An Army That Quit

Batista's soldiers stopped fighting before Castro's rebels could beat them. Officers defected, conscripts deserted, and whole garrisons surrendered without a shot. The rebels never numbered more than a few hundred, but they faced an army that had already given up.

When Batista fled on New Year's Eve, the path to Havana was open. The new government moved fast: it seized American businesses, redistributed farmland, and sent tens of thousands of opponents fleeing to Miami.