DOCSLIB.ORG

H-Diplo Roundtable, Vol

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
H-Diplo Roundtable, Vol 2017 H-Diplo Roundtable Editors: Thomas Maddux and Diane Labrosse @HDiplo Roundtable and Web Production Editor: George Fujii Introduction by Elizabeth Schmidt Roundtable Review Volume XIX, No. 15 (2017) 11 December 2017 Jamie Miller. An African Volk: The Apartheid Regime and Its Search for Survival. New York: Oxford University Press, 2016. ISBN: 9780190274832 (hardcover, $78.00). URL: http://www.tiny.cc/Roundtable-XIX-15 Contents Introduction by Elizabeth Schmidt, Loyola University Maryland.................................................... 2 Review by Andy DeRoche, Front Range Community College ......................................................... 6 Review by Jacob Dlamini, Princeton University .................................................................................... 8 Review by Hermann Giliomee, University of Stellenbosch ............................................................. 15 Review by Nathaniel K. Powell, Fondation Pierre du Bois pour l’histoire du temps présent ..... 20 Author’s Response by Jamie Miller, University of Pittsburgh ........................................................ 24 © 2017 The Authors. Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 United States License. H-Diplo Roundtable Review, Vol. XIX, No. 15 (2017) Introduction by Elizabeth Schmidt, Loyola University Maryland ince the 1960s, scholars of Southern Africa have produced a significant body of work on African nationalism, resistance, and nation-building in the context of decolonization and the Cold War. South S Africa, the region’s political and economic powerhouse, often has been viewed as an exception. Although challenged by anticolonial nationalist movements, the white-ruled state, which repressed its own citizens and waged wars of destabilization against its neighbors, remained an exemplar of colonial racism and oppression. South Africa’s white minority generally has been viewed as separate, apart from the rest of the continent—as the very term ‘apartheid’ suggests. If not exactly European—Afrikaner settlers left their original homes before the Age of Enlightenment—the ruling classes were certainly not African. Jamie Miller challenges this view, at least in regard to a segment of the Afrikaner ruling elite at a particular point in history. Focusing his study on the regime of Prime Minister John Vorster (1966–1978), Miller argues that Vorster and his associates recast Afrikaners as an “African volk” and “attempted to hijack the norms and values of the postcolonial era,” in order to “relegitimize existing racial hierarchies” (16). Hoping to diminish South Africa’s diplomatic isolation by strengthening ties to anticommunist African governments in Southern Africa, Vorster presented Afrikaner nationalism and its apartheid offspring as simply another embodiment of African nationalism, a natural response to political, economic, social, and cultural repression by a foreign power. To encourage regional détente and build alliances, Vorster offered the carrot of economic aid and diplomatic mediation. Vorster’s approach had some early successes, but it was quickly overtaken by events. The collapse of Portuguese colonialism in 1974 was followed by the rise to power of a Marxist liberation movement in Angola, despite South African and American attempts to stop it. The renegade white regime in Rhodesia remained in power, despite Vorster’s efforts to replace it with a pliable African government that would prevent the contagion of radical African nationalism from spreading south. The Soweto uprising and its bloody aftermath, which focused world attention on apartheid racism and oppression, encouraged the reemergence of a siege mentality. Vorster’s policy of regional rapprochement, deemed a disaster by his critics, was successfully challenged. Defense Minister P.W. Botha, who replaced Vorster as prime minister in 1978, abandoned his predecessor’s policy and mobilized his white ethnic constituents to confront a ‘total onslaught’ against their way of life. He faced the perceived threat with a ‘total strategy’ supported by a security establishment that penetrated all aspects of South African life. Miller argues that understanding Vorster’s vision and foreign policy, which presented Afrikaners as part of rather than apart from Africa, is critical to understanding South African history during the apartheid era. A proper understanding also requires consideration of the world from the perspective of the actors, in this case, the Afrikaner ruling elite in the Vorster regime. In the reviews that follow, four scholars with expertise in African international history assess Miller's endeavor. Nathaniel Powell, whose scholarship focuses on French military intervention in Africa after political independence, calls Miller’s study “a fresh, well-written, and deeply insightful” consideration of the white minority regime’s attempts to end diplomatic isolation and to respond to the new regional order that replaced H-Diplo Roundtable Review, Vol. XIX, No. 15 (2017) colonialism.1 Rejecting the common one-dimensional portrayal of apartheid leaders, Miller marshals evidence from a wide range of archival and oral sources “to bring regime agency back into the picture.” He helps readers come to a deeper, more complex understanding of South Africa in the 1970s “by examining its main actors, internal debates, ideological currents, personality conflicts, domestic constraints, and its international relationships” from the perspective of those who made South African foreign policy. Powell would have liked greater elaboration on the influences outside the government—including socioeconomic changes that affected the Afrikaner population and the impact of Afrikaner and English-speaking capital and special-interest lobbies on foreign policy decision-making. Nonetheless, he concludes that “Miller’s work is remarkable, and promises to be a standard reference for years to come.” Hermann Giliomee, who has written extensively about Afrikaner history and political thought, praises Miller’s book as “the first in-depth study, based on primary sources, of Vorster’s efforts” to improve South Africa’s image in the world arena and to win allies among its neighbors.2 He is impressed not only by the range of archival sources and interviews, but also by the fact that Miller is proficient in Afrikaans—the language in which the documents were written and the subjects interviewed—and thus “was able to develop an acute understanding of the dynamics of Afrikaner politics and the often contradictory goals” of various state agencies from the perspective of regime insiders. Finally, Giliomee notes, Miller’s impressive array of primary sources is complemented by his mastery of the theoretical works on the Cold War and African states. This background provided him a nuanced “understanding of superpower rivalry, the strength and weaknesses of the South African system of rule, and the demographic and economic forces that were at play.” Giliomee concludes that “Miller has made a seminal contribution to both Cold War history and to the study of the crucial stages of the transition to black rule in Southern Africa.” Andy DeRoche, who has published widely on U.S.-Southern African relations during decolonization and the Cold War, also lauds Miller’s contribution to “a veritable treasure trove of groundbreaking new studies” that reassess Southern African international history in the 1970s and 1980s.3 He appreciates Miller’s nuanced portrayal of Vorster’s attempt “to maintain the institutional racism of the apartheid system while simultaneously cooperating with independent black African states.” By highlighting divergent views within the South African foreign policy and national security establishments, and by demonstrating clear links between domestic and foreign political decision-making, Miller “has added another crucial piece to this complicated and important historical puzzle.” DeRoche also notes that Miller’s Pretoria-centered account of South African diplomacy and politics complements “earlier studies that foregrounded the views from Washington, Havana, and Lusaka.” Moreover, by “putting himself into the shoes” of apartheid leadership, Miller offers a convincing reappraisal of a regime that sought to style itself as “postcolonial and African, while simultaneously defending a putrid system of institutionalized racism.” DeRoche concludes that Miller’s 1 For Powell’s work, see especially, Nathaniel K. Powell, “Battling Instability? The Recurring Logic of French Military Interventions in Africa,” African Security 10:1 (2017), 42-72. 2 For Giliomee’s work, see especially, Hermann Giliomee, The Last Afrikaner Leaders: A Supreme Test of Power (Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2013). 3 For DeRoche’s work, see especially, Andy DeRoche, Kenneth Kaunda, the United States and Southern Africa (New York: Bloomsbury Academic, 2016). 3 | Page H-Diplo Roundtable Review, Vol. XIX, No. 15 (2017) account succeeds at the very difficult task of presenting the apartheid regime as complex and human rather than one-dimensional. For Jacob Dlamini, whose work has focused on the anti-apartheid struggle in South Africa, that approach is just the problem.4 In his attempt to view the world through the eyes of the apartheid regime, Miller, in Dlamini’s view, jettisons the scholar’s obligation to cast a critical eye. Although he appreciates Miller’s attempt “to take his historical actors on their own terms” and to understand them “as they understood themselves and the contexts in which they acted,” Dlamini
Load more

Recommended publications
  • H-Diplo Roundtable, Vol. XV, No. 41
    2014 Roundtable Editors: Thomas Maddux and Diane H-Diplo Labrosse Roundtable and Web Production Editor: George Fujii H-Diplo Roundtable Review h-diplo.org/roundtables Commissioned for H-Diplo by Thomas Maddux Volume XV, No. 41 (2014) 14 July 2014 Introduction by Andy DeRoche Piero Gleijeses. Visions of Freedom: Havana, Washington, Pretoria, and the Struggle for Southern Africa, 1976-1991. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2013. ISBN: 978- 1-4696-0968-3 (cloth, $40.00). Stable URL: http://h-diplo.org/roundtables/PDF/Roundtable-XV-41.pdf Contents Introduction by Andy DeRoche, Front Range Community College .......................................... 2 Review by Jamie Miller, Quinnipiac University ......................................................................... 7 Review by Sue Onslow, Senior Research Fellow at the Institute of Commonwealth Studies, London .................................................................................................................................... 13 Review by Chris Saunders, University of Cape Town, South Africa ........................................ 20 Review by Elizabeth Schmidt, Loyola University Maryland .................................................... 24 Review by Alex Thomson, Coventry University ...................................................................... 26 Review by Anna-Mart van Wyk, Monash University, South Africa ........................................ 29 Author’s Response by Piero Gleijeses, Johns Hopkins University .........................................
    [Show full text]
  • Introduction Chapter 1 Chapter 2
    Notes Introduction 1. I am grateful to Richard Boyd for his teaching and supervision, as a result of which I was introduced to the eminent importance, both within and outside philosophy, of arguments for naturalistic realism in Anglo- American analytic philosophy. See Boyd 1982, 1983, 1985, 1988, 1999, 2010. 2. This is how the term is spelled in Goodman 1973. Chapter 1 1. This took place at a talk at the University of Havana on the occasion of receiving an honorary degree December 8, 2001, Havana, Cuba. 2. Take, for example, Senel Paz saying, “I have always thought that it is the duty of the intellectuals . to examine closely all of our errors and negative tendencies, to study them with courage and without shame” (my translation) in Heras 1999: 148. 3. I have discussed this view at some length in Babbitt 1996. 4. Julia Sweig’s statement is significant given that she was director of Latin Ameri- can studies at the Council of Foreign Relations, a major foreign policy forum for the US government. See Sweig 2007, cited in Veltmeyer & Rushton 2013: 301. 5. “US Governor in First Trip to Castro’s Cuba” (1999, October 24), New York Times, p. 14, http:// search .proquest .com .proxy .queensu .ca /docview /110125370 / pageviewPDF ?accountid = 6180 [accessed March 10, 2013]. 6. The fact- value distinction emerged in European Enlightenment philosophy, originating, arguably, with Hume (1711– 1776) who argued that normative arguments (about value) cannot be derived logically from arguments about what exists. 7. The view that the mind, understood as consciousness, is physical, although distinctly so, is defended by philosophers of mind (Searle 1998; see also Prado 2006).
    [Show full text]
  • The Viceroyalty of Miami: Colonial Nostalgia and the Making of An
    Florida International University FIU Digital Commons FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations University Graduate School 7-1-2016 The iceV royalty of Miami: Colonial Nostalgia and the Making of an Imperial City John K. Babb Florida International University, [email protected] DOI: 10.25148/etd.FIDC000725 Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.fiu.edu/etd Part of the Cultural History Commons, Latin American History Commons, and the United States History Commons Recommended Citation Babb, John K., "The icV eroyalty of Miami: Colonial Nostalgia and the Making of an Imperial City" (2016). FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 2598. https://digitalcommons.fiu.edu/etd/2598 This work is brought to you for free and open access by the University Graduate School at FIU Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of FIU Digital Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. FLORIDA INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY Miami, Florida THE VICEROYALTY OF MIAMI: COLONIAL NOSTALGIA AND THE MAKING OF AN IMPERIAL CITY A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in HISTORY by John K. Babb 2016 To: Dean John Stack Green School of International and Public Affairs This dissertation, written by John K. Babb, and entitled The Viceroyalty of Miami: Colonial Nostalgia and the Making of an Imperial City, having been approved in respect to style and intellectual content, is referred to you for judgment. We have read this dissertation and recommend that it be approved. ____________________________________ Victor Uribe-Uran ____________________________________ Alex Stepick ____________________________________ April Merleaux ____________________________________ Bianca Premo, Major Professor Date of Defense: July 1, 2016.
    [Show full text]
  • The Angolan Civil War – a Cold War Microcosm? In: Thomas Spielbuechler/Markus Wurzer (Hg.): Afrika – Zugänge Und Einordnungen
    Gesellschaft zur Förderung wissenschaftlicher Forschung und Publikation www.begutachtet.at [email protected] Thomas Schwärzler: The Angolan Civil War – A Cold War Microcosm? In: Thomas Spielbuechler/Markus Wurzer (Hg.): Afrika – Zugänge und Einordnungen. Afrikaforschung in Österreich, Linz 2017, S. 85–111. Dieser Artikel ist Teil eines Sammelbandes als Ergebnis der der Konferenz Afrika – Zugänge und Einordnungen, die vom 17. bis 18. November 2016 an der Johannes Kepler Universität Linz stattfand. Online abrufbar unter: http://epub.jku.at/nav/classification/1479225 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The online version of this and other articles can be found at the Repository of the Johannes Kepler University, Linz <http://epub.jku.at/nav/classification/1479225> Begutachtet.at is an open-access platform at the library of the Johannes Kepler University, Linz. Papers may be copied, distributed, displayed, performed and modified according to the Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike 4.0 (CC BY-SA 4.0). The Angolan Civil War – A Cold War Microcosm? Thomas Schwärzler1 ABSTRACT: Following the independence of Angola in 1975, the country descended into a decades- lasting civil war between three indigenous movements who previously had fought for independence from Portugal. The first period of the civil war from 1975 until 1988 was characterized by significant involvements from several international actors, including South Africa, Cuba, the United States and the Soviet Union. Especially the involvement of the two superpowers and the dominating nature of the Cold War in international politics in the second half of the 20th century, raises the question, whether the Angolan civil war was a proxy war of the Global Cold War. Particularly the involvement of South Africa casts doubt on this notion since the apartheid-regime directed vast recourses towards preventing majority-ruled countries in southern Africa from consolidating their power to protect its domestic sociopolitical system.
    [Show full text]
  • The Chico Historian
    The Chico Historian California State University, Chico: Department of History The Chico Historian Editor Christopher Lasley Editorial Board Kevin Dewey Katie Fox Kayla Hudson Advising Faculty Dr. Stephen Lewis- The Chico Historian Dr. Jason Nice & Dr. Jessica Clark- Phi Alpha Theta: The History Honor Society 1 The Chico Historian This volume is dedicated to Dr. Lawrence Bryant 2 The Chico Historian Letter From the Editor It is my profound pleasure to edit and introduce the 2010-2011 edition of The Chico Historian. This volume represents the collaborative efforts between students and CSU, Chico’s dedicated faculty. The papers presented here are a small sampling of the student work done at Chico, but they highlight the diversity and the value of historical inquiry. For many of the authors in this volume seeing their work published is a new experience, while others are a familiar name to this journal. In either case, their work is appreciated and it is both my honor and that of this year’s editorial board, to highlight their writing. This volume was made possible through the continued enthusiasm and support for student work on the behalf of the entire history department. I would also like to specifically thank Dr. Stephen Lewis for his advice and support throughout this process. Dr. Laird Easton for his dedication to The Chico Historian. Dr. Jason Nice and Dr. Jessica Clark for their constant support to students. Professor John Boyle for his continuing support. Claudia Beaty for the million little things she has done to assist this journal. Finally, I would like to thank my editorial board for their hard work throughout this semester.
    [Show full text]
  • Southern Africa in the Cold War, Post-1974
    SOUTHERN AFRICA IN THE COLD WAR, POST-1974 WAR, SOUTHERN AFRICA IN THE COLD SOUTHERN AFRICA IN THE COLD WAR, POST-1974 History and Public Policy Program Critical Oral History Conference Series Edited by Sue Onslow and Anna-Mart van Wyk History and Public Policy Program Critical Oral History Conference Series SOUTHERN AFRICA IN THE COLD WAR, POST-1974 Edited by Sue Onslow and Anna-Mart van Wyk Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars One Woodrow Wilson Plaza 1300 Pennsylvania Avenue NW Washington, DC 20004-3027 www.wilsoncenter.org ISBN# 978-1-938027-06-2 Cover image: Soviet and East Bloc military advisors in Angola. “Soviet Military Power,” 1983, Page 92, U.S. Department of Defense, http://www.defenseimagery.mil © 2013 Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars SOUTHERN AFRICA IN THE COLD WAR, POST-1974 Contents A CKNOWLEDGEMENTS v OPENING REMARKS 1 SESSION 1: The Angola/Mozambique Crisis Briefing Paper 15 Discussion 43 Documents on Angola 74 Timeline on Angola 153 SESSION 2: The Rhodesia/Zimbabwe Confrontation Briefing Paper 159 Discussion 183 Documents on Rhodesia 217 Timeline on Rhodesia 309 SESSION 3: South West Africa/Namibia Briefing Paper 323 Discussion 335 Documents on South West Africa/Namibia 378 Timeline on South West Africa/Namibia 453 SESSION 4: South Africa Briefing Paper 455 Discussion 466 Documents on South Africa 492 Timeline on South Africa 524 CLOSING REMARKS 535 iii III The Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars is the national, living U.S. memorial honoring President Woodrow Wilson. In providing an essential link between the worlds of ideas and public policy, the Center addresses current and emerging challenges confronting the United States and the world.
    [Show full text]
  • Article Fidel Castro and Socioeconomic Human Rights in Africa: a Multi-Level
    ARTICLE FIDEL CASTRO AND SOCIOECONOMIC HUMAN RIGHTS IN AFRICA: A MULTI-LEVEL ANALYSIS Philip C. Aka* I. INTRODUCTION .................................................................41 II. DEFINING SOCIOECONOMIC HUMAN RIGHTS ..........47 III. BRIEF BACKGROUND HISTORY OF CUBAN-AFRICAN RELATIONS ........................................................................50 IV. MEASURING THE SIZE OF CUBAN SOCIOECONOMIC HUMAN RIGHTS IN AFRICA CIRCA 1975 TO 1991 ......56 V. DEFENDING SOCIALIST VALUES “TO THE LAST ATOM”: A MULTI-LEVEL ANALYSIS ............................63 A. Pursuit of Socioeconomic Human Rights in Service to Cuban National Security ...................................................64 B. Pursuit of Socioeconomic Human Rights in Service to the International Socialist Movement ..............................66 C. Interaction and Intersection of Cuban National Security and Service to the International Socialist Movement .......68 D. Cuba under Fidel Castro as Global Good Samaritan from the Socialist World ...........................................................72 VI. CONCLUSION .....................................................................76 I. INTRODUCTION In February of 2008, Fidel Castro stepped down from power as Cuban leader, due to failing health, after forty-nine years in office.1 In * Dean and Professor of Law, Faculty of Law, International University of Sarajevo (IUS); Member, Illinois State Bar; Founding Editor-in-Chief, IUS Law Journal; and Corresponding Editor, International Legal Materials (ILM). S.J.D., Indiana
    [Show full text]
  • H-Diplo Roundtable on Westad, the Global Cold
    H-Diplo Roundtable Reviews, Volume VIII, No. 12 (2007) The Global Cold War: Third World Interventions and the Making of Our Times Roundtable Review Reviewed Works: Odd Arne Westad. The Global Cold War: Third World Interventions and the Making of Our Times. New York: Cambridge University Press, October 2005. ISBN-13: 978-0-52185-364-4. $35.00 (hardback). ISBN-13: 978-0-52170- 314-7. $19.99 (paperback, published March 2007). Roundtable Editor: Thomas Maddux Reviewers: Jerald Combs, William Hitchcock, David Painter, Natalia Yegorova Stable URL: http://www.h-net.org/~diplo/roundtables/PDF/GlobalColdWar- Roundtable.pdf Your use of this H-Diplo roundtable review indicates your acceptance of the H-Net copyright policies, and terms of condition and use. The following is a plain language summary of these policies: You may redistribute and reprint this work under the following conditions: Attribution: You must include full and accurate attribution to the author(s), web location, date of publication, H-Diplo, and H-Net: Humanities and Social Sciences Online. Nonprofit and education purposes only. You may not use this work for commercial purposes. For any reuse or distribution, you must make clear to others the license terms of this work. Enquiries about any other uses of this material should be directed tothe H-Diplo editorial staff at h- [email protected]. H-Net’s copyright policy is available at http://www.h-net.org/about/intellectualproperty.php . H-Diplo is an international discussion network dedicated to the study of diplomatic and international history (including the history of foreign relations).
    [Show full text]
  • Hope Denied: the US Defeat of the 1965 Revolt in the Dominican Republic
    WORKING PAPER #72 Hope Denied: The US Defeat of the 1965 Revolt in the Dominican Republic By Piero Gleijeses, November 2014 THE COLD WAR INTERNATIONAL HISTORY PROJECT WORKING PAPER SERIES Christian F. Ostermann, Series Editor This paper is one of a series of Working Papers published by the Cold War International History Project of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, D.C. Established in 1991 by a grant from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the Cold War International History Project (CWIHP) disseminates new information and perspectives on the history of the Cold War as it emerges from previously inaccessible sources on “the other side” of the post-World War II superpower rivalry. The project supports the full and prompt release of historical materials by governments on all sides of the Cold War, and seeks to accelerate the process of integrating new sources, materials and perspectives from the former “Communist bloc” with the historiography of the Cold War which has been written over the past few decades largely by Western scholars reliant on Western archival sources. It also seeks to transcend barriers of language, geography, and regional specialization to create new links among scholars interested in Cold War history. Among the activities undertaken by the project to promote this aim are a periodic BULLETIN to disseminate new findings, views, and activities pertaining to Cold War history; a fellowship program for young historians from the former Communist bloc to conduct archival research and study Cold War history in the United States; international scholarly meetings, conferences, and seminars; and publications.
    [Show full text]
  • Contested Historical Interpretations and the Narrative of the Angolan-South Africa War 1987-1988 - a Military Outcome?”
    “Contested Historical Interpretations and the Narrative of the Angolan-South Africa War 1987-1988 - A military outcome?” by Stephen James Beck Thesis presented in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in the Faculty of History at Stellenbosch University Supervisor: Prof. Bill Nasson December 2018 1 Stellenbosch University https://scholar.sun.ac.za Declaration By submitting this thesis electronically, I declare that the entirety of the work contained therein is my own, original work, that I am the sole author thereof (save to the extent explicitly otherwise stated), that reproduction and publication thereof by Stellenbosch University will not infringe any third party rights and that I have not previously in its entirety or in part submitted it for obtaining any qualification. December 2018 Copyright © 2018 Stellenbosch University All rights reserved Stellenbosch University https://scholar.sun.ac.za Beck, Stephen, Contested Historical Interpretations and the Narrative of the Angolan-South Africa War 1987-1988 - A military outcome?, Master of Arts (History), January 2018, Univeristy of Stellenbosch, Stellenbosch, Western Cape. Abstract The end of the 1980s brought abought great changes throughout the world, the end of the Cold War – globally, as well as the end of apartheid in South Africa. For South Africans these two events can be seen in the narratives which surround the Angolan Border/Civil War, as it contained all the elements of a Cold War struggle and is heralded by some as a turning point towards the end of apartheid. The outcomes of this conflict are hotly contested, each side claiming a victory for themselves.
    [Show full text]
  • 111 Piero Gleijeses Christine Hatzky Fidel Castro Characterized The
    book reviews 111 Piero Gleijeses Visions of Freedom: Havana, Washington, Pretoria, and the Struggle for Southern Africa, 1976–1991. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2013. xiv + 655 pp. (Cloth US$40.00) Christine Hatzky Cubans in Angola: South-South Cooperation and Transfer of Knowledge, 1976–1991. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 2015. xvi + 386 pp. (Paper US$39.95) Fidel Castro characterized the Cuban intervention in Angola as “the most beautiful cause.” Between 1975 and 1991, 337,000 Cuban soldiers and 43,000 Cuban civilians served in Angola. The Cuban intervention bolstered the polit- ical and military power of the revolutionary group, Movimento Popular de Libertação de Angola (mpla) under the leadership of, first, Agostinho Neto (1975–79) and then José Eduardo dos Santos (1979–). With the critical assis- tance of Cuban troops, the mpla gained control over the capital city, Luanda, and the oil-producing enclave of Cabinda.The mpla fought itsWestern-backed rival, União Nacional para a Independência Total de Angola (unita), led by Jonas Savimbi, to a standstill, although it would take another decade of civil war before the mpla would finally defeat unita in 2002. Cuban military forces also joined with the mpla in repelling from Angola the South African forces of the apartheid regime in Pretoria. The Cuban-Angolan victory in the 1988 battle of Cuito Cuanavale proved a momentous international event. In the wake of defeat, South Africa agreed to honor U.N. Resolution 435 (1978) and grant inde- pendence to Namibia. South Africa had controlled Namibia, which it called South West Africa, since the end of World War I.
    [Show full text]
  • Cuba's Role in International Politics During the Cold War
    GMoscowleijeses’s Proxy? Cuba and Africa 1975–1988 Moscow’s Proxy? Cuba and Africa 1975–1988 ✣ Piero Gleijeses Downloaded from http://direct.mit.edu/jcws/article-pdf/8/4/98/700833/jcws.2006.8.4.98.pdf by guest on 26 September 2021 Cuba’s role in international politics during the Cold War was unique. No other Third World country projected its military power beyond its immediate neighborhood. Extracontinental military interventions during the Cold War were the preserve of the two superpowers, a few West European countries, and Cuba. In the thirty years from the victory of the guerrillas led by Fidel Castro in 1959 to the end of the Cold War in 1989, West European military interventions were much smaller and much less daring than those of Cuba. Even the Soviet Union sent far fewer soldiers beyond its immediate neighborhood than did Cuba. In this regard, Cuba was second only to the United States. From 1959 onward, Castro deªed and humiliated the United States. In the 1960s, fears of a “second Cuba” in Latin America haunted U.S. leaders and gave rise to the Alliance for Progress. From the late 1970s through the late 1980s, the Cuban government supported those who fought to bring revolu- tionary change to Central America. But Castro’s vistas extended well beyond the Western hemisphere. The dispatch of 36,000 Cuban soldiers to Angola from November 1975 to April 1976 stunned the world and ushered in a pe- riod of large-scale operations, including 12,000 Cuban soldiers in Ethiopia in early 1978; Cuban military missions in Congo Brazzaville, Guinea, Guinea- Bissau, Mozambique, and Benin; and, above all, the continuing presence in Angola that peaked in 1988 with 52,000 soldiers.
    [Show full text]