Basics
The United States of America launched an attack on Cuba, January 1, 1959. At the time, Cuba's leader was Fidel Castro, and the Americans wanted to get rid of Castro.
Fidel Castro
Castro, a Cuban nationalist, took over Cuban's American leader, Fulgencio Batista. Batista let Americans use the Cuban land by owning farms and mines. Many Cuban citizens supported Castro, but they didn't know that he was a communist.
How it started
The CIA planned the Bay of Pigs attack with President Eisenhower, so when JFK became president, the plan was ready to be put into action. This attack was an invasion of Cuba that started on the beach, Bay of Pigs. Eisenhower and the CIA gathered Cuban people that left because of Fidel Castro. These people were trained to fight against the Cuban government. The US didn't want the attack to look like they were responsible for it, so they tried to cover up most of the evidence that led to the suspicion of the US being the attacker.
The Landing
The troops gathered at Guatemala then six ships left the beach. The airplanes that were flown were made to look like the Cuban planes. The planes dropped bombs on the beach, supposedly destroying the Cuban planes, but the Cubans knew the attack was coming and moved their planes. When the troops got to the beach, the exiles were well outnumbered. Castro's troops captured many of the invaders, and the US surrendered under twenty-four hours.
The Essex
One of the ships, Essex, was there to guard for any Russian submarines. Three naval commanders instructed a man, Don Roberts and a few other men, to never speak of what their mission is or they would be sent to prison. These people on the ship watched soldiers be carried onto the ship wounded and even dead. From the ship, the land had smoke everywhere, men were in tears, and many bodies floated in the water.
Aftermath
- tensions tightened= Cuba/Russia + USA
- led to Cuban Missile Crisis
- goal- Overthrow Castro = failed
- US didn't want to start WW3
The Bay of Pigs Invasion was a failure that only led to stronger tensions between the three countries.