D I D YO U K N O W Castro was a very good basebal is said he once even tried out for the Senators a professional p l a y e r I t in Washington D C l team basebal l 10
FIDEL CASTRO S EA R C H LIG H T True or false The United States has also supported Castro’s rule in Cuba The ManWho C hangedCuba In the 1950s General Fulgencio Batista ruled the Caribbean island of Cuba His rule was harsh and often violent and some large American companies grew rich while many Cubans remained poor Fidel Castro was a young lawyer who believed Batista’s rule was unfair There were no free elections in Cuba so Castro organized a military force to overthrow Batista Castro bought guns with his own money and attacked Batista’s forces in 1953 The attack failed badly and after two years in prison Castro went to Mexico to make a new plan Soon he and about 80 other rebels arrived in Cuba They hid in the mountains and fought a guerrilla war using small-scale battles and making hit-and-run attacks Batista finally fled Cuba in 1959 Castro became Cuba’s leader and created a communist government Under Castro’s rule the people lost many of the same rights that Batista had taken away and poverty was still a problem Many Cubans left their homeland or tried to do so But Castro also greatly increased many benefits to the Cuban people Education and health services were free and every citizen was guaranteed work The United States Cuba’s near neighbor strongly opposed Castro’s government They even tried to overthrow it in 1961 But the Soviet Union another communist country Fidel Castro in 1960 Bettmann Corbis supported Castro The United States complained when Castro let the Soviets set up nuclear weapons in Cuba The protest almost led to a war but the weapons were soon removed In the late 20th century there was unrest among Cubans and Castro relaxed some of his strictest controls He finally stepped down as the country’s leader in 2008 LEARN MORE READ THESE ARTICLES SIMÓN BOLÍVAR NELSON MANDELA MAO ZEDONG Fidel Castro often spoke out strongly against people who disagreed with his communist government in Cuba Here he speaks at a rally in 2003 AFP Corbis opposed Castro and has supported attempts to overthrow him Answer FALSE Since the early 1960s the United States has 11
D I D YO U K N O W Charlemagne enjoyed swimming He lt a palace on a hot spring that he used for bathing with friends even bui 12 Charlemagne’s empire survived for only a brief time after he died But no other ruler in the European Middle Ages had such a deep and long-lasting effect The British Library Heritage-Images Imagestate
CHARLEMAGNE The Fa t h e r E u r ope of During the Middle Ages about AD 500-1500 one of the most powerful European kings was Charlemagne Charlemagne was a Frank The Franks were a people who lived in parts of what are now France and Germany When he became the one and only ruler of the Frankish lands in AD 771 Charlemagne wanted to make his kingdom bigger and stronger He also wanted to spread Christianity and protect the Roman Catholic church With this plan in mind Charlemagne spent 30 years battling the Saxons another Germanic people In these and many other wars Charlemagne gained control over much of western Europe including what is now France Switzerland Belgium the Netherlands and half of Italy and Germany In 794 Charlemagne established his capital at Aachen in western S EA R C H LIG H T Which of these did Charlemagne not build a pyramids b schools c libraries Germany In the year 800 the pope crowned Charlemagne emperor of the whole region He worked with leaders of the church to improve the church and government And he sent out special agents to make sure that his laws were being obeyed An illustration shows Charlemagne being crowned emperor by the pope Superstock Charlemagne brought about many improvements in the empire He set up a new money system and reformed the law courts He built a large court library and set up a school at his palace court He was concerned with educating the ordinary people and improving the learning of priests He hoped education would make his people better Christians Charlemagne died in 814 Today he is remembered as one of the most important rulers in European history In fact he’s sometimes called the father of Europe LEARN MORE READ THESE ARTICLES ASHOKA JULIUS CAESAR EMPRESS OF CHINA Answer a pyramids 13
