The Origins Of Cuba After The Cold War

The premise of this situation arises from the start of the Cold War following the end of World War II on September 2nd, 1945. The uneasy alliance between the Big Three powers - the United States, the United Kingdom, and the Soviet Union - began to quickly deteriorate after the demise of Nazi Germany and the surrender of Imperial Japan. Without a common enemy, the ideological differences between the Western powers and the Soviet Union became more pronounced. These irreconcilable differences marked the fundamental origins of the Cold War.

Brief Overview of Cuba

Cuba is tied into this global Cold War as both a geographical and ideological battleground. Consisting of the main island of Cuba, along with a few smaller archipelagos, the Republic
By the turn of the century, Cuban society was again faced with a dramatic change. The Haitian Revolution, a massive slave-led revolt, led to the collapse of French rule in Saint-Domingue. While many Cubans feared the same would occur in Cuba, the plantation owners saw this as an opportunity for Cuba to take Haiti’s position as the “pearl of the Antilles.” As such, instead of a decrease in slavery, the Cuban slave population rose to 325,000 by 1820.

Up until its independence, Cuba experienced a number of small slave revolts that were brutally suppressed. When the other Spanish holdings in Latin America revolted and gained independence in the 1820s, Cuba was the only colony that remained loyal to Spain.

However, growing dissatisfaction with the corruption and inefficiency of the Spanish administration led to increasing nationalistic sentiment. The lack of political representation caused the Cubans in the eastern provinces to band together under a planter named Carlos Manuel de Céspedes. Céspedes led the effort of independence against the Spanish, culminating in the Ten Years’ War (1868-1878). Despite the fact that many European and Latin American countries elected to recognize the new Cuban government, the United States declined to offer support. The refusal of U.S. recognition decreased Cuban leverage, and Céspedes could only seek an armistice. The war granted Cuba greater autonomy from
He took the fight to the Spanish army in 1895, but was unable to overcome the 200,000 Spanish troops stationed on the island. The Spanish leadership further decided to force the rural population into “reconcentrados,” an early form of concentration camp. During this conflict, around 300,000 Cuban civilians died from starvation and captivity.

In response to the discovery of these camps, the United States sent the battleship Maine into Havana to support U.S. interests on the island. However, the battleship exploded soon after arriving in harbor, killing the majority of the crew. Attributing the destruction of the ship to Spanish terrorism, the United States declared war on Spain in April 1898.

With a quick United States victory, the U.S. gained Puerto Rico, the Philippines, and Guam. Furthermore, Cuba was no longer under Spanish control, and the United States granted it formal independence on May 20th,