Fidel Castro sits in a tank during the Bay of Pigs Invasion in April of 1961. Some 1,300 Cuban exiles, backed by the U.S. Government, invaded the island nation of Cuba, attempting to overthrow the government of the Cuban.The invasion failed disastrously, with 90 of the invaders killed, and the rest captured within 3 days. (OAH/AFP/Getty Images)

Revolutionary Cuba

Icon. Fidel Castro has held the reins of power in Cuba since 1959. Charles Tasnadi / Ap

Origins of a Revolutionary . The future dictator stands with his staff and troop commanders near the Cuban coastline in 1957. In November of the preceding year, Castro and 81 other men, armed with assault rifles and a small store of ammunition, surreptitiously sailed onto Cuban shores. Bettmann / Corbis

The March to Havana . After Castro organized his small insurgency, an inept Cuban army was unable to stop them. After two years of battle in the countryside, the hated dictator Batista fled the capital and Castro and his men headed for Havana. They were cheered by crowds all along the way. Grey Villet / Getty

Brothers in Arms. Raul Castro, foreground, acting as chauffeur for brother Fidel in 1964. He will now most likely assume the reins of power. Grey Villet / Getty

Che. With comrade Che Guevara before Castro's triumphant entry into Havana. Guevara, a doctor from Argentina, inspired the young revolutionary in the ways of orthodox Marxism. AP

On Fire. Lighting up one of his famous cigars after attending a meeting on the reorganization of the party in Havana in 1963. Henri Cartier Bresson / Magnum

Back in the USSR. Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev welcomes Castro at the podium atop Lenin's tomb in Moscow's Red Square in 1961. Seymour Raskin / Magnum

Missile Crisis. In 1962, Khrushchev installed nuclear-capable missiles in Cuba. President Kennedy declared a strategic blockade of the island and for twelve days, the world teetered on the edge of nuclear war. When the Russians backed down, Castro raged at his Russian mentors. Hulton / Getty

United Nations. In front of the General Assembly in 1960. Ralph Crane / Time & Life Pictures / Getty

At Bat. Playing his beloved game of baseball, 1965. Castro was a star pitcher in college, noted for his curveball. Keystone / Getty

Orator. Making an impassioned speech to a peasant crowd in a mountain region of Cuba, 1965. Lee Lockwood / Time & Life Pictures / Getty

John Paul II. The Pope visits Havana in 1998. During his stay the Pontiff celebrated Mass in four different locations. Peter Turnley / Corbis

Elian Gonzalez. In 1999, the custody dispute over the six-year-old boy erupted into an international standoff, culminating in his seizure by federal agents from his Miami-based relatives. Adalberto Roque / Afp / Corbis

Ever Defiant. During Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev's visit in 1989. Dirck Halstead / Time & Life Pictures / Getty

Castro's Quarters. In 1958 Fidel Castro and his men encamped in the Sierra Maestra Mountains, in southwestern Cuba, several hundred miles from Havana. Enrique Meneses / Aurora

Shot Heard Round the World. Fidel Castro's small band of rebels engaged in a series of small skirmishes with forces loyal to Cuban President Fulgencio Batista. Here, Castro takes aim at a government garrison near Pino del Agua. According to the photographer, Castro's shot initiated combat. Enrique Meneses / Aurora

Jungle Outpost . It is estimated that Castro's forces in early 1958 numbered no more than 200 men. Enrique Meneses / Aurora

Commander. Castro lights the cigarette of a young rebel with his own cigar. Enrique Meneses / Aurora

Morale. Castro chats with one of his men. Enrique Meneses / Aurora

Prisoner. A Batista soldier is interrogated by Che Guevara. Meneses says when these photographs were exhibited in Havana, the former prisoner arrived in the uniform of a general, explaining that after this photo was taken, he switched allegiances and joined Castro's movement. Later, he fought with Cuban forces in Angola and Eritrea. Enrique Meneses / Aurora

El Líder. A few months after Meneses filed these photos, Batista would flee Havana and Castro's forces would be left in control of the island nation. Enrique Meneses / Aurora

Ernesto Che Guevara plays golf as Fidel Castro stands behind him at Colina Villareal in Havana. REUTERS/Prensa Latina

Manuel Pineiro, Fidel Castro, Raul Castro, an unidentified girl and Vilma Espin together in Havana. REUTERS/ Prensa Latina

Fidel Castro bats during the inauguration game of the Amateur Baseball Championship in Havana in 1963. REUTERS/Prensa Latina

Fidel Castro attends maneuvers during the anniversary of his and his fellow revolutionaries arrival on the yacht Granma, November 1976. REUTERS/Prensa Latina

Fidel Castro meets with Reverend W.A.Raifford, chief of the White Birds from the Creek Indians, in Havana, July 16, 1959. Raifford gave Castro the name Spiheechie Meeko - Big Warrior Chief. REUTERS/Prensa Latina

A soldier of the Cuban Armed Forces stands atop a downed B-26 bomber after the Bay of Pigs' invasion, April 1961. REUTERS/Prensa Latina

Cuban soldiers (R) interview captured members of the failed Bay of Pigs invasion, April 1961. REUTERS/Prensa Latina

Fidel Castro watches Cuban cosmonaut Arnaldo Tamayo Mendez and Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Romanenko on a television transmission during the Soyuz 38 space mission, in Havana, September 1980. REUTERS/Prensa Latina

Fidel Castro presents Chile's President Salvador Allende with the Jose Marti medal during Allende's visit to Cuba, in Havana, December 14, 1972. REUTERS/Prensa Latina

Cuban President Fidel Castro talks to members of the Cuban Armed Forces during the Bay of Pigs invasion, April 1961. REUTERS/Prensa Latina/Files

Fidel Castro addresses a crowd people in La Plata in the Sierra Maestra, Cuba, during the 15th anniversary of the Agrarian Reform, May 17, 1974. REUTERS/Prensa Latina

Cuba's President Eduardo Dorticos signs the nationalization of U.S. banks represented on the island as Cuba's Prime Minister Fidel Castro looks on in Havana, 1960. REUTERS/Prensa Latina

Fidel Castro and Romania's President Nicolae Ceausescu, stand together during an event at the cement factory "Merceron" in Santiago de Cuba, August 1973. REUTERS/Prensa Latina

Cuban President Fidel Castro (3rd row, R) enters a public trial for captured members (seated) of the failed Bay of Pigs invasion in Havana, April 1961. REUTERS/Prensa Latina

Fidel Castro and PLO leader Yasser Arafat stand together at the airport in Havana during Arafat's first visit to Cuba, November 14, 1974. REUTERS/Prensa Latina

File photo of (L-R) Chief of Cuba's Armed Forces Raul Castro, Cuba's cosmonaut Arnaldo Tamayo Mendez, Cuba's President Fidel Castro and Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Romanenko during a reception ceremony at Havana's Jose Marti airport, October 1980, after the cosmonauts returned from their space mission on Soyuz 38. REUTERS/Prensa Latina

Fidel Castro receives 255 children from Ukraine affected by the radiation fallout in Chernobyl and who will undergo medical treatment in Cuba, July 2, 1990. REUTERS/Prensa Latina

A soldier of the Cuban Armed Forces stands next to U.S.-built armaments captured during the Bay of Pigs invasion, April 1961. REUTERS/Prensa Latina

A captured member of the CIA-trained invasion force after the Bay of Pigs invasion, April 1961. REUTERS/Prensa Latina

Fidel Castro shakes hands with interim U.N. Secretary U.Thant after a meeting on the missile crisis in Havana, 1962. REUTERS/Prensa Latina

Fidel Castro gives his cap to Argentina's soccer star Diego Maradona at the Revolution Palace in Havana, July 28, 1987. REUTERS/Prensa Latina

Chile's President Salvador Allende and Fidel Castro visit the Valle de Picadura in Cuba, December 1972. REUTERS/Prensa Latina

Cuba's President Fidel Castro talks to women during a visit to Cienfuegos, Cuba, after the region was affected by heavy rains, June 10, 1988. REUTERS/Prensa Latina

Cuban President Fidel Castro replies to President Kennedy's naval blockade via Cuban radio and television, on October 23, 1962.(AP Photo/file)

U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, Adlai Stevenson, second from right, confronts Soviet delegate Valerian Zorin, first on left, with a display of reconnaissance photographs during emergency session of the U.N. Security Council at the United Nations headquarters in New York, on October 25, 1962. (AP Photo)

U.S. Army anti-aircraft rockets, mounted on launchers and pointed out over the Florida Straits in Key West, Florida, on October 27, 1962.(AP photo)

Fidel Castro interviewed by Jean Daniel | Cuba, 1963

Ernesto "Che" Guevara w. lit cigar clenched between his teeth & his left arm in a sling, talking w. unseen person. Havana, Cuba January 7, 1959 Photographer:Joseph Scherschel

Fidel Castro (R) standing on balcony of the Hilton Hotel with friends after his triumphal entry into the city. Havana, Cuba, 1959 Photographer:Joseph Scherschel

President of Cuba Manuel Urrutia (2L).Havana, Cuba 1959. Photographer:Joseph Scherschel

Camilo Cienfuegos (R) with others looking at pictures.Havana, Cuba 1959. Photographer:Joseph Scherschel

Fidel Castro Havana, Cuba 1959. Photographer:Joseph Scherschel

Camilo Cienfuegos with others looking at pictures.Havana, Cuba 1959 Photographer:Joseph Scherschel

Guerrilla soldiers under the command of Fidel Castro posing on a homemade APC in Cuba's Sierra Maestra AFP

Fidel Castro, President of Cuba holds up one of the first automatic assault rifles produced in Cuba, during the inauguration of the new weapons factory REUTERS

October 1962, Cuban Army anti-aircraft battery, placed along Havana's famous Malecon avenue, during the missile crisis between the former Soviet Union, Cuba and the United States Picture: Reuters

Former Cuban leader Fidel Castro (C, standing in jeep) with other revolution leader Camilo Cienfuegos (L, standing in jeep) as they enter the Cuban capital under the cheers of the local residents after successfully overthrowing the Batista regime Picture: EPA

Former Cuban President Fidel Castro (L) next to deceased commander Juan Almeida Bosque (R) in the Sierra Maestra, Cuba, 1958 . EPA

Picture: REX FEATURES

A group of Cuban counter-revolutionaries, members of Assault Brigade 2506, after their capture in the Bay of Pigs. EPA

Castro (centre), eyes glazed with strain, leads civilian militia in Sierra Maestro range. 1958. Andrew Saint-George

Rebel troops assemble. 1958. Andrew Saint-George

La Havana. 1959. New years Day in Havana, confusion is rampant as Castro sympathizers come out into the streets with whatever weapons available. In Havana, loot and destruction followed the news of President Batista's flight to the Dominican Republic. Armed civilians and soldiers attempt to stop the pillaging and restore law and order. Burt Glinn

La Havana. 1959. Burt Glinn

1959. Fidel Castro and his rebel army stop along the roadside during their march to liberate Havana. Burt Glinn

1959. Fidel Castro being welcomed by crowds as he makes his way to liberate Havana. Bob Henriques

1959. Fidel Castro being interviewed by Ed SULLIVAN. Bob Henriques

1959. Raul CASTRO at a baseball game between the Barbudos and the National Police Department. Bob Henriques

Fidel Castro and Camilo Cienfuegos at a baseball game between the Barbudos and the National Police Department.. Bob Henriques

Havana. July 26, 1959. Fidel Castro at the sixth anniversary of the July 26th movement at Plaza Civica (now known as Plaza de la Revolucion). Bob Henriques

Havana, Cuba. 1959. Fidel Castro riding into Havana during the revolution escorted by Cuban Naval officers. Burt Glinn

Havana, Cuba. 1959. New Years Day. Burt Glinn

Havana, Cuba, 1959. A young soldier speaking to a woman during the revolution. Burt Glinn

Santa Clara, Cuba. 1959. Fidel Castro in front of city hall where he spent hours talking to the crowds of Santa Clara, a town liberated by Che Guevara. Burt Glinn

La Havana. 1959. Local Castro sympathizers in Havana formed barricades to stop the Batista regime supporters from escaping from the city.. Burt Glinn

Santa Clara. 1959. As the triumphal column of Castro's revolutionary troops made their way from the Province of Oriente towards La Havana, they stopped at towns and small villages and were greeted by young and old people. Burt Glinn

La Havana. 1959. Fidelistas ride liberated tanks into La Havana to accompain Castro on his entry into the city. Burt Glinn

USA. New York City. District of Harlem. 1960. Hotel Theresa.Henri Cartier-Bresson

Havana. 1963.. Fidel Castro speaks on reorganization of the party. Henri Cartier-Bresson

Cuba 2014 April. Alejandra Lopez-Zaballa

Cuba. Peter Turnley

Image Reuters end

cast Revolutionary Cuba

images and text credit www. images.google.com www.theatlantic.com www.magnumphotos.com www.reuters.com time.com

Music celia cruz created o.e.

thanks for watching