1953    Fidel Castro leads an unsuccessful attack on the Moncada Barracks, thus beginning the Cuban Revolution.

1956    Fidel Castro declares himself at war with the President of Cuba.

1956    The ''Granma'' yacht reaches the shores of Cuba's Oriente province and Fidel Castro, Che Guevara and 80 other members of the 26th of July Movement disembark to initiate the Cuban Revolution.

1959    Fulgencio Batista, president of Cuba, is overthrown by Fidel Castro's forces during the Cuban Revolution.

1959    The United States recognizes the new Cuban government of Fidel Castro.

1959    Fidel Castro's Cuban Revolution is completed with the takeover of Santiago de Cuba.

1959    Fidel Castro becomes Premier of Cuba after dictator Fulgencio Batista was overthrown on January 1.

1960    Fidel Castro arrives in New York City as the head of the Cuban delegation to the United Nations.

1960    Fidel Castro announces Cuba's support for the U.S.S.R.

1961    Bay of Pigs Invasion: A group of CIA financed and trained Cuban refugees lands at the Bay of Pigs in Cuba with the aim of ousting Fidel Castro.

1961    The Prime Minister of Cuba, Fidel Castro, proclaims Cuba a socialist nation and abolishes elections.

1961    In a nationally broadcast speech, Cuban leader Fidel Castro declares that he is a Marxist-Leninist and that Cuba is going to adopt Communism.

1962    Pope John XXIII excommunicates Fidel Castro.

1972    Southern Airways Flight 49 from Birmingham, Alabama is hijacked and, at one point, is threatened with crashing into the nuclear installation at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory. After two days, the plane lands in Havana, Cuba, where the hijackers are jailed by Fidel Castro.

1976    Fidel Castro becomes President of Cuba replacing Osvaldo Dorticós Torrado.

1989    Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev arrives in Havana, Cuba to meet with Fidel Castro in an attempt to mend strained relations.

1990    The United States begins broadcasting TV Martí to Cuba in an effort to bridge the information blackout imposed by the Castro regime.

2002    Former US President Jimmy Carter arrives in Cuba for a five-day visit with Fidel Castro becoming the first President of the United States, in or out of office, to visit the island since Castro's 1959 revolution.

2004    Fidel Castro, Cuba's President, announces that transactions using the American Dollar will be banned by November 8.

2006    Fidel Castro hands over power temporarily to brother Raúl Castro.

2008    Fidel Castro retires as the President of Cuba after nearly fifty years.