1960s–1970s: (Angola’s Cold War Liberation — Portugal’s Brutal Response to Popular Uprising, the MPLA Bolstered by Soviet Assistance, UNITA Backed by South A…

1960s–1970s: (Angola’s Cold War Liberation — Portugal’s Brutal Response to Popular Uprising, the MPLA Bolstered by Soviet Assistance, UNITA Backed by South Africa, the FNLA Supported by the United States, Independence Racked by Civil War, the Soviet-Backed MPLA Securing Partial Victory in 1976, and Movements Organized Along Ethnic Lines — MPLA as Mbundu, UNITA as Ovimbundu, FNLA as Northern): The Portuguese response to a popular uprising in Angola was characteristically brutal, and the liberation struggle was characterized by foreign intervention that turned a national liberation war into a Cold War proxy conflict. While Portugal initially received US support, the Marxist MPLA was bolstered by Soviet assistance. Other movements emerged with external backing — UNITA, supported by South Africa as a friendlier alternative to the MPLA, and the FNLA, supported by the United States once counter-insurgency through a rival movement seemed more effective than backing the Portuguese. When Angola finally achieved independence, it was racked by civil war — the Soviet-backed MPLA secured partial victory in early 1976, but UNITA remained undefeated in the southeast. External meddling exacerbated conflict, but the various parties were also organized along ethnic lines representing ongoing endogenous antagonisms: the MPLA was primarily Mbundu, UNITA mainly Ovimbundu, and the FNLA dominated by northerners. In Mozambique, FRELIMO achieved greater unity and took the territory to independence through socialist revolution, though RENAMO — backed by South Africa — later plunged the country into bloody civil war. Violence was splintered and divisive, exposing the awful fragility of late-nineteenth-century colonial creations.