On 1 January 1959 the dictator Fulgencio Batista fled Cuba, and the rebels of the 26th of July Movement, led by Fidel Castro, with Che Guevara and Camilo Cienfuegos, took control of Havana a week later. Castro had begun the guerrilla war in the Sierra Maestra in 1956 with a handful of survivors from his landing on the Granma. He soon nationalised American property, signed trade deals with the USSR and declared the revolution socialist in 1961, the year of the failed US-sponsored Bay of Pigs invasion. Castro ruled until 2008, and Cuba became a centre of the Cold War.
Before and after
- from 1959 to 1961Great Chinese Famine
- 1959Construction of Boryspil International Airport
- 1959Founding of York University
- 1959Invention of Dijkstra's algorithm
- 1 January 1959Castro's revolution takes power in Cuba
- 2 January 1959Launch of Luna 1
- 2 February 1959Dyatlov Pass incident
- 8 February 1959Birth of Mauricio Macri
- 9 April 1959Death of Frank Lloyd Wright
More in Wars, politics & history
- 15 August 1947India and Pakistan become independent
- from 25 June 1950 to 27 July 1953Korean War
- from 1 November 1955 to 30 April 1975Vietnam War
- from 16 May 1966 to 6 October 1976Cultural Revolution
- 20 February 2014Russo-Ukrainian war
- 31 January 2020Brexit
The era
This moment belongs to the Contemporary world (1945 CE to today), the world since 1945. You can also browse everything in the 20th century.