About two years, from a botched landing to toppling Batista
Castro landed in December 1956 with his force in tatters and brought down the regime about two years later: Batista fled in the early hours of New Year's Day 1959. Castro himself entered Havana a week afterward, on January 8, after a triumphant march across the island. He won not by out-fighting Batista's army but by outlasting a regime that was rotting from within and steadily losing public support.
