Post by General William T. Sherman on Oct 12, 2015 20:49:48 GMT
Next off, the Proxy wars! We are going to be talking about five major proxy wars:Korea, Vietnam, Afghanistan, Angola and Arab-Israeli conflicts.
First, I'm going to give a brief definition of Proxy wars: A Proxy war is pretty much any war where two or more larger powers are intervening in the conflict on different sides. So, for example, the Spanish Civil War was a proxy war as it had different powers (Germany, Italy and the SU) intervene on different sides of the civil war. Typically, a proxy war is a civil war, but it can be a war fought between two or more different countries, such as the Arab-Israeli conflict.
But first, we'll be starting with the first major proxy war:Korea.
The Korean War is often labeled as "The forgotten war" by Americans, but it was sure real. Trivia fact here:Most vets living in my humble town actually fought in Korea! But aside from my life, onto the history! Korea was born straight out of the capitalism vs communism struggle. After WWII, the victorious allies had to figure out what to do with Japan and how to split up their land. In most cases, it was a simple handover of sovereignty, such as the handover of Sakhalin to the USSR or the handover of Formosa to the ROC, but Korea was another story. Japan had taken all of their land, so they couldn't simply give the peninsula to another country. So what happened was the Korea would be split in two:The Northern half would be occupied by the Soviets and the South occupied by the Americans. Both occupied area would have free elections and a government would be formed. This didn't happen in either area, however, and the authoritarian Syngman Rhee was put in power in the South, and the even more authoritarian Kim Il Sung was put into power in the North. The two areas were supposed to unify at some point, but when the North Koreans invaded the South in 1950, all hopes of unification were destroyed. The Soviets had given a bunch of military equipment to the north, while the U.S gave Jack to the south, refusing to give them even tanks. The U.S brought the issue to the UN and called for a coalition effort to kick the North out of the South. The UN voted yes. The USSR could've vetoed the whole resolution and prevent UN intervention into Korea, but they boycotted the UN due to the fact that the PRC (Communist China) wasn't given entry into the UN. So in September of 1950, General Douglas MacArthur led a naval landing in the Korean port of Inchon, near Seoul. After the landing, the U.S forces took Seoul and cut off the N. Korean army in the south. Also important note:Not just the U.S fought in Korea, many nations got involved, most noteworthy the British Commonwealth and Turkey. After getting to the 38th parallel, the original division point of the two nations, Truman, the Americna president, made a fateful decision;The UN forces would attempt to unify Korea and push into the North. It worked until the UN got to the Yalu River, bordering China. The Chinese then intervened and pushed UN forces all the way back to Seoul. The UN pushed back, and by 1951 the war was at a complete stalemate. A ceasefire was signed in 1953, ending the war. Note that the war never ended with a peace treaty, meaning that the war is still technically occurring. Which side won, the communists or capitalists? Answer:Neither, stalemate.
Next, the Six-Day War and the October War in the Mid East.
When Israel was created by the UN charter in 1947, the USSR promoted the idea of an independent Jewish state. And the U.S wasn't a great ally of them. However, in the 50's, the USSR started allying with the Arab nations, most importantly Syria and Egypt. This worried the U.S, fearing a complete Soviet takeover of the Mid East. Thus, the U.S started aiding the Israelis. It came to a head in 1967, in the Six Day War. Nasser, the head of Egypt, prepared for war with Israel and mobilized their army. The Israelis then launched a premature strike on the Arab countries, most importantly destroying the Air Force of Jordan, Syria and Egypt, giving Israel air supremacy for the rest of the war. The Israelis, with American equipment, stormed through the Egyptian Sinai desert, the Jordanian West Bank and the Golan Heights in Syria in only six days. After the war, the Israelis kept all the land they had occupied. The war ended with a clear Western victory. In 1973, new Egyptian president, Anwar Sadat, planned with Syria to launch a dual attack on Israel during the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur, the holiest holiday of Judaism. In October, 1973, the Egyptian pull off an astounding victory at the Suez by crossing the Suez Canal in only a day and taking the Israeli positions. The Soviet equipment they had could destroy Israeli tanks and aircraft with ease. The Syrians also gained headway in Golan. Soon, however, the Americans began Operation Nickel Grass, which supplied tons of military equipment to the Israelis via airlift. Using these supplies, the Israelis launch a strike at the Suez and cut off the Egyptian army in the Sinai. Negotiations began. The war ended with an Israeli military victory, but they were forced to give up the Sinai to Egypt.
Next, the Vietnam War.
After WWII, the Vietnamese began a war for independence against the French, their colonial rulers. The war lasted long, but ultimately ended in Vietnamese Victory when the French lost a fatal blow at Dien Bien Phu. The country was split in two:North Vietnam, which was communist, and South Vietnam, which was Capitalist. The U.S heavily supported the South with military advisors and aid, but when elections occurred, a communist government was elected. So then we propped up a few dictators for the rest of our intervention in Indochina. The first shooting occurred in the early 1960's, but the fighting escalated when the Gulf of Tonkin incident occurred, where the U.S thought the North Vietnamese attacked a U.S gunboat. So then the Gulf of Tonkin resolution was signed which gave President Lyndon Johnson the authority to send in U.S troops into Vietnam as he so pleased. Thus, the war began. One objective of the U.S was to capture the Ho Chi Minh trail which was giving supplies to Communist rebels in the South. So what happened was that we bombed neutral Laos and Cambodia (the countries the trail went through). The U.S used napalm to burn down trees, and was often brutal to the Vietnamese. The worst incident was the My Lai Massacre, which saw Lt. calley of the U.S army massacre innocent Vietnamese due to suspicions of them being communist. The Tet Offensive really doomed the U.S, what happened was that guerrilla fighters in the south rose up in large cities across with south and attacked the capitalist forces. Even though it failed, it caused the American public to start losing interest in the war and start demanding that we get out. When Richard Nixon came to power in the U.S, he made a peace deal with the north which ended the war. In 1975, the south was then invaded by the North and was taken over. President Gerald Ford asked congress to help the south, but congress did not want to get involved again. The war ended with a clear communist victory.
Next, the Angolan Civil War and the Soviet War in Afghanistan.
In 1974, Portugal had a coup which overthrew Antonio Salazars government and replaced it with a democracy. The new government made peace deals with Angola and Mozambique, two countries which had been fighting for independence since the 60's. The Portuguse withdrew, and three factions started fighting for power in Angola:The MPLA, which was Leftist, the FNLA, which was capitalist, and UNITA, which was also capitalist. The U.S decided to back the FNLA initially due to lack of information about UNITA, while the Cubans supported the MPLA. Later, the U.S would help both the FNLA and UNITA, with Zaire aiding the FNLA militarily as well, and S.Africa aiding UNITA in Operation Savannah. The MPLA had control of the capital, Luanda, while the FNLA had the Northern border with Zaire and UNITA had the south near Namibia. The S.Africans almost took Luanda, but the Cubans stopped them. Ultimately, it was a definite communist win in Angola. In 1979, the USSR invaded Afghanistan to help prop up a communist regime which had been established there and had been threatened by extremist Islamic groups. The Soviets quickly took the main cities, but the Mujahideen, the Islamic fighters, stayed in the countryside and launched guerrilla attacks. The Mujahideen was aided by funds from the U.S. The Mujahideen were experts at shooting down choppers and launching attacks on large Soviet numbers. Ultimately, by 1989, the Soviets withdrew from Afghanistan. The war was a key factor in the collapse of the SU. On a sad note, however, a lot of Mujahideen fighters later joined Al-
First, I'm going to give a brief definition of Proxy wars: A Proxy war is pretty much any war where two or more larger powers are intervening in the conflict on different sides. So, for example, the Spanish Civil War was a proxy war as it had different powers (Germany, Italy and the SU) intervene on different sides of the civil war. Typically, a proxy war is a civil war, but it can be a war fought between two or more different countries, such as the Arab-Israeli conflict.
But first, we'll be starting with the first major proxy war:Korea.
The Korean War is often labeled as "The forgotten war" by Americans, but it was sure real. Trivia fact here:Most vets living in my humble town actually fought in Korea! But aside from my life, onto the history! Korea was born straight out of the capitalism vs communism struggle. After WWII, the victorious allies had to figure out what to do with Japan and how to split up their land. In most cases, it was a simple handover of sovereignty, such as the handover of Sakhalin to the USSR or the handover of Formosa to the ROC, but Korea was another story. Japan had taken all of their land, so they couldn't simply give the peninsula to another country. So what happened was the Korea would be split in two:The Northern half would be occupied by the Soviets and the South occupied by the Americans. Both occupied area would have free elections and a government would be formed. This didn't happen in either area, however, and the authoritarian Syngman Rhee was put in power in the South, and the even more authoritarian Kim Il Sung was put into power in the North. The two areas were supposed to unify at some point, but when the North Koreans invaded the South in 1950, all hopes of unification were destroyed. The Soviets had given a bunch of military equipment to the north, while the U.S gave Jack to the south, refusing to give them even tanks. The U.S brought the issue to the UN and called for a coalition effort to kick the North out of the South. The UN voted yes. The USSR could've vetoed the whole resolution and prevent UN intervention into Korea, but they boycotted the UN due to the fact that the PRC (Communist China) wasn't given entry into the UN. So in September of 1950, General Douglas MacArthur led a naval landing in the Korean port of Inchon, near Seoul. After the landing, the U.S forces took Seoul and cut off the N. Korean army in the south. Also important note:Not just the U.S fought in Korea, many nations got involved, most noteworthy the British Commonwealth and Turkey. After getting to the 38th parallel, the original division point of the two nations, Truman, the Americna president, made a fateful decision;The UN forces would attempt to unify Korea and push into the North. It worked until the UN got to the Yalu River, bordering China. The Chinese then intervened and pushed UN forces all the way back to Seoul. The UN pushed back, and by 1951 the war was at a complete stalemate. A ceasefire was signed in 1953, ending the war. Note that the war never ended with a peace treaty, meaning that the war is still technically occurring. Which side won, the communists or capitalists? Answer:Neither, stalemate.
Next, the Six-Day War and the October War in the Mid East.
When Israel was created by the UN charter in 1947, the USSR promoted the idea of an independent Jewish state. And the U.S wasn't a great ally of them. However, in the 50's, the USSR started allying with the Arab nations, most importantly Syria and Egypt. This worried the U.S, fearing a complete Soviet takeover of the Mid East. Thus, the U.S started aiding the Israelis. It came to a head in 1967, in the Six Day War. Nasser, the head of Egypt, prepared for war with Israel and mobilized their army. The Israelis then launched a premature strike on the Arab countries, most importantly destroying the Air Force of Jordan, Syria and Egypt, giving Israel air supremacy for the rest of the war. The Israelis, with American equipment, stormed through the Egyptian Sinai desert, the Jordanian West Bank and the Golan Heights in Syria in only six days. After the war, the Israelis kept all the land they had occupied. The war ended with a clear Western victory. In 1973, new Egyptian president, Anwar Sadat, planned with Syria to launch a dual attack on Israel during the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur, the holiest holiday of Judaism. In October, 1973, the Egyptian pull off an astounding victory at the Suez by crossing the Suez Canal in only a day and taking the Israeli positions. The Soviet equipment they had could destroy Israeli tanks and aircraft with ease. The Syrians also gained headway in Golan. Soon, however, the Americans began Operation Nickel Grass, which supplied tons of military equipment to the Israelis via airlift. Using these supplies, the Israelis launch a strike at the Suez and cut off the Egyptian army in the Sinai. Negotiations began. The war ended with an Israeli military victory, but they were forced to give up the Sinai to Egypt.
Next, the Vietnam War.
After WWII, the Vietnamese began a war for independence against the French, their colonial rulers. The war lasted long, but ultimately ended in Vietnamese Victory when the French lost a fatal blow at Dien Bien Phu. The country was split in two:North Vietnam, which was communist, and South Vietnam, which was Capitalist. The U.S heavily supported the South with military advisors and aid, but when elections occurred, a communist government was elected. So then we propped up a few dictators for the rest of our intervention in Indochina. The first shooting occurred in the early 1960's, but the fighting escalated when the Gulf of Tonkin incident occurred, where the U.S thought the North Vietnamese attacked a U.S gunboat. So then the Gulf of Tonkin resolution was signed which gave President Lyndon Johnson the authority to send in U.S troops into Vietnam as he so pleased. Thus, the war began. One objective of the U.S was to capture the Ho Chi Minh trail which was giving supplies to Communist rebels in the South. So what happened was that we bombed neutral Laos and Cambodia (the countries the trail went through). The U.S used napalm to burn down trees, and was often brutal to the Vietnamese. The worst incident was the My Lai Massacre, which saw Lt. calley of the U.S army massacre innocent Vietnamese due to suspicions of them being communist. The Tet Offensive really doomed the U.S, what happened was that guerrilla fighters in the south rose up in large cities across with south and attacked the capitalist forces. Even though it failed, it caused the American public to start losing interest in the war and start demanding that we get out. When Richard Nixon came to power in the U.S, he made a peace deal with the north which ended the war. In 1975, the south was then invaded by the North and was taken over. President Gerald Ford asked congress to help the south, but congress did not want to get involved again. The war ended with a clear communist victory.
Next, the Angolan Civil War and the Soviet War in Afghanistan.
In 1974, Portugal had a coup which overthrew Antonio Salazars government and replaced it with a democracy. The new government made peace deals with Angola and Mozambique, two countries which had been fighting for independence since the 60's. The Portuguse withdrew, and three factions started fighting for power in Angola:The MPLA, which was Leftist, the FNLA, which was capitalist, and UNITA, which was also capitalist. The U.S decided to back the FNLA initially due to lack of information about UNITA, while the Cubans supported the MPLA. Later, the U.S would help both the FNLA and UNITA, with Zaire aiding the FNLA militarily as well, and S.Africa aiding UNITA in Operation Savannah. The MPLA had control of the capital, Luanda, while the FNLA had the Northern border with Zaire and UNITA had the south near Namibia. The S.Africans almost took Luanda, but the Cubans stopped them. Ultimately, it was a definite communist win in Angola. In 1979, the USSR invaded Afghanistan to help prop up a communist regime which had been established there and had been threatened by extremist Islamic groups. The Soviets quickly took the main cities, but the Mujahideen, the Islamic fighters, stayed in the countryside and launched guerrilla attacks. The Mujahideen was aided by funds from the U.S. The Mujahideen were experts at shooting down choppers and launching attacks on large Soviet numbers. Ultimately, by 1989, the Soviets withdrew from Afghanistan. The war was a key factor in the collapse of the SU. On a sad note, however, a lot of Mujahideen fighters later joined Al-
took place.
