Overview

Portugal's three wars in Africa, in Angola, Mozambique and Portuguese Guinea (Guine-Bissau today) lasted almost 13 years - longer than the United States Army fought in Vietnam. Yet they are among the most underreported conflicts of the modern era. Commonly referred to as Lisbon's Overseas War (Guerra do Ultramar) or in the former colonies, the War of Liberation (Guerra de Libertacao), these struggles played a seminal role in ending white rule in Southern Africa. Though hardly on the scale of hostilities being fought in South East Asia, the casualty count by the time a military coup d'etat took place in Lisbon in April 1974 was significant. It was certainly enough to cause Portugal to call a halt to violence and pull all its troops back to the Metropolis. Ultimately, Lisbon was to move out of Africa altogether, when hundreds of thousands of Portuguese nationals returned to Europe, the majority having left everything they owned behind. Independence for all the former colonies, including the Atlantic islands, followed soon afterwards. Lisbon ruled its African territories for more than five centuries, not always undisputed by its black and mestizo subjects, but effectively enough to create a lasting Lusitanian tradition. That imprint is indelible and remains engraved in language, social mores and cultural traditions that sometimes have more in common with Europe than with Africa. Today, most of the newspapers in Luanda, Maputo - formerly Lourenco Marques - and Bissau are in Portuguese, as is the language taught in their schools and used by their respective representatives in international bodies to which they all subscribe AUTHOR: Al Venter is the author more than 50 titles, many linked to the modern wars of today. These include the war against al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), al-Shabaab in Somalia, historical wars like Biafra, El Salvador, the Lebanese civil war and others, but most notably how both South Africa and Portugal fought their guerrilla struggles in Africa. He is a specialist in weapons of mass destruction: his latest title in this field is Nuclear Terror, to be followed by a book in conjunction with an internationally renowned Israeli scientist on chemical and biological warfare. Al Venter has published nine titles on the realm of the underwater, including free-diving with sharks and uncovering shipwrecks and their treasures. profusely illustrated with colour and b/w photographs, maps

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9781912866052

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Al Venter is the author more than 50 titles, many linked to the modern wars of today. These include the war against al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), al-Shabaab in Somalia, historical wars like Biafra, El Salvador, the Lebanese civil war and others, but most notably how both South Africa and Portugal fought their guerrilla struggles in Africa. He is a specialist in weapons of mass destruction: his latest title in this field is Nuclear Terror, to be followed by a book in conjunction with an internationally renowned Israeli scientist on chemical and biological warfare. Al Venter has published nine titles on the realm of the underwater, including free-diving with sharks and uncovering shipwrecks and their treasures.

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