HIST 1011 Lecture Notes - Lecture 22: Strategic Hamlet Program, Mutual Assured Destruction, Proxy War
War and Terror in the Global Age
The Cold āWarā
- Strategic standoff
o āMutually assured destructionā with strategic nuclear arsenal
o Russia vs. USA
o No direct confrontations of military power
o Communism and democracy both claim to be ideologies of peace
o Both had the idea that the otherās regime would fall and convert to their similar regime
āŖ Then Soviet Union collapsed without being military overcame
o India Pakistan War and Israeli Arab War had nothing to do with Cold War but got sucked into Cold War
paradigm
- āProxyā wars
o America was the free world leader, but not everyone was democratic
āŖ As long as is anti-communist, America brought them in the coalition
o Korean WarāNorth (communist) vs. South (backed by US but authoritarian)
āŖ Through medium of UN, South Korea received military aid
āŖ Chinese and Soviet on one side and America in the other
o Vietnam War
āŖ Product of decolonization
āŖ France had many messy decolonization
āŖ Cold War conflict like Korea
āŖ North (communist) vs. South (backed by US but authoritarian)
āŖ Strategic Hamlet Program aimed at strategically move entire villages
āŖ More bombs in Vietnam than WWII
āŖ Lead to divisions in western alliance
āŖ South Korea joined the Vietnam War to fight communism
āŖ Australia did too
āŖ US Free-World coalition
āŖ One justification: dominoes theory ā if communists won then all Asia will eventually become
communists
ā¢ Laos and Cambodia became communists but thatās about it
āŖ Made US more cautious, want to avoid a second Vietnam
ā¢ From draft and conscription to all-volunteer force
ā¢ Grenada and Panama were short and goal was clearly defined
o Afghanistan 1980s
āŖ Clear proxy war
āŖ Revenge of US for Vietnam
āŖ Defeat of Soviets seen as victory of the free world
āŖ Actually a victory of Islam when the last Soviet tank withdrew
āŖ What US failed to understand is the meaning it took on the Islamic world
āŖ Many Muslim young men see Muslims in Afghanistan effectively fighting back want to do it too
ā¢ Osama bin Laden ā terrorism
ā¢ Ideologically zealous, militarily able, no government ā terrorism
ā¢ Gulf War 1991 US left troops in Saudi
Terrorism
- Loose definition: political use of fear
o But more associated with use of political fear by non-state actors
