You may condemn me. History will absolve me.

Those were the words of Fidel Castro when he went to trial for starting the Cuban Revolution.

On July 26, 1953, Fidel Castro and a group of supporters attempted to raid military barracks

controlled by the Cuban army, and their attack was a failure.

Several were killed, more were arrested, including Castro,

but thanks to Castro and others being freed after being imprisoned instead of being executed,

this failure marked the start of what they called the movement,

which became known as the successful Cuban Revolution.

Castro was a young lawyer when it all began.

In 1952, he ran for the Cuban Congress,

but the elections were suspended when former president

Fulgencio Batista took over the government.

Batista had been well liked during his first term,

but things had changed and he was not coming even close to win in re-election

when he shocked the country and transitioned from a reform-focused anti-corruption leader

into a dictator.

Outrage, Castro and other like-minded revolutionaries

gathered together to plan to overthrow him.

Although his original plan failed,

Castro fled to Mexico after being released from prison

where he organized another rebellion.

Returning to Cuba in 1956,

...