The end of Portuguese colonial rule in Angola fifty years ago was also the beginning of a Cuban military mission that had a major impact on the country’s history, beating back a South African invasion and denying Pretoria the opportunity to bring its local allies to power. It also left its mark on the region as a whole: Nelson Mandela credited the Cuban victory over the South African army in 1988 with hastening the fall of apartheid.

When Cuba’s armed forces became openly involved in Angola in November 1975, there was a widespread assumption that Cuba was a Soviet “proxy.” Those who knew Cuba well argued that it was not that simple. They questioned whether it could really be described as a client state, and whether Moscow was really interested in becoming embroiled (indirectly) in the internal conflicts of Southern Africa.

In due course, further research shifted attention away from an interpretation that owed much to the hegemonic Cold War perspective. It slowly became clear that Cuba’s involvement had come at the request of Angola’s new People’s Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) government, to which Portugal had hastily handed control of the country.