Our sacred duty: the Soviet Union, the liberation movements in the Portuguese colonies, and the Cold War, 1961-1975

摘要

In1961,aseriesofuprisingsexplodedinAngola,Portugal’slargestcolonyinudAfrica. A struggle for the independence of all the Portuguese colonies in Africaudfollowed, organized by the national liberation movements: the MPLA, FNLA, andudUNITA in Angola, FRELIMO in Mozambique, andthe PAIGC in Guinea-Bissau. Theudwars would end in 1974, following a military coup d'état in Lisbon and theuddissolution of the Portuguese dictatorship during the Carnation Revolution. Thisudthesis explores fourteen years of anti-colonial campaigns: the people who led theudliberation movements in the Portuguese colonies, the cadres these leadersudencountered in Moscow, East Berlin, Prague, Sofia, and Warsaw, and theudinternational environment they faced. It begins by looking at contacts forgedudbetweenSoviet cadresandAfrican nationalistleaders from Portuguese coloniesinudthe late 1950s, before offering detailed analysis of why the Soviet Union andudCzechoslovakiaofferedassistancetotheMPLAandthePAIGCin1961,thesameyearudAngolaerupted intospasmsofracial violenceand theSovietUnionand theUnitedudStateslockedhornsoverthestatusofWestBerlin.Thesubsequentchaptersanalyzeudthe evolution of Soviet relations with the liberation movements during the 1960sudand1970s,therolethisrelationshipplayedinshapingSovietattitudesandpolicyinudAfrica,andthesignificanceofSovietblocassistanceinanti-colonialcampaigns.Thisudthesisalsolooksatthediplomacyoftheliberationmovementsandtheirideologicaludand organizationaltransformations over fourteen years of guerrilla war. The finaludchapter evaluates the Soviet role in the decolonization of Portuguese Africaudfollowing the fall of the Portuguese dictatorship and investigates why the Sovietsuddecided tointerveneonbehalfof theMPLAin thepivotaleventof this thesis– theudbeginningofthecivilwarinAngolain1975.