Portuguese Colonial War

The Portuguese Colonial War (Portuguese: Guerra Colonial Portuguesa) was fought between Portugal's military and the emerging nationalist movements in Portugal's African colonies between 1961 and 1974. Portugal fought the MPLA, FNLA, UNITA and FLEC in Angola between 1961 and 1974. Also, they fought the PAIGC in Guinea-Bissau between 1963 and 1974. Lastly, they fought the FRELIMO in Mozambique between 1964 and 1974.

Portuguese Colonial War Guerra Colonial Portuguesa
Part of the Decolonisation of Africa and the Cold War
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Date 1961–1974 Location Angola, Guinea-Bissau, and Mozambique Result Carnation Revolution. The end of Estado Novo rule. Independence of Angola, Cape Verde, Guinea Bissau, Mozambique and São Tomé and Principe Territorial changes Portuguese overseas territories in Africa become independent.
Belligerents
Estado Novo Supported by: South Africa Rhodesia Malawi	MPLA FNLA UNITA FLEC PAIGC FRELIMO Supported by: Soviet Union Cuba China USA Zaire Algeria Tunisia Tanzania Zambia Senegal Guinea Congo-Brazzaville Egypt Bulgaria
Commanders and leaders
Generally: António de Oliveira Salazar # Marcelo Caetano Américo Tomás Angola: Francisco da Costa Gomes Portuguese Guinea: António de Spínola Otelo Saraiva de Carvalho Mozambique: António Augusto dos Santos (1964–69) Kaúlsa de Arriaga (1969–74)	Angola: Agostinho Neto José Eduardo dos Santos Lúcio Lara Holden Roberto Jonas Savimbi Portuguese Guinea: Amílcar Cabral † Luís Cabral João Bernardo Vieira Domingos Ramos Pansau Na Isna Francisco Mende Mozambique: Eduardo Mondlane (1962–69) Joaquim Chissano (1962–75) Filipe Samuel Magaia (1964–66) Samora Machel (1969–75)
Strength
148,000 European Portuguese regular troops 65,000 in Angola 32,000 in Portuguese Guinea 51,000 in Mozambique	40,000–60,000 guerrillas +30,000 in Angola 10,000 in Portuguese Guinea 10–15,000 in Mozambique
Casualties and losses
8,289 killed 15,507 wounded (physical and/or psychological)	c. 30,000 total killed in Angola c. 4,000 wounded in Portuguese Guinea over 10,000 killed in Mozambique
Civilian casualties: 50,000 killed in Mozambique

Portuguese Colonial War Media

• Combat de marracuene.jpg

  The Battle of Marracuene in 1895

• Combat de Coolela.jpg

  The Battle of Coolela in 1895

• Angola Ethnic map 1970.svg

  Ethnic map of Angola (in 1970)

• Cabral 2.png

  Cabo Verdean and Bissau-Guinean revolutionary Amílcar Cabral: In his formative years, he was awarded an agronomy degree by the Instituto Superior de Agronomia, in Lisbon.

• HoldenRoberto 1973.jpg

  Leader of FNLA Holden Roberto in 1973

• MatasdorioOnzo.jpg

  Portuguese combatants in the woods around River Onzo, Angola

• LocationAngola.svg

  Map showing the location of Angola in modern-day Africa

• Sempreatentos...aoperigo!.jpg

  Portuguese Army soldiers in the beginning of the War in Angola. The camouflage uniforms and the FN FAL assault rifles identify them as Caçadores Especiais. At this time, the remaining Army forces still wore yellow khaki field uniforms and were mostly armed with bolt-action rifles.

Related pages

• Angolan War of Independence (1961–1974)
• Guinea-Bissau War of Independence (1963–1974)
• Mozambican War of Independence (1964–1974)
• Angolan Civil War (1975–2002)
• Mozambican Civil War (1977–1992)

Other websites

• Guerra Colonial: 1961–1974 (guerracolonial.org) Archived 2008-10-24 at the Wayback Machine
• Repression of Buddhism in Sri Lanka by the Portuguese (1505 - 1658) Archived 2021-03-09 at the Wayback Machine