1 00:00:00,040 --> 00:00:02,840 Speaker 1: Hello everyone, it's Eves checking in here to let you 2 00:00:02,880 --> 00:00:04,960 Speaker 1: know that you're going to be hearing two different events 3 00:00:04,960 --> 00:00:07,440 Speaker 1: in history in this episode. They're both good, if I 4 00:00:07,480 --> 00:00:10,680 Speaker 1: do say so myself. On with the show. Welcome to 5 00:00:10,760 --> 00:00:13,360 Speaker 1: this day in History class, where we bring you a 6 00:00:13,400 --> 00:00:23,800 Speaker 1: new tipbit from history every day. The day was February 7 00:00:25,040 --> 00:00:31,200 Speaker 1: nineteen fifty nine. Communist revolutionary Todale Castro was torn in 8 00:00:31,400 --> 00:00:34,520 Speaker 1: as the Prime Minister of Cuba in the Cabinet room 9 00:00:34,640 --> 00:00:38,960 Speaker 1: of the Presidential Palace in Havana. At thirty two years old, 10 00:00:39,479 --> 00:00:46,600 Speaker 1: Castro had become the country's youngest ever prime minister. Castro 11 00:00:46,760 --> 00:00:50,279 Speaker 1: was born in southeastern Cuba, the son of a domestic 12 00:00:50,320 --> 00:00:55,960 Speaker 1: servant and wealthy sugarcane farmer. Castro got involved in politics early. 13 00:00:56,800 --> 00:00:59,600 Speaker 1: While he was attending law school at the University of Havana. 14 00:01:00,120 --> 00:01:03,200 Speaker 1: He joined a group of Dominican exiles and Cubans who tried, 15 00:01:03,520 --> 00:01:08,280 Speaker 1: unsuccessfully to invade the Dominican Republic and overthrow its dictator, 16 00:01:08,640 --> 00:01:14,520 Speaker 1: Raphael Trujillo. In April of nineteen forty eight, Castro joined 17 00:01:14,640 --> 00:01:18,600 Speaker 1: riots that started in Bogota, Colombia, after a populist Colombian 18 00:01:18,640 --> 00:01:24,000 Speaker 1: presidential candidate was shot dead. After Cashtro graduated from law 19 00:01:24,040 --> 00:01:28,679 Speaker 1: school in nineteen fifty he started practicing law and he 20 00:01:28,800 --> 00:01:32,640 Speaker 1: joined the reformist Cuban People's Party, also known as the 21 00:01:32,760 --> 00:01:38,839 Speaker 1: Orthodox Party, a party that was anti corruption and anti imperialism. 22 00:01:38,920 --> 00:01:42,959 Speaker 1: Castro identified with the party's campaign, and in nineteen fifty 23 00:01:43,000 --> 00:01:45,800 Speaker 1: two he became a candidate for a seat in the 24 00:01:45,840 --> 00:01:50,800 Speaker 1: Cuban House of Representatives for the Cuban People's Party. The 25 00:01:50,880 --> 00:01:54,200 Speaker 1: party was expected to win the election, but in March, 26 00:01:54,720 --> 00:01:59,520 Speaker 1: former Cuban President General Fulhinsia Bautista seized control of Cuba 27 00:01:59,560 --> 00:02:04,360 Speaker 1: in a during the campaign. So in nineteen fifty three, 28 00:02:04,680 --> 00:02:08,160 Speaker 1: Castro decided to lead his own uprising to bring the 29 00:02:08,160 --> 00:02:13,400 Speaker 1: Cuban People's Party to power. On July, he and a 30 00:02:13,480 --> 00:02:17,320 Speaker 1: group of more than one people attacked the Mankata Army 31 00:02:17,360 --> 00:02:22,239 Speaker 1: barracks in Santiago to Cuba. The plan was to get 32 00:02:22,320 --> 00:02:28,520 Speaker 1: weapons and announced the revolution, but the offensive failed. More 33 00:02:28,600 --> 00:02:31,680 Speaker 1: than half of the rebels were captured and killed, and 34 00:02:31,800 --> 00:02:35,720 Speaker 1: Castro was arrested and sentenced to fifteen years in prison. 35 00:02:36,960 --> 00:02:41,840 Speaker 1: But Castro's popularity was rising and his revolution was gaining support. 36 00:02:42,880 --> 00:02:46,519 Speaker 1: Bautista ordered Castro and his brother Raoul to be released 37 00:02:46,560 --> 00:02:49,760 Speaker 1: from prison in nineteen fifty five as part of a 38 00:02:49,840 --> 00:02:55,399 Speaker 1: general amnesty, but Fidel and Raoul soon left for Mexico, 39 00:02:55,960 --> 00:02:59,320 Speaker 1: where they linked up with Marxist revolutionary and guerilla leader 40 00:02:59,680 --> 00:03:04,920 Speaker 1: to A Guvara. There they began planning another attempt to 41 00:03:05,120 --> 00:03:09,760 Speaker 1: overthrow the Cuban government and enlisting recruits to organize what 42 00:03:09,960 --> 00:03:14,200 Speaker 1: became known as the twenty six of July Movement. The 43 00:03:14,280 --> 00:03:20,240 Speaker 1: movement promised land reform, nationalization of public services, and honest elections, 44 00:03:20,280 --> 00:03:25,320 Speaker 1: among other reforms, but when Castro and nearly a hundred 45 00:03:25,400 --> 00:03:29,040 Speaker 1: people landed on the coast of Cuba in December of 46 00:03:29,160 --> 00:03:34,320 Speaker 1: nineteen fifty six, government forces killed or captured nearly everyone. 47 00:03:35,600 --> 00:03:39,720 Speaker 1: Less than twenty people survived, but those who did fled 48 00:03:39,760 --> 00:03:44,640 Speaker 1: to the Sierra Maestra mountains with barely any supplies, but 49 00:03:44,960 --> 00:03:48,560 Speaker 1: they soon built up their weapons stockpile and were attracting 50 00:03:48,720 --> 00:03:54,240 Speaker 1: volunteers who supported Castro and opposed Bautista's United States supported regime. 51 00:03:55,560 --> 00:04:00,320 Speaker 1: A guerrilla war had begun as Bautista's forces committed more 52 00:04:00,360 --> 00:04:03,320 Speaker 1: and more violent acts to get info about the guerrillas, 53 00:04:03,800 --> 00:04:07,800 Speaker 1: and high profile groups began to back Castro. Castro's movement 54 00:04:07,840 --> 00:04:12,280 Speaker 1: grew stronger. His army won a series of victories over 55 00:04:12,360 --> 00:04:18,359 Speaker 1: Bautista's government, even though they were outnumbered. Even after the 56 00:04:18,440 --> 00:04:21,960 Speaker 1: US sent Bautista playing ships and tanks, the guerrillas held 57 00:04:22,000 --> 00:04:27,720 Speaker 1: their ground. Some military units even joined the guerrillas. So 58 00:04:28,000 --> 00:04:31,719 Speaker 1: Bautista tried, in desperation to hold an election, but people 59 00:04:31,960 --> 00:04:36,159 Speaker 1: didn't show up to vote. Castro was charismatic and his 60 00:04:36,240 --> 00:04:41,599 Speaker 1: propaganda proved effective. Castro's forces moved in on the cities 61 00:04:42,000 --> 00:04:45,640 Speaker 1: and Bautista fled to the Dominican Republic on January one, 62 00:04:46,000 --> 00:04:51,160 Speaker 1: nineteen fifty nine. Castro became commander in chief of Cuba's 63 00:04:51,240 --> 00:04:56,160 Speaker 1: armed forces. Once Castro took over as prime minister, replacing 64 00:04:56,240 --> 00:05:00,520 Speaker 1: Jose Moreau Cardona, he persecuted people in Bautista this old 65 00:05:00,520 --> 00:05:06,960 Speaker 1: regime for war crimes, expanded social services, redistributed land among peasants, 66 00:05:07,400 --> 00:05:13,400 Speaker 1: and abolished race based segregation and facilities. He also suppressed 67 00:05:13,400 --> 00:05:18,960 Speaker 1: oppositional press, arrested counter revolutionaries, crackdown on what he considered 68 00:05:19,120 --> 00:05:24,640 Speaker 1: moral wrongs, and adopted a one party state. Castro, who 69 00:05:24,720 --> 00:05:29,600 Speaker 1: died in would go on to become a controversial political 70 00:05:29,680 --> 00:05:33,799 Speaker 1: figure who was a hero to many and a vile dictator. 71 00:05:34,000 --> 00:05:38,920 Speaker 1: To many others. I'm Eve Jeff Coote and hopefully you 72 00:05:38,960 --> 00:05:45,640 Speaker 1: know a little more about history today than you did yesterday. 73 00:05:46,400 --> 00:05:53,880 Speaker 1: Tune in tomorrow for another Day in History. Hi, everyone, 74 00:05:54,320 --> 00:05:57,839 Speaker 1: welcome to the show. I'm Eves and you're listening to 75 00:05:57,960 --> 00:06:01,839 Speaker 1: this Day in History class show that uncovers a little 76 00:06:01,839 --> 00:06:12,279 Speaker 1: bit more about history every day. The day was February six, 77 00:06:12,760 --> 00:06:17,039 Speaker 1: nineteen fifty three. A team of scientists at the Swedish 78 00:06:17,080 --> 00:06:21,599 Speaker 1: electrical company A S e A made the first synthetic 79 00:06:21,720 --> 00:06:26,520 Speaker 1: diamond crystals. Diamonds have been used for adornment for thousands 80 00:06:26,560 --> 00:06:30,800 Speaker 1: of years, and they've been valued as gemstones for jewelry 81 00:06:30,839 --> 00:06:34,760 Speaker 1: for more than a hundred years. In the late nineteenth century, 82 00:06:35,200 --> 00:06:39,200 Speaker 1: some scientists claimed that they had succeeded at making diamonds. 83 00:06:40,120 --> 00:06:44,279 Speaker 1: Scottish chemist James Valentine Hannay, for instance, said that he 84 00:06:44,400 --> 00:06:48,440 Speaker 1: made diamonds by sealing organic materials with lithium into iron 85 00:06:48,480 --> 00:06:52,920 Speaker 1: tubes and heating them to red heat. And French chemists 86 00:06:52,920 --> 00:06:56,920 Speaker 1: on Remoissan tried to create synthetic diamonds by putting a 87 00:06:56,920 --> 00:07:00,960 Speaker 1: crucible containing pure carbon and iron in an electric furnace. 88 00:07:01,680 --> 00:07:04,719 Speaker 1: He then put that super hot mixture into water, and 89 00:07:04,800 --> 00:07:09,480 Speaker 1: the pressure generated by the sudden cooling supposedly resulted in diamonds, 90 00:07:10,600 --> 00:07:14,120 Speaker 1: but none of the experiments were reproducible and the resulting 91 00:07:14,160 --> 00:07:19,160 Speaker 1: materials were likely not even synthetic diamonds. Though attempts to 92 00:07:19,160 --> 00:07:23,040 Speaker 1: make synthetic diamonds continued through the early nineteen hundreds, they 93 00:07:23,080 --> 00:07:27,280 Speaker 1: were unsuccessful. The structure of diamonds was difficult to reproduce 94 00:07:27,440 --> 00:07:32,640 Speaker 1: because it required extremely high pressure and high temperature, but 95 00:07:32,680 --> 00:07:37,560 Speaker 1: American physicist Percy Williams Bridgeman was doing extensive research into 96 00:07:37,600 --> 00:07:41,120 Speaker 1: the effects of high pressures on materials. He got the 97 00:07:41,120 --> 00:07:43,880 Speaker 1: Nobel Prize in Physics in nineteen forty six for his 98 00:07:43,920 --> 00:07:47,040 Speaker 1: work in the field of high pressure physics. But in 99 00:07:47,120 --> 00:07:51,040 Speaker 1: nineteen forty one, the Carbonundom Company, nor In Company, and 100 00:07:51,160 --> 00:07:55,280 Speaker 1: General Electric entered into an agreement with Bridgeman to research 101 00:07:55,440 --> 00:08:00,200 Speaker 1: diamonds synthesis, but this research lasted for less than two 102 00:08:00,280 --> 00:08:04,320 Speaker 1: years as World War Two was in full swing and 103 00:08:04,400 --> 00:08:07,880 Speaker 1: these experiments though graphite at nearly half a million p 104 00:08:08,160 --> 00:08:11,840 Speaker 1: s i was heated by a thermite reaction to three 105 00:08:11,880 --> 00:08:17,440 Speaker 1: thousand degrees celsius or dred degrees fahrenheit, but by nineteen 106 00:08:17,520 --> 00:08:21,040 Speaker 1: fifty General Electric had begun looking back into the question 107 00:08:21,120 --> 00:08:26,800 Speaker 1: of diamond synthesis. Physicist, physical chemist, and engineers began researching 108 00:08:26,840 --> 00:08:30,040 Speaker 1: the chemistry of the process, as well as the apparatus 109 00:08:30,040 --> 00:08:34,360 Speaker 1: needed for getting the high pressures and temperatures required. At 110 00:08:34,360 --> 00:08:37,800 Speaker 1: the same time, the Swedish electrical company A s e 111 00:08:38,000 --> 00:08:41,840 Speaker 1: A was working on making diamonds in the lab. A 112 00:08:42,120 --> 00:08:45,640 Speaker 1: s e A turned to a scientist named baltzarvon Plattin 113 00:08:46,080 --> 00:08:49,600 Speaker 1: to look into diamond synthesis. The company hired a team 114 00:08:49,640 --> 00:08:53,040 Speaker 1: of scientists led by Eric lund Blade to work on 115 00:08:53,080 --> 00:08:57,760 Speaker 1: the project, known as Quintus. For years, the team experimented 116 00:08:57,840 --> 00:09:02,320 Speaker 1: with different strategies to create synthetic diamonds, but on February sixteenth, 117 00:09:02,480 --> 00:09:06,480 Speaker 1: nineteen fifty three, Lund Blood subjected a mixture of iron 118 00:09:06,559 --> 00:09:10,840 Speaker 1: carbide and graphite to pressure for an hour. The press 119 00:09:10,880 --> 00:09:14,920 Speaker 1: they used had six pyramid shape anvils that formed a 120 00:09:15,000 --> 00:09:19,040 Speaker 1: sphere around the sample of graphite. After the experiment was over, 121 00:09:19,360 --> 00:09:23,240 Speaker 1: a few small diamond crystals the size of grains of sand, 122 00:09:23,559 --> 00:09:27,080 Speaker 1: were produced, but A s c A did not announce 123 00:09:27,200 --> 00:09:31,800 Speaker 1: or published the experiments results. In December of nineteen fifty four, 124 00:09:31,920 --> 00:09:36,240 Speaker 1: the team at General Electric produced synthetic diamonds and reproduced 125 00:09:36,280 --> 00:09:40,480 Speaker 1: the results. The next year, GE announced that its scientists 126 00:09:40,480 --> 00:09:45,920 Speaker 1: had successfully created synthetic diamonds. It's not completely clear why 127 00:09:45,960 --> 00:09:48,840 Speaker 1: a s e a did not report its results, but 128 00:09:48,960 --> 00:09:52,240 Speaker 1: it is clear that the technique Quintus used was difficult 129 00:09:52,280 --> 00:09:56,240 Speaker 1: to reproduce. It was also too slow and expensive to 130 00:09:56,280 --> 00:10:00,600 Speaker 1: be commercially viable, considering the experiment produced very tiny diamonds 131 00:10:00,640 --> 00:10:04,680 Speaker 1: that were not of gym equality. Since the mid nine hundreds, 132 00:10:04,920 --> 00:10:08,760 Speaker 1: plenty of synthetic gem quality diamond crystals have been produced 133 00:10:08,800 --> 00:10:12,520 Speaker 1: in labs using high pressure and high temperature methods, chemical 134 00:10:12,600 --> 00:10:17,480 Speaker 1: vapor deposition, and other techniques. I'm Eaves, Jeffcote, and hopefully 135 00:10:17,559 --> 00:10:20,000 Speaker 1: you know a little more about history today than you 136 00:10:20,040 --> 00:10:23,920 Speaker 1: did yesterday. You can find us on social media at 137 00:10:24,080 --> 00:10:28,679 Speaker 1: t d I h C Podcast on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. 138 00:10:29,840 --> 00:10:32,480 Speaker 1: Email still works. Send us a note at this day 139 00:10:32,559 --> 00:10:36,040 Speaker 1: at I heeart media dot com. Thanks again for listening, 140 00:10:36,240 --> 00:10:49,520 Speaker 1: and we'll see you tomorrow. For more podcasts for my 141 00:10:49,559 --> 00:10:52,239 Speaker 1: heart Radio, vis the i Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, 142 00:10:52,280 --> 00:10:54,000 Speaker 1: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.