Angola, a Portuguese colony for 500 years, became independent. A civil war for control of the country was already raging.
Australia was in political turmoil.
November 11, 1975: The Australian Constitutional Crisis
It was Veterans' Day.
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Showing posts with label Angola. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Angola. Show all posts
Tuesday, November 11, 2025
Monday, November 10, 2025
Monday, November 10, 1975. The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald.
The massive Great Lakes freighter went down with all 29 hands.
The storm.
The ballad commemorating the ships loss would come out the following year.
Italy and Yugoslavia signed the Treaty of Osimo resolving the long running dispute over Trieste.
The Communists forces of the MPLA defeated the FNLA in a battle over the capital of Angola, Luanda.
The United Nations General Assembly passed Resolution 3379 equating Zionism with racism. The Resolution would be revoked in 1991.
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Thursday, October 30, 1975. King Juan Carlos I of Spain became acting head of state of the country after Franco conceded he was too ill to govern.
Monday, October 20, 2025
Monday, October 20, 1975. Grain, Cubans, Primates, and AIDS.
The US and USSR entered into a five year grain sale agreement by which the US agreed to sell 6,000,000 tons of grain to the USSR each year, as its collective agricultural system tanked, and by which the US accidentally screwed Canadian farmers.
The Cuban Navy's El Vietnam Heroico, El Coral Island and La Plata brought the first Cuban soldiers to Angola to support the MPLA..
Presumably the El Vietnam Heroico didn't celebrate the numerous South Vietnamese who gave their lives in order to attempt to hold the Communist back South East Asia.
Cuban military support to Angola would lead to the introduction of AIDS into Cuba, that region of Africa having been ground zero for the disease. Myths about the origin of the horrific disease, and a supposed ground zero in New York City, have abounded for years, but in reality SIVcpz, the strain in chimpanzees, was transmitted to humans via contact with infected blood, most likely during the process of hunting and butchering chimpanzees for meat. It was a "crossover disease." It spread undetected for some time in Central Africa, notably by hetrosexual sex, and into the Cuban population by that means of transmission. In much of the Western World, of course, it spread through homosexual sex at first, and then by infected needle transmissions.
FWIW, eating primates is a really bad idea. They're too closely related to us, giving rise to things like this.
It's an interesting example of how war brings plagues of all types.
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Tuesday, October 14, 1975. Operation Savannah.
Tuesday, October 14, 2025
Tuesday, October 14, 1975. Operation Savannah.
South African troops invaded Angola, entering from Namibia in anticipation of Angola's independence from Portugal and the uncertain political outcome there.
About 150 Native American protesters and sympathizers held a demonstration at the U.S. Courthouse in Seattle.
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Tuesday, October 7, 1975. Lunch.
Tuesday, August 5, 2025
Tuesday, August 5, 1975. Ford restores Lee's citizenship. South Africa enters Angola.
President Ford signed a Senate resolution restoring the citizenship of traitor Robert E. Lee.
South African forces drove ten miles into Angolan territory in reaction to the increased presence of Cuban troops in the country.
By Sam van den Berg - Image courtesy of Sam van den Berg, from Port Elizabeth, CC BY 2.5 za, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=38327611
This is one of those news stories I can recall watching on the nightly news when I was a kid.
Fairfax County, Virginian K9 Officer Bandit was killed in the line of duty chasing a suspect.
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Friday, August 1, 1975. The Helsinki Accords.
Friday, August 1, 2025
Friday, August 1, 1975. The Helsinki Accords.
The Helsinki Accords were signed by the leaders of 35 nations in Finland, including the 15 member states of NATO and the 7 Warsaw Pact nations.
The text: The Helsinki Accords.
The Satellite Instructional Television Experiment commenced in India. It brought television for the first time to 2,500 villages in six Indian states and territories.
"KNM ER 3733", a woman of the species Homo ergaster, assuming that's a distinct from homo erectus, which it probably is not, was discovered by Bernard Ngeneo. She'd passed away 1,750,000 prior.
The Republic of Cabinda declared independence, ineffectively.
Flag of Cabinda.
Tuesday, July 29, 2025
Tuesday, July 29, 1975. A Nigerian Coup.
The Nigerian government was overthrown in a coup.
The Chinese Army, the Communist one, killed hundreds of rebels and civilians in the Yunnan Province. Most of those killed were Muslim Hui's, of which 900 were killed in the village of Shadian. 400 Red Chinese soldiers were killed in the action.
The OAS voted to lift its embargo on Cuba.
Turkey took control of remaining US facilities in the country.
The US made its first delivery of weapons to UNITA in Angola.
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Monday, July 28, 1975. Turkey acts.
Friday, July 18, 2025
Friday, July 18, 1975. Operation IA Feature.
President Ford communicated to Congress, secretly, his decision to authorize $6,000,000 for a CIA operation to combat Communists troops somewhere, but he didn't say where.
Angola was where.
Railroad workers and railroads came to an agreement, averting a strike.
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Thursday, July 17, 1975. United States-USSR Apollo-Soyuz Test Project succeeds.
Wednesday, July 9, 2025
Wednesday, July 9, 1975. The start of the Angolan Civil War.
Angolan liberation movements broke out in civil war, with the People's Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA), attacking the National Liberation Front of Angola (FNLA), led by Holden Roberto. The country had not yet officially received independence.
Dutch photographer and artist Bas Jan Ader left Cape Cod in an attempt to make an unassisted voyage from west to east of the North Atlantic Ocean. He would disappear and never be heard from again.
Rock musician John Anthony Gillis, better known as Jack White, was born.
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Thursday, July 3, 1975. The U.S. Civil Service Commission ended restrictions on hiring homosexuals.
Wednesday, January 15, 2025
Wednesday, January 15, 1975. Independence for Angola.
The Alvor Agreement was signed at the Penina Golfe Hotel in Alvor, Portugal by Angolan independence figures Jonas Savimbi, Agostinho Neto and Álvaro Holden Necaca Roberto Diasiwa and Portugese President Costa Gomes.
November 11, 1975 was set as the Angolan independence date.
The very communistic flag of Angola.
It can't be said that independence for the country went well. It would nearly immediately fall into civil war.
CIA Director William Colby confirmed that the agency had violated its charter by spying on American citizens for activities within the United States.
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Tuesday, January 14, 1975. Un-American.
Sunday, January 5, 2025
Sunday, January 5, 1975. Ed Herschler inaugurated.
Theoretically, but only theoretically, this is illegal under the term limitation that applies to Governors in the Wyoming constitution. However, the Wyoming Supreme Court already struck this down as it applies to other offices, and clearly a person could run for a third term. Given the current politics in the state, some hope Governor Gordon might do so, although there's no evidence that he intends to attempt that.
Herschler was a well respected Governor and was a Democrat. He'd been a Marine Raider during World War Two.
The Tasman Bridge disaster when a bulk ore carrier travelling up the Derwent River collided with several pylons of the Tasman Bridge.
Angolan independence groups UNITA, MPLA, and FNLA signed the Mombasa Agreement in Kenya pledging to work together to negotiate with Portugal.
The agreement would last for only a few months.
After the Portuguese pulled out, the US allied with Socialist UNITA and the Soviet Union with MPLA.
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Labels: 1970s, 1975, Automobiles, Gerald Ford, Highways, Interstate Highways, law, Richard Nixon, Transportation
Saturday, July 27, 2024
Saturday, July 27, 1974. Articles of Impeachment.
The bipartisan House Judiciary Committee voted 27-11 to adopt the first of three articles of impeachment against President Richard Nixon, obstruction of justice.
Richard M. Nixon, using the powers of his high office, engaged personally and through his subordinates and agents, in a course of conduct or plan designed to delay, impede, and obstruct the investigation.
Back when Congress actually acted responsibly, although 11 of the 17 Republicans did vote no.
The Rhodesian Army began Operation Overload, the relocation of 49,690 black civilians within the Chiweshe Tribal Trust Land to "protected villages" away from the Zimbabwe African National Liberation Army (ZANLA).
Portugal's military government announced that it was granting independence to Angola, Cape Verde, Mozambique, São Tomé and Príncipe and Portuguese Guinea.
Last prior:
Wednesday, July 24, 1974. United States v. Nixon.
Tuesday, June 11, 2024
Tuesday, June 11, 1974. The arrival of the end of Portuguese colonialism.
Portugal's new government promised independence to Angola, Mozambique and Portuguese Guinea on the condition that ceasefires could be agreed upon in the ongoing wars and if democratic voting would be guaranteed on the form of post-colonial government.
Portugal had been one of Europe's first modern colonial powers, with an empire dating back to 1415.
Bill Clinton won the Democratic Party runoff for the Congressional nomination for the party in Arkansas. Then employed as a law professor, he'd lose in the fall.
William Cann, police chief of Union City, California, was assassinated at a public gathering by former members of the Brown Berets, a Chicano group, in retaliation for a police killing of a Hispanic man.
Last prior edition:
Blog Mirror: June 4, 1974: Ten-Cent Beer Night In Cleveland
Friday, April 26, 2024
Friday, April 26, 1974. A Portuguese military coup turns towards democracy.
The Portuguese Junta de Salvação Nacional announced that it would govern Portugal until further notice, but that it would restore democracy and, further, it would pursue a policy to end Portuguese rule of Mozambique, Angola and its other colonies. It was in fact the Portuguese corporatist state's efforts to retain its colonies by force which had led to its junior military officers becoming disaffected, leading to the coup, and a return to democracy, through the Movimento das Forças Armadas.
The junta also released most political prisoners in the country.
I should have noted the coup in yesterday's entries, but I failed to.
Angola and Mozambique would of course slip into civil war.
The West German Bundestag narrowly passed a law allowing abortion in the first trimester, but it was soon suspended by the German supreme court and then found to be unconstitutional. Contrary to what Americans commonly think, abortion was much more restricted in Europe than in the US up until recently, and proposals here to return to the bizarre Roe v. Wade standard would return the US to a far more bloody condition than exists in Europe.
The Ethiopian government arrested members of the government and military that were associated in some fashion with the February 25 coup.
April 26, 1974: The Yankees' Friday Night Massacre
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Monday, April 15, 1974. The Hibernia Bank Robbery.
Tuesday, March 5, 2024
Tuesday, March 5, 1974. Portugal decides to stay.
Portugese troops in Mozambique. By Joaquim Coelho, author from Espaço Etéreo, a compilation of texts and pictures from people involved in the war. Permission is granted here, and personal e-mails between me (Nuno) and Joaquim (backed up for reference). - The copyright holder of this work allows anyone to use it for any purpose including unrestricted redistribution, commercial use, and modification.Please check the source to verify that this is correct. In particular, note that publication on the Internet, like publication by any other means, does not in itself imply permission to redistribute. Files without valid permission should be tagged with {{subst:npd}}.Usage notes:If the work requires attribution, use {{Attribution}} instead.If this is your own work, please use {{Cc-zero}} instead., Copyrighted free use, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=685173
Portuguese Prime Minister Marcello Caetano informed the Portuguese National Assembly that Portuguese Guinea, Angola and Mozambique would retain their colonial status in spite of ongoing guerilla wars. He stated that elections "would be inappropriate for the African mentality."
Ethiopian Emperor and absolute monarch Haile Selassie pledged democratic reforms in an unprecedented national address on radio and television.
Eva Mendes was born in Miami.
Last prior:
Monday, March 4, 1974. Suez.
Thursday, December 18, 2014
Friday, December 18, 1914. Africa and the Great War.
German colonial troops took Naulila, Portuguese Angola.
The Sultanate of Egypt became a British protectorate.
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Wednesday, December 16, 1914. Battle of Kolubara concludes. The Scarsborough Raid.
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Thursday, July 29, 1909. GM acquires Cadillac.
General Motors acquired Cadillac.
Portuguese Colonial Minister, Manuel da Terra Vianna, barred recruitment of African chocolate workers by Cadbury pending an investigation, out of a fear that Angolans were being used as slave labor in the industry.
Last edition:
Sunday, July 25, 1909. First flight records.
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