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Balfour Declaration
The British government declared their support for "the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people." -
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Increased Jewish immigration to Palestine
This influx led to tensions, Palestinian raids, the Histadrut (Haganah), and Jewish attacks on Arab settlers and British troops. In 1947 the mandate ended and violence increased, kicking off a civil war. -
Declaration of the State of Israel
David Ben-Gurion declares Israeli independence in Tel Aviv -
Start of the 1948 Arab-Israeli War
The 1948 Arab-Israeli War saw a small, newly created state of Israel triumph over the combined armies of five Arab states, mostly through international recognition, the creation of the IDF and effective use of a brief truce. Israel ensured its survival while 500,000 Palestinian Arabs were driven from their homes. -
Start of the Suez War
When the leader of Egypt, Nasser, nationalised the Suez canal, the Brits and the French wanted to use the Israelis to attack Egypt before coming in to break up the fight. However, the US and USSR forced them to withdraw on the 7th of November and installed a UN peacekeeping force on the Egypt-Israeli border. The Straits of Tiran were also opened to the Israelis. -
MPLA Founded
The people’s movement for the liberation of Angola (MPLA) was founded in 1956. Several small Angolan communist nationalist and political groups formed together. The initial goal the MPLA set for themselves was achieving independence from Portugal and achieving a communist Angolan state. -
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The Portuguese Colonial War
On the 3rd of January 1961 Angolan workers began to rise up against horrid working conditions and low wages. This event would ignite protests all over Angola. The Portuguese reacted to this by bombing villages around Angola. This would only worsen the situation of course, with two insurgent groups answering the call for revolution and starting off the Guerrilla fighting. -
FNLA Founded
The National Front for the liberation of Angola was initially founded in 1954 under a different name. The FNLA was initially a guerrilla movement, striving for Angolan independence. T -
UNITA Founded
The National Union for the Total independence of Angola was founded during the Portuguese Colonial war in 1966. They were founded as a political and nationalistic guerrilla movement, first attacking Portuguese troops at the end of 1966 -
Start of the Six-Day War (Operation Moked)
A build-up of troops on the Syrian and Egyptian borders following pre-existing tensions with Nasser, as well as a blockade in the Straits of Tiran forced Israel to request help from the US and France. When this was rejected, they struck pre-emptively, taking Sinai, the Golan Heights, the West Bank and East Jerusalem. Now the dominant regional power, Israel refused to withdraw from the occupied territories. -
Start of the Yom Kippur War
From 1967-73 there were numerous cross-border incidents as well as the Black September attacks (Munich, 1972). Egypt's Sadat wanted to re-open the occupied Suez canal and attacked with Syria on the day of Yom Kippur. However, thanks in part to a massive US airlift, Israel re-grouped and fought back, heading for Cairo and Damascus. A peace agreement in late December agreed the return to pre-war borders. -
Start of the Angolan Civil War
In July of 1975 the MPLA started putting pressure on UNITA and the FNLA, pushing them out of the provincial capitals of Angola, in violation of the Alvor agreements. Neighbouring South Africa and Zaire started putting out support for UNITA and the FNLA, providing combat troops, arms and other war equipment. Because of this support UNITA combined with 2000 South African troops managed to push the MPLA backwards, gaining territory and capturing provincial capitals in the process. -
The Clark amendment & South African involvement in the Angolan civil war
On the 18th of July 1975, United States president Gerald Ford approved to covert aid to UNITA and the FNLA. This was called operation IA Feature. Dick Clark, a Democratic senator in the United States senate found out about the operation. He set up an amendment, that would no longer allow aid to be sent towards paramilitary operations in Angola. -
Treaty of Washington
Egypt and Israel sign the Treaty of Washington to conclude the Camp David talks, the Israelis agree to remove Jewish settlements from the Sinai peninsula for peace and security. -
Intensification of the Angolan civil war
1986 is when the Angolan civil war became more and more important to the cold war. The Soviet and Cuban response to South Africa interfering in the yet again did not go unnoticed by other western powers. The Soviet Union, Cuba, and other eastern bloc nations like Romania had sent over 5000 troops, 2 billion dollars, and flight instructors as well as equipment by 1986 American conservatives began lobbying that more American support was needed in Angola. -
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First Intifada
The 'Intifada' (shaking off) was a Palestinian uprising against Israeli occupation, triggered by the accidental murder of 4 Palestinians. As it spread throughout Palestine, many Israelis protested against the government. The state responded with curfews, increased military presence, trade bans, and regular raids and destruction of Arab homes. The Intifada ended when the PLO and Palestinian right to self-government was recognised at the Oslo Accords in 1993. -
1992 elections & Jonas Savimbi’s assassination
Peace in Angola was guaranteed in 1991, with the Bicesse accords. Or so everyone thought. Both Savimbi and dos Santos ran for president in the 1992 elections. Savimbi with his UNITA lost these elections. He questioned the elections legitimacy and retreated back to guerrilla fighting. In October 1992 fighting started once again all over Angola. In 2002 the war would finally end with Savimbi's death. -
Oslo Accords
The Government of Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) signed a series of agreements in Washington D.C., wherein Israel (Yitzhak Rabin) officially recognised the PLO and Palestinian right to self-government, and the PLO recognised Israel's right to exist.
