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List of wars involving Cuba

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This is a list of wars involving the Republic of Cuba and predecessor states.

  Cuban defeat
  Cuban victory
  Another result (e.g. a treaty or peace without a clear result, status quo ante bellum, result of civil or internal conflict, result unknown or indecisive)

List

[edit]
Conflict Combatant 1 Combatant 2 Result President Prime Minister
Lopez Expedition (1850-1851)

Filibusters

Captaincy General of Cuba

 Spanish Cuba victory
  • Filibuster leaders executed
None
None
Ten Years' War
(1868–1878)
Spanish Empire Pact of Zanjón
Little War (Cuba)
(1879–1880)		 Cuban Rebels Spain Spanish victory
Cuban War of Independence
(1895–1898)

Republic of Cuba in Arms

 Spanish Empire American intervention; independence granted in 1902
Cuban Pacification
(1906)		 Cuba Conservatives Cuba Liberals Liberal victory
  • Subsequent US occupation of Cuba
War of 1912
(1912)		 Cuba
United States		 Cuba Cuban Partido Independiente de Color Rebellion suppressed
Chambelona War
(1917)		 Cuba
United States

Liberal Party of Cuba

 Rebellion suppressed
Sugar Intervention
(1917–1922)		 Cuba Conservatives
United States		 Cuba Liberals Conservative victory
  • Uprising quelled, US occupation of Cuba
World War I
(1917–1918)		 Allied Powers:
 and Empire:

and others ...

 Central Powers:

and others ...

 Allied Powers victory (see Aftermath of World War I)
Sugar Intervention
(1917–1922)		 Cuba Conservatives
United States		 Cuba Liberals Conservative victory
  • Uprising quelled, US occupation of Cuba
World War II
(1941–1945)

Allies
United States
Soviet Union
United Kingdom
China
France
Poland
Canada
Australia
New Zealand
 India
 South Africa
 Yugoslavia
 Greece
Denmark
Norway
Netherlands
Belgium
Luxembourg
 Czechoslovakia
Brazil
Mexico
Panama
Costa Rica
El Salvador
Guatemala
Honduras
Nicaragua
Dominican Republic
Cuba

Axis
 Germany
 Japan
 Italy
 Hungary
 Romania
 Bulgaria
Croatia
Slovakia
 Finland
 Thailand
 Manchukuo
 Mengjiang

 Allied victory (see Aftermath of World War II)[2]
American theater of World War II
(1941–1945)

Allies:
United States (from 1941)
Canada
 United Kingdom

Free France
Netherlands
Panama (from 1941)
Costa Rica Costa Rica (from 1941)
Dominican Republic (from 1941)
El Salvador El Salvador (from 1941)
Haiti (from 1941)
Honduras (from 1941)
Nicaragua (from 1941)
Cuba Cuba (from 1941)
Guatemala (from 1941)
Mexico (from 1942)
 Brazil (from 1942)
Bolivia (from 1943)
Colombia (from 1943)
Ecuador (from 1945)
Paraguay (from 1945)
Peru (from 1945)
Uruguay Uruguay (from 1945)
 Venezuela (from 1945)
Argentina Argentina (from 1945)
Chile (from 1945)

Axis:
 Germany
 Italy
 Japan (from 1941)

Vichy France

 Allied victory
  • Axis objectives failed or did not affect the outcome of the conflict.
Cuban Revolution
(1953–1959)		 Cuba Revolutionary victory
Escambray rebellion
(1959–1965)		 Government of Cuba
Soviet Union		 Insurgents:

United States

 Cuban government victory
Cuban invasion of Panama
(1959)		 Cuba
Panama Revolutionary Action Movement
Panama May 22nd Youth Revolutionary Movement		 Panama
United States
Guatemala		 Cuban expedition failed
Invasion of the Dominican Republic
(1959)		 Cuba Dominican Republic Cuban invasion failed
Bay of Pigs Invasion
(1961)		 Cuba United States
Cuban DRF		 Cuban government victory
Sand War
(1963–1964)

Algeria
Support:
Egypt Egypt[3]
Cuba[4]

 Morocco
Support:
France[5]		 Military stalemate
Congo Crisis
(1963-1965)		 1963–1965:
Supported by:		 1963–1965: Malaysia
Supported by:
 Defeat
  • The Congo established as an independent unitary state under the authoritarian presidency of Mobutu Sese Seko.
Guinea-Bissau War of Independence
(1963–1974)

PAIGC
Supported by:

 Portugal Algiers Accord
South African Border War
(1966–1990)
Military advisers and pilots:
 South Africa
Military stalemate[15][16]
Ñancahuazú Guerrilla
(1966–1967)

ELN
Cuba

 Bolivia Bolivia
United States
Supported by:
Brazil Brazil		 Bolivian government victory
  • Che Guevara executed
Machurucuto raid
(1967)		 Revolutionary Left Movement
Cuban guerrillas
Supported by:
Cuba		 Venezuelan National Guard
Venezuelan Army		 Venezuelan government victory
War of Attrition
(1967-1970)
Israel Inconclusive
Yom Kippur War
(1973)		 Israel Defeat
  • See § Aftermath
  • At the final ceasefire:
  • Egyptian forces held 1,200 km2 (460 sq mi) on the eastern bank of the canal.[25]
  • Israeli forces held 1,600 km2 (620 sq mi) on the western bank of the canal.[26]
  • Israeli forces held 500 km2 (193 sq mi) of the Syrian Bashan region of the Golan Heights.
Operation Independence
(1975-1977)
Argentine government victory
None
Cuban intervention in Angola
(1975–1991)
Stalemate
  • Cuban and South African withdrawal in 1991
Cabinda War
(1975–1991)
Military advisers and pilots:
 Cuban withdrawal
Angolan Civil War
(1975–1989)

Angola People's Republic of Angola/Republic of Angola

Cuba (1975–1989)
SWAPO (1975–1989)[35]
ANC (1975–1989)[8]: 202–207 [35]
FLNC (1975–1978)[39][40]

Military advisers and pilots:
Military advisers:
 MPLA victory
Ogaden War
(1977–1978)
Victory
Eritrean War of Independence
(1977–1991)		 1974
Ethiopian Empire
1974–1991
Derg (1974–1987)
PDR Ethiopia (1987–1991)
Military advisers:
 ELF (until 1981)
EPLF (since 1973)
Tigray Region TPLF (since 1975)		 EPLF victory[60]
Ethiopian Civil War
(1977–1991)		 Derg (1974–1987)
PDR Ethiopia (1987–1991)
Military advisers:
 Tigray Region TPLF
EPLF
Amhara Region EPDM
EPRP
MEISON
EDU
OLF
WSLF
ONLF[65]
ALF
IFLO		 EPLF/TPLF rebel victory
Nicaraguan Revolution

(1961-1990)

Sandinista National Liberation Front

MAP-ML (1978–1979)
MILPAS
Panama (1978–1979, under Omar Torrijos)

Supported by:
Cuba

Soviet Union

Other supporters
 Nicaragua Somoza regime (1961–1979)

Contras (1981–1990)

Supported by:
United States

Honduras (from 1981)

Other supporters
 Inconclusive
  • Anastasio Somoza Debayle resigns and flees to the United States in July 1979, relinquishing control of the government.
  • A five-member provisional government takes its place.[66]
  • The right-wing Contras begin an armed insurgency against the Sandinistas in 1981 which continues until 1990.
  • The Tela Accord is signed in 1989 and the Sandinista party is defeated in the 1990 election, bringing the armed revolution to an end.
  • Sandinistas led by Daniel Ortega are re-elected in 2006 and remain in power until today.
United States invasion of Grenada
(1983)

United States
Grenadian Opposition

 American–CPF & Grenadian Opposition victory
None
2026 United States intervention in Venezuela

(2026)

 Venezuela Venezuela
Cuba		 Defeat Miguel Díaz-Canel Manuel Marrero Cruz

Notes

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  1. ↑ The Russian Empire during 1914–1917, the Russian Republic during 1917. The Bolsheviks signed an armistice followed by a separate peace shortly after their armed seizure of power.
  2. ↑ The North Korean Military Mission in Angola had about 1,500 personnel attached to FAPLA in 1986, most likely advisers, although their exact duties are uncertain.[45] Their presence in Angola may have been indirectly subsidised by the Soviet Union.[46] Up to 3,000 North Korean military personnel served in Angola throughout the 1980s.[47]

References

[edit]
  1. ↑ Clodfelter 2017, p. 306.
  2. ↑ Cuba declared war on the Axis powers in December 1941, being one of the first Latin American countries to do so. On 15 May 1943, the Cuban patrol boat CS-13 sank the German submarine U-176.
  3. ↑ Ottaway 1970, p. 166.
  4. ↑ Brian Latell (24 April 2012). Castro's Secrets: Cuban Intelligence, The CIA, and the Assassination of John F. Kennedy. St. Martin's Press. p. 164. ISBN 978-1-137-00001-9. In this instance, unlike several others, the Cubans did no fighting; Algeria concluded an armistice with the Moroccan king.
  5. ↑ Nicole Grimaud (1 January 1984). La politique extérieure de l'Algérie (1962-1978). KARTHALA Editions. p. 198. ISBN 978-2-86537-111-2. L'armée française était en 1963 présente en Algérie et au Maroc. Le gouvernement français, officiellement neutre, comme le rappelle le Conseil des ministres du 25 octobre 1963, n'a pas pu empêcher que la coopération très étroite entre l'armée française et l'armée marocaine n'ait eu quelques répercussions sur le terrain. == The French Army was in 1963 present in Algeria and Morocco. The French government, officially neutral, as recalled by the Council of Ministers on October 25, 1963, could not prevent the very close cooperation between the French army and the Moroccan army from having some repercussions on the ground.
  6. 1 2 Lulat, Y. G. M. (1992). United States Relations with South Africa: A Critical Overview from the Colonial Period to the Present. New York: Peter Lang Publishing, Incorporated. pp. 143–146, 210. ISBN 978-0-8204-7907-1.
  7. ↑ Dale, Richard (2014). The Namibian War of Independence, 1966–1989: Diplomatic, Economic and Military Campaigns. Jefferson: McFarland & Company, Incorporated Publishers. pp. 74–77, 93–95. ISBN 978-0-7864-9659-4.
  8. 1 2 Thomas, Scott (1995). The Diplomacy of Liberation: The Foreign Relations of the ANC Since 1960. London: Tauris Academic Studies. ISBN 978-1-85043-993-6.
  9. ↑ Larmer, Miles (2011). Rethinking African Politics: A History of Opposition in Zambia. Surrey: Ashgate Publishing Ltd. pp. 209–217. ISBN 978-1-4094-8249-9.
  10. ↑ Mott, William (2001). Soviet Military Assistance: An Empirical Perspective. Westport, Connecticut: Praeger Security International. p. 155. ISBN 978-0-313-31022-5.
  11. ↑ Stapleton, Timothy (2010). A Military History of South Africa: From the Dutch-Khoi Wars to the End of Apartheid. Santa Barbara: Praeger Security International. pp. 169–185. ISBN 978-0-313-36589-8.
  12. ↑ Beckett, Ian; Pimlott, John (2011). Counter-insurgency: Lessons from History. Yorkshire: Pen & Sword Books. pp. 204–219. ISBN 978-1-84884-396-7.
  13. ↑ Cann, John (2015). Flight Plan Africa: Portuguese Airpower in Counterinsurgency, 1961–1974. Solihull: Helion & Company. pp. 362–363. ISBN 978-1-909982-06-2.
  14. ↑ Fryxell, Cole. To Be Born a Nation. p. 13.
  15. 1 2 Vanneman, Peter (1990). Soviet Strategy in Southern Africa: Gorbachev's Pragmatic Approach. Stanford: Hoover Institution Press. pp. 41–57. ISBN 978-0-8179-8902-6.
  16. ↑ Hampson, Fen Osler (1996). Nurturing Peace: Why Peace Settlements Succeed Or Fail. Stanford: United States Institute of Peace Press. pp. 53–70. ISBN 978-1-878379-57-3.
  17. ↑ Tucker, Spencer; Roberts, Priscilla (2008). The Encyclopedia of the Arab-Israeli Conflict: A Political, Social, and Military History. ABC-CLIO. p. 596. ISBN 9781851098422.
  18. ↑ "The War: Lebanon and Syria". Dover.idf.il. Archived from the original on March 24, 2012. Retrieved March 12, 2013.
  19. ↑ O'Ballance (1978), pp. 201.
  20. ↑ Shazly (2003), p. 278.
  21. ↑ Rabinovich (2004), pp. 464–465.
  22. ↑ Mahjoub Tobji (2006). Les officiers de Sa Majesté: Les dérives des généraux marocains 1956–2006 (in French). Fayard. p. 107. ISBN 978-2-213-63015-1.
  23. ↑ Shazly (2003), pp. 83–84.
  24. ↑ Cenciotti, David. "Israeli F-4s Actually Fought North Korean MiGs During the Yom Kippur War". Business Insider.
  25. ↑ Rabinovich (2004), p. 467.
  26. ↑ Morris (2001), p. 437.
  27. ↑ Enrique Díaz-Araujo. La guerrilla en sus libros. p. 98.
  28. ↑ "Página/12 :: El país :: Gorriarán Merlo cuenta su versión". Retrieved 11 May 2016.
  29. ↑ "Página/12". Retrieved 23 February 2015.
  30. ↑ Comandos en acción: el Ejército en Malvinas, Isidoro Ruiz Moreno, p. 24, Emecé Editores, 1986
  31. ↑ Burzaco, Ricardo (1994). Infierno en el Monte Tucumano. p. 64. OCLC 31720152.
  32. ↑ Campbell, Duncan (6 December 2003). "Kissinger approved Argentinian 'dirty war' Declassified US files expose 1970s backing for junta". The Guardian. Retrieved 21 March 2018.
  33. ↑ Vanneman, Peter (1990). Soviet Strategy in Southern Africa: Gorbachev's Pragmatic Approach. Stanford: Hoover Institution Press. pp. 41–57. ISBN 978-0817989026.
  34. 1 2 Chan, Stephen (2012). Southern Africa: Old Treacheries and New Deceits. New Haven, Connecticut: Yale University Press. pp. 42–46. ISBN 978-0300184280.
  35. 1 2 3 Shubin, Vladimir Gennadyevich (2008). The Hot "Cold War": The USSR in Southern Africa. London: Pluto Press. pp. 92–93, 249. ISBN 978-0-7453-2472-2.
  36. ↑ "Angola: Information on an anti-government group called Frente Liberaccion d'Enclave Cabinda (FLEC)". Refworld. 1 November 1995. Retrieved 25 April 2015.
  37. 1 2 "57. Angola/Cabinda (1975–present)". University of Central Arkansas. Retrieved 26 April 2015.
  38. ↑ "Война на чужбине". Вечерка. 15 February 2014. Archived from the original on 8 December 2015. Retrieved 26 April 2015.
  39. ↑ Wolfe, Thomas; Hosmer, Stephen (1983). Soviet policy and practice toward Third World conflicts. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield. p. 87. ISBN 978-0669060546.
  40. 1 2 3 Hughes, Geraint (2014). My Enemy's Enemy: Proxy Warfare in International Politics. Brighton: Sussex Academic Press. pp. 65–79. ISBN 978-1845196271.
  41. ↑ Dereza, Viktor (14 February 2020). "Война — это же не всегда победа". Yuga. Krasnodar. Archived from the original on 5 May 2025. Retrieved 18 August 2025.
  42. ↑ Mitchell, Thomas G. (2013). Israel/Palestine and the Politics of a Two-State Solution. Jefferson: McFarland & Company Inc. pp. 94–99. ISBN 978-0-7864-7597-1.
  43. ↑ Baynham, Simon (1986). Military Power and Politics in Black Africa. Abingdon: Routledge. pp. 216–219. ISBN 978-0367677275. The Soviets provided direction, heavy lift and training staffs, the East Germans technical specialists ranging from helicopter pilots to medical personnel, and the Cubans a mass of soldiery...The next pattern was one of mixed Angolan and Cuban ground units, supported by East German-manned helicopters...[conditions dictated] the withdrawal of Cuban units to garrison roles, the actual ground fighting being left to Angolan units (now equipped with some very recent Soviet weaponry), very closely supported by East German and Russian training logistic cadres.
  44. ↑ Brent, Winston (1994). African Military Aviation. Nelspruit: Freeworld. p. 12. ISBN 978-0958388016. Besides arms and aircraft, large numbers of Russians, East Germans, and Cubans were brought into the country to bolster the Angolan armed forces...Although a number of locals were beginning to undertake combat sorties, most of the sorties were flown either by Cuban or East German pilots and crew.
  45. 1 2 James III, W. Martin (2011) [1992]. A Political History of the Civil War in Angola: 1974–1990. New Brunswick: Transaction Publishers. pp. 207–214, 239–245. ISBN 978-1-4128-1506-2.
  46. ↑ Polack, Peter (13 December 2013). The Last Hot Battle of the Cold War: South Africa vs. Cuba in the Angolan Civil War. Casemate Publishers. pp. 66–68. ISBN 9781612001951.
  47. ↑ Herskovitz, Jon (22 October 2024). "Why North Korean Troops in Russia Have the World's Attention". BNN Bloomberg. Ontario. Archived from the original on 1 January 2025. Retrieved 31 December 2024.
  48. ↑ Steenkamp, Willem (2006) [1985]. Borderstrike! (3rd ed.). Durban: Just Done Productions Publishing. pp. 102–106. ISBN 978-1-920169-00-8.
  49. ↑ Anderson, Noel. Wars Without End: Competitive Intervention, Escalation Control, and Protracted Conflict. p. 119. Former Director of Central Intelligence writes that between 1975 and 1976, training was conducted outside of Angola "as no CIA officers were permitted to engage in combat or train there." Stockwell concurs that the CIA was prohibited from deploying advisors inside Angola, though he claims "we did it anyway." However, he does not dispute the that advisors avoided combat, "no CIA staffers were killed or suffered any discomfort worse than malaria." The CIA, he explains, let "others run the serious risks." Likewise, following the repeal of the Clark Amendment in July 1985, US military advisors instructed their clients far from the front, basing in southeastern Angola at the UNITA headquarters in Jamba. Daniel Fenton, a former security analyst at the CIA, recalls that advisors "talked only to Savimbi and a chosen few. They lived in a compound, and had no real movement of freedom.
  50. ↑ Urban, Mark (1983). "Soviet intervention and the Ogaden counter-offensive of 1978". The RUSI Journal. 128 (2): 42–46. doi:10.1080/03071848308523524. ISSN 0307-1847. Soviet advisers fulfilled a number of roles, although the majority were involved in training and headquarters duties. Others flew combat missions in the MiGs and helicopters.
  51. ↑ "Ogaden Area recaptured by Ethiopian Forces with Soviet and Cuban Support – International Ramifications of Ethiopian-Somali Conflict – Incipient Soviet and Cuban Involvement in Ethiopian Warfare against Eritrean Secessionists – Political Assassinations inside Ethiopia". Keesing's Record of World Events (formerly Keesing's Contemporary Archives). 1 May 1978. Archived from the original on 30 June 2022. Retrieved 4 August 2021.
  52. ↑ "Milestones in the History of U.S. Foreign Relations - Office of the Historian". history.state.gov. Retrieved 2026-06-23.
  53. ↑ "The Status of Cuban Military Forces in Ethiopia" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2023-12-02.
  54. ↑ "Ogaden Area recaptured by Ethiopian Forces with Soviet and Cuban Support - International Ramifications of Ethiopian-Somali Conflict - Incipient Soviet and Cuban Involvement in Ethiopian Warfare against Eritrean Secessionists - Political Assassinations inside Ethiopia" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2024-09-05.
  55. ↑ Gorman 1981, p. 208.
  56. ↑ Keneally, Thomas (27 September 1987). "IN ERITREA". The New York Times – via NYTimes.com.
  57. ↑ ""Wir haben euch Waffen und Brot geschickt"". Der Spiegel. 2 March 1980 – via www.spiegel.de.
  58. ↑ Zelalem, Zecharias (2016-12-21). "Why Ethiopia will be forever indebted to Fidel Castro". Ethiocritical.com. Archived from the original on 2016-12-24. Retrieved 2023-02-07.
  59. ↑ Ethiopia-Israel
  60. ↑ Mlambo, Obert Bernard; Chitando, Ezra (2023). The Palgrave Handbook of Violence in Africa. Springer Nature. p. 147. ISBN 978-3-031-40754-3. In 1991 the EPLF's victory over the Dergue's troops won Eritrea's independence.
  61. ↑ Keneally, Thomas (27 September 1987). "IN ERITREA". The New York Times – via NYTimes.com.
  62. ↑ ""Wir haben euch Waffen und Brot geschickt"". Der Spiegel. 2 March 1980 – via www.spiegel.de.
  63. ↑ Zelalem, Zecharias (2016-12-21). "Why Ethiopia will be forever indebted to Fidel Castro". Ethiocritical.com. Archived from the original on 2016-12-24. Retrieved 2023-02-07.
  64. ↑ Ethiopia-Israel
  65. ↑ "Ethiopia: Crackdown in East Punishes Civilians". 3 July 2007.
  66. ↑ "Daniel Ortega", Encyclopædia Britannica (15th ed.), 1993
  67. 1 2 Miller, Maggie (7 January 2026). "Venezuela strike marks a turning point for US cyber warfare". Politico. Retrieved 7 January 2026.

Bibliography

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See also

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