The story of the Cuban revolution is one you couldn't make up. Fidel Castro Ruz, a young student radical, organises his first strike against the corrupt pro-American regime of Batista on 23rd of July 1953 at the Moncada barracks near Santiago de Cuba. After the raid, which goes disastrously wrong, Castro escapes but is eventually captured and hauled before a military court where instead of meeting his end he delivers the now famous 'History will absolve me' speech:
'' I warn you, I am just beginning! If there is in your hearts a vestige of love for your country, love for humanity, love for justice, listen carefully... I know that the regime will try to suppress the truth by all possible means; I know that there will be a conspiracy to bury me in oblivion. But my voice will not be stifled – it will rise from my breast even when I feel most alone, and my heart will give it all the fire that callous cowards deny it... Condemn me. It does not matter. History will absolve me. ''
What should have been a routine trial and sentence of death is turned into a defining moment by the legally-trained Castro. Sentenced to prison for 15 years, Castro and his immediate entourage devoted themselves to planning further the revolution. Released after 2 years through political amnesty, Castro, fearing assassination flees to Mexico where he begins in earnest his preparations for war. Here he meets for the first time Ernesto 'Che' Guevara, and prepares to cross the Caribbean. A recreational yacht, the Granma, is used to take 81 revolutionaries over to Cuba from Tuxpan in Mexico.
Again disaster strikes at the landing. Che Guevara later referred to the revolutionaries' arrival as ''not as a landing, but a shipwreck.'' Attacked and dispersed, and sustaining heavy losses the remaining revolutionaries are forced to take to the Sierra Maestra mountains to seek shelter and regroup. There Castro begins to transmit radio messages to the population advocating the downfall of Batista and gathering supporters in preparation for the breakout. Finally, by 1 January 1959, Castro's guerrillas had won several important victories, overwhelming Batista's weakening troops and removing the dictator himself. From the point of defeat Castro managed yet another momentous reverse, this time leading to the formation of his new government: a government that this time, owed nothing to no-one.
