ABSTRACT
As early as the eighteenth century, Portugal had become a half colony of much stronger imperialist powers, especially of Britain, and had in fact received its share in the colonial partition of Africa only thanks to British protection at the Berlin Congress of 1884-1885. Each of the movements had to fight a big colonial army raised by the Portuguese dictatorship and sent to Africa. The Africans made rings round them. Applying their politics of liberation to the problems of armed struggle, the liberation movements worked out tactics and strategies which could enable them to win, even though the process of winning had to be long and painful. New states began to take shape in the liberated zones. The rural masses rallied to the movements because the politics of liberation gave power and primacy to the rural masses.
