Overview

The Angolan Civil War lasted over a quarter of a century, from 1975 to 2002. Beginning as a power struggle between two former liberation movements, the MPLA and UNITA, it became a Cold War struggle with involvement from the Soviet Union, Cuba, South Africa and the USA. This book examines the height of the Cuban-South African fighting in Angola in 1987-88, when 3,000 South African soldiers and about 8,000 UNITA guerrilla fighters fought in alliance against the Cubans and the armed forces of the Marxist MPLA government, a force of over 50,000 men. Bridgland pieced together the course of the war, fought in one of the world's most remote and wild terrains, by interviewing the South Africans who fought it, and many of their accounts are woven into the narrative. This classic account of a Cold War struggle and its momentous consequences for the participants and across the continent, is released in a new edition with a new preface and epilogue. AUTHOR: Fred Bridgland, a graduate of St Andrew's University, is a British veteran foreign correspondent and author. He has reported on wars in India, Pakistan, the Middle East and Africa. In 1975 his discovery of South Africa's secret US-engineered invasion of Angola uncovered the CIA's involvement in one of Africa's longest wars, and was a world scoop. He has written a number of books, including Jonas Savimbi: A Key to Africa, and is currently writing a biography of Winnie Mandela.

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9781612004921

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Re-issued with a revised preface and interesting epilogue, this book has to be in the library of anyone who is interested in the minutiae of the war in Angola and the impact of the Cold War in Africa. * Miniature Wargames - Paul Jackson * ...a very impressive contribution, which will have its place across the world in studies of this theatre. * Paul Trewhela, South African Journalist and Commentator * …a gripping text that highlights just how much political and social considerations dictate the outcome of war… A highly detailed work of military history, The War for Africa can tell us a lot about the nature of counter-insurgency warfare and how small states can become contested battlegrounds between superpowers. * New York Journal of Books *

...a gripping text that highlights just how much political and social considerations dictate the outcome of war... A highly detailed work of military history, The War for Africa can tell us a lot about the nature of counter-insurgency warfare and how small states can become contested battlegrounds between superpowers. New York Journal of Books

Author Information

Fred Bridgland, a graduate of St Andrew’s University, is a British veteran foreign correspondent and author. He has reported on wars in India, Pakistan, the Middle East and Africa. In 1975 his discovery of South Africa’s secret US-engineered invasion of Angola uncovered the CIA’s involvement in one of Africa’s longest wars, and was a world scoop. He has written a number of books, including Jonas Savimbi: A Key to Africa, and is currently writing a biography of Winnie Mandela.

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