Dr Natalia Telepneva
Lecturer
History
Personal statement
I joined the University of Strathclyde in 2019 as Lecturer in International History. My main research lies in the history of the Soviet Union and the Cold War and the history of socialism, especially in Africa. My first book, "Cold War Liberation: The Soviet Union and the Collapse of Portuguese Empire in Africa, 1961-1975" (UNC, 2022) examined Soviet support for anticolonial movements in Angola, Mozambique and Guinea-Bissau. I am currently working on Soviet military relations with the African continent.
Before moving to the University of Strathclyde, I taught at the University of Warwick and the London School of Economics. I am a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society and a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy
Publications
- Cold War Liberation : The Soviet Union and the Collapse of the Portuguese Empire in Africa, 1961–1975
- Telepneva Natalia
- New History of the Cold War New History of the Cold War (2022)
- https://doi.org/10.5149/9781469665887_Telepneva
- Globalizing Independence Struggles of Lusophone Africa : Anticolonial and Postcolonial Politics
- Lopes Rui, Telepneva Natalia
- (2024)
- https://doi.org/10.5040/9781350378339
- Book Review: Socialist De-Colony: Black and Soviet Entanglements in Ghana’s Cold War by Nana Osei-Opare. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2025. 320 pp. $130.00. ISBN 978-1-00-960143-6
- Telepneva Natalia
- The Russian Review (2026)
- https://doi.org/10.1111/russ.70177
- Cabral’s guerrillas : narratives of the liberation war and socialist solidarities in Guinea-Bissau
- Telepneva Natalia
- Journal of Southern African Studies (2026)
- Article Review: ‘Internationalism, Cooperation and Personal Entanglements between Cuba, the German Democratic Republic, and Angola in the Socialist World’ by Berthold Unfried. H-Diplo
- Telepneva Natalia
- (2026)
- Soviet diplomacy in the Horn revisited : Ethiopian revolution, arms transfers, and Cold War realignment, 1974–77
- Telepneva Natalia
- Journal of Contemporary History (2026)
Teaching
The courses I teach correspond to my research interests. I teach courses on the Russian Revolution, the Soviet Union and the Cold War in Africa.
Undergraduate Level
V1711/V1712 The Russian Revolution and its Global Impact, 1917-1928 (course convener)
V1707/1708 The Last Empire: The History of the Soviet Union, 1917-1991 (course convener)
Postgraduate level
V1993 Diplomacy: Evolution, Theory and Practice (co-taught course)
V1999 Red Continent: Africa and the Global Cold War (course convener)
Research Interests
I am a historian of Soviet foreign policy with a particular interest in the history of socialism and the Global Cold War in Africa. My first book, "Cold War Liberation: The Soviet Union and the End of the Portuguese Empire in Africa, 1961-1976” (UNC Press, 2022) explored Soviet support for anti-colonial movements in the Portuguese colonies. The book recovers the role of Soviet bureaucratic and military elites in the Soviet Cold War, recovers the agency of African revolutionaries, and reinterprets the story of Soviet involvement in Angola, 1974-95. “Cold War Liberation” has been translated into Portuguese as Libertação e Guerra Fria: A União Soviética e o Colapso do Império Português em África, (1961-1975), Imprensa de História Contemporânea, 2025
I am currently working on Soviet military relations with the African continent. I am interested to further explore how Soviet military technology, training and ideas about soldiering impacted on Africa’s post-colonial conflicts and how African soldiers and revolutionaries interacted with the socialist project. With the support of the British Academy Postdoctoral Fellowship (2017-2020), I conducted oral history interviews with former guerrillas in Guinea-Bissau, West Africa, who underwent military training in the Soviet Union.
I have since published on Soviet military training, Soviet and Czechoslovak secret intelligence in Africa, as well as heritage and nation-building in the Horn. I have co-edited a special issue of the International History Review (2020), "The Secret Struggle for the Global South" (with Daniela Richterova) as well as two edited volumes: 'Globalizing Independence Struggles of Lusophone Africa: Anticolonial and Postcolonial Politics,' Bloomsbury, 2024 (with Rui Lopes) and 'Warsaw Pact Intervention in the Third World', I.B. Tauris, 2018 (with Philip E. Muehlenbeck).
In 2026, I received a Research Collaboration Grant from the Royal Society of Edinburgh for the project titled, 'Socialist Way of War? Soviet Bloc Military Aid and Africa's Cold War Conflicts' (2026-2028). In collaboration with Dr. Alexander Hill at the University of Calgary, the project will bring together historians from Africa, Eastern Europe and Russia to explore Soviet-African military relations. As part of this project, I am exploring Soviet military involvement in the Horn of Africa during the 1970s.
Professional Activities
- Conference Organiser, RSE-funded "Soviet Bloc Military Aid and Africa's Cold War Conflicts"
- Organiser
- 26/5/2026
- Research portfolio examination for South Africa’s National Research Foundation (NRF)
- Examiner
- 1/4/2026
- Discussion of 'Cold War Liberation' at the Yale Graduate Seminar
- Invited speaker
- 16/2/2026
- Ethics Committee, Department of Humanities, University of Strathclyde (External organisation)
- Member
- 1/9/2025
- Member of the Jury for the 2024 Amilcar Cabral 'best article' prize, awarded by Instituto de História Contemporânea, NOVA Universidade de Lisboa (Event)
- Member
- 1/8/2025
- 50 Anos das Independências das Colónias Portuguesas em África: Histórias, Processos, Legados e Memórias [50 years of independence of the Portuguese colonies] in Lisbon
- Invited speaker
- 16/7/2025
Projects
- A Socialist Way of War? Soviet Bloc Military Aid and Africa's Cold War Conflicts (Research Collaboration Grant)
- Telepneva, Natalia (Principal Investigator)
- How did African militaries respond to the “socialist way of war” after the Second World War? This collaborative project breaks new ground by examining a hitherto understudied dimension of Cold War History—the arms transfers, training, and military advising and assistance provided by the Soviet Bloc (the Soviet Union, Eastern Europe, and Cuba) to their African allies. This project will unite historians working with newly opened, often highly restricted military archives in Czechoslovakia, Poland, Romania, Germany, Bulgaria, Ethiopia, and South Africa. It will investigate how Soviet Bloc militaries understood, managed, and coordinated their assistance to African partners and how these interactions shaped local approaches to warfare and state-building. Focusing on conflicts such as the Biafra War (1967-1970), the Ogaden War (1977–78) and the Southern African wars of liberation (1975–88), the project explores the extent to which Cold War military exchanges defined the trajectories of many post-colonial states.
- 01-Jan-2026 - 29-Jan-2028
- Winning the Development Endgame: The Political Economy of Soviet Cold War in Africa, 1974-1991
- Telepneva, Natalia (Fellow)
- 21-Jan-2019 - 17-Jan-2020
- Winning the Development Endgame: The Political Economy of Soviet Cold War in Africa, 1974-1991
- Telepneva, Natalia (Principal Investigator)
- British Academy Postdoctoral Fellowship
- 01-Jan-2017 - 31-Jan-2020