Joshua Goldstein of Foreign Policy magazine estimated 180,000 deaths per year, or over 7 million. The Association of Responsible Dissent, made up of ex CIA agents, estimated 6 million deaths by US actions during the Cold War. If one includes the deaths of their own citizens caused by communist gov'ts, many more millions would need to be added.
The United States could not be forgiven that the Capitalist South was swallowed by an aggressor state without apparent prob- lection and much less that this aggressor was a communist, and NO afther to see how the Soviets established puppet regimes and buffer states throughout Eastern and Central Europe and that the nationalist Chinese lost the content signified a hard political and propagandistic revere in Asia and existed in real fear that if the peninsula fell to communism, Japan would also follow it, and the United States wanted to keep post-imperial Japan within its sphere of political influence.There is also the fact that the United Nations could NOT allow a sovereign state to be absorbed by an aggressor state against the interests of its people or its government.Finally, the United States did not want the Soviet Union to continue to extend its sphere of influence after half of Europe fell assimilated into pro-Soviet regimes at the end of the Second World War and the defeat of the nationalists in the Chinese civil war.Adding the fact that Communism as an ideology was taboo and a cancer for the Western world, it was at that time and still is
Proxy war stands in contrast not only to a traditional war—when a state shoulders the burden of its own defense (or offense)—but also an alliance, when major and minor powers work together with each making significant contributions according to their means. So the United States working with the Afghan government against what’s left of al-Qaida and the Taliban is more of a traditional alliance because of the major U.S. role, with thousands of American troops and hundreds of airstrikes, while Iran working with Houthi rebels in Yemen is a proxy war because Iran primarily provides weapons and funding, not its own troops. How much direct military support is too much to count as a proxy war, of course, lies mostly in the eye of the beholder, but in general, think the lower end of the involvement-spectrum. Iran’s support for the Syrian regime, for example, involves relatively few Iranian forces but a lot of foreign Shiite fighters from Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq, and Lebanon as well as helping direct the Syrian regime—so more proxy than alliance.For some more information click here.
Why did American troops have trouble winning clear cut victories in Vietnam?
Because it wasn't a conventional war If you have to fight a war on your enemies terms then you are at a disadvantage. In Vietnam, just finding the enemy was the biggest problem. The Viet Minh (not 'viet cong') looked largely like the civilian population and the NVA used hit and run tactics because they knew they could not win a set piece battle involving artillery, helicopters and air strikes. Tet (february 1968) was a crushing defeat for North Vietnam but they knew that it was a battle of wills and the one with the will to go on and on would eventually prevail. Domestic politics dictated that America (slowly) withdraw. American bombing forced North Vietnam to sign the Paris peace accord - in the hope of ending hostilities. North Vietnam could see what was happening and simply waited until all U.S combat troops were recalled and then invaded the South in 1975
How many proxy wars did the US and Soviet Union fight during the Cold War?
Depends how far you go wit the definition of a "war". Korea and Vietnam were the two obvious examples. The Arab-Israeli conflicts of 1956 and 1973 were also pretty good examples. Beyond that you have any number of "brush fire" events, like Nicaragua and other Central American conflicts where the US and USSR backed opposite sides but they might not be considered "wars".
The U.S. lended massive support to the Mujahideen in Afghanistan in an attempt to to stop the Soviet Union from gaining influence in that area. Like in most proxy battles fought during the cold war, the attempt was to weaken the other state. But in the intoxication of weakening Soviet Union, the only world power that has opposed America since the end of World War II, America paid for and persuaded Afghans, and Muslims from other parts of the Muslim world, to fight a religious war. The Soviet Union was a state of no religion, as Marx famously said "Religion is the opiate of the people." That resulted in a strong sentiment in the Muslim world that an act of aggression was committed against it, and it was moral and virtuous for it to fight against it. America capitalized on this sentiment, and helped train and arm Aghan Mujahideen. It also gave them ideological recognition, as Pres. Ronald Reagen once famously compared them to the American founding fathers who used military tactics to allow a morally sound idea to succeed. However, channeling this sentiment in the Muslim world by equipping the interested parties with weapons and training and moral legitimacy had huge consequences in the long run. That same group of people eventually took control of Afghanistan and allowed it to be used for the attacks in New York and Washington D.C. on September 11th, 2001. It plays a very significant role in the terrorism movements emanating from the Islamic world. So, the US did defeat the Soviet Union, but at a cost. A cost many Americans wouldn't have been willing to pay had they been educated on the details of how the governments they elected chose to conduct themselves.
What is the definition of "Occupying army", "Proxy armies", and "Proxy warfare"?!
An occupying army controls the territory of a foreign, hostile country. That country would have no political representation, and no say whatever, in the governance of that country. A military governor would be in charge of the occupied territory, which would be ruled by marshall (military) law. A proxy army is an army that actuaally belongs to another country, but you have fighting for your country's interests. They would be financed by your own country, and directly or indirectly controlled by your own country. Proxy warfare is connected to this. It is when two countries or more, are fighting each other for the interests of other countries.. What you are getting at here, is the confusion created by the liberal-biased press. The America military is not an Occupying army in Iraq or Afghanistan. America is supporting legitimate, elected governments in their fight for stability and security. Proxy armies? As an ex-Canadian soldier, I find this insinuation rude. We(Britain, Canada, and Holland) are members of the North Atlantic Treaty. We joined this on our own free will, and pay for our armies with our own taxes. We are under the overall command of American Generals, but that is by political choice. We are not "Proxie armies". Over 100 British and around 90 Canadian soldiers have already died in operations in Afghanistan. Many more have been maimed and wounded for life. They are volunteers, and are there for the same reasons that your own soldiers are there and in Iraq. It is the right thing to do. Be careful of Liberal, biased, defeatist media. It isn't just Americans fighting these wars.
Iran persistently attacks Israel by using Hamas as a proxy army.It is common knowledge that Iran has for many years been providing weapons and other military support to Hamas. The 2014 war between Gaza and Israel would not have been possible without Iranian military support. Another country that has been supporting Hamas is North Korea and its dictator Kim Jong-un. They provided the technology for attack tunnels. The only foreign military personnel who are allowed anywhere close to Kim Jong-un are Iranian generals.Here is Ataollah Salehi, commander-in-chief of the Iranian Army at a North Korean parade. All rather scary when you consider that North Korea has nuclear weapons. Would Kim Jong-un sell a few to Ataollah Salehi if the price was right? Maybe Iran already has some of these North Korean nuclear bombs but we just don’t know about it.