PROXY WARSDanielle Downey

A Proxy War is a war instigated by a major power that does not itself participate.

TIMELINE

Korean War – June 25th, 1950

Greek Civil War - 1946

Vietnam – November 1st, 1955

Bay of Pigs Invasion – April 17th, 1961

Chilean Coup d’état – September 11th, 1973

Angolan Civil War - 1975

Afghanistan – December 27th, 1979

GREEK CIVIL WAR

The Greek Civil War was fought from 1946 to 1949 between the Greek governmental army, backed by the United Kingdom and United States, and the Democratic Army of Greece (DSE), the military branch of the Greek Communist Party, backed by Bulgaria, Yugoslavia and Albania.

With aid from the US and Britain, the DSE was very successful on the battlefield. They also had superior tactics. One of the biggest battles of the three year Greek Civil War took place in the Grammos mountains in 1948. In the battle of Grammos, forces of the National Army deployed 100,000 troops, while the DSE had 12,000 fighters. The battle lasted from June 16th until August 21st.

Greece was left in ruins after this war. There was more economic distress and the people of Greece were divided. Thousands of people were either sent to prison, exile, or sought refuge in other countries.

Greek right-wingers and western allied governments saw the end of the Greek Civil War as a victory in the Cold War against the Soviet Union; left-wingers countered that the Soviets never actively supported the Communist Party's efforts to seize power in Greece. The capitalist/democratic sphere of influence grew. Tensions increased.

KOREAN WAR

The Korean War was a military conflict between the Republic of Korea, supported by the United Nations, and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea which was supported by People's Republic of China (PRC), and with air support from the Soviet Union.

The war began on 25 June 1950. The war was a result of the political division of Korea by agreement of the Allies at the conclusion of the Pacific War. In 1945, following the surrender of Japan, the peninsula was divided along the 38th Parallel, with United States troops occupying the southern part and Soviet troops occupying the northern part.

The two sides had many differences, which caused a deep division. North Korea established a Communist government. The 38th Parallel became a political border between the two Koreas. Although reunification negotiations continued in the months preceding the war, tension intensified. Cross-border skirmishes and raids at the 38th Parallel persisted. The situation escalated into open warfare when North Korean forces invaded South Korea on 25 June 1950. It was the first significant armed conflict of the Cold War.

There was no real winner to this war. A peace treaty was signed. Therefore, neither the USA or the USSR expanded their ideologies. Tensions increased between the two countries.

VIETNAM

The Vietnam War was a civil war between North Vietnam and South Vietnam. Communist USSR supported the North. The USA and it’s allies supported the South.

The US government viewed involvement in the war as a way to prevent a communist takeover of South Vietnam. Involvement peaked in 1968 at the time of the Tet Offensive. After this, U.S. ground forces were withdrawn as part of a policy called Vietnamization. Despite the Paris Peace Accords, signed by all parties in January 1973, fighting continued. Eventually North Vietnam conquered Saigon and defeated the South.

Influence of the Soviet Union increased. Vietnam is still a communist country.

BAY OF PIGS INVASION

The Bay of Pigs Invasion was an unsuccessful attempt by a CIA-trained force of Cuban exiles to invade southern Cuba, with support from US government armed forces, to overthrow the Cuban government of Fidel Castro.

In the Bay of Pigs, 1300 Cuban exiles armed with American weapons invaded Cuba, hoping to get support from the citizens. Instead they were quickly killed or taken prisoner. The loss was due mainly to inadequate support from the USA.

There was an increase influence of communist ideologies because of Castro’s victory. Tension increased because of the fear that the US would invade again.

CHILEAN COUP D’ÉTAT

The democratically elected President of Chile Salvador Allende was overthrown in a CIA-backed Chilean military coup d’état.

A military junta took control of the government. General Pinochet assumed power and ended Allende's democratically elected Popular Unity government. Just before the coup, Allende gave his last speech where he vowed to stay in the presidential palace. Shortly after he committed suicide. After the coup Pinochet established a military dictatorship that ruled Chile until 1990 and that was marked by severe human rights violations.

The struggle between communist and democratic ideologies was an obvious component of the Cold War, but lack of aid from the USSR did not increase tensions between the two superpowers.

ANGOLAN CIVIL WAR

The Angolan Civil War began in Angola after the end of the war for independence from Portugal in 1975. The war featured conflict between two primary Angolan factions, the communist MPLA, which was backed by the Soviet Union, and the anti-communist UNITA, which had the support of the United States.

The Angolan Civil War was one of the largest, longest, and most prominent armed conflicts of the Cold War. Both the Soviet Union and the U.S. considered it critical to the global balance of power and to the outcome of the Cold War.

Heavy fighting continued until 1991, when a temporary agreement called the Bicesse Accords was agree upon. A year later, MPLA won the presidential elections against a UNITA candidate, Jonas Savimbi. When the outcome was disputed, the fighting started once again. This was continued until Savimbi was killed in 2002.

Since UNITA’s victory, they have become a formidable political party, therefore increasing the USA’s sphere of influence. Tensions decreased.

AFGHANISTAN

The Soviet War in Afghanistan was a nine-year conflict involving the Soviet Union, supporting the Marxist-Leninist government of the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan at their own request against the Mujahideen Resistance.

On December 27th, 1979, 700 Soviet troops dressed in Afghan uniforms, including KGB and GRU special force officers from the Alpha Group and Zenith Group, occupied major governmental, military and media buildings in Kabul, including their primary target—the Tajbeg Presidential Palace. Many rebellions were sparked, and the USSR had to control not only opposition from others but in Afghanistan as well. When the Soviets began to suffer, they formulated an exit strategy, but desertions from the Afghan army made this difficult, so they simply withdrew.

Fear of the Soviets being so close to oil-rich nations increased fear and tension between them and the USA. Sao much so that Americans even boycotted the 1980 Moscow Olympics. The United States’ sphere of influence grew as the world condemned the actions of the Soviets. Tensions grew between the two superpowers.

SOURCES

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greek_civil_war http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korean_war http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vietnam_War http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bay_of_Pigs_Invasion http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1973_Chilean_coup_d%27%C3%A9tat http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angolan_civil_war http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Afghanistan_War_(1978-92)