The Cold War and Black Africa

Cold War, European Empire and post-colonialism

Young & Kent: International Relations since 1945

The early Cold War and French Africa 1948-1953

• Impact of the Brazzaville Conference • Nature and impact of the socio-economic

reforms• Fear of international pressures• African communism and the Cold War:

- Madagascar and the impact on African dependencies of communism in France

1947- African parties and the political process

in French West Africa- the Ivory Coast evenements and the

Mitterand reforms 1949-50

The early Cold War and British Africa 1948-54

• The Colonial Office and reform in West Africa• The Accra Riots and the Cold War impact

February 1948- the Czech coup and the climate of fear- the effect on constitutional change

- the Watson Report and the Coussey Commission

• Danquah, Nkrumah and the political process-radicalism and positive action- Sir Arden-Clarke, Nkrumah and the

road to the transfer of power• The nature and creation of the Central African

Federation

The End of the French African Empire 1953-1963

• The loi cadre and the reform of the French Union, 1956

• The African impact of De Gaulle and Algeria 1958

- political reform and the French Community- impact of Guinea’s rejection of

the community• Economic theories of French

decolonization• Independence in 1960 and the bilateral

links to France

The changing African Cold War: crisis in the independent Congo

• The Belgian attempts to deal with political change and African anti-colonialism 1959

• Independence June 1960 - the economic difficulties Belgium

created for the independent state- the political difficulties of the ethnic

and regional diversity• The force publique mutiny and Tshombe’s

Katangan secession, July 1960• The Cold War and Western reactions• Belgium sending troops to deal with the threat

to law and order uninvited

The UN, the US and independence in the Congo

1960• The Cold War aims of Belgium, the US and

Hammarskjold, the UN Secretary General• African reactions to the Congo crisis, July 1960

- the issue of neo-colonialism• The role of the UN and the security council resolutions

of July and August- Lumumba’s fury at his subordination to the UN

in dealing with Katanga- Soviet aid and the prospect of Congo-Soviet co-

operation • UN failure to end the secession or secure the withdrawal

of Belgian troops• The US Cold War anti-Lumumba policy• Mobutu and the College of Commissioners

Cold War and crisis in the Congo, 1961-1965

• The murder of Lumumba- the roles of the Belgians, Katangans and the Congo government

• The Congo secessions, the dissolution of the College of Commissioners and the US Cold War dilemma

• The Tananerive summit, the Coquilhatville Conference and the detention of Tshombe• The formation of the Adoula government August 1961 and the death of Hammarskjold• Violence and UN Katangan fighting September, December 1961 – the mercenary problem

-UN successes and failures• The KItona talks December 1961 and subsequent negotiations on the agreement to end the

secession• The Katangan situation in the summer of 1962

- the four technical commissions on the reintegration issues- Tshombe’s continued stalling and the weakening of Adoula- US international talks on the end of secession- U Thant’s Reconciliation Plan Aug- McGhee’s mission failure and fighting in N Katanga September

• UN sanctions and US military assistance end Katangan secession December-January• Nation building and the start of the armed rebellions 1963• The return of Tshombe and the mercenaries 1964

- the US and the Belgian paratroop landing, October 1964- the role of the US financed and equipped mercenary forces

• Kasavubu-Tshombe and the Mobutu coup 1965

The Portuguese Empire and the Cold War 1961-1963

• African nationalist movements operating from the Congo- the UPA and Roberto - the role of the Americans

• The revolt of 1961- Portuguese colonialism and Angola’s importance- the socio-economic conditions in Angola

• The UN and the 1961 resolutions• Angolan ‘nationalism’

- the establishment of the MPLA, FNLA and the provisional government 1961 and 1962

- MPLA ideology and Neto’s replacement of Andrade December 1962

• The Azores base- Kennedy and the military’s Hot War requirements

• The effect of the base on US Cold War requirements- the Ball mission to Lisbon, the Cold War role of Portuguese

reform and Angolan self-determination• The UN 1962-63

The end of the British Empire in Africa 1957 - 1965

• Nigeria and federation- the Willink Report 1957 and the need to strengthen nationalism to

create a more viable state• Foreign Office and US Cold War pressure

- speeding up the transfer of power v the dangers of going too fast- ‘Africa in the Next Ten Years’ 1959

• Multi-racialism and the search for collaborators• The rush to transfer power

- Tanganyika and the need for peaceful development• The impact of events in Africa

- the Hola Camp massacre- The Nyasaland Emergency and the Devlin Report 1959- the changes in French and Belgian Africa

• The Kenyan constitutional process and the end of multi-racialism• The Central African Federation problem

- the increasing desirability and difficulty of a dignified departure• Britain’s global role and the advocates of Empire

- Cold War crisis avoidance- African pressures and the loss of Empire by default

Civil War in the aftermath of Empire: Nigeria

• The Islamic North and divisions in the westernized South - Yoruba and Ibo politics

• The 1966 coups- the resultant changes to the federal state- growing divisions between the North and the Eastern

region in the South• The creation of Biafra 1967

- the strengths and weaknesses of the new state- resources- the significance of regional changes in

Nigeria• The outbreak and course of the Civil War 1967-70

- Ojukwu’s advance- Capture of Enugu 1968

• British diplomacy and Cold War alliances• French policy and external African influences• The genocide issue and the defeat of Biafra

Civil War in the aftermath of Empire: Angola

• The Angolan situation in 1974 and the opposition to colonialism- the social, economic and ethnic divisions- political parties and the formation of UNITA 1966

• External factors and their impact- the impact of the Congo crisis- the arrival of the Chinese 1973 - the Carnation Revolution in Portugal 1974- Soviet aid- Kissinger’s policies 1974

• The Alva Accord and independence1975• Cuban assistance 1975 • The debate over who was initiating the external escalation and who

was responding to it • Escalation and the entry of South African forces • The Cold War significance of Angola

- Kissinger’s misperceptions and the collapse of US aid- the implications of the communist ‘victory’