Cuba timeline
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Winston Churchill Travels To Cuba
I hope the United States will not force Spain to give up Cuba— unless you are prepared to accept responsibility for the results of such action. If... Read more
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United States Launches First Attack in the Invasion of Guantanamo Bay
The 1898 Battle of Guantánamo Bay happened June 6–June 10, 1898, during the Spanish-American War, when American and Cuban forces invaded the... Read more
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U.S. Marines Land In Guantanamo Bay
On June 10, 1898, U.S. Marines landed at Guantánamo Bay. For the next month, American troops fought a land war in Cuba that resulted in the end of... Read more
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Battle of Las Guasimas
The Battle of Las Guasimas of June 24, 1898, part of the Spanish-American War, unfolded from Major General "Fighting Joe" Wheeler's attempt to... Read more
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Battle of San Juan Hill
The Battle of San Juan Hill (July 1, 1898) was the bloodiest and most famous battle of the Spanish–American War. It was also one of the greatest... Read more
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Burning of the SS Morro Castle
The SS Morro Castle was a luxury cruise ship of the 1930s that was built for the Ward Line for runs between New York City and Havana, Cuba. The... Read more
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Fidel Castro signs First Agrarian Reform into law
The agrarian reform laws of Cuba sought to break up large landholdings and redistribute land to those peasants who worked it, to cooperatives, and... Read more
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United States B-26B Invader Bombers Attack Three Cuban Airfields
At about 06.00 Cuba local time on 15 April 1961, eight Douglas B-26B Invader bombers in three groups, simultaneously attacked three Cuban... Read more
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CIA/Brigade 2506 Invasion Fleet Converges on "Rendezvous Point Zulu" South of Cuba
Following the air strikes on airfields on April 15, 1961, the FAR managed to prepare for armed action at least four T-33s, four Sea Furies and five... Read more
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Bay of Pigs Invasion
The Bay of Pigs Invasion (known as La Batalla de Girón in Cuba), was an unsuccessful attempt by a U.S.-trained force of Cuban exiles to invade... Read more
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Second Day of Bay of Pigs Invasion
By about 10.30 on 18 April, Cuban troops and militia, supported by tanks, took Playa Larga after Brigade forces had fled towards Girón in the early... Read more
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Third Day of the Bay of Pigs Invasion
The final air attack mission (code-named Mad Dog Flight) comprised five B-26s, four of which were manned by American CIA contract air crews and... Read more
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Fourth Day of the Bay of Pigs Invasion
From 19 April until about 22 April, sorties were flown by A4D-2Ns to obtain visual intelligence over combat areas. Reconnaissance flights are also... Read more
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Fidel Castro declares Cuba a socialist state
On May 1, 1961, Castro declared Cuba as socialist state and officially abolished multiparty elections. Critics noted that Castro feared elections... Read more
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President Kennedy Authorizes Operation Mongoose
The Cuban Project (also known as Operation Mongoose or the Special Group or the Special Group Augmented) was a program of CIA covert operations... Read more
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United States Military Plans Operation Ortsac to Disrupt Castro's Rule in Cuba
Operation Ortsac was the project name of a possible invasion of Cuba planned by the United States military in 1962. The codename was derived from... Read more
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United States Economic Blockade Against Cuba Becomes Near-Total Embargo
The United States Embargo against Cuba (described in Cuba as el bloqueo, Spanish for "the blockade") is a commercial, economic, and financial... Read more
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First Nuclear Ballistic Missiles Arrive in Cuba
The first consignment of SS-3 MRBMs (medium range ballistic missiles) arrived on the night of September 8, followed by a second on September 16.... Read more
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Cuban Missile Crisis
The Cuban Missile Crisis was a confrontation between the United States, the Soviet Union, and Cuba in October 1962, during the Cold War. In Russia,... Read more
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United States U-2 Reconnaissance Mission Discovers SS-4 Medium Range Ballistic Missile (MRBM) Sites in Varying Stages of Readiness
The first consignment of SS-3 MRBMs (medium range ballistic missiles) arrived on the night of September 8, followed by a second on September 16.... Read more
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President Kennedy Assembles EXCOMM Upon Viewing Photographs of Soviet Missiles in Cuba
Kennedy saw the photographs on October 16; he assembled the Executive Committee of the National Security Council (EXCOMM), fourteen key officials... Read more
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Kennedy Meets with Soviet Foreign Minister Andrei Gromyko
On October 18th the President ordered a build up of arms along the southern border of the United States, just in case war breaks out. No one... Read more
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John F. Kennedy Decides to "Quarantine" Cuba in Response to Nuclear Threat
On October 21st, ExComm, and President Kennedy decided that a quarantine was the best course of action. The administration called it a quarantine,... Read more
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President Kennedy Delivers First Speech on the Nuclear Buildup in Cuba
It shall be the policy of this nation to regard any nuclear missile launched from Cuba against any nation in the Western Hemisphere as an attack on... Read more
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Joint Chiefs of Staff Instructed Strategic Air Command to go to DEFCON 2 for the Only Confirmed Time in History
On the night of October 23, the Joint Chiefs of Staff instructed Strategic Air Command to go to DEFCON 2, for the only confirmed time in history.... Read more