1 / 16 photos Fidel Castro

Cuban dictator Fidel Castro was born August 13, 1926 near Biran, in Cuba's eastern Oriente province. He was the third of six children to his father Angel, a wealthy sugar plantation owner originally from Spain and his mother Lina, a former maid of Angel's first wife Maria. Excelling in academics from a young age, he entered law school at the University of Havana in late 1945, soon becoming immersed in the political climate of Cuban nationalism, anti-imperialism and socialism.

On July 26, 1953, Castro and approximately 150 supporters attempted to overthrow Cuban General Fulgencio Batisto by attacking the Moncada military barracks. The attack failed and Castro was captured and sentenced to 15 years in prison, but was released in 1955 under an amnesty deal with the Batista government. The mission made Castro famous throughout Cuba.

After his release he continued plans to overthrow the Batista government, devising a strategy based on guerilla warfare.

Castro soon traveled to Mexico where he teamed up with Eernesto "Che" Guevara. Guevera shaped Castro's political beliefs, believing that Latin's poor could only be rectified through violent revolution.

Ernest Hemingway converses with Castro in 1959. A year later, Hemingway would be forced out of his house in Cuba due to political tensions. The American author moved to Idaho.

Castro was caught circa 1960 eating a very American meal: chinese food with a bottle of Coca Cola.

Castro accompanied USSR Prime Minister Nikita Khrushchev to Moscow for a meeting in May 1963.

Castro with a rifle while visiting North Vietnam during the war in 1973.

Catsro laughs with Libyan leader Moammer Kadhafi and Nicaraguan president Daniel Ortega during a summit in Zimbabwe in 1986.

Castro talks with Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev and his wife Raisa around Lenin Park Memorial in Havana in 1989.

Castro sits alongside his brother, Minister of Defense Raul Castro, in 1995. The two attend a Cuban parliament in Havana on the 100th anniversary of its independence from Spain.

Castro's elder son, nuclear physicist Fidel Castro Diaz-Balart, is seen with his father at a Havana Book Fair opening in 2002. Castro has eight sons who aren't well known to the public.

Former U.S. president Jimmy Carter plays ball with Castro in Havana in 2002. Carter tries to get the Cuban leader to open his doors to more democracy.

Castro lets former castaway Elian Gonzalez take the spotlight at a Cuban school in 2000. Gonzalez was celebrating his seventh birthday, with his family and teachers looking on.

Castro celebrates at a Bolivian rally with Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez and Bolivian president Evo Morales in 2006.

Like Pope John Paul II before him, Pope Benedict XVI meets Castro at the Vatican embassy in Havana in 2012. It was Benedict's first trip to Cuba.