Why Nigeria Went to War With Itself (The Full Story)

In 1960 Nigeria became independent as Africa's great hope. Seven years later it split in two, and for thirty months the Republic of Biafra fought to survive. Between one and three million people died, most of them civilians, most of them of hunger. This is the whole story, in order, from the record, with both sides' accounts. How a census and two rigged elections broke the First Republic The two coups of 1966, and the massacres that sent a million people east Aburi: the agreement both sides read differently Asaba, October 1967 The blockade, the famine the world watched on television, and the airlift that landed on a road How it ended, and why the arguments still haven't Chapters 0:00 Introduction 1:50 Three Regions 5:30 1966: The Year of Two Coups 11:06 The Road to Biafra 14:20 The Police Action 19:02 The Ring Closes 21:07 Hunger 24:40 The Airlift 27:47 Stalemate 29:35 The Surrender 31:50 After the War The reconstructions in this video are AI-generated from historical photographs, maps and records, showing how these places and people might have looked; they are interpretations, not photographs. Portraits of real people are AI reconstructions based on photographs of them. Narrated with an AI voice. Contested figures and quotes are given as ranges or attributed to who said them. Did your family live through it? Tell us their story, from either side, in the comments. #NigerianCivilWar #Biafra #NigerianHistory