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The Portuguese Army in Angola

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 November 2008

Douglas L. Wheeler
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Extract

War and military institutions have played a crucial part in the history of Angola. Colonial wars, auxiliary armies, expeditions, and soldiergovernors fill the pages of this history, and it is no exaggeration to recall that military expenses have, except for some years during 1930–58, represented the major item in annual budgets since the sixteenth century, when the Portuguese began to conquer the Luanda hinterland. The character and role of the armed forces in Angola, however, have undergone changes: especially since 1961, new developments promise possibly important influences on future events in that territory, events which may not follow traditional patterns in history.

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Articles
Information
The Journal of Modern African Studies , Volume 7 , Issue 3 , October 1969 , pp. 425 - 439
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1969

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References

Page 425 note 1 Governor-General Menezes, S. Calheiros e, Relatório do Governador Geral da Provincia de Angola, 1861 (Lisbon, 1867), p. 46.Google Scholar

Page 425 note 2 Duffy, James, Portuguese Africa (Cambridge, 1959), pp. 342–3.Google Scholar

Page 425 note 3 Cf. Wheeler, Douglas L. and Pélissier, Réné, Angola (London, forthcoming), ch. 6.Google Scholar

Page 426 note 1 Correia, E. Silva, História de Angola (Lisbon, 1782); 1937 edn., vol. II, pp. 69–70.Google Scholar

Page 426 note 2 The only survey available is Selvagem, Carlos, Portugal Militar: compêndio de história militar e naval de Portugal, 1140–1940 (Lisbon, 1949).Google Scholar

Page 426 note 3 Cardoso, J. C. Feo, Memórias e a História dos Governadores e Capitaens Generaes de Angola: desde 1575 até 1825 (Paris, 1825), pp. 337–49;Google ScholarVogel, Charles, Le Portugal et ses colonies (Paris, 1860), p. 551.Google Scholar

Page 427 note 1 Boxer, C. R., Race Relations in the Portuguese Colonial Empire, 1415–1825 (Oxford, 1963).Google Scholar

Page 427 note 2 Sarot, E. E., ‘The Italian Contribution to the Knowledge of Angola’, in Zaïre (Brussels), IX, 8, 1955.Google Scholar

Page 427 note 3 Couceiro, Henrique Paiva, Angola (Dous Annos de Governs Junho 1907-Junho 1909): história e commentários (Lisbon, 1910), pp. 199–201.Google Scholar

Page 428 note 1 Letter from Capelo to Lisbon, dated 4 February 1887, no. 2082, Junta Consultiva, Arquivo Histórico Ultramarino (Lisbon).

Page 428 note 2 Cf. Wheeler, Douglas L., ‘The Portuguese in Angola, 1836–1891: a study in expansion and administration’ (unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, Boston University, 1963), chs. and 3.Google Scholar

Page 428 note 3 Wheeler, Douglas L., ‘Nineteenth Century African Protest in Angola: Prince Nicolas of Kongo (1830?-1860)’, in African Historical Studies (Boston), I, I, 1968, pp. 53–4.Google Scholar

Page 429 note 1 Angola (Luanda, 1931),Google Scholar published for the Colonial Exposition in Paris, 1931, pp. 33–4; Margarido, Alfredo, ‘Les Partis politiques en Guinée portugaise, en Angola et aux îles du Cap Vert’, in Le Mois en Afrique (Dakar), 7, 07 1966, p. 44;Google ScholarMargarido, quotes the Africanrun newspaper, O Angolense (Luanda), 6 10 1917Google Scholar.

Page 429 note 2 Okuma, Thomas, Angola in Ferment (Boston, 1962), p. 68,Google Scholar quoting from Annuário Estatístico (Lisbon, 1956).Google Scholar

Page 430 note 1 Albuquerque, J. Mousinho de, ‘Regime Militar e Missões Religiosas’, in Antologia Colonial Portuguesa (Lisbon, 1946), I, pp. 67–70,Google Scholar quoting from Albuquerque, Mousinho de, Moçambique, 1896–1898 (Lisbon, 1899).Google Scholar

Page 430 note 2 Calheiros e Menezes, op. cit. p. 30.

Page 430 note 3 Leal, Fernando da Costa, article in Revista Militar (Lisbon), XIII, 17, 15 09 1861.Google Scholar

Page 430 note 4 See Mason, Philip (ed.), Angola, a Symposium: views of a revolt (Oxford, 1962),Google Scholar especially Okuma, T., ‘Angola in Ferment’, pp. 68–70,Google ScholarKay, Hugh, ‘A Catholic View’, p. 88,Google Scholar and Waring, Ronald, ‘The Case for Portugal’, p. 31.Google Scholar See also Maciel, Artur, Angola Heróica: 120 dias com os nossos soldados (Lisbon, 1963), p. 153.Google Scholar Macid quotes Cesar's, AmandioAngola 1961 (Lisbon, 1961), p. 58,Google Scholar On Portuguese armed strength in Angola.

Page 430 note 5 Still the best single account–despite its biases–is Felgas, Hélio, Guerra em Angola (Lisbon, 1961).Google Scholar

Page 431 note 1 Institute of Strategic Studies, Military Balance, 1967–1968 (London, 1967), p. 26.Google Scholar

Page 431 note 2 Valahu, Mugur, L'Angola, clef de l'Afrique (Paris, 1966), pp. 217–19.Google Scholar

Page 431 note 3 U.N. Special Committee on the Situation with regard to the Implementation of the Declaration on the Granting of the Declaration of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples, Military Activities… Territories Under Portuguese Administration (New York, 1968), pp. 6–8.Google Scholar

Page 431 note 4 Ibid. pp. 209 ff.

Page 432 note 1 Wheeler and Pélissier, op. cit. chs. 1 and 3.

Page 432 note 2 Herrick, Allison Butleret al., Area Handbook for Angola (Washington, 1967), p. 383.Google Scholar

Page 432 note 3 Valahu, op. cit. pp. 219–20.

Page 432 note 4 U.N. Special Committee, op. cit. pp. 13–14.

Page 432 note 5 Ibid. p. 221, and private information gathered by the writer during his visit to Angola.

Page 433 note 1 Felgas, op. cit. p. 171.

Page 434 note 1 Maciel, op. cit. pp. 278–80; and Instituto de Angola, Migraçoes e Povoamento (Luanda, 1965), p. 15.Google Scholar

Page 434 note 2 See, for example, Secretariado Nacional de Informação, Triunfal Viagem a Angola (Lisbon, n.d.).Google Scholar This is a pamphlet-book produced in 1963 for the visit of the President of Portugal, Admiral Américo Tómas; it claims great success for the new ‘psycho-social programme’ in improving relations with the African population.

Page 434 note 3 Maciel, op. cit. pp. 280–1.

Page 435 note 1 Ibid. p. 280.

Page 435 note 2 Herrick et al., op. cit. p. 375–90.

Page 435 note 3 Baião, Rodrigo Jose, ‘Angola. Espaço Aberto’, in Migrações E Povoamento, p. 12.Google Scholar This author treats Angola as a limitless area for white settlement, neglecting to consider the position of the African population of over 4·5 million.

Page 436 note 1 Wheeler, Douglas L., ‘Reflections on Angola’, in Africa Report (Washington), 11 1967, pp. 58–62.Google Scholar

Page 436 note 2 E.g. Ventura, Reis, O Caso de Angola (Braga, Portugal, 1964), pp. 193–8;Google Scholar Valahu, op. cit. p. 210. Ventura is a leading editorial columnist for Provincia de Angola, the major daily paper of Angola. While favourable to the actions and role of the army, Ventura has mentioned groups who doubt the army's effectiveness.

Page 437 note 1 See articles on Portugal in the New York Times, 22, 25, and 27 09 and 2 10 1968.Google Scholar

Page 439 note 1 The controversial problem of the accuracy of the casualty lists for both Portuguese and African nationalist sides could be studied by analysing a plethora of articles in Portuguese journals such as Boletim Official do Exército (Lisbon); Ultramar (Lisbon); Jornal do Congo (Carmona, Angola); Portugal em Africa (Lisbon); Gaceta Militar (Lisbon); Revista Militar, (Lisbon); Boletim da Sociedade de Geografia de Lisboa (Lisbon); Boletim do Agencia do Ultramar (Lisbon), as well as the recently published Jornal da Região Militar de Angola (Luanda), official organ of the High Command of Angola. Valahu, op. cit. pp. 211–12, provides an interesting critique of the official weekly army reports of war operations in the north, the Boletins Informativos (Luanda), while there are other reports which appear in the Portuguese news media, radio, and TV. These figures could be compared with the reports of the several African nationalist organisations on their operations in northern and eastern Angola. An example of an Angolan nationalist publication is the Bulletin issued periodically by the Kinshasa-based Corpo Voluntário Angolano de Assistencia aos Refugiados (C.V.A.A.R., the Angolan Volunteer Corps for Refugee Aid).