost fought, by means of combined methods of fight with predominance of the irregular one, against the army more numerous than European power some sent to America (250,000 troops), inflicted 71,000 losses, and left exhausted the metropolis, without money, men nor energy to continue the war. For 1898 the Spanish troops single conserved the dominion of the cities, while the revolutionary forces were owners of the fields and the interior communications.
It was then that the American armed intervention took place under opportunistic circumstances. Spain was defeated in Cuban ground thanks to the active participation of the forces of the Army of liberation to the orders of greater general Calixto Garci'a.
Jose Marti, Cuba's national hero, began the final push for independence in 1895. In 1898, after the USS Maine sunk in Havana Harbor on February 15 due to an explosion of undetermined origin, the United States entered the conflict. In December of 1898 year Spain relinquished control of Cuba to the United States with the Treaty of Paris. On the first of January of 1899 the Spanish flag was lowered and Cuba was transformed from a Spanish colony into semicolony of the United States. The annexation was not possible by the energetic resolution of patriotic the Cubans. However, a government prevailed army finance service inspector who stayed until the 20 of May of 1902, date on that the new republic of the Cubans was based, single that mediatizada by the aims of the United States of America.
On May 20, 1902, the United States granted Cuba its independence but retained the right to intervene to preserve Cuban independence and stability under the Platt Amendment. In 1934, the amendment was repealed, and the United States and Cuba reaffirmed the 1903 agreement that leased the Guantanamo Bay naval base to the United States.
Independent Cuba was often ruled by authoritarian political and military figures who either obtained or remained in power by force. Fulgencio Batista, an army sergeant, organized a non-commissioned officer revolt in September 1933 and wielded significant power behind the scenes until he was elected president in 1940. Batista was voted out of office in 1944 and did not run in 1948. Both those elections were won by civilian political figures with the support of party organizations. Running for president again in 1952, Batista seized power in a bloodless coup 3 months before the election was to take place, suspended the balloting, and began ruling by decree. Many political figures and movements, that wanted a return to the government according to the Consititution of 1940, disputed Batista’s undemocratic rule.
Fidel Castro, who had been active politically before Baista's coup, on July 26, 1953 led a failed attack on the Moncada army barracks in Santiago de Cuba, was jailed, and subsequently went into exile in Mexico. There he organized the 26th of July Movement with the goal of overthrowing Batista, and the group sailed to Cuba on board the yacht Granma, landing in the eastern part of the island in December 1956.
Batista's dictatorial rule fueled increasing popular discontent and the rise of many active urban and rural resistance groups, a fertile political environment for Castro's 26th of July Movement. Faced with a corrupt and ineffective military itself dispirited by a U.S. Government embargo on weapons sales to Cuba and public indignation and revulsion at his brutality toward opponents, Batista fled on January 1, 1959. Although he had promised a return to constitutional rule and democratic elections along with social reforms, Castro used his control of the military to consolidate his power by repressing all dissent from his decisions, marginalizing other resistance figures, and imprisoning or executing opponents. As the revolution became more radical, hundreds of thousands of Cubans fled the island.
Castro declared Cuba a socialist state on April 16, 1961. For the next 30 years, Castro pursued close relations with the Soviet Union until the demise of the U.S.S.R. in 1991. Relations between the United States and Cuba deteriorated rapidly as the Cuban regime expropriated U.S. properties and moved toward adoption of a one-party communist system. In response, the United States imposed an embargo on Cuba in October 1960, and, in response to Castro's provocations, broke diplomatic relations on January 3, 1961. Tensions between the two governments peaked during the October 1962 missile crisis.
