October 1975 – March 1976 · Southern and central Angola Theater

South Africa launched a secret armoured invasion, Operation Savannah, driving hundreds of miles north from Namibia in support of UNITA to prevent an MPLA victory. The thrust reached to within striking distance of Luanda before a massive Cuban airlift — Operation Carlota — poured in troops that halted and then reversed the advance, and international exposure forced Pretoria to withdraw.

November 10, 1975 · Approaches to Luanda Theater

On the eve of independence, a column of the FNLA, backed by Zairean troops, South African artillery, and Western mercenaries, advanced on Luanda to seize the capital before the MPLA could proclaim the new state. At Quifangondo — 'Nshila wa Lufu,' the Road of Death — Cuban-manned rocket batteries and MPLA forces annihilated the attacking column in a few hours.

May 4, 1978 · Huíla province, southern Angola Theater

South African paratroopers dropped on the settlement of Cassinga, deep inside Angola, in a raid on what Pretoria called a SWAPO guerrilla base and the target's defenders called a refugee camp. Hundreds were killed — the dispute over whether they were fighters or refugees remains bitter to this day — and Cuban forces racing to the scene were caught in South African fire.

September – October 1987 · Cuando Cubango province Theater

A major Soviet-planned MPLA offensive aimed at destroying UNITA's stronghold at Mavinga was halted at the Lomba River by South African forces and UNITA, who ambushed and shattered the government's armoured brigades as they tried to cross. FAPLA lost hundreds of vehicles and thousands of men in one of the war's great set-piece defeats.

November 1987 – March 1988 · Cuando Cubango province Theater

The largest battle in Africa since the Second World War. As South African and UNITA forces besieged the government's last position east of Cuito Cuanavale, Fidel Castro poured in tens of thousands of fresh Cuban troops, tanks, and aircraft. Massive artillery duels, minefields, and armoured clashes raged for months around the town; the South Africans failed to take it, and the arrival of overwhelming Cuban airpower and armour along the frontier shifted the strategic balance.

December 22, 1988 · Diplomatic (New York) Theater

Brokered by the United States and the Soviet Union, the Tripartite Accord signed in New York linked the independence of Namibia to the phased withdrawal of all Cuban troops from Angola. Some 50,000 Cuban soldiers went home, South Africa pulled out and granted Namibia independence in 1990, and the Cold War's African confrontation began to wind down.

1991 – 1992 · Luanda and nationwide Theater

With the Cold War over and foreign forces gone, the MPLA and UNITA signed the Bicesse Accords in 1991, agreeing to a ceasefire and multiparty elections. When the MPLA won the 1992 vote and Savimbi rejected the result as fraudulent, UNITA returned to war — plunging Angola back into fighting even more intense than before.

October 30 – November 1, 1992 · Luanda Theater

As the post-election crisis erupted, MPLA forces and armed civilians in Luanda hunted down and killed thousands of UNITA members, officials, and suspected supporters over several days. The 'Halloween Massacre' shattered any hope of a negotiated transition and confirmed the return to all-out war.

February 22, 2002 · Moxico province Theater

After the failure of a second peace deal in the 1990s, the MPLA army — now well-funded by Angola's booming oil revenues and no longer facing a superpower-backed foe — waged a relentless campaign to destroy UNITA, driving it from its towns and back into the bush. On February 22, 2002, government troops finally tracked down and killed Jonas Savimbi in a firefight in the eastern province of Moxico.