birth_place article_title name birth_date
birán , oriente province fidel castro in the cuban revolution
 fidel castro yes august 13 , 1926
fidel castro in the cuban revolution

the cuban communist revolutionary and politician fidel castro took part in the cuban revolution from 1953 to 1959 .
following on from his early life , castro decided to fight for the overthrow of fulgencio batista 's military junta by founding a paramilitary organisation , `` the movement '' .
in july 1953 , they launched a failed attack on the moncada barracks , during which many militants were killed and castro was arrested .
placed on trial , he defended his actions and provided his famous `` history will absolve me '' speech , before being sentenced to 15 years ' imprisonment in the model prison on the isla de pinos .
renaming his group the `` 26th of july movement '' -lrb- mr-26-7 -rrb- , castro was pardoned by batista 's government in may 1955 , who no longer considered him a political threat .
restructuring the mr-26-7 , he fled to mexico with his brother raul castro , where he met with argentine marxist-leninist che guevara , and together they put together a small revolutionary force intent on overthrowing batista .
in november 1956 , castro and 81 revolutionaries sailed from mexico aboard the `` granma '' , crash-landing near to los cayuelos .
attacked by batista 's forces , they fled to the sierra maestra mountain range , where the 19 survivors set up an encampment from which they waged guerrilla war against the army .
boosted by new recruits that increased the guerilla army 's numbers to 200 , they co-ordinated their attacks with the actions of other revolutionaries across cuba , and castro became an international celebrity after being interviewed by `` the new york times '' .
in 1958 , batista launched a counter-offensive , operation verano , but his army 's use of conventional warfare was overwhelmed by castro 's guerrilla tactics , and the mr-26-7 eventually pushed out of the sierra maestra and took control of most of oriente and las villas .
recognising that he was losing the war , batista fled to the dominican republic while military leader eulogio cantillo took control of the country .
with revolutionary forces controlling most of cuba , castro ordered cantillo 's arrest , before establishing a provisional government with manuel urrutia lleó as president and josé miró cardona as prime minister , ensuring that they enacted laws to erode the power of the batistanos .
