In 1952, Fidel ran for election to the Cuban House of Representatives. But troops led by Fulgencio Batista, the current President of Cuba at that time, halted the election and ended democracy in Cuba. After this event, Castro was angry. He and his brother Raul sold all of their belongings to purchase weapons for approximately 150 people. On July 26, 1953, they made and assault on the Moncada army barracks. They were all captured and sent to prison. Castro was sentenced to 15 years in jail. However, he was released after 2 years of jail time had been served. Due to the revolt, the name of his organization was called the "26th of July Movement".
When they
were released from prison, Castro reorganized his forces. In December of
1956, Castro and 80 rebels were attacked in the Oriente Province. Most
were killed, but the survivers, including Castro and his brother, fled
to the mountains. They launched successful guerilla warfare on Batista
for two the next two years. This proved Castro be to a strong leader
and showed his detemination and intelligence.
He became military
leader along side provisional president Manuel Urruita. Batista fled from
Cuba on January 1, 1959 allowing Castro and his army to enter Havana.