Hello, my name is Mr. Williams, and I'm going to be your history teacher for today.

This lesson is part of a unit about the origins of the Cold War from 1941 to 1958.

I'm really looking forward to teaching you today, so let's get started.

By the end of today's lesson, you will be able to explain the consequences of the Cuban Revolution and the Bay of Pigs Invasion.

There are five keywords essential to understanding today's lesson.

They are revolution, a rapid and important change, export, a product or service that is sold and transported to another country, nationalist, someone who strongly believes in and supports their own country, placing its interests above those of other countries, CIA, which stands for Central Intelligence Agency, part of the US government that is responsible for espionage and secret operations, and finally, exile, someone who has been forced to leave their home and live somewhere else, often for political reasons.

There are three parts to today's lesson.

And in the first part, we're going to be learning about the Cuban Revolution.

On the screen is a timeline of some of the key events that we'll be learning about in this first part of the lesson.

Take a moment to read through it now, and then you can come back to it if you need to later on in the lesson.

Cuba had been part of the USA's sphere of influence since the beginning of the 20th century.

Successive American presidents had recognised the importance of good relations with Cuba because it was only 145 kilometres from the US mainland.

Additionally, by the 1950s, the USA had developed strong economic interest in Cuba.

American companies owned large sugar plantations and controlled much of the trade in sugar, which was Cuba's main export.

American businesses also invested in Cuba's tourist industry, building hotels and resorts that catered to American tourists.

In addition, Cuba's railways, electricity and telephone networks, and all refineries were all controlled by American companies.

This economic influence gave the USA a lot of power over Cuba's economy and politics.

Let's take a moment now to check your understanding.

What was Cuba's main export? Was it A, coal, B, wool, C sugar, or D, machine parts? Pause the video now and press play when you're ready to see the correct answer.

Okay, the answer is C, sugar.

Very well done if you got that correct.

Let's do another check for understanding.

Why did the USA have such strong economic influence in Cuba by the 1950s? Pause the video now and press play when you're ready to see a model answer.

Okay, well done for your hard work on that question.

You might have written the following, the USA owned large sugar plantations in Cuba and controlled much of the trade in sugar, Cuba's main export.

The USA invested heavily in Cuba's tourist industry.

And finally, you might have written, American companies controlled oil refineries, railways, and electricity and telephone networks.

Very well done if you covered those points in your answer.

Since 1952, Cuba had been ruled by a military dictator, Fulgencio Batista.

Batista was extremely unpopular with many Cubans, but he was supported by the USA.

In January 1959, the Cuban Revolution, led by Fidel Castro and Che Guevara, overthrew Batista's pro-American government, and Castro became the new leader of Cuba.

Castro was a nationalist who did not want Cuba's economy to be under American control.

And in May 1959, he caused outrage in the USA by taking control of all American property in Cuba.

The next year, Castro made an agreement to sell Cuban sugar to the USSR.

In July 1960, president Eisenhower responded by reducing the amount of sugar the USA would buy from Cuba.

Since sugar was Cuba's main export, Eisenhower hoped that this would badly damage the Cuban economy and forced Castro to return the property he had seized.

The USA also refused to recognise Castro's government because of his links to communism, but these actions pushed Cuba to develop closer links with the USSR.

Khrushchev, as the leader of the USSR, was delighted by the prospect of having an ally so close to the US mainland.

And in September 1960, he promised to provide Cuba with arms and military equipment.

In response, the USA banned most trade with Cuba in October 1960, and ended all diplomatic relations in January 1961.

Let's take a moment to check your understanding.

Batista's government was very popular in Cuba.

Is this true or false? Pause the video now and press play when you're ready to see the correct answer.

Okay, well done.

That was false, but we need to be able to justify our answer.

So on the screen are two justifications.

A says, Batista was extremely unpopular with many Cubans, but his government was supported by the USA.

And justification B says, Batista was extremely unpopular with many Cubans, but his government was supported by the USSR.

Which of these justifications is correct? Pause the video now and press play when you're ready to see the right answer.

Okay, well done if you picked justification A, Batista's government was extremely unpopular with many Cubans, but his government was supported by the USA who had strong economic interests in Cuba.

Let's check your understanding with this task.

The paragraph on the screen contains some mistakes and is incorrect.

I want you to identify and correct the mistakes.

Pause the video now and press play when you're ready to see the corrected paragraph.

Okay, well done for your hard work on that task, you are asked to identify and correct the mistakes in the paragraph, and the corrected paragraph should read as follows.

The Cuban Revolution took place in January 1959.

Fidel Castro and Che Guevara overthrew the unpopular US-backed government of Fulgencio Batista.

Castro, a nationalist, replaced Batista as leader of Cuba.

Very well done if you identified and corrected all of those mistakes.

Let's do another quick check.

What did Castro do in May 1959 that caused outrage in the USA? Was it A, he made it illegal for US businesses to employ non-Cubans? B, he forced American businesses in Cuba to pay higher taxes.

C, he seized all American-owned property in Cuba.

Or D, he gave control of all American businesses to the USSR.

Pause the video now and press play when you're ready to see the correct answer.

Okay, well done if you selected C.

Castro outraged people in the USA in May 1959 when he seized all American-owned property in Cuba.

Very well done if you got that correct.

We are now ready for the first practise task of our lesson.

On the screen are some events that we've covered in the first part of the lesson, but they're in the incorrect chronological order.

For this first task, I want you to write the events out in the correct chronological order.

Pause the video now and press play when you're ready to see the correct answer.

Okay, fantastic effort on that first practise task.

You are asked to write the events in the correct chronological order, and the correct order is as follows.

Batista's government was overthrown in the Cuban Revolution.

The nationalist Fidel Castro became the new leader of Cuba.

Fidel Castro seized control of all American property in Cuba.

Castro made an agreement to sell Cuban sugar to the USSR.

The USA reduced the amount of sugar bought from Cuba.

Khrushchev promised to sell arms and military equipment to Cuba.

And then finally, the USA banned trade with Cuba and ended diplomatic relations.

Very well done if you got that correct.

Let's move on now to the second part of our lesson.

And in this second part of our lesson, we're going to be learning about something called the Bay of Pigs Invasion.

Again, there's a timeline on the screen which covers the key events that we're going to be learning about in the second part of the lesson.

Take a moment now to have a look, and then you can come back to it if you need to later on in the lesson.

The USA felt threatened by Cuba's developing relationship with the USSR.

They did not want an ally of communism so close to American territory.

Eisenhower believed it was essential to return a pro-American government to Cuba.

So before the end of his presidency, he approved a scheme developed by the Central Intelligence Agency, or CIA, to overthrow Castro.

Kennedy, who is sometimes referred to as JFK, became president in January 1961.

He shared Eisenhower's concerns and he gave his support to the plan.

The CIA's plan involved training Cuban exiles in the USA and supporting them to invade Cuba to start a popular uprising that would topple Castro.

The Cuban exiles were men who hated Castro and had fled the country when he took over.

The CIA believed that sending Cuban exiles to overthrow Castro would make it possible for the USA to deny any involvement.

The exiles, who called themselves La Brigada 2506, spent several months being trained by the CIA in camps in Florida and Guatemala.

And by the end of their training, they numbered about 1,500.

Let's take a moment now to check your understanding.

The CIA planned to overthrow Castro using Cuban exiles was first developed when Kennedy became president.

Is this true or false? Pause the video now and press play when you're ready to see the correct answer.

Okay, well done if you said that that was false.

But we need to be able to justify our answers.

So on the screen are two justifications.

A says, the plan was first developed when Eisenhower was in office, and Kennedy opposed the plan when he became president.

And B says, the plan was first developed when Eisenhower was in office, and Kennedy approved the plan when he became president.

Which of those justifications is correct? Pause the video now and press play when you're ready to find out.

Okay, well done if you said that the correct justification was B, although the plan was first developed when Eisenhower was president, Kennedy approved the plan when he became president.

Very well done if you got that correct.

I want you to discuss this question with a partner.

Why did the USA train Cuban exiles to invade Cuba and overthrow Castro instead of invading Cuba themselves? Pause the video now, discuss the question with your partner, and press play when you're ready to see a model response.

Okay, welcome back.

I hope that conversation was useful.

You might have said something like this.

The USA trained Cuban exiles to invade Cuba because they wanted to be able to deny any involvement in the plan to overthrow Castro's government.

Well done if you covered that in your discussions.

on The 17th of April 1961, La Brigada 2506 landed at the Bay of Pigs in Cuba.

Unfortunately for them, Castro had found out about the planned invasion in advance, and the exiles were met by a force of 20,000 battle hardened members of the Cuban Revolutionary Army.

Despite their CIA training, the exiles were no match for Castro's troops.

Approximately 1,000 members of La Brigada were killed and the remainder were imprisoned.

The CIA believed that ordinary Cuban people would rise up to support the invasion.

However, they had failed to understand that Castro was very popular, and the exiles received little support.

The invasion also failed because the USA wanted to be able to deny any involvement, and this meant the US military provided no direct support to the exiles once the invasion was underway.

Let's take a moment to check your understanding.

Why were the Cuban exiles of Brigada 2506 so easily defeated at the Bay of Pigs? Pause the video now and press play when you're ready to see our model answer.

Okay, well done for your hard work on that question.

Your answer may have included, Castro knew about the plan to invade, so it was not a surprise.

The exiles were badly outnumbered by an experienced force of 20,000 men.

The exiles received no direct support from the USA once the invasion had started.

And ordinary Cuban people did not rise up to support the exiles.

Very well done if you covered those points in your answer.

Let's do another check.

The Cuban exiles during the Bay of Pigs Invasion were supported by large numbers of ordinary Cuban people.

Is that true or false? Pause the video now and press play when you're ready to see the correct answer.

Okay, well done if you said that was false.

But as always, we need to be able to justify our response.

On the screen are two justifications.

A says, even though most people hated Castro, they were too scared to support the Cuban exiles.

And B says, the Cuban exiles received little support from ordinary people because Castro was very popular.

Which of those justifications is correct? Pause the video now and press play when you're ready to see the right answer.

Okay, well done if you said it was justification B, the Cuban exiles received little support from ordinary people because the CIA had not realised Castro was very popular.

Well done if you got that correct.

We're now ready for the second practise task of today's lesson, and I would like you to write an account that analyses the events of the Cuban Revolution of 1959 and the Bay of Pigs Invasion of April 1961.

In your answer, you should aim to write about three key events, and you might wish to write about the following.

Castro's overthrow of Batista as leader of Cuba, the US response to the Cuban Revolution, and the failure of the Bay of Pigs Invasion.

Pause the video now, write your answer, and press play when you're ready to see a model response.

Okay, very well done for all of your hard work on that second practise task.

Let's go through our model answer now.

So you were asked to write an account that analyses the events of the Cuban Revolution of 1959, and the Bay of Pigs Invasion of April 1961.

And you were asked to write about three events.

So for your first paragraph, you could have written the following.

In January 1959, the Cuban Revolution saw Fidel Castro overthrow the dictator Fulgencio Batista as the new leader of Cuba.

Castro was a nationalist and he did not want the economy of Cuba to be under American control.

As a result, Castro seized control of all American property in Cuba.

Castro's actions outraged many in the USA and led to Eisenhower's government taking strong action in retaliation.

Well done if your first paragraph looks something like that one.

For your second paragraph, you could have written something like this.

In response to Castro's seizure of American property in Cuba, the USA reduced the amount of sugar they bought from Cuba.

Eisenhower hoped to damage the Cuban economy so badly that Castro would be forced to back down.

Instead, Castro's Cuba developed closer relations with the Soviets.

Castro reached an agreement to sell Cuban sugar to the USSR, and in September 1960, Khrushchev publicly agreed to sell arms to Cuba.

Consequently, the USA ended diplomatic relations with Cuba, and made plans to remove Castro from power.

Excellent work if your paragraph looked like the one on the screen.

For your final paragraph, you could have written something like this.

At the end of Eisenhower's presidency, he approved a CIA plan to train Cuban exiles to invade Cuba and overthrow Castro.

This plan was supported by Kennedy, and in April 1961, the exiles landed at the Bay of Pigs In Cuba.

However, the Bay of Pigs Invasion was a failure.

The exiles were easily defeated by the Cuban Revolutionary Army, 1,000 of them were killed, and the rest were imprisoned.

Fantastic effort on that second practise task, and well done if your answer looks similar to the model answer that we've just gone through.

We're now ready to move on to the third and final part of today's lesson, where we're going to be exploring the impact of the Bay of Pigs Invasion, and we're going to be learning about the impact of the Bay of Pigs on the USA, the USSR, and Cuba.

The failure of the Bay of Pigs Invasion strengthened Castro's position.

Before the invasion, Castro had been losing support, partly because of the economic problems that had been caused by American actions to restrict trade.

Since the revolution, many Cubans had left to seek a better life and more prosperous countries, including the USA.

However, the Bay of Pigs Invasion made it easier for Castro to unite the Cuban people against the American threat.

The Bay of Pigs Invasion was a major setback for the US and a personal blow to JFK, who had been in office for less than three months.

Although the plan was devised by the CIA and approved by Eisenhower, JFK faced significant criticism for its failure.

The use of Cuban exiles in the invasion was meant to allow the USA to deny involvement in the plot, but Castro was able to provide evidence of American involvement to the world's media.

As a result, the failed operation not only damaged the reputation of the US, but also strained its relations with countries in Central and South America, some of whom worried that the USA would attempt to overthrow their governments.

Determined to address the situation, JFK escalated efforts to undermine Castro's regime, authorising the CIA to begin Operation Mongoose, which included secret operations against Cuba and attempts to assassinate Castro.

Let's check your understanding.

Which of these were outcomes of the Bay of Pigs Invasion for JFK and the USA? A, JFK was criticised for the failure of the invasion.

B, JFK became more determined to overthrow Castro.

C, the USA's international reputation was damaged.

D, the USA's international reputation was improved.

Pause the video now and press play when you're ready to see the correct answers.

Okay, The outcomes of the Bay of Pigs Invasion for JFK and the USA were that JFK was criticised for the failure of the invasion, JFK became more determined to overthrow Castro, and the USA's international reputation was damaged.

Very well done if you got those correct.

Crucially, American involvement in the Bay of Pigs Invasion led Castro's Cuba to develop stronger ties with the USSR.

After defeating the invasion in a move that greatly concerned JFK and his advisors, Castro declared that he was a communist, and he asked Khrushchev to help him defend Cuba against any further attacks.

Khrushchev saw this as an opportunity to spread communism into Central and South America, and by the end of 1961, Soviet military advisors and combat troops were stationed in Cuba.

Khrushchev had expressed concern about US missile bases near the USSR in Turkey, and believed that Soviet missile bases in Cuba could help to restore the balance of power.

Cuba's proximity to the US mainland meant this was something JFK could not tolerate, and he warned Khrushchev that the USA would not allow Cuba to be used as a base to threaten the USA.

Khrushchev promised that he had no intention of placing nuclear weapons in Cuba, but JFK was soon to discover that this was not the case.

Let's take a moment to check your understanding.

Bay of Pigs invasion led to Cuba developing closer ties to the USSR.

Is this statement true or false? Pause the video now.

Press play when you're ready to see the correct answer.

Okay, well done if you said that was true.

But let's see if we can justify our response.

On the screen are two justifications.

A says, Castro declared he was a communist and the USSR based troops and military advisors in Cuba.

Justification B says, Khrushchev asked Cuba for military support, and Castro sent troops and military advisors to the Soviet Union.

Which of these justifications is correct? Pause the video now and press play when you're ready to see the correct answer.

Okay, well done if you said that the correct justification was justification A, after the Bay of Pigs invasion, Castro declared he was a communist, and the USSR based troops and military advisors in Cuba.

Well done if you got that correct.

Let's do another check of your understanding.

I want you to discuss this one with a partner.

In what ways did Khrushchev believe the USSR would benefit from a closer relationship with Cuba? Pause the video now, discuss the question with a partner, and press play when you're ready to see our model response.

Okay, so in your conversations, you might have said something like this.

Khrushchev believed Cuba could be used as a base for spreading communism into Central and South America.

He also believed that placing missiles in Cuba would help to restore the balance of power after the USA had placed missiles in Turkey, which was near the USSR.

Very well done if you covered those points in your conversation.

We're now ready for the third and final practise task of today's lesson.

I would like you to explain two consequences of the Bay of Pigs Invasion.

And in your answer, you should identify two consequences, and you should write one paragraph per consequence to explain each one.

Pause the video now, answer the question, and press play when you're ready to go through a model response.

Okay, brilliant effort on that final practise task.

You are asked to explain two consequences of the Bay of Pigs Invasion.

For your first paragraph, you might have written something like this.

One consequence of the Bay of Pigs Invasion was that it damaged the reputation of the USA.

By using Cuban exiles to invade Cuba, Eisenhower, and then Kennedy, had hoped to deny American involvement in plans to overthrow Castro.

When the exiles were defeated at the Bay of Pigs, Castro was able to provide evidence that they had been supported by the USA.

This was humiliating for the USA, and it damaged the relationship between the USA and countries in Central and South America who were concerned that the USA might attempt to overthrow their governments.

Well done if you've written a paragraph that looks something like this one.

For your second paragraph, you could have written the following.

Another consequence of the Bay of Pigs Invasion was that it led to Cuba and the USSR becoming closer allies.

Castro was concerned that the USA may attempt to overthrow him again, so he asked Khrushchev for military support.

This resulted in Soviet troops and military advisors being placed in Cuba by the end of 1961.

As a consequence, Castro had the confidence to declare that he was a communist, and this strengthened the alliance between Cuba and the USSR even further.

Really well done on that final practise task, and well done if your answer looks similar to the model answer that we've just gone through.

Before we finish today, let's just recap the key learning points from our lesson.

In January 1959, the nationalist Fidel Castro led a revolution that overthrew the unpopular US-backed Fulgencio Batista.

In May 1959, Castro confiscated all American property in Cuba.

The US responded with economic sanctions, and so Cuba developed closer ties with the USSR.

The CIA trained Cuban exiles to invade Cuba and overthrow Castro, but it ended in humiliating defeat at the Bay of Pigs in 1961.

The invasion damaged the reputations of JFK and the USA, and led to Cuba and the USSR becoming even closer allies.

And finally, JFK became concerned that the USSR would place missiles in Cuba and use it as a base to threaten the USA.

Well done for all of your hard work today.

It's been a pleasure teaching you, and I hope I get to teach you again in the near future.