1975 – 2002
Independence from Portugal in 1975 detonated a 27-year civil war that became the Cold War's largest African battlefield. The Soviet- and Cuban-backed MPLA government fought the US- and South African-backed rebels of UNITA, and at Cuito Cuanavale Cuban and apartheid armies clashed head-on in the biggest battle in Africa since El Alamein. The war outlasted the Cold War itself, ending only with the death of the rebel leader Jonas Savimbi in 2002.
Chapter-by-chapter narrative with maps, primary sources, and key events.
Explore battles on a live map with a timeline slider and territory overlays.
Deep-dive into every major engagement — commanders, casualties, significance.
Biographical flip cards with real portraits, facts, and full biography pages.
Trace each figure's full life journey — birth, education, battles, and death — on a live map.
Scroll-driven visualization of casualties — each dot a thousand lives.
Weapons, war machines, and the military innovations that defined how this conflict was fought.
Cause-and-effect chains tracing the war's long shadow on history.
War crimes, massacres, and the darkest chapters of this conflict — documented for history.
Independence from Portugal in 1975 detonated a 27-year civil war that became the Cold War's largest African battlefield. The Soviet- and Cuban-backed MPLA government fought the US- and South African-backed rebels of UNITA, and at Cuito Cuanavale Cuban and apartheid armies clashed head-on in the biggest battle in Africa since El Alamein. The war outlasted the Cold War itself, ending only with the death of the rebel leader Jonas Savimbi in 2002.
The Angolan Civil War was fought from 1975 to 2002.
The Angolan Civil War was fought between MPLA Government (Cuba/USSR) and UNITA & FNLA (US/South Africa).
An estimated 500,000 people died in The Angolan Civil War, including roughly 160,000 military and 340,000 civilian deaths. Figures are scholarly estimates and vary by source.
Major engagements included The Halloween Massacre, Battle of Cuito Cuanavale, The Bicesse Accords and the Return to War, and Battle of the Lomba River.