Military history of Cuba
After the Cuban Revolution in 1959 and communist takeover by Fidel Castro, Cuba became involved in several Cold War conflicts in Africa and the Middle East, where it supported Marxist governments and fought against Western proxies.
[2] The loss of East European subsidies at the end of the Cold War weakened the Cuban Revolutionary Armed Forces.
As a result of that battle, the Spanish squadron captured an English vessel with 300 sailors, and its captives were forced to work on Havana's defensive structures.
[11] In July 1741, British forces seized Guantánamo Bay largely unopposed, in preparation for their attack on Santiago de Cuba.
[13][14] Although the Havana squadron had rarely left its port after 1741, it had effectively become a fleet in being, threatening British convoys in the Straits of Florida and preventing any potential offensive operations against the French colony of Saint-Domingue.
The commander of the Havana squadron, Andrés Reggio, initially sailed to intercept them but later ordered a return to port due to the enemy's superior numbers.
The following day, Spanish officials notified Knowles of a preliminary peace agreement between Britain and Spain, and that all hostilities were to cease immediately.
Facing financial strain from its ongoing war with France and support for Prussia, the British, recognized the impracticality of prolonged conflict with the Spanish Empire and instead opted to capture Havana in Cuba and Manila in the Philippines to deliver a "decisive blow" against Spain's trading economy and force them to negotiate for peace.
[18] Havana was chosen as the target for the attack due to its significance as a rendezvous point for the Spanish treasure fleet and because of its military infrastructure, including the Royal Shipyard of Havana—one of three pivotal naval shipbuilding and repair yards Spain possesses in the region.
The British set sail for Havana on 26 May 1762, with the invasion fleet capturing four Spanish naval vessels at the Old Bahama Channel on 2 June.
As a result of the peace, Spain was forced to cede Spanish Florida to the British, although received the Louisiana territory of New France as compensation.
Nicolas Chauvin de La Frénière, the territory's attorney general, played a crucial role in rallying French Creole merchants against Spain's trade restrictions.
Cuban soldiers fought alongside Mexicans, Spaniards, Puerto Ricans, and Dominicans under General Bernardo de Gálvez' command as far north as present-day Michigan.
[21] The establishment of a paid insular police force in 1851, akin to the Spanish Civil Guard, further reduced the importance of the militia.
Dominican exiles, including Máximo Gómez, Luis Marcano and Modesto Díaz, joined the new Revolutionary Army and provided its initial training and leadership.
[26] With reinforcements and guidance from the Dominicans, the Cuban rebels defeated Spanish detachments, cut railway lines, and gained dominance over vast sections of the eastern portion of the island.
[29] Gómez began an invasion of Western Cuba in 1875; he burned 83 plantations around Sancti Spíritus within a six-week period and freed their slaves.
From 22–24 June, the U.S. V Corps under General William R. Shafter landed at Daiquirí and Siboney, east of Santiago, and established an American base of operations.
A contingent of Spanish troops, having fought a skirmish with the Americans near Siboney on 23 June, had retired to their lightly entrenched positions at Las Guasimas.
An advance guard of U.S. forces under former Confederate General Joseph Wheeler ignored Cuban scouting parties and orders to proceed with caution.
They caught up with and engaged the Spanish rearguard of 1,500 soldiers led by General Antero Rubín who effectively ambushed them, in the Battle of Las Guasimas on 24 June.
Batista created a consultative council from pliable political personalities of all parties who appointed him President months before elections were to be held in 1952.
Batista’s past democratic and pro-labor tendencies and the fear of another episode of bloody violence gained him tenuous support from the bankers, and the leader of the major labor confederation.
The Cuban Revolution started as an uprising that resulted in the overthrow of the Fulgencio Batista government on 1 January 1959 by Fidel Castro and other revolutionary elements in the country.
Che Guevara and Raúl Castro helped to consolidate rebel political control in the forests and mountains through guerrilla fighting, building trust with campesinos, and severely punishing traitors and informers.
[34] Militant anti-Castro groups, funded by exiles, by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and by Rafael Trujillo's Dominican government, carried out armed attacks and set up guerrilla bases in the Escambray Mountains.
The Cuban armed forces, trained and equipped by Eastern Bloc nations[citation needed], defeated the exile combatants in three days.
During the Congo Crisis, a Cuban expedition led by Che Guevara trained the Simba rebels to fight against the weak central government of Joseph Kasa-Vubu and the forces of Mobutu Sese Seko.
The National Liberation Army was defeated and Che Guevara was captured by the Bolivia government aided by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency.
MPLA was aided by Cuba and the Soviet Union, and UNITA and FNLA were supported by South Africa, United States and Zaire.
