Cuba: A new History

History books certainly present the past as it occurred and subsequently shaped the occurrence of new event. This book is certainly a good clear chronological report of what transpired in Cuba before colonization, during colonization and after colonization. The book depicts Cuba’s struggle to remain gain independence fight imperialism. Also the book narrates how occurrences in various parts of the world including her neighbors influence the history of the small nation.

The book presents the history of Cuba through the era of imperialism. Being part of the Latin American which was colonized by the Spaniards the country could not escape the interest of the Spaniards. They made several attempt to take the country and make it their colony. Certainly the colony has unexploited resources and with the availability so slave labor Spain could reap a fortune from having Cuba as her colony there was particularly great interest in Cuba bay in the 16^th century. Spain had renewed interest in Cuba between 1765 and 1791 (Gott, 2005). With repeated effort Spain managed to take up Cuba as her colony and started exploiting the colonies resources

The book presents the slave rebellion in Saint-Demingue and its impact on the Cuban colony. In 1971 there was a slave rebellion in saint-Domingue. Saint-Domnigue was the colonial name for Haiti.  By 1803 the slave had driven whites out of Saint-Domingue and declared the island the independent republic of Haiti. The rebellion was complex and was made up of several revolutions which took place simultaneously. All the revolution bared a deep influence of the French revolution the take place in France in 1789.

The colony of Saint-Domingue was the riches colony in the West Indies. In fact it is considered the richest colony in history of the globe (Dosal, 2006). At the start of the French revolution, the colon of Saint-Demingue had four diverse groups with varied interests. These groups included the white, free people of color, black slaves and the maroons. There ware numerous movement demanding for freedom of the black slaves and right of the colored free people.  The activities of this groups together with the revolution in France weaken the ability of the 20, 000 French in the colony to maintain the status quo. As a result they were chased. The white were killed in large number making al the white in the countries around in the neighboring colonies such as live in fear. There had been a sharp increase in the number of black slave in the colonies as they were brought in large quantities to work on plantations (Gott, 2005). According to Gott (2005) between 1795 to 1824 the emerge anew society in Cuba as the idea of the enlightenment that bad brought about the rebellion in Saint-Domingue and a revolution in France seemed  to spread their influence to Spanish colony (Fernández, 2001).  Anti-Spanish rebellions become  common the country though initial rebellion threat and rebellion had been suppressed, there remained potential for eruption of more rebellion in the future since the people were interested in gaining freedom from the Spaniards.  White settler also desire independence from the Spain which made the situation more complex. The threat of the blacks making a revolution to create a lacks state seemed to have reduced when most of the blacks appears to be contented with the notion of having equal right and freedoms as the whites.

The books presentation of the Cuban colonial authority is satirical. Cuba to tolerate the fear of a black revolution as the population of the slave kept increasing. The white settler hated the blacks but they could not do with out them. The economy of the colony entirely depended on the slave labor. It seems the colonial authorities new that it was inevitable that they would at one time have to surrender their colony and grant independence either to the blacks or the white settlers. However, the regression was great.  The authorities seemed to oppress the slaves and even feared the prospects of having freed blacks and mulatos mix with their slave comrades. They even had a military specifically made to fight of any rebellion that might have risen from any part of the colony.

As these developments took place, there were several interventions by the U.S government and most people thought that the U. S had motives of taking Cuba. Certainly such thought were not mere hearsay since there were even expectations with the U.S that the American Government would acquire the colony make it part of its territory.  Gott (2005) notes tat in the Early 1820s the Spaniards had been driven from Latin America and in the Cuba the U.S was moving tactically  positioning herself as the a major actor in the colonies issue (Farber, 2006). Evidently America had great interest in the colony since 1776 and had severally disused it future with other interested parties. Clearly, book depicts the U.S hidden motive in the initial stages of handling the Cuban issues. However the motive became apparent a Cuba headed towards independence. When America acquired Florida from Spain she saw felt that her dream of capturing Cuba was close.  In this regard, U.S. went a head to facilitate the extermination of the Spaniards form Cuba. After the Spaniards had left the question of who owned Cuba became her main issue of concern (Gott, 2005).

Prior to the driving away of the Spaniards, the Cuban had conducted several rebellions and independence wars seeking to throw away the York of colonization. The U.S as mentioned above supported the Cubans in chasing away the Spaniards. After the Spaniards had left, Cuba was faced with a new challenge of having to resist American imperialism (Argote-Freyre & Figueredo, 2007). America had expected to take over Cuba to become hare colony or state while on the other hand Cuba expected impedance. This encouraged a conflict between nationalistic and imperialism interests. It did manage to fight the imperialistic advances be Americans and gained recognition by other countries of the world as an independent or sovereign state.

The book further narrates how the country fell into the hands of dictatorial rulers after independence such as Gerardo Machado who sought to exercise form control over the country. The political situation in the country was tense as it is always in dictatorial regimes. Dictatorial president always try to control their subject and make sycophants and puppets out them. The Cuban dictators exercised   tight control of political parties in the country. Cuban society was always violent and even the country most renowned president Fiddle Castrol raised to power through wars and revolutions. Fidel Castrol gave the country a great identity and pride had lucked for many years. He became dominat and shaped everything in the country and his achievements make him look like the only leader Cuba has ever heard (Farber, 2006).  

Certainly, Cuba’s history is a long story of is a long story of colonial oppression and exploitation; a long struggle for independence and fight to remain sovereign and resist influence of the external world; dictatorship and political oppression. The country has it fair share tough economical and political time. In fact it seam the country had more of these negative force that necessary.  Current, the development set fort by the ailing leader Fidel Castrol has place the count on the correct footing. The time to do away with the old impunity culture is yonder