5 Devastating Proxy Wars Fought Between the US And the USSR

Image By Fabian Plock From Shutterstock

The People’s Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) made up of the Ambundu people, started life as the Angolan Communist Party so would therefore gain the support of the Soviet Union, Cuba and other African countries with socialist leanings.

The National Liberation Front of Angola (FNLA) consisted of the Bakongo people and got their support from Mobutu’s Zaire and Mao’s People’s Republic of China. The last group, The National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA) was made up of Ovimbundu people, would receive American support.

Fearing the spread of communism in Africa, President Ford and his administration were willing to funnel millions of dollars into Angola to stop that from happening, so in 1975, Ford began giving financial support to UNITA and FNLA in an attempt to prevent the MPLA from seizing power.

Ford hoped that he could hide the millions of dollars he was sent to the region from American voters. By the ’80s, at the height of the Cold War, US and USSR involvement escalated just as the conflict did. The Soviets reportedly sent the MPLA more than 2 billion in aid in an attempt to subvert the American’s support for their rivals the UNITA and FNLA.

This move prompted Cuba and other Eastern bloc nations to increase their support for MPLA, which in turn forced the US to further increase their support. This dance would continue until 2002 when finally UNITA and the MPLA reached an agreement and hostilities ended.

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