The Cubans who went to Africa did so voluntarily. The mystic of the guerrilla war motivated them. “We dreamed about revolution” one meditated. “We wanted to be part of it, to feel that we fought for it. We were young and the children of a revolution.”
The volunteers didn’t receive public praise in Cuba. They left “knowing that their history would remain secret.” They didn’t win medals or receive material rewards. Upon their return they could not boast about their feats because what they had done was secret.
Angola expanded Castro’s horizons. In Ethiopia, in 1978, 16,000 Cuban soldiers helped to repel the invading Somali army. Tens of thousands of Cubans remained in Angola during the 1980’s, offering invaluable assistance. Smaller Cuban military companies served in the Congo, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique and Benin. The Cuban military instructors trained Namibian, Rhodesian and South African guerrillas.
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Soviets in Cuba
The Soviet government realized in 1959 that any future war would be largely nuclear, and in that same year the Strategic Rocket Forces were founded. The Soviet government became increasingly militaristic in the face of Kennedy's rearmament program. In response, the Soviets decided to install nuclear weapons in Cuba, a Caribbean nation off the coast of Florida which had recently established a nationalistic government under President Fidel Castro; Cuba's government sought Soviet Union support after the collapse of its relations with US due to the expropriation of US properties in Cuba and a subsequent CIA backed attempt of invasion of Cuba known as the Bay of Pigs Invasion. Soviet reasoning was two-fold -- first, to defend this new Communist state from American or American-sponsored invasion, and second, to shift the nuclear balance of power away from the US
Roughly 20,000 Soviet citizens lived in Cuba, many of them sent by the Kremlin as soldiers, engineers and other technical specialists.
Eddie.
The volunteers didn’t receive public praise in Cuba. They left “knowing that their history would remain secret.” They didn’t win medals or receive material rewards. Upon their return they could not boast about their feats because what they had done was secret.
Angola expanded Castro’s horizons. In Ethiopia, in 1978, 16,000 Cuban soldiers helped to repel the invading Somali army. Tens of thousands of Cubans remained in Angola during the 1980’s, offering invaluable assistance. Smaller Cuban military companies served in the Congo, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique and Benin. The Cuban military instructors trained Namibian, Rhodesian and South African guerrillas.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Soviets in Cuba
The Soviet government realized in 1959 that any future war would be largely nuclear, and in that same year the Strategic Rocket Forces were founded. The Soviet government became increasingly militaristic in the face of Kennedy's rearmament program. In response, the Soviets decided to install nuclear weapons in Cuba, a Caribbean nation off the coast of Florida which had recently established a nationalistic government under President Fidel Castro; Cuba's government sought Soviet Union support after the collapse of its relations with US due to the expropriation of US properties in Cuba and a subsequent CIA backed attempt of invasion of Cuba known as the Bay of Pigs Invasion. Soviet reasoning was two-fold -- first, to defend this new Communist state from American or American-sponsored invasion, and second, to shift the nuclear balance of power away from the US
Roughly 20,000 Soviet citizens lived in Cuba, many of them sent by the Kremlin as soldiers, engineers and other technical specialists.
Eddie.
Everybody's equal, But some more than others!
"Those who come to us with the sword - will be killed by the sword" - Alexander Nevski
"Those who come to us with the sword - will be killed by the sword" - Alexander Nevski
