Cuba's Fidel Castro: didn't expect to live to 87

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28. He was only 32 when he took power 1 January 1959.

The Cuban Revolution took just over 2 years to succeed

The yacht Granma arrived in Cuba on 2 December 1956, carrying the Castros and 80 others of the 26th of July Movement. It landed on Playa Las Coloradas, in the municipality of Niquero, arriving two days later than planned because the boat was heavily loaded, unlike during the practice sailing runs.[24] This dashed any hopes for a coordinated attack with the llano wing of the movement. After arriving and exiting the ship, the band of rebels began to make their way into the Sierra Maestra mountains, a range in southeastern Cuba. Three days after the trek began, Batista's army attacked and killed most of the Granma participants – while the exact number is disputed, no more than twenty of the original eighty-two men survived the initial bloody encounters with the Cuban army and escaped into the Sierra Maestra mountains.[25]

The group of survivors included Fidel and Raúl Castro, Che Guevara and Camilo Cienfuegos. The dispersed survivors, alone or in small groups, wandered through the mountains, looking for each other. Eventually, the men would link up again – with the help of peasant sympathizers – and would form the core leadership of the guerrilla army. Celia Sanchez and Haydee Santamaria (the sister of Abel Santamaria) were among the female revolutionaries who assisted Fidel Castro in the mountains.[26]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuban_Revolution

All done without any help from the west.

The point at which Batista knew his goose was cooked was only days before when Che Guevara , who by then was only 30 years old, took Santa Clara cutting the country in half. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Santa_Clara The rest is history.