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)? ________________________________ As revolution erupted in Portugal in 1974, independence movements in virtually all of its former colonies gained considerable momentum. In Angola, unlike the other …show more content…
Mobutu soon made a second attempt to seize Cabinda, invading with a mixed FNLA-FLEC-Zairian force of about 3,000, with direct CIA arms support, but the MPLA, backed by Cuban advisors, defeated them[11]. On November 7-10 Cuba began a major expansion of its direct military assistance to the MPLA, dispatching a 650-man special forces battalion to help defend Luanda. After the US successfully pressed some Caribbean countries to not allow Cuban transfer flights to land, in the following months the Soviets provided Cuba with long-range aircraft. Shortly after the independence, on November 13, a small number of Soviet military advisors arrived in Luanda. On November 11, the day of independence, the MPLA, backed by Cuban artillerymen and Soviet-supplied 122 millimeter multiple rocket launchers, had defeated the FNLA-Zairian-Portuguese Angolan forces north of Luanda, which devastated their morale. From mid-November to early January 1976 the MPLA, with growing Cuban support, chased the FNLA-Zairian forces north and stopped the South African advance from the south. By this time the Cuban troops had reached a substantial number of an estimated 12,000[12]. American attempts through the CIA to recruit European mercenaries were quite ineffective, and caused significant embarrassment when several captured mercenaries, including an American, were captured and executed[13].
The Cuban government was not ideal for its people at the time, so they decided to initiate a change. Before Castro’s revolution, Cuba’s economy was highly based on tropical fruits, sugar, and tobacco. During this time, the government of Cuba mainly consisted of wealthy land-owning conservatives. Fidel Castro, a strong liberal who thought the Cuban government was corrupt, decided to bring together a band of two-hundred revolutionaries (Carey, Jr. 15). These revolutionaries attacked the Moncada Military barracks on July 26th, 1953 resulting in a failure that earned both Castro and the revolutionaries a ten-year prison sentence. Two years into his sentence, Castro was exiled to Mexico and began to plot another attempt in Mexico City. After many battles with Cuba’s National Army, Castro’s rebels were able to keep Cuba in a state of turmoil while other rebel groups were able to gain control. Through his actions, he was able to gain the support of the Cuban people who thought he was the logical choice for the new leader (Carey, Jr. 15).
Brands' purpose for writing this book was to inform the reader of actions taken before, during, and after the Cold War. After World War II, the United States and Russia were the only two remaining world powers. Each had a conflicting method of government, which ultimately led to the Cold War. The two superpowers were at the center of attention for the better part of
This new country fresh from being colonized had an army but very few Congolese officers just mainly army regulars. The country kept many foreign officers as the military trained local soldiers for leadership positions. Many soldiers saw no chance for advancement and it seemed to be the same conditions as they experienced before independence. An atmosphere of discontent grew rampant for foreigners still in positions of power. On July 05, 1960 the army had a revolt against these white officers near Leopoldville. They also attacked many Europeans targets in the area. Large groups of mutineers paraded over the area attacking any foreign interest they could find. There was wide spread looting and pillaging. The white population was targeted primarily. With the area in total chaos and no one to police the unrest, the local white population had to flee. The majority of the white refugees had to go to Brazzaville and Stanleyville to escape certain death. The unstable government and the clear inability to control the military and the people created concern locally and internationally.
International Relations is a field of politics that takes a look at the interactions that occur in between states in the international arena. Its aim is to explain why certain events have unfolded in certain ways, as a result of how states use their power relatively to each other. Mostly the interactions that International Relations tries to examine or explain, is the conflicts that arise as a result of differing interests that states have. To provide a base for analysis, this essay is going to use the central theory of realism to explain the civil war that occurred in Nigeria in between 1967 to 1970. This essay will seek to explain
troops to Grenada in 1983, to prevent what the he saw as a Cuban attempt to take
2. Why do you think historians regard Angola’s long civil war as an outgrowth of the cold war?
In attempt to push Cuban nationalist Fidel Castro out of power, in April of 1961 the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) launched full-scale invasion of the Bahía de Cochinos in Cuba that was unfortunately not a success and failed miserably within 24 hours. After two years of trying to remove Castro from his political position America was very optimistic about this final strike. However, between being outnumbered by Castro's troops and almost immediately surrendering the invasion was not effective.
armed forces, Castro felt a second attack was inevitable. Although he was reluctant to accept the missiles at the beginning, he was finally persuaded. It could be argued that Castro pursued closer relations with the Soviet Union mainly for the protection of Cuba, and therefore was more open to Soviet suggestions such as placing nuclear weapons in Cuba to ensure its security. Che Guevara, a major figure to play a central role in training the military forces for the Bays of Pigs invasion and in bringing the Soviet nuclear weapons to Cuba, stated that "all the Cuban people must become a guerrilla army, each and every Cuban must learn to handle and if necessary use firearms in defence of the nation.1" Guevara's statement suggests that if the Cuban people had to fight, they were willing to fight, which shows the Cuban enthusiasm towards protection and, therefore, towards the Soviets. The Soviets, seeing an opportunity to make their international position feel close to the one of the US, rushed to aid Castro in order to double their military strength. Having said that, it could be argued that the Cuban-Soviet relationship was inevitable due to the poor U.S.-Cuban relationship. Placing the missiles in Cuba was a huge military step for the Soviets as it could enable them to reach and destroy most of the continental U.S. And, for that reason, the Cuban Missile Crisis was an event of a very high international importance.
During the Cold War, the United States of America participated in a number of what are today called proxy wars. Because the USA could not risk direct conflict with the Soviets, the nation concentrated its influence in developing third-world nations and essentially growing in political power. Fear of the spread of communism fueled this involvement throughout the entirety of the Cold War. The war between the USSR and United States had changed the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Castro intended on helping Cuba’s high poverty, but Castro did not turn Cuba into a democracy like he said he would (“Cuban missile Crisis”2). In 1960 the soviet premier attempted to convince Castro to become communist, soon after this castro became communist, probably influenced by the soviet premier (“Cuban missile Crisis”3). A new american president, that could probably change the war, was coming into office around this time, President Kennedy. The new president would take on the problem of this new cuban leader (International Encyclopedia of the… 1). Before him, Eisenhower trained about 1,500 Cuban Exiles in secret to try to take over Cuba, Kennedy allowed this to go on. On april 17, the exils attempted to invade Cuba(“Cuban missile Crisis”3). Since Castro had found out about the invasion, he was ready and defeated the the incoming force easily(“Cuban missile Crisis”3-4). The failed invasion seemed to help the Cuban opinion of Castro. He was now an obvious threat and so the U.S. decided to start operation Mongoose. Operation Mongoose was a secret operation to get rid of Castro, it was an operation where the U.S. would try to sabotage Cuba, but Operation Mongoose never ended up happening. The U.S.S.R. did not want to lose Cuba so they decided to secretly send weapons into Cuba, including nuclear weapons (“Cuban missile Crisis”4). These arm shipments would lead to one of the
The Cold War was a geopolitical, ideological, and economic struggle mainly between the two superpowers, The United States of America and the USSR. Although the USSR and US were the two superpowers that initiated the conflict, other countries such as Vietnam, North and South Korea, and Cuba had major involvement in the Cold War. The US was a capitalist country while the USSR was a communist country. There are many reasons, that when combined caused the Cold War to start. Some of the most important reasons were the fear of the USSR’s expansion of communism into Eastern Europe
The Cold War was fought between the United States of America and the Soviet Union. The war was a battle to be the most powerful country in the world. Although the Cold War was not a violent one it affected many other countries besides the United States and the Soviet Union. Most of the battles were races to get the achieve technology. South Korea was deeply affected by the Cold War; “Letter to General-Lieutenant Hodge on Northern Korea Providing Electricity to Southern Korea” proves that South Korea’s debt to North Korea was directly associated with the Cold War. North Korea was also very much affected by the Cold War; “Soviet Report on Communists in Korea, 1945” validates the fact that the North Korean
During the late twentieth century in the late 1960s, Marcum (1976) states that the Portuguese territory in Angola slowly began to fail in its governance and its days were numbered. This was due to the many aspects experienced by the country, these aspects being the incompetency of the Portugal military in Angola, the rapid decline in the economy of the country which resulted in the unfavourable conditions of inflation and the emigration of many citizens in Angola who went to other countries to seek for jobs, as there was no progress in the Angolan economy and country as a whole.
The ‘Cold War’ is one of the most interesting ‘wars’ fought in world history. The sheer number of countries both directly and indirectly involved is enough to pose the question – To what extent was the Cold War a truly Global War? This essay will examine this idea. It will identify two main areas of argument, focusing on the earlier part of the conflict (1945-1963). Firstly it will examine the growing US and Soviet influence in the world post 1945. Secondly it will examine three main conflicts, the Berlin Blockade, the Korean War and the Cuban Missile Crisis that these two super powers were involved in. Overall this essay will argue that the Cold War was no doubt a truly global war.
Eduardo Mondlane, a nationalist leader and the founding president of the Mozambican Liberation Front, wrote a text called “The struggle for Mozambique”. He explains what the situation in colonial Mozambique was at the time and the tribulations that the country faced under Portugal’s rule. He brings to light certain cases, the episodes of the nationalist struggle in Mozambique and its aftermath. This essay will analyse the text of Mondlane and give an account of his reasoning’s.