Idi Amin's Uganda

When Idi Amin, commander of the Ugandan Army, seized power in Uganda on 25 January 1971, there was hope among many Ugandans that a new beginning beckoned.

Amin’s coup d’état was in some respects the culmination of Uganda’s tumultuous decolonization. Nationalist politics in the 1950s had been ferociously contested along religious, ethnic, and regional lines, and fractures remained – indeed deepened – during the 1960s.

Written by Richard Reid. Narration by Dr. Nicholas B. Breyfogle. Video production by Katherine Weiss, Dr. Nicholas B. Breyfogle, and Laura Seeger.