1890s
Withdrawal of Spanish colonial government from Cuba. Cuba becomes a republic.

1926
Castro born.

1945
Castro goes to study in Havana. He becomes a student activist and political agitator and leader.

1952
Democratic elections in which Castro planned to stand are called off. Fulgencio Batista takes over.

1953
First armed action by Castro's guerrillas at Moncada Barracks. Castro is imprisoned.

1954
Freed in an amnesty; flees to Mexico.

1956
'Granma' invasion by Castro and a small force: another failure.

1956-9
Civil war against Batista's government.

1959
Batista flees. Castro enters Havana and forms a government.

1961
Bay of Pigs invasion backed by the CIA turns Castro definitely against the USA.

1962
Cuban missile crisis.

1967
Death of Che Guevara in Bolivia.

1970s
Cuban support for the 'liberation' forces in Africa and South America. Castro plays a leading role in Third World politics and the 'Non-Aligned' movement.

1989
Fall of the Berlin Wall.

1991
December: Soviet Union ceases to exist. The collapse of communism signals economic disaster for Cuba which has become totally dependent on Moscow.

• Spanish Empire
• Fulgencio Batista
• Che Guevara
• CIA
• Nikita Khrushchev
• President J.F. Kennedy (1917-63)
• Bay of Pigs
• Non-Aligned Movement

Along with the Portuguese, the Spanish were the great colonisers of Central and South America. Cuba was the jumping-off point for many of their expeditions to Mexico, Peru, and so on, from the 16th century onwards. The Spanish Empire gradually declined from the end of the 16th century, through wars, treaties and revolutions, until the final departure at the end of the 19th century.

The last of a series of dictators who ruled Cuba between the end of the Spanish Empire in 1890 and Fidel Castro's revolution. Although Cuba was an independent country, it gradually became more dependent on the United States, largely through the increasing dominance of the American-owned tobacco and sugar companies upon which the Cuban population depended.

One of Fidel Castro's co-revolutionaries, born into a rich Argentinian family. He was a minister in Castro's government until 1965 when he went to Bolivia as a guerrilla to start a revolution among the poor tin-miners. His status as a popular icon of the radical student left in the 1960s gained him international recognition: a phenomenon perhaps more easily explained by populist media hype than by his practical achievements as a guerrilla leader. He was shot dead by government troops in 1967. His body was returned to Cuba in 1997.

The American secret service (Central Intelligence Agency), which Fidel Castro accuses of numerous 'dirty tricks', attempts to get rid of him personally and to destabilise his regime. The CIA supported, funded and organised attempts by Cuban exiles to overthrow Castro, including the 'Bay of Pigs' invasion.

Ruler of the USSR from 1953 to 1964, at the height of the Cold War and the time of the Cuban missile crisis. He was a colourful, choleric character known for his outbursts of anger at the Western powers. He denounced Stalin's terror to an internal Communist conference in 1956, but maintained a strict Communist system.

Youngest ever President of America, elected in 1960. He approved the CIA-backed 'Bay of Pigs' invasion of Cuba. After the Soviets stationed missiles on Cuba in 1962, the world was on the brink of nuclear war. Kennedy persuaded the USSR to remove the missiles. He was assassinated in 1963 in Dallas, Texas.

Attempted invasion of Cuba in 1961 by exiles based in Miami. It was a disastrous fiasco. Afterwards, Castro abandoned his neutral stance and declared himself a Communist. He turned openly to the Soviet Union for economic and political support.

A loose collection of mainly Third World countries which declared themselves to be supporters neither of the Soviet Union nor of the NATO bloc during the Cold War. Jawaharlal Nehru of India was one of its first leaders. Castro became a prominent leader of the movement.

European contact with Cuba began with its discovery and conquest by the Spanish in the 16^th century. The capital Havana became an important commercial port. Settlers eventually moved inland and established sugar cane and tobacco plantations. As the native Indian population died out, African slaves were imported to work the plantations. Slavery was abolished in 1886. Cuba was the last major Spanish colony to gain independence, in 1898.

The United States helped the rebels who were trying to gain independence from Spain. The USA then administered the island for three years. Independence was proclaimed on May 20, 1902, although the United States retained the right to intervene to preserve Cuban independence and stability. In 1934 President Roosevelt relinquished the USA’s right to intervene, as part of his ‘Good Neighbor’ policy.

As part of this good relationship, the USA leased huge naval facilities on Guantanamo Bay. It was one of several factors which allowed the USA to dominate Cuba militarily and politically. Cuba did not have a happy history when it came to its presidents and rulers.

• Cubans elected Gen. Gerardo Machado as President in 1924, but he forcibly extended his rule until a popular uprising deposed him in 1933.
• Fulgencio Batista, a sergeant in the army, led the revolt and established himself as Cuba's dominant leader for more than 25 years. He ruled through a series of presidents and was himself elected in 1940 for four years. In March 1952, shortly before regularly scheduled elections, Batista seized the presidency in a bloodless coup.

Batista’s rule was widely associated with corruption and crime by many ordinary Cubans. He was propped up by the USA because he was violently anti-Communist, and in the post World War 2 period the USA was desperately anxious to support any anti-Communist rulers.

Ironically, it was the corruption of the Batista regime which turned so many people towards Castro’s revolutionaries, and this in turn created one of the USA’s most irritating opponents in its recent history. Castro’s appeal increased in his early years in government, with the social programmes to improve housing, health and education.

His policies were Socialist but not Communist. Having made anti-Communist statements in these early years, he then leaned towards the USSR. This was to some extent forced on him by the hostility of the USA. This alliance was to lead to one of the most serious international crises ever. Despite its seriousness, however, it is not clear how important a role was played by Castro himself. Certainly the world at large saw the Cuban Crisis as very much a Cold War confrontation between President Kennedy and the Soviet leader Khrushchev.

Since the crisis, relations between Cuba and the USA have remained tense. Certainly the regime has become more of a dictatorship. Its economic performance has continued to suffer as a result of US policies which restrict its trade. There is also a harsh climate of censorship which discourages free speech. Despite all of this, Castro has been an immensely popular figure in Cuba for most of his time as ruler there.