Fidel Castro — Revolutionary Leader of Cuba

Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz is born in Birán, a rural town in Oriente Province, Cuba. His father, Angel Castro y Argiz, is a wealthy Spanish immigrant sugarcane farmer. His mother, Lina Ruz Gonzalez, works as a maid before marrying Angel. The young Castro grows up in privileged rural circumstances.

Castro enters the University of Havana to study law. He becomes deeply involved in student politics and nationalist activism, joining the Orthodox Party (Partido Ortodoxo). He graduates with a Doctor of Law degree in 1950 and begins a law practice in Havana, representing poor clients.

Castro leads 165 revolutionaries in an attack on the Moncada Barracks in Santiago de Cuba, a military garrison. The attack fails, with many rebels killed. Castro is captured and put on trial, where he delivers his famous four-hour defense speech, "History Will Absolve Me," which becomes the manifesto of the Cuban Revolution.

After being released in a political amnesty, Castro goes into exile in Mexico. There he meets the Argentine doctor Ernesto "Che" Guevara and organizes the 26th of July Movement, a guerrilla force dedicated to overthrowing the US-backed dictator Fulgencio Batista. They train in secret with former Spanish Republican fighters.

Castro and 81 revolutionaries sail from Mexico to Cuba aboard the yacht Granma. Most are killed or captured upon landing, but Castro, Che Guevara, Raul Castro, and a handful of others escape into the Sierra Maestra mountains. The survivors begin a guerrilla war that gradually attracts popular support across Cuba.

Batista flees Cuba as the revolutionaries take power. Castro's column enters Havana on January 8. The 26th of July Movement, in alliance with other revolutionary groups, forms a new government. Castro becomes Prime Minister of Cuba on February 16, 1959, beginning five decades of rule.

Approximately 1,500 CIA-trained Cuban exiles land at the Bay of Pigs in an attempt to overthrow Castro. The invasion is defeated within three days by Cuban armed forces. The failed invasion strengthens Castro's domestic position, pushes Cuba closer to the Soviet Union, and leads Castro to declare the socialist nature of the revolution.

The discovery of Soviet nuclear missiles in Cuba triggers the Cuban Missile Crisis, the closest the Cold War comes to nuclear war. Castro argues for a preemptive nuclear strike against the US but is overruled by Khrushchev. The crisis ends with the USSR agreeing to remove missiles in exchange for the US not invading Cuba.

The Communist Party of Cuba is formally established as the sole legal party, with Castro as First Secretary. The revolutionary government nationalizes all industry, collectivizes agriculture, and establishes a Soviet-aligned socialist state. Cuba becomes the first communist state in the Western Hemisphere.

Operation Carlota begins: Cuba sends thousands of troops to Angola to support the Marxist MPLA government against rebel groups backed by South Africa and the United States. The intervention, which lasts until 1991, is Castro's most significant foreign military engagement and helps end apartheid South Africa's regional aggression.

Citing illness, Castro formally steps down as President of the Council of State and Commander-in-Chief, six months after undergoing emergency intestinal surgery. His brother Raul Castro succeeds him as president. Fidel remains the First Secretary of the Communist Party until 2011.

Fidel Castro dies in Havana at the age of 90. His death triggers both mourning in Cuba and among leftists worldwide, and celebration among Cuban exiles in Miami. The Cuban government declares nine days of national mourning. His ashes are interred at the Santa Ifigenia Cemetery in Santiago de Cuba, next to the mausoleum of Jose Marti.