174. The Cuban Revolution

How did Normans from Western Europe reach as far as Antioch in what is now Turkey? What was their role in The First Crusade? Who was the Byzantine Alexios I Komnenos and how did he summon Normans to support his campaign? In the final episode of this series, Anita Anand and Willia ...  Show more

They are best known for invading England in 1066, but the Normans conquered territories in the East too. Who was Robert The Weasel, and did he operate like a Mafia boss in the 11th century? How did the Normans thuggishly conquer Sicily and Southern Italy? How did the Normans infl ...  Show more

When Cuba gained independence from Spain in the late 1800s, it ushered in a wave of authoritarian leaders backed by American interests. Violence and suppression were rampant, turning a young lawyer into a fiery revolutionary in the 1950s. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit p ...  Show more

In 1953, Fidel Castro attacked military barracks in the east of Cuba in a bid to revolutionise the country. He failed, but it marked the beginning of his career as a guerrilla fighter. Michael Voss spoke to one of his comrades, Agustin Diaz Cartaya, in 2010.Eye-witness accounts b ...  Show more

In 1959, when Fidel Castro’s revolutionaries toppled Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista, they wasted no time booting out American business owners, casinos and drug kingpins — much to the delight of US law enforcers. But as time passed, and Castro’s socialist regime sought ever-tric ...  Show more