The Angolan War of Independence (Portuguese: Guerra de Independência de Angola; 1961–1974), known as the Armed Struggle of National Liberation (Portuguese: Luta Armada de Libertação Nacional)[34][35] in Angola, was a war of independence fought between the Angolan nationalist forces of the MPLA, UNITA and FNLA, and Portugal. It began as an uprising by Angolans against the Portuguese imposition of forced cultivation of only cotton as a commodity crop. As the resistance spread against colonial authorities, multiple factions developed that struggled for control of Portugal's overseas province of Angola. There were three nationalist movements and also a separatist movement.[36]
The war ended when a peaceful coup in Lisbon in April 1974 overthrew Portugal's Estado Novo dictatorship. The new regime immediately stopped all military action in the African colonies, declaring its intention to grant them independence without delay.
The Angolans waged a guerrilla war, to which the Portuguese army and security forces conducted a counter-insurgency campaign against armed groups, who were mostly dispersed across sparsely populated areas of the vast Angolan countryside.[37] Many atrocities were committed by all forces involved in the conflict.
^Gebril, Mahmoud (1988), Imagery and Ideology in U.S. Policy Toward Libya 1969–1982, p. 70
^ abSelcher, Wayne A. (1976). "Brazilian Relations with Portuguese Africa in the Context of the Elusive "Luso-Brazilian Community"". Journal of Interamerican Studies and World Affairs. 18 (1): 25–58. doi:10.2307/174815. JSTOR174815.
^Telepneva, Natalia (2022). Cold War Liberation: The Soviet Union and the Collapse of the Portuguese Empire in Africa, 1961-1975. The University of North Carolina Press. p. 145. ISBN978-1-4696-6586-3.
^John Marcum, The Angolan Revolution, vol. I, The Anatomy of an Explosion (1950–1962), vol. II, Exile Politics and Guerrilla Warfare, Cambridge/Mass. & London: MIT Press, 1969 and 1978, respectively.