Title: Proxy Wars During the Cold War: Africa | Atomic Heritage Foundation
Headings: Proxy Wars During the Cold War: Africa
Proxy Wars During the Cold War: Africa

Proxy Wars During the Cold War: Africa
Proxy Wars During the Cold War: Africa
Congo Crisis (1960-1965)
Ogaden War (1977-1978)
Caption:
Cubans in the Ogaden War
Angolan Civil War (1975-2002)
South African Border War / Namibian War of Independence (1966-1990)
Legacy

Content: Proxy Wars During the Cold War: Africa | Atomic Heritage Foundation
Proxy Wars During the Cold War: Africa
Proxy Wars During the Cold War: Africa
History Page Type: Cold War History
Date: Friday, August 24, 2018
After World War II, the tension between communist and democratic forms of government strained relations between the Soviet Union and the United States and provided the ideological underpinnings of the Cold War. These tensions almost boiled over into full on conflict several times, especially as nuclear arms proliferation and testing advanced rapidly during the late 1950s and early 1960s. Both nations found it critical to expand their spheres of influence, largely by promoting leadership in the “Third World” that would be sympathetic to their causes. Arguably more important, however, was the ability to have friendly governments that could be used as allies to fight conventional wars or provide bases for the placement of nuclear warheads in the case of nuclear warfare. By using both diplomatic and military power, the United States and the Soviet Union attempted to carve out areas that could be utilized as staging grounds against one another.