Cameroon War

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Cameroon War
Part of decolonisation of Africa
Date 1955 (1955)–1964 (1964) Location French Cameroon (Later Cameroon) Result Cameroonian Independence through the establishment of a Pro-French Regime under Ahmadou Ahidjo[2]
Belligerents
Independence War Phase (1955-1960)  France (1955-1960) French Cameroon Civil War Phase (1960-1964) Federal Republic of Cameroon  France	Union of the Peoples of Cameroon Supported by: People's Socialist Republic of Albania[1]
Commanders and leaders
Pierre Messmer Max Briand Jean Lamberton Ahmadou Ahidjo	Ruben Um Nyobè  † Félix-Roland Moumié  X Ernest Ouandié Tankeu Noé [3] Osendé Afana
Units involved
	Armée de libération nationale Kamerounaise (ALNK)[3] Allied militias
Casualties and losses
61,300-76,300 civilians killed

The Cameroon War^[a] (also known as the Hidden War,^[b][4] or the Cameroonian War of Independence^[c]) is the name of the independence struggle between Cameroon's nationalist movement and France. The movement was spearheaded by the Cameroonian Peoples Union (UPC). Even after independence, the rebellion continued, shaping contemporary politics. The war began with riots in 1955 and continued after Cameroon gained independence in 1960. Following independence, the first President of Cameroon, Ahmadou Ahidjo requested continued French military intervention to fight the UPC rebels. The UPC rebellion was largely crushed by the Cameroonian Armed Forces and French Army by 1964.^[5] This war is often forgotten because it occurred at the height of France's biggest colonial independence struggle, the Algerian War.

The war is believed to have produced some 61,300 to 76,300 civilian deaths, according to estimates from the British embassy assembled in 1964, with 80% of the dead being from the Bamileke Region. General Max Briand, the commander of all French military forces in Cameroon, gave an estimate of 20,000 people killed in the Bamileke Region in 1960 alone. Some modern estimates for deaths go into the hundreds of thousands or even millions, but are believed to not be reliable. Overall, estimating the number of deaths is difficult as the French administration did not keep meticulous records of the number of people killed.^[5]

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