Sponsored by the RSE Collaboration Grant
How did African militaries respond to the “socialist way of war” after the Second World War? This collaborative project breaks new ground by examining a hitherto understudied dimension of Cold War History—the arms transfers, training, and military advising and assistance provided by the Soviet Bloc (the Soviet Union, Eastern Europe, and Cuba) to their African allies. This project will unite historians working with newly opened, often highly restricted military archives in Czechoslovakia, Poland, Romania, Germany, Bulgaria, Ethiopia, and South Africa. It will investigate how Soviet Bloc militaries understood, managed, and coordinated their assistance to African partners and how these interactions shaped local approaches to warfare and state-building. Focusing on conflicts such as the Biafra War (1967-1970), the Ogaden War (1977–78) and the Southern African wars of liberation (1975–88), the project explores the extent to which Cold War military exchanges defined the trajectories of many post-colonial states.
This RSE-funded project will connect scholars from Europe, the USA, and Africa, creating opportunities for North–South knowledge exchange and collaboration on an understudied topic. Through a series of workshops and collaboration events, this project connects researchers from the Global North and the Global South to explore how socialist countries forged connections with militaries across the African continent. Our events will explore new opportunities for researchers available through the opening of military archives in Eastern Europe and Africa and explore best practices for using these newly available archives. The RSE collaboration grant also aims to engage Scotland’s student and academic communities—to reflect on the impact of the Cold War in Africa and its legacies.
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