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Christopher Columbus discovered the island of Cuba and landed three ships onto its North East coast. Cuba was claimed by Spain and initially named Isla Juana.

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Civilization was established on Cuba, starting at Baracoa, where the Taino tribe becomes slaves. Their numbers quickly dwindled due to Spanish diseases and their harsh working conditions.

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At some point in the seven year war, Cuba was taken by Britain. During that period of time, food, horses, and slaves were imported into Cuba through trade. Sugar production went up before Cuba was returned to Spain through a peace treaty in exchange for Florida.

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During this time the US was conflicted in the issue of the mistreatment of Cuba. Half saw them like the US was under Great Britain and believed that the Cubans should be liberated. The other half wanted to imperialize Cuba for themselves.

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Carlos Manuel de Cespedes freed his own slaves in a rebellion. His goal was independence from Spain.

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Slaves used to cut and harvest the sugar canes of Cuba, but once slavery was outlawed, sugar workers had to labor for only four months of the year, and therefore not paid very much.

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Sent to Havana to protect American citizens and property from riots against the Spanish government, the USS Maine exploded. 266 soldiers on board were killed in the blast. This prompted America to wage war against Spain.

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Commodore George Dewey led soldiers into Manila and efficiently eliminated the Spanish fleet. This resulted in seven injured soldiers on America's end.

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Cervera, the leader of the Spanish Caribbean fleet, attempted to escape along the coast. Eventually, he surrendered to US troops, volunteers and Roosevelt's Volunteer Cavalry of "Rough Riders".

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The 1898 Treaty of Paris was discussed between Spain and the US, but without Cuba. It resulted in the Pacific Colonies of Guam, the Philippines, Puerto Rico, and Cuba being given to US in exchange for $20,000,000. US would have sovereignty over Cuba for 3 years to help them stabilize, and would only leave if they could be part of the Cuban Constitution.

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As president of Cuba, Gerardo Machado increased tourism and opened American hotels and restaurants for tourists. More tourism led to the increase of prostitution and gambling. This, combined with the  inflation of sugar in the Wall street crash sparked protests against Machado from students known as the Generation of 1930.

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After he joined the military at age 20 and struggled to the title of sergeant, he organized and lead the Sergeants' Revolt. The military coup was successful in ending the regime of Carlos Manuel de Céspedes. From then on, Batista ranked as a colonel and head of the Cuban Army.  Even though he was not directly president, Batista held a lot of power and more or less already ruled over Cuba.

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Batista won the election for president with support from a few different political parties. Unlike his second rule, Batista's first was very successful for Cuba. The country developed well in its economy, education, and social services or four years under his regime.

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Batista became president again, this time by overthrowing the previous government in a coup. For support, he raised the salaries of policemen and the military, and managed to suspend parts of nation's constitution with little complaint. However, Castro, who had been running for one of these elections ended up without the political platform he had been hoping for, and not enough money to properly support his wife and son. This helped Castro decide that Batista was corrupt.

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Castro lead 150 revolutionaries in an attack on a military base, the Moncada Barracks. The plan was for Castro to lead the main assault with two supporting strikes in Santiago and one in Bayamo that consisted of 27 men. The operation was a failure; Castro was expecting the soldiers to be drunk from the Carnival the night before, but he lost his element of surprise by triggering an alarm. Another group of rebels led by Abel Santamaría had taken a hospital after Castro's group had fled, and attempted to hide by disguising themselves as patients with the help of several nurses. A real patient exposed them, and every single rebel in the hospital was rounded up, the doctor executed.

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After the horrific failure of the Moncada barracks, Castro had fled with a small group of rebels. He was discovered by the Lieutenant Pedro Manuel Sarria and his own group of soldiers, hiding in the house of a peasant. Instead of executing all of them like his men encouraged him to, the lieutenant agreed that Castro surrender peacefully. He told his soldiers that "you cannot kill and idea", and this was important because it shows not all of Batista's high-ranked men go with his ideals. Without Castro, the revolution would never have succeeded, and he owes his life to the Lieutenant Pedro Manuel Sarria.

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This was the day of Castro's trial, when he gave his famous speech of "History Will Absolve Me". He had prepared it over the course of 75 days since his capture. It was two hours long, and likely saved his life, because instead of execution, he was sentenced to 15 years of prison.

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After an amnesty deal with Batista and the Cuban government, Castro and his followers were freed. They regrouped in Mexico and renamed themselves the "26th of July Movement". They were discovered and joined by Che Guevara, who believed violence was the only way to fix the government, and who was interestingly Argentinian.

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Sailing in to Cuba on the boat Granma, Castro returned with 80 people and weapons. They were caught, and many were killed or captured. This time, though, Castro, Raúl, and Guevara fled to the Sierra Maestra mountains. Here, they hid for two years, they amassed followers and taught them guerilla warfare. From then on, they fought a war against Batista with growing support.

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Massive desertions in the military, the increasingly bold support for Castro, and the guerilla rebels taking over different parts of Cuba forced Batista into exile. He fled to the Dominican Republic and a Provisional Government with a Prime Minister of José Miró Cardona was installed. The month after, Miró resigned, and Castro became the prime minister.

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In an attempt to become less dependent on the US, Castro signed the first Agrarian Reform Act, which limited the size of properties. In addition, foreigners could no longer own sugar plantations, meaning that the US lost all their businesses on Cuba, which made up 80% of their industries. This led to state land control.

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Cuba agreed to receive oil from the Soviet Union in trade, but US refineries in the nation refused to process it. Castro expropriated them, and in retaliation, the US cut Cuba's import quota on sugar, meaning Cuba's top trade dealer no longer bought from them.

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Six US bombers had left from Nicaragua to attack Cuban airfields, each one painted to disguise themselves as jets from the Cuban Air Force. They were to bomb and destroy the real Cuban Air Force while it was still on the ground, but only managed to eliminate three, killing seven civilians in the process.

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After receiving CIA training provided by the US, 15,000 Cuban exiles who were dissatisfied with Castro's rule, or Brigade 2506, landed in the Bay of Pigs of Guatemala with the intention of infiltrating Cuba. They wielded American weaponry and ammo hoping to liberate their country for democracy.

Castro, having already learned there was an attack and destroyed the ships that carried ammo and supplies before mobilizing the entire Cuban army. Without knowing how many attackers there were and the kind of weapons they were using, Castro assumed that it was a full-scale attack. Which is reasonable, but... overkill, no?

The group of counterrevolutionaries were meant to be covered by the US air force, but they were cancelled by President John F. Kennedy because he was already in trouble for the bombing. This combined with the fact that they were outnumbered and outgunned resulted in the defeat of Brigade 2506 in no more than three days, with all either killed in action or captured.

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After Castro denounced American imperialism, the US imposed an economic embargo on Cuba.

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Cuban military support was sent to Angola, Ethiopia and Yemen to help the Soviet Union in its affairs. This turned out more painful than rewarding, and the economy was damaged.

Freedom of speech was repressed, as newspapers could no longer say anything against Castro, and labor unions lost the right to strike. Opposition was dealt with through executions, imprisonments, and forced emigration.

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Castro tried to relieve the tension of his rule by allowing people to migrate to Miami. In the end, 120,000 Cubans left the country.

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Hurricane Michelle had just dissipated after passed through Cuba. The US offered humanitarian help, which was rejected by Cuba. Instead, they asked for food, and the US complied.

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Castro had to have surgery because of his health problems, and he let his younger brother, Raul, become temporary ruler.

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Due to his deteriorating physical health, Castro officially resigned, leaving the title and position of  president of Cuba to Raul. In retirement, Castro was visited by many foreign leaders. The only one he refused to meet was President Barack Obama.