#moncada barracks

[kropotkindersurprise]

July 26, 1953 - On this day Fidel Castro attacked the Moncada Barracks with 135 revolutionaries, signaling the beginning of the Cuban Revolution. The attack failed and the surviving revolutionaries were imprisoned or executed.

The date on which the attack took place, 26 July, was adopted by Castro as the name for his revolutionary movement, Movimiento 26 Julio (abbreviated as M-26-7). After regrouping and reorganising, M-26-7 eventually toppled the US-backed Batista dictatorship on 1 January 1959. [video]

[wisconsinhistorian]

Some major events that occurred on July 26.

Photo One: Germany and Italy decide to assist Francisco Franco in the Spanish Civil War, 1936.

Photo Two: Alice in Wonderland is released, 1951.

Photo Three: Argentina’s First Lady, Eva Peron, dies from cancer, 1952.

Photo Four: An unsuccessful attack on the Moncada Barracks, led by Fidel Castro, begins the Cuban Revolution. The movement becomes known as the 26th of July Movement, 1953.

[hetanarchistischekookboek]

Condemn me, it does not matter: history will absolve me.

Fidel Castro

[thomassobien]

I know that imprisonment will be harder for me than it has ever been for anyone, filled with cowardly threats and hideous cruelty. But I do not fear prison, as I do not fear the fury of the miserable tyrant who took the lives of 70 of my comrades. Condemn me. It does not matter. History will absolve me.

Fidel Castro defending himself at his 1953 trial for leading the failed attack on Moncada Barracks against the Batista regime in Cuba (Source).

[This post was made on the 60th anniversary of the attack on Moncada Barracks , which occurred on July 26, 1953. It marked the start of the Cuban Revolution, and culminated in the overthrow of the dictator Fulgencio Batista in 1959.]