Dallas Public Library

Battleground Africa, Cold War in the Congo, 1960-1965, Lise Namikas

eng

Includes bibliographical references (p. 239-338) and index

illustrations

index present

non fiction

Battleground Africa

bibliography

810329331

Lise Namikas

Cold War International History Project series

Cold War in the Congo, 1960-1965

Battleground Africa traces the Congo Crisis from post-World War II decolonization efforts through Mobutu's second coup in 1965 from a radically new vantage point. Drawing on materials from recently opened archives in Russia and the United States, and to a lesser extent Germany and Belgium, Namikas addresses the crisis from the perspectives of the two superpowers and explains with superb clarity the complex web of allies, clients, and neutral states influencing U.S.-Soviet competition. Unlike any other work, Battleground Africa looks at events leading up to independence, then considers the assassination of Patrice Lumumba, the series of U.N.-supported constitutional negotiations, and the crises of 1964 and 1965. Finding that the U.S. and the USSR each wanted to avoid a major confrontation, but also misunderstood its opponent's goals and wanted to avoid looking weak or losing its political standing in Africa, Namikas argues that a series of exaggerations and misjudgements helped to militarize the crisis, and ultimately, helped militarize the Cold War on the continent. -- Publisher description

Which way Africa? -- A Cold War nationalism -- Collision course : the superpowers in the Congo -- A "stopgap arrangement" : ONUC -- A "Castro or worse" : Lumumba in charge -- Coups d'etat and troikas -- Murder and malice -- A "Cold War" civil war -- No silver bullets -- Force and reconciliation -- Johnson's distraction -- "Carrying the burden" in the Congo -- Reaction and mop-up -- Conclusion: The Congo in global perspective