Nigerian Civil War

Nigerian Civil War
Part of the Cold War and the decolonisation of Africa
Date 6 July 1967 – 15 January 1970 (2 years, 6 months, 1 week and 2 days) Location Southeastern Nigeria Result Nigerian victory Dissolution of the Republic of Biafra Four regions of Nigeria replaced by 12 states
Belligerents
Nigeria	Biafra
Supported by:  United Kingdom[a]  Soviet Union[b] Egypt[c]  East Germany[c]  Israel[b] (before 1968)  Ethiopia[d]	Supported by:  France[e]  China[b]  Israel[b] (after 1968)  Gabon[d] Haiti[d]  Ivory Coast[d]  Tanzania[d]  Zambia[d]
Commanders and leaders
Hassan Katsina Mohammed Shuwa Benjamin Adekunle Theophilus Danjuma Shehu Musa Yar'Adua Yakubu Gowon Murtala Mohammed Olusegun Obasanjo Muhammadu Buhari Ibrahim Babangida (WIA) Sani Abacha	C. Odumegwu Ojukwu Philip Effiong Albert Okonkwo Victor Banjo  Ogbugo Kalu Joseph Achuzie Timothy Onwuatuegwu † Humphrey Chukwuka Foreign mercenaries: Carl Gustaf von Rosen Jack Malloch Jan Zumbach Lynn Garrison Marc Goosens † Roger Faulques Rolf Steiner Taffy Williams
Units involved
Nigerian Armed Forces	Biafra Armed Forces Foreign mercenaries
Strength
85,000[1]–150,000[2] (1967) 250,000 (1968)[3] 200,000[4]–250,000[2] (1970)	10,000[5]–100,000[2] (1967) 110,000 (1968)[6] 50,000[4]–100,000[7] (1970)
Casualties and losses
45,000[4]–100,000[8][9] combatants killed 2,000,000 Biafran civilians died from famine during the Nigerian naval blockade[10] 2,000,000–4,500,000 displaced,[11] 500,000 of whom fled abroad[12]

The Nigerian Civil War was a civil war fought between the government of Nigeria and the Republic of Biafra.

"Food was cut off from the 13 million inhabitants of Biafra"; Furthermore, "At the height of the war, an estimated 10,000 people (including 6,000 children) died from starvation every day".^[13]
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1. ↑ Nkwocha, 2010: 156
2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1 2.2} Karl DeRouen & U. K. Heo (2007). Civil wars of the world: Major conflicts since World War II. Tomo I. Santa Bárbara: ABC CLIO, p. 569. ISBN 978-1-85109-919-1.
3. ↑ Biafran War. GlobalSecurity.org.
4. ↑ ^{4.0 4.1 4.2} Phillips, Charles, & Alan Axelrod (2005). "Nigerian-Biafran War". Encyclopedia of Wars. Tomo II. New York: Facts On File, Inc., ISBN 978-0-8160-2853-5.
5. ↑ Dr. Onyema Nkwocha (2010). The Republic of Biafra: Once Upon a Time in Nigeria: My Story of the Biafra-Nigerian Civil War – A Struggle for Survival (1967–1970). Bloomington: AuthorHouse, p. 25. ISBN 978-1-4520-6867-1.
6. ↑ West Africa. Londres: Afrimedia International, 1969, p. 1565. "Malnutrition affects adults less than children, half of whom have now died, reports Debrel, who also describes the reorganisation of the Biafran army after the 1968 defeats, making it a 'political' army of 110,000 men; its automatic weapons, ..."
7. ↑ Stan Chu Ilo (2006). The Face of Africa: Looking Beyond the Shadows. Bloomington: AuthorHouse, p. 138. ISBN 978-1-4208-9705-0.
8. ↑ Paul R. Bartrop (2012). A Biographical Encyclopedia of Contemporary Genocide. Santa Bárbara: ABC-CLIO, p. 107. ISBN 978-0-313-38679-4.
9. ↑ Bridgette Kasuka (2012). Prominent African Leaders Since Independence. Bankole Kamara Taylor, p. 331. ISBN 978-1-4700-4358-2.
10. ↑ Stevenson 2014, p. 314 harvnb error: no target: CITEREFStevenson2014 (help): "The mass killing during the Nigeria-Biafra War was the result of a 'deliberately imposed economic blockade on the inhabitants of Nigeria's southeastern region by the country's federal government' that led to an induced 'famine in which over two million people died of starvation and related diseases.'"
11. ↑ Godfrey Mwakikagile (2001). Ethnic Politics in Kenya and Nigeria. Huntington: Nova Publishers, p. 176. ISBN 978-1-56072-967-9.
12. ↑ DeRouen & Heo, 2007: 570
13. ↑ https://www.concern.net/news/hunger-as-a-weapon-of-war-timeline. Retrieved 2023-08-09