Popular Armed Forces for the Liberation of Angola: First National Army and the War (1975-1992)

By studying FAPLA, we want to make a profound examination on the military edification process from 1976 to 1991. We need to understand the processes of its conversion into a national army and verify the path it has taken during its seventeen years of existence. Thus the aspects of the edification of FAPLA are a precept and the references help explain the present. By analysing the process, we learn aspects of the war conduct and see how they made military campaign against armed insurgency. In addition, we created conditions for an in-depth understanding on how Angola prepared itself to face the aggression perpetrated by South Africa and how it was able to obtain supremacy on some fields over the external enemy, as well as allowed us to understand their military misfortunes.

Miguel Jr is a general officer of the Angolan Armed Forces and a military historian. He has published six books and is co-author and organizer of two others, drawing from his several articles on defence, security, and history.