17 Jan 1961 — Congo’s first elected premier has been ousted with CIA and Belgian connivance. Now secessionist forces in Katanga execute him. The fate of Lumumba shows what could happen when Africa’s decolonization met the rivalries of the Cold War.
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Between 1947 and 1975 roughly ninety new states emerged as European empires collapsed. Their leaders had to find resources and security in a world where Washington and Moscow competed for influence. At Bandung in 1955, many rejected the demand to join either camp. The Non-Aligned Movement grew from the ambition to retain room for independent decisions. India, Egypt, Yugoslavia and others could seek aid and arms from rival powers; each side’s desire for influence gave poorer states something with which to bargain.
Why it happened — Decolonization and bipolarity, mutually radicalizing. The imperial powers had exhausted resources, faced nationalist movements and suffered wartime defeats that weakened their prestige. Singapore was…
The turn — October 1973 — the war that moved the pivot. Egyptian troops crossed the Suez Canal in October 1973, challenging Israel’s reputation for invincibility. Israel counter-crossed and nearly…
What it changed — Communism’s maximum map — and its hollowness. From 1975 to 1979, Indochina, Angola, Mozambique, Ethiopia, Afghanistan and Nicaragua moved into the communist column. For Moscow, the expanding map…
