Struggling for Sovereignty, Changing Political Alliances: Western and Eastern European Military Assistance for Revolutionary Cuba During the Early Cold War

While the history of interactions between the superpowers during the Cold War is a well-known topic, minor actors continue to receive much less scholarly attention. Cuba, for example, did not become part of the international agenda until its 1959 revolution challenged U.S. hegemony and turned the country towards Communism. This presentation analyzes military assistance provided to revolutionary Cuba by Western and Eastern European countries and assesses the impact of U.S. pressure on Cuba's accelerated turn towards Communism.