On July 26, 1953, Castro and two hundred fellow revolutionaries attacked Moncada military barracks in Santiago de Cuba, where one thousand government troops were stationed. The assault was a miserable failure; most of the attackers were killed, and Castro and the surviving rebels were sentenced to ten-year prison terms. After serving two years of his term, Castro was exiled to Mexico. From Mexico City he began to plot another attempt at revolution.

In 1956 Castro returned, but he was not much better prepared than before. His band of eighty-two revolutionaries left Mexico in a pleasure yacht named Granma and landed on a swampy beach in Oriente Province just west of the city of Santiago de Cuba. The Cuban military had been notified by Mexican authorities that the rebels were on their way, and most of Castro's people were rounded up or killed within a...