Following the 1959 victory of the Cuban revolution, the United States government along with the CIA and their Cuban émigré allies immediately undertook a campaign of subversion and terrorism against the Cuban revolution. From 1959 until 1963 a clandestine war was waged between supporters of the revolution and the counter-revolutionary organizations backed by Washington. This project is a new synthesis of this little-known story. It is an attempt to shed light on a little known aspect of the conflict between the United States government and the Cuban revolution by bringing together never-before seen primary sources, and utilizing the two distinct and separate historiographies from the U.S. and Cuba, concerning the clandestine struggle. This is the story of Cuba’s resistance to intervention, the organization of the counter- revolution, and finally how the constant defeat of CIA plots by the Cubans forced changes in U.S. strategy concerning intervention in Cuba and in other parts of the developing world that would have far-reaching and long-last effects.

The thesis deals with the U.S. foreign policy towards Cuba in the years 1958-1965. It analyses sources of U.S.-Cuban hostility at the beginning of the Fidel Castro era. It shows, how the U.S. foreign policy and the beginning of Cold war contributed to polarization as well as radicalization of politics in Cuba. Thus, it analyses the change of a local conflict into the "international civil war". The aim of the thesis is to argue that Cuba influenced the global balance of power between the Soviet Union and the United States at the beginning of 1960's. The introductory chapters summarize the causes of the Cuban Revolution, the U.S. policy toward friendly dictators, mainly toward Fulgencio Batista in Cuba. Next part deals with the guerilla warfare against Batista and the extent of U.S. influence on this insurrection. The thesis uses a multi-archival research of the U.S. as well as Czech and British sources. The comparison of sources shows the extent of independent Cuban actions and helps to comprehend the logic of the Eastern-European foreign policy. The thesis further analyses the U.S. reaction on Cuban Revolution as well as causes and consequences of the Cuban Missile crisis. Moreover, it deals with the possibilities of improvement in the U.S.-Cuban relations. Last but not least it also analyses the...