Angolan Civil War
4 Analyze the effects of the cold war on apartheid in South Africa or on another specified issue and region or country.
Note: Initially, my plan was to cover the whole period of the cold war and its effects on Angola. While researching for this topic though, I came across a vast body of works and therefore decided to focus on a more specific theme: Soviet-American competition in the region between 1974 and 1976.
What role did competition between the superpowers have in the early stages of the Angolan Civil War (1974-76)?
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As revolution erupted in Portugal in 1974, independence movements in virtually all of its former colonies gained considerable momentum. In Angola, unlike the other colonies, there were three main factions contending for power: the Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA), the Front for the National Liberation of Angola (FNLA), and the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA). Each of these factions had their own tribal connections and ideological inclinations, and within each there were internal conflicts. Each also had its own, often fluctuating, support from outside powers. The MPLA, led by Agostinho Neto, was then seen as the most westernized of the three: a relatively organized political organization with a Marxist ideology. Due to an internal power struggle, it had just been cut off from modest Soviet support and been divided into two factions. One of these factions, under Daniel Chipenda, briefly received some Soviet as well as Chinese support before leaning into the FNLA. Throughout the conflict, Cuba remained the main supporter of the MPLA, providing them with significant military assistance[1]. The FNLA, led by Holden Roberto since 1960, had been receiving covert support from the CIA since July 1974[2]. At the time it had by far the largest military contingent of the three groups, and collaborated with the Agency from their base in Kinshasa by
Note: Initially, my plan was to cover the whole period of the cold war and its effects on Angola. While researching for this topic though, I came across a vast body of works and therefore decided to focus on a more specific theme: Soviet-American competition in the region between 1974 and 1976.
What role did competition between the superpowers have in the early stages of the Angolan Civil War (1974-76)?
________________________________
As revolution erupted in Portugal in 1974, independence movements in virtually all of its former colonies gained considerable momentum. In Angola, unlike the other colonies, there were three main factions contending for power: the Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA), the Front for the National Liberation of Angola (FNLA), and the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA). Each of these factions had their own tribal connections and ideological inclinations, and within each there were internal conflicts. Each also had its own, often fluctuating, support from outside powers. The MPLA, led by Agostinho Neto, was then seen as the most westernized of the three: a relatively organized political organization with a Marxist ideology. Due to an internal power struggle, it had just been cut off from modest Soviet support and been divided into two factions. One of these factions, under Daniel Chipenda, briefly received some Soviet as well as Chinese support before leaning into the FNLA. Throughout the conflict, Cuba remained the main supporter of the MPLA, providing them with significant military assistance[1]. The FNLA, led by Holden Roberto since 1960, had been receiving covert support from the CIA since July 1974[2]. At the time it had by far the largest military contingent of the three groups, and collaborated with the Agency from their base in Kinshasa by
Bibliography: Arthur Jay Klinghoffer, The Angolan War: A Study in Soviet Policy in the Third World, Westview, 1980 Bender, in Lemarchand, ed., American Policy in Southern Africa, p John A. Marcum, The Angolan Revolution, vol.2: Exile Politics and Guerilla Warfare (1962-1976), MIT Press, 1978 John Stockwell, In Search of Enemies: A CIA Story, W.W Norton Company, New York, 1978 Raymond Garthoff, Détente and Confrontation, The Brookings Institute, Washington, D.C., 1994 L.I Brezhnev, in Twenty-fifth Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, Feb [12] Davis, Foreign Affairs, vol.57 (Fall 1978), p.122 [13] Stockwell, In Search of Enemies, pp