The Cuban Civil War: From Batista to Castro

On March 10, 1952 Fulgencio Batista seized power in Cuba, twenty years after the Revolt of the Sergeants. Batista then conquered and replaced the democratically elected Cuban president Carlos Prío Socorras and christened himself dictator. The coup, led by Batista, took place only three months before upcoming elections that he would have no doubt lost; also involved in that election was a young, energetic lawyer named Fidel Castro. On March 27, 1952, the United States under President Dwight D. Eisenhower formally recognized the government of Fulgencio Batista, a move that would prove vital to the dictator’s success. With the United States at his back, Batista was able to initiate any form of changes he so desired. The revisions that Batista fabricated meant multiple alterations in the economic, political, and social lives of the Cuban people, enough to peak rising tensions into an outbreak of civil war.
Shortly following his recognition from the United States, Batista made...