The Nigerian Civil War , also known as the Biafran War and the Nigerian-Biafran War ( 6 July 1967 – 15 January 1970 ) , was a war Hostile_encounter fought Hostile_encounter between the government of Nigeria and the state of Biafra .

Biafra represented Presence nationalist aspirations of the Biafran people , whose leadership felt Perception_active they could no longer coexist Cause_to_amalgamate with the Northern-dominated federal government .

During the two and half years of the war , there were about 100,000 overall military casualties Catastrophe , while between 500,000 and 2 million Biafran civilians died Death of starvation .

In mid-1968 , images of malnourished and starving Biafran children saturated Filling the mass media of Western countries .