麻豆女优

Publications

New History of the Cold War New History of the Cold War (2022)

Lopes Rui,

(2024)

Journal of Southern African Studies (2026)

(2026)

Journal of Contemporary History (2026)

, Zelenova Daria

The Liberation of Portuguese Africa, 1961-75 International Exile and Solidarity (2025) (2025)

Teaching

The courses I teach correspond to my research interests. I teach courses on the Russian Revolution, the Soviet Union and the Cold War in Africa.

Undergraduate Level

V1711/V1712 The Russian Revolution and its Global Impact, 1917-1928 (course convener)

V1707/1708 The听Last Empire:听The听History of听the听Soviet听Union, 1917-1991 (course convener)

Postgraduate level

V1993 Diplomacy: Evolution, Theory and Practice (co-taught course)

V1999听Red Continent:听Africa and the Global Cold War (course convener)

Research Interests

I am a historian of Soviet foreign policy with a particular interest in the history of socialism and the Global Cold War in Africa. My first book,听 (UNC Press, 2022) explored Soviet support for anti-colonial movements in the Portuguese colonies. The book recovers the role of Soviet bureaucratic and military elites in the Soviet Cold War, recovers the agency of African revolutionaries, and reinterprets the story of Soviet involvement in Angola, 1974-95. 鈥淐old War Liberation鈥� has been translated into Portuguese as

I am currently working on Soviet military relations with the African continent. I am interested to further explore how Soviet military technology, training and ideas about soldiering impacted on Africa鈥檚 post-colonial conflicts and how African soldiers and revolutionaries interacted with the socialist project. With the support of the British Academy Postdoctoral Fellowship (2017-2020), I conducted oral history interviews with former guerrillas in Guinea-Bissau, West Africa, who underwent military training in the Soviet Union.

I have since published on Soviet military training, Soviet and Czechoslovak secret intelligence in Africa, as well as heritage and nation-building in the Horn. I have co-edited a special issue of the International History Review (2020), (with Daniela Richterova) as well as two edited volumes: ',' Bloomsbury, 2024 (with Rui Lopes) and '', I.B. Tauris, 2018 (with Philip E. Muehlenbeck).

In 2026, I received a Research Collaboration Grant from the Royal Society of Edinburgh for the project titled, 'Socialist Way of War? Soviet Bloc Military Aid and Africa's Cold War Conflicts'听(2026-2028).听In collaboration with Dr. Alexander Hill at the University of Calgary, the project will bring together historians from Africa, Eastern Europe and Russia to explore Soviet-African military relations. As part of this project, I am exploring Soviet military involvement in the Horn of Africa during the 1970s.

Professional Activities

Organiser

26/5/2026

Examiner

1/4/2026

Invited speaker

16/2/2026

Member

1/9/2025

Member

1/8/2025

Invited speaker

16/7/2025

Projects

Telepneva, Natalia (Principal Investigator)

How did African militaries respond to the 鈥渟ocialist way of war鈥� after the Second World War? This collaborative project breaks new ground by examining a hitherto understudied dimension of Cold War History鈥攖he 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鈥�78) and the Southern African wars of liberation (1975鈥�88), the project explores the extent to which Cold War military exchanges defined the trajectories of many post-colonial states.

01-Jan-2026 - 29-Jan-2028

Telepneva, Natalia (Fellow)

21-Jan-2019 - 17-Jan-2020

Telepneva, Natalia (Principal Investigator)

British Academy Postdoctoral Fellowship

01-Jan-2017 - 31-Jan-2020