During the final fifteen years of the Cold War, southern Africa
underwent a period of upheaval, with dramatic twists and turns in
relations between the superpowers. Americans, Cubans, Soviets, and
Africans fought over the future of Angola, where tens of thousands
of Cuban soldiers were stationed, and over the decolonization of
Namibia, Africa's last colony. Beyond lay the great prize: South
Africa. Piero Gleijeses uses archival sources, particularly from
the United States, South Africa, and the closed Cuban archives, to
provide an unprecedented international history of this important
theater of the late Cold War.
These sources all point to one conclusion: by humiliating the
United States and defying the Soviet Union, Fidel Castro changed
the course of history in southern Africa. It was Cuba's victory in
Angola in 1988 that forced Pretoria to set Namibia free and helped
break the back of apartheid South Africa. In the words of Nelson
Mandela, the Cubans "destroyed the myth of the invincibility of the
white oppressor . . . [and] inspired the fighting masses of South
Africa."