Fidel Castro's Role in the Cuban Revolution
Fidel Castro can be seen as the main instigator of the Cuban Revolution. Before his more well known reputation as a Revolutionist, Fidel Castro studied law at the University of Havana, being given this opportunity through being the illegitimate son of a wealthy plantation owner. In 1952, he had planned to run for a seat in the Cuban Senate. However, the elections were cancelled due to Batista's Coup. Before his success in 1959, Castro had attempted to spark an uprising in Cuba by leading a collection of students in an attack against military barracks near Santiago in 1953. Though this initial attempt ended in what could be called a disaster, he became a national hero, largely due to his four hour speech "La Historia Me Absolvena" that he gave during his trial. This lead to Castro actually getting pardoned by Batista, who did so in hopes to earn the people's admiration. This was probably one of the worst possible moves on Batista's behalf as Castro went into exile in Mexico where he began to train a new invasion force. Barely over a year after being pardoned, Castro returned with eighty men to invade Cuba. The original plan was for the men to land under the shroud of disorder caused by mainland riots instigated by members of the cause, but the two incidents did coincide and thus the men landed some time after the riots during the day and were immediately attacked. Only twelve of the landing troopers survived, regrouping in the Sierra Maestra Mountains. Despite this, Castro still managed to succeed in overthrowing Batista's rule and take control. For the first time in modern history, Cuba was given the chance to rule over itself with complete autonomy, without influence from the US or any other power being forced upon it.
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