Fulgencio Batista Biography

Helps lead the Sergeants' Revolt against the officer corps.

Becomes Cuba's dominant military power after the 1933 revolution.

Becomes constitutional president under the 1940 constitution.

Seizes power by military coup before scheduled elections.

His forces repress surviving rebels after the Moncada attack.

Holds an election without effective opposition.

Grants amnesty to surviving Moncada prisoners.

Batista suppresses the Barquin officers' conspiracy within the army.

Lands from the Granma with Castro's rebel expedition.

His forces hunt the Granma survivors.

Lands from the Granma with Castro's rebel expedition.

Intensifies repression against urban and rural opposition.

The United States restricts arms supplies to Batista's government.

Survives the Revolutionary Directorate assault on the palace.

The fall of Santa Clara convinces Batista the war is lost.

The fall of Santa Clara convinces Batista the war is lost.

The fall of Santa Clara convinces Batista the war is lost.

The rebels had succeeded in breaking out of the Sierra Maestra and launch a general insurrection, joined by hundreds of students and others fleeing Batista's crackdown on dissent in the cities

The attitude of Batista changes in the spring of 1958 as Castro started to gain international recognition and he called for a General Strike

The offensive is designed to crush Fidel Castro's revolutionary army, who had been growing in strength in the area of the Sierra Maestra hills since their arrival in Cuba onboard the Granma yacht in December 1956

A bad decision was to divide operational control between two Generals, Cantillo and the ineffective (but politically well connected) General Alberto del Rio Chaviano

Batista elects to destroy Castro's small army so in May 1958, General Eulogio Cantillo is given the mission of destroying Castro's forces in the Sierra Maestra.

The attitude of Batista changes in the spring of 1958 as Castro started to gain international recognition and he called for a General Strike.

The offensive is designed to crush Fidel Castro's revolutionary army, who had been growing in strength in the area of the Sierra Maestra hills since their arrival in Cuba onboard the Granma yacht in December 1956.

The United States restricts arms supplies to Batista's government.

The United States restricts arms supplies to Batista's government.

The United States restricts arms supplies to Batista's government.

Faces a United States arms embargo as rebel pressure grows.

Commands Batista's summer offensive against Castro's guerrillas.

Batista divides responsibility between Cantillo and Chaviano during planning for the offensive.

Launches a summer offensive against Castro's guerrillas.

Batista approves the campaign known as Plan FF, meaning Final Phase or End of Fidel.

Batista intends to eliminate Castro's growing guerrilla force before it expands further.

Batista assigns Cantillo the mission of destroying Castro's forces in the Sierra Maestra.

Batista authorises a large army operation against the 26th of July Movement.

Batista commits multiple battalions to the offensive despite many soldiers being inexperienced recruits.

Batista's army begins coordinated attacks into the Sierra Maestra.

Operation Verano suffers a major defeat at La Plata.

Batista's government loses Battalion 18 after its encirclement at La Plata.

Batista's army attempts to lure Castro's fighters into an encirclement at Las Mercedes.

Castro's forces escape destruction at Las Mercedes.

By August 8th, Castro's entire army had escaped back into the mountains, Operation Verano had been a failure for the Batista Government

Batista's army ends the campaign without eliminating the rebel command.

Operation Verano ends after the rebels escape the army's final encirclement.

After the defeat of the Batista "ofensiva", Castro's forces began their offensive

The failed summer offensive allows Castro to begin expanding rebel operations across Cuba.

The defeat at Santa Clara convinces Batista to flee.

Flees Cuba as the revolution succeeds.

Overthrown by Fidel Castro