Cold War conflicts
The Cold War sometimes resulted in open conflict, for example the Vietnam War and the Soviet war in Afghanistan.
The Vietnam War
Having seen the spread of communismA classless society where all property is owned publicly. in Europe, America was concerned something similar could happen in Asia. Their belief in 鈥楧omino Theory鈥, that lots of countries could quickly fall to communism once one did, led to them sending troops to help prevent the spread of communism from North Vietnam to South.
The one challenge America faced was finding their enemy, the Vietcong. The Vietcong were a guerrilla force who lived in South Vietnam, amongst the civilian population. They had extensive tunnel networks, used hit and run tactics and received supplies from North Vietnam via the Ho Chi Minh trail, which came into the South via Cambodia and Laos.
In response to these tactics, the American army used many tactics which ultimately were counterproductive and served only to turn the civilian population in both South Vietnam and in America, against the war. Tactics such as Search and Destroy, Operation Rolling Thunder, Agent Orange and Napalm, all failed to defeat the Vietcong. After the North Vietnamese Tet Offensive in 1968 President Johnson decided against seeking re-election and he was replaced by Richard Nixon.
Nixon pursued a policy of 鈥榁ietnamisation鈥 to try and replace American soldiers with well-trained South Vietnamese troops. This plan ultimately failed, but it did lead to the withdrawal of American troops. The North eventually succeeded in taking over South Vietnam in 1975, unifying it as a communist state. American intervention had failed.
Soviet war in Afghanistan
In 1979, the Soviet army invaded Afghanistan, in a war that became known as their Vietnam. The pro-Soviet Afghan government was unpopular with the Muslim population, as many of their laws and rules stopped people following their religious beliefs.
The MujahideenA militant Islamic group who fought against the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. fought against the Soviet invasion. They had support from the American government, first Jimmy Carter, then Ronald Reagan, which funded military equipment and supplies, which was sent in to Afghanistan via Pakistan. America also boycotted the Moscow Olympics in 1980 in protest at the Soviet invasion.
The mountainous terrain and extreme weather made it difficult for Soviet soldiers to cope with conditions. Much like the American army in Vietnam, they resorted to tactics that ultimately failed, such as air strikes.
Mikhail Gorbachev decided the war was too costly, both economically and in terms of losses to the Russian army. He took the decision to end the war and withdrew the Soviet army in 1989. The Cold War was coming to an end, but problems in Afghanistan were to return in the future.