‘It Certainly Will Help if That Stopped’: Politics of Wartime Military Assistance During the Civil War of Nigeria (1967–1970)

Abstract

As Nigeria's Federal Military Government confronted Biafran separatists during the Civil War (1967–1970), foreign involvement critically shaped its conduct and outcome. Drawing on archival and declassified sources, this article analyses how Britain's hesitant yet pivotal arms support, America's studied neutrality, and the Soviet Union's sustained military assistance influenced Federal strategy. It challenges conventional emphasis on Soviet airpower by showing that Soviet artillery proved far more decisive in the war's final phase. By tracing how Cold War calculations, rather than humanitarian principle, determined external responses, the study illuminates how Great Power politics conditioned Nigeria's battlefield success and wartime diplomacy.