“A revolution is not a bed of roses... a revolution is a life-or-death struggle between the future and the past.” – Fidel Castro, 1961. This statement was certainly true for Fidel Castro and his revolutionaries during the Cuban Revolution, an armed uprising that occurred between July 26, 1953 and January 1, 1959, which ended successfully. During this uprising, many of Fidel Castro's fellow revolutionaries were killed in this process of violent revolution (My Life, p133, 2006). However, Castro and his accompanying revolutionaries, of whom he was the leader, also caused a fair amount of deaths using brutality in the name of revolution and political justice. Using various fighting tactics, the most prominent of which was guerrilla warfare, the Cuban Revolution was certainly won through the use of violence and brutality. Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz was born on August 13, 1926, the third of six children and the son of a wealthy sugar plantation owner. After Castro graduated from the Colegio de Belen in 1945, he entered law school at the University of Havana. It was during this period that Castro began to engage in politics, becoming interested in the political climate of Cuban nationalism, anti-imperialism, socialism, and social justice (http://www.biography.com/articles/fidel-castro- 9241487, 2009 ). Castro immediately became involved in the student protests, whose student groups were known to be violent and often armed, which can be attributed to the fact that there had been a crackdown by the government against these protesters, with students sometimes being killed or terrorized (The Real Fidel Castro, p. 16-17, 2003). Brutality was already present in the political system, perhaps a sign that brutality would be needed to change it. be eliminated by force, otherwise it is likely that they would have continued with the same political system. Because of this brutality, the rebels' actions were much more public. Support was gained and people who wanted to do something about the situation could do so, while people who were happy to know that something was being done about the current state of the country could rest easy. Due to the use of brutality and violence, Cuba may finally succumb to a revolution. Works Cited Ramonet, I (2006). My life. Cuba: Simon & Schuster Export. 133.Coltman, L (2003). The real Fidel Castro. London: Yale University Press. A&E Television Networks. (2009). Biography of Fidel Castro. Available: http://www.biography.com/articles/Fidel-Castro-9241487?part=0. Last access July 1st 2011.