At first, the victorious revolution had many persons who thought of themselves as leaders. Now, 40 years later, two remain -- a 72-year-old man and his younger brother.

Looking back, with the benefit of four decades of hindsight, one can see an astonishing trail of people who were once with Fidel and Raul Castro -- and then weren't. Some fled into exile, some were executed, some went to jail, some died, some just faded away.

''Fidel is a master of maneuver,'' says Juan Clark, who is preparing a new edition of his book Cuba Myth and Realities. His talent is ''anticipating who can be potential enemies and getting rid of them, while cultivating potential friends.''

It has been a performance that even his detractors have to admit shows an astonishing, cold-blooded skill.

Jaime Suchlicki, a University of Miami professor and author of Cuba: From Columbus to Castro: ''He was using certain people at certain stages. As they say, revolutions devour their children.''

The saga began in the pre-dawn hours of Jan. 1, 1959, when dictator Fulgencio Batista and his closest cohorts raced from a New Year's Eve party to three waiting airplanes, and fled into exile.

When Cubans learned the news the next morning, celebrations erupted in the streets. Most figured there would be an easy transition to a time of peace and prosperity, as befitted a country which had then the second-highest per capita income in Latin America.

One man had a different vision. Fidel Castro saw Batista's flight not as an end to chapter in Cuban history, but as a beginning.

As the charismatic leader of the 26th of July Movement, he had the courage and foresight to start
a guerrilla war in the remote mountains of the Sierra Maestra, and he was undoubtedly the revolution's most popular figure at that moment. But there were other anti-Batista groups who assumed they would take part in the democracy that they all supposedly had fought for.

The Directorio Revolucionario, made up mostly of former students, and the Second Front of the Escambray, activists suspicious of Castro, had begun fighting out of the mountains of central Cuba, albeit after the 26th of July.

In Havana, a variety of liberal, pro-democracy groups formed an active, courageous underground under the umbrella of Civic Resistance. From Miami, the exiled Autenticos, the democratically elected politicians that Batista had overthrown, had been sending money to opposition forces, including the 26th of July.

Until very late in the struggle against Batista, one group had been noticeably absent: The Partido Socialista Popular, as the Communist Party called itself in Cuba. Its leader, Carlos Rafael Rodriguez, had served as a cabinet official in an earlier Batista regime, and it wasn't until late 1958, only weeks before the end, that he went to the Sierra to join Castro.

In January 1959, only a few right-wingers were accusing Castro of being a Communist. The country's leading magazine, Bohemia, wrote the fight against the dictator had been carried out by liberal reformers who were dedicated to eradicating social injustice. In such a context, its editorial writer stated, ''communism here will not have justifications or associations with power. The Revolution that inextricably advances is Cuban and democratic in its intention and in its bowels. It has nothing to do with the enemies of liberty.''

In his first major speech, on Jan. 8 at Camp Columbia in Havana, Castro told the masses: ''We cannot ever become dictators. . . . We will never turn away from our principles. . . . If I should be an obstacle to peace, from this very moment the people can decide about us, and tell us what to do. I am a man who knows when to leave.''

In fact, though Castro was denying publicly that he was a Communist, he later admitted that he was harboring secret thoughts. In an interview with Roberto Fabricio and me in 1978, he confessed he had ''an essence of Marxist mentality'' since his days at the University of Havana, but he didn't discuss these sentiments openly because ''our people could not understand a larger plan. . . . My own ideas were more advanced, but I certainly could not be preaching them publicly to everybody . . . because that would not have had a practical result.''

Castro chose to have no formal role in the first government after Batista, and a cabinet of moderates was formed that all the anti-Batista forces and Washington could accept without concern.

Only years later did journalist Tad Szulc discover in interviews with Castro confidants that even in those first days of 1959, the 26th of July leader was setting up secret meetings to bring together the rebel fighters closest to him and old-line Communists, to plan a sharp swing toward ''a larger plan'' when the time was right.

The first public changes began a month after Batista fled.

What follows is a litany of what has happened to the ''revolution's children.'' It is roughly in chronological order, beginning with those who left first and ending with the few who remain.

Jose Miro Cardona -- Moderate politician, first prime minister. In February 1959, he was forced from office and Castro took his position. In exile, he became a leader in the civilian junta for the Bay of Pigs invasion forces. Later, he was a law professor at the University of Puerto Rico. Died 1975.

Manuel Urrutia -- A judge who became the first provisional president. In July 1959, he went on radio to warn that Communists were infiltrating the government. Several days later he resigned and, fearing arrest, sought asylum in the Venezuelean embassy. Eventually became a Spanish teacher in Queens. Died 1981.

Huber Matos -- A 26th of July comandante, he was arrested personally by Castro in October 1959 after he objected vehemently about the spread of Communism in the government. Served 20 years in prison. Lives now in Miami and heads the anti-Castro group Cuba Independent and Democratic.

Camilo Cienfuegos -- A handsome, popular comandante, he disappeared in a light plane a few days after Matos' arrest. Anti-Communists have always suspected Castro had him murdered because he was about to object publicly about Matos arrest. Castro supporters say he had become a secret Communist and, more than anything else, was intensely loyal to his commander in chief. His body was never found.

Manuel Ray -- Chief of Civic Resistance, Havana. Became minister of public works. Protested when Matos was arrested and was forced to resign from cabinet. Moved to Puerto Rico, where he ran an engineering company. Now retired.

Faustino Perez -- With Castro since the first days in the Sierra, he became an underground leader in Havana. An early cabinet member, he too was forced to resign after protesting Matos' arrest. Later capitulated and was made a member of Central Committee. Given a series of second-tier positions. Last was director of a rural agricultural enterprise. Died of heart problems at the age of 72 in 1992.

Victor Mora -- A 26th of July comandante who conquered Camaguey province, he quit the government when he saw it shifting to Communism. He was arrested in 1969 for conspiring against the state and was jailed for nine years. Wearing a disguise, he slipped out of Cuba in 1980, during the Mariel boatlift. In Miami, he lived quietly as a hospital security guard until he died in 1993.

On May 7, 1960, Cuba established diplomatic relations with the Soviet Union. Four days later, Diario de La Marina, the nation's leading newspaper and a vociferous critic of Castro's shift to the left, was closed down. On Aug. 6, he appropriated all large industries. On Sept. 28, Committees for the Defense of the Revolution were set up in neighborhoods to monitor people's attitudes toward the revolution. In April 1961 came the Bay of Pigs.

Humberto Sori Marin -- A 26th of July comandante, he became minister of agriculture. On April 18, 1961, during the Bay of Pigs invasion, he was accused of being a traitor and was executed by firing squad.

Efigenio Ameijeiras -- A comandante who fought alongside Raul. Three brothers died fighting Batista. First revolutionary police chief in Havana. Demoted in early '60s because of ''sectarianism.'' Became a construction site supervisor in Havana.

Eloy Gutierrez Menoyo -- Leader of the Second Front of the Escambray troops, he quickly turned against Castro's government and went into exile in 1960 when he feared he was about to be arrested. Helped start Alpha 66 in Miami. In 1964, he slipped ashore with a raiding party, hoping to set up a new rebel band in the mountains. He was arrested and spent 22 years in prison. Now lives in Miami and heads Cambio Cubano, which advocates a dialogue with the Communist regime.

Che Guevara -- The Argentine rebel leader and longtime Communist served in several posts before resigning in 1965. Castro supporters say Che wanted to return to simple life of a guerrilla, but Carmelo Mesa-Lago, University of Pittsburgh professor and longtime observer of Cuba, says Che and Fidel clashed: ''They were two very strong personalities, and both couldn't stay there.'' Fought in the Congo, then in Bolivia, where he was killed in 1967.

Rolando Cubela -- A Directorio leader, he later became part of a CIA plot to kill Castro. In 1966, he was sentenced to 30 years in prison. Released 1979. Now in exile in Spain, where he's a doctor.

Carlos Franqui -- Leftist journalist, served in underground, later went to the Sierra Maestra, where he became director of Radio Rebelde. Editor of the newspaper Revolucion. In 1968, he broke with Castro when Cuba supported Soviet Union's invasion of Czechoslovakia. Now a journalist in Puerto Rico.

Osvaldo Dorticos -- A prosperous lawyer before the revolution, he worked with the Havana underground in the fight against Batista. After Urrutia fled in 1959, he was elevated to the presidency of Cuba, a title he held until 1976, when Castro himself took it over. In 1983, he committed suicide.

Celia Sanchez -- Castro's personal secretary and close confidant going back to the days in the Sierra. Died of cancer 1980.

Haydee Santamaria -- An early Castro supporter who ran the 26th of July's office in Miami and was a major fund-raiser, she was the wife of culture minister Armando Hart, a member of the Central Committee and head of Casa de las Americas, the government's main cultural center and publishing house. A few weeks after Mariel, on July 26, 1980, the 27th anniversary of the birth of Castro's movement, she committed suicide.

Beginning in the mid-1980s, some of the oldest, most hard-line loyalists started getting replaced by a younger generation as Castro sought to enhance his popularity with a population in which half were under 30.

Juan Clark, a professor at Miami-Dade Community College: ''He needs new blood because obviously you cannot keep ruling a government with septuagenarians.''

Carmelo Mesa-Lago: ''It's something like the Pope. He forces cardinals to retire because they're too old, but there is no age limit on the Pope.''

Ramiro Valdes -- Hard-line comandante, he served for many years as the powerful minister of the interior. In 1994, he was removed from his position and became head of an enterprise specializing in electronics and computers. Marifeli Perez-Stable, author of The Cuban Revolution, suggests that Valdes' move may be calculated to get someone from the inner-circle into a lucrative position linked to the foreign sector of the economy: ''They may be creating a piñata before the end, rather than after, as happened in Nicaragua.''

Carlos Rafael Rodriguez -- Communist party member when Castro was in elementary school, he emerged in the 1960s as a power in shaping Cuba's Marxist-Leninist economy, but faded from view in early '90s. Both Mesa-Lago and Perez-Stable say they've heard rumors that he fell from favor after suggesting a turn toward moderation. In 1997, he was removed from the powerful Political Bureau. Died a few weeks later, at the age of 84.

Manuel Piñeiro -- Nicknamed Barba Roja (Red Beard), he was a guerrilla captain under Raul. Later became head of G-2, the agency tracking counterrevolutionary groups, then led the Central Committee's Department of Americas, a secret service for espionage and exporting revolution to other Latin American countries. In 1992, he lost his position, either because of an argument with Raul or because the Castros wanted to send a signal to the world that it was no longer trying to foment revolutions elsewhere. In 1997, he was ousted from the Central Committee. In March 1998, after leaving an embassy party, he died in car crash.

Faure Chomon -- Leader of the student Directorio, he was never trusted by Castro and has been kept far from the center of power. For many years, he was ambassador to the Soviet Union, then to Ecuador. Suchlicki says he's now back in Cuba with title of brigadier general, but he has no real position.

Armando Hart -- A 26th of July underground leader in Havana, he was for many years the minister of culture. In 1997, he was ''freed of his responsibilities,'' according to a Party press release.

Vilma Espin -- Raul's assistant in the mountains. Later married him and had four children. Rumored now to be divorced, but remains president of the Cuban Federation of Women. Has no real power though she remains the most visible woman in the Cuban hierarchy.

Juan Almeida -- An unassuming, loyal comandante who has been with Castro since he began the fight against Batista, he is still listed as a vice president and member of the Political Bureau, though he spends a lot of his time writing pop songs.

Raul Castro -- Minister of defense, chief of the armed forces, first vice president of the Councils of State and of the Ministries of Cuba, second secretary of the Communist Party.

Fidel Castro -- President of the Councils of State and of the Ministries of Cuba, first secretary of the Communist Party, commander in chief.