Book excerpt: A concise, gripping history of the resource-rich yet poverty-wracked nation’s instability and military conflict in the 1960s. Includes maps and photos. Post-independence events in the Republic of the Congo are a veritable Gordian knot. The ambitions of Congolese political leaders, Cold War rivalry, Pan-Africanism, Belgium’s continued economic interests in the country’s mineral wealth, and the strategic perceptions of other southern African states all conspired to wrack Africa’s second largest country with uprisings, rebellions, and military interventions for almost a decade. Congo Unravelled solves the intractable complexity of this violent period by dispassionately outlining the sequence of political and military events in the troubled country. It systematically reviews the first military attempts to stabilize Congo after independence, and the two distinguishing campaigns of the decade—the United Nations military operations to end the secession of the Katanga Province, and the Dragon Operations led by Belgian paratroopers, supported by the US Air Force, launched to end the insurgency in the east—are chronicled in detail. Finally, the mercenary revolt—which tainted the reputation of the modern mercenary in Africa—is described. Lesser known military events—Irish UN forces cut off from the outside world by Katangese gendarmes and mercenaries, and a combined operation in which Belgian paratroopers were dropped from US Air Force C-130 Hercules aircraft and supported by a mercenary ground force to achieve humanitarian ends—go far toward resolving the enigma surrounding post-independence Congo. Praise for the Africa@War books: “A groundbreaking series concept . . . They are recommended as professional military education references.” —Charles D. Melson, Chief Historian, U.S. Marine Corps “Splendid . . . admirably balanced, handy histories.” —Cybermodeler