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Nigerian Civil War: A Visual History

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Visual history of a war

The Igbo south-east seceded as Biafra in 1967; a blockade and famine killed a million children and made the world watch a war on television.

Fought
1967 to 1970
Duration
3 years
Dates
6 July 1967 to 15 January 1970
Deaths
About 1 to 3 million, mostly Biafran civilians from famine
Federal side
Nigeria under Yakubu Gowon; arms from Britain and the USSR
Biafra
Republic of Biafra under Ojukwu; aid from France, Portugal, Israel, Cote d'Ivoire, Gabon, Tanzania, Zambia
Result
Biafra reabsorbed into Nigeria; 'no victor, no vanquished'

The Nigerian Civil War (1967-1970) was fought between the Federal Military Government and the Republic of Biafra, declared by the Eastern Region's governor Odumegwu Ojukwu on 30 May 1967 after coups, counter-coups and the massacre of some 30,000 Igbo in the north. Federal forces under Gowon blockaded and slowly overran Biafra; the Biafran counter-thrust across the Niger nearly reached Lagos in August 1967 but was thrown back. Starvation in the shrinking enclave, publicised by photographs of kwashiorkor-stricken children, prompted a huge airlift by churches and the founding of Medecins Sans Frontieres. Biafra surrendered on 15 January 1970; 1 to 3 million had died, mostly of hunger.

When it was fought: the era ribbon

The bold bar is Nigerian Civil War (Biafra). The lighter bars are empires and wars from the same era and the same part of the world. Click any bar to jump to its page.

130014001500160017001800190020002100Nigerian Civil War (Biafra) (1967 to 1970)Open: Oyo EmpireOyo Empire (1300 to 1836)Open: Danish colonial empireDanish colonial empire (1536 to 1953)Open: British EmpireBritish Empire (1583 to 1997)Open: Sokoto CaliphateSokoto Caliphate (1804 to 1903)Open: Third Portuguese EmpireThird Portuguese Empire (1822 to 1999)Open: Second French colonial empireSecond French colonial empire (1830 to 1980)Open: World War IWorld War I (1914 to 1918)Open: Cold WarCold War (1947 to 1991)Open: Portuguese Colonial WarPortuguese Colonial War (1961 to 1974)Open: Liberian civil wars and Sierra Leone Civil WarLiberian civil wars and Sierra Leone Civil War (1989 to 2003)Open: Boko Haram insurgencyBoko Haram insurgency (2009 to present)

Biafran territory

0204060801967: 771968: 301969: 101970: 01970thousand km2 (approximate)

Timeline of the Nigerian Civil War (Biafra)

  1. 1966
    Coups and anti-Igbo pogroms
  2. 1967
    Biafra declared; war begins; Midwest offensive
  3. 1968
    Port Harcourt falls; famine; airlift
  4. 1969
    Federal offensives split the enclave
  5. 1970
    Biafra surrenders15 January.

Road to secession

Nigeria's independence federation of 1960 balanced Hausa-Fulani north, Yoruba west and Igbo east uneasily. Igbo officers led a January 1966 coup that killed northern leaders; a northern counter-coup in July killed the Igbo head of state, and pogroms in northern cities killed tens of thousands of Igbo and drove a million home. Talks at Aburi failed and Ojukwu declared independence; Gowon split the east into three states to detach its oil-rich minorities.

The war

Federal columns took Nsukka and Enugu; Biafra's surprise August offensive across the Niger through the Midwest reached Ore, 200 km from Lagos, before being driven back with reprisals against Igbo. Port Harcourt fell in May 1968, cutting Biafra from the sea and its oil. Biafra survived on an airlift into the Uli airstrip and Swedish Count von Rosen's minicoin fighters, and its propaganda made it a cause in the West.

Famine and surrender

The federal blockade, defended by officials as a weapon of war ('starvation is a legitimate weapon'), produced mass kwashiorkor. Joint Church Aid flew 5,000 relief missions; the ICRC's Bernard Kouchner broke silence and later founded MSF. Federal offensives in late 1969 split the enclave; Ojukwu flew to Cote d'Ivoire on 10 January 1970 and Philip Effiong surrendered on the 15th. Gowon proclaimed reconciliation; there were no trials, but Igbo bank accounts were reduced to 20 pounds each and grievances persist.

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8 surprising things about the Nigerian Civil War (Biafra)

  1. The images of starving Biafran children were among the first famine photographs to reach mass television audiences and changed humanitarian aid forever.
  2. Medecins Sans Frontieres was founded in 1971 by doctors angered by the Red Cross's silence in Biafra.
  3. The Uli airstrip, a widened road, was for a time the busiest airport in Africa at night.
  4. Britain and the Soviet Union, Cold War rivals, both armed the federal side; France covertly armed Biafra.
  5. Chinua Achebe served as a Biafran envoy and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's Half of a Yellow Sun is set in the war.
  6. Count Carl Gustaf von Rosen's tiny Swedish trainer aircraft, armed with rockets, destroyed Nigerian jets on the ground.
  7. The Biafran currency and stamps were printed but the state was recognised by only five countries.
  8. Igbo secessionist sentiment revived in the 2010s with the Indigenous People of Biafra movement.

Sources

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