TOP TEN THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW Proxy Wars TOP TEN THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW

1 What does it mean? To use a conflict in another region as a substitute for fighting each other Due to balance of power/nuclear deterrence (next video)

Korea – How it all started 2 Korea – How it all started After WWII divided 38th parallel (Soviet/US spheres of influence) 1950 – Communist north invades south - attempt to reunify US – Truman Doctrine = need to get involved (no appeasement) UN – Peacemaking (Canada joins in) USSR boycott = no veto

3 Korea – “It’s on!” MacArthur pushed communists out of south Gets fiesty and keeps going towards China = new country involved – prolong war *request to use nukes!

Korea – the sort of ending 4 Korea – the sort of ending 1953 – armistice signed Not a peace agreement = conflict still on Back to 38th parallel Demilitarized zone still occupied by US troops North Korea – hermit kingdom Notice USSR did not get involved (US thought they were behind it)

Vietnam – how it all began 5 Vietnam – how it all began Divided after WWII Communist rebels in north want reunification China communist revolution – Eisenhower: Domino Theory (US must get involved)

Vietnam – “It just keeps getting worse and worse” 6 1956 UN monitored elections canceled Viet Cong under Ho Chi Minh use sabotage and terrorism US troops increase dramatically Use of Napalm, Agent Orange Nixon – Vietnamization (doesn’t really work) Carpet bombing (war spreads to neighboring countries like Cambodia) 1973 flee country 1975 Communists take over Saigon – Ho Chi Minh City

Vietnam – the terrible outcome 7 Vietnam – the terrible outcome Millions dead, environmental outcome US disillusionment – no longer the blessed nation News coverage - atrocities Lost war Draft = soldiers forced to war, PTSD, drug addiction Notice USSR did not get involved (US thought they were behind it)

Nowhere to run ain't got nowhere to go Born down in a dead man's town The first kick I took was when I hit the ground You end up like a dog that's been beat too much Till you spend half your life just covering up Born in the U.S.A. Got in a little hometown jam So they put a rifle in my hand Sent me off to a foreign land To go and kill the yellow man Come back home to the refinery Hiring man says "Son if it was up to me" Went down to see my V.A. man He said "Son, don't you understand" I had a brother at Khe Sahn fighting off the Viet Cong They're still there, he's all gone He had a woman he loved in Saigon I got a picture of him in her arms now Down in the shadow of the penitentiary Out by the gas fires of the refinery I'm ten years burning down the road Nowhere to run ain't got nowhere to go

Afghanistan – Soviet’s Vietnam begins 8 Constant coups = Soviets feel need to enforce some stability in region, expand their sphere of influence Christmas day 1979 “Invited” to help establish new government Afghans rebel Terrible atrocities Refugee crisis

Afghanistan – the prolonged struggle 9 Afghanistan – the prolonged struggle Mujahedeen fighters can’t fight military might of Soviets US covert involvement Training and weapons Famous mujahedeen fighter – Osama Bin Laden Cost of fighting prolonged war leads to Soviet withdrawal 1989 Olympics

Afghanistan – pay attention to history people! 10 Afghanistan – pay attention to history people! Many have tried and failed to take over Afghanistan – Alexander the Great (partial take over) to Britain to USSR to America. Lack of stability in the region opens the door to groups like Taliban to take over Support for Islamic fundamentalist terror groups like Al Qaeda (thus leading to 2001 War on Terror)