A proxy war is when two powerful nations compete indirectly by supporting different sides in another country’s conflict. Instead of fighting each other directly, they give money, weapons, and training. Proxy wars were especially common during the Cold War between the U.S. and the Soviet Union.
These wars allowed the superpowers to spread their influence (capitalism vs. communism) without risking a nuclear world war. But for the countries where they happened, the cost was huge: millions of lives lost, destroyed economies, and political chaos.
Proxy wars are important to study because they show how global politics shapes local conflicts, how outside intervention can drag wars out for decades, and how the people most affected are usually the civilians trapped in the middle.
North Korea, backed by the Soviet Union and later China, invaded South Korea, which was supported by the United States and the United Nations. This was the first major proxy war of the Cold War and set the stage for decades of indirect superpower conflict.
The war demonstrated the U.S. policy of "containment" in action, as America fought to stop the spread of communism. The involvement of Chinese troops on the North Korean side showed how dangerous escalation could become, raising fears of World War III.
Over 3 million people died, and Korea remains divided to this day at the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ). This division shaped geopolitics in Asia for the next seventy years, with South Korea becoming a close U.S. ally while North Korea grew into one of the most isolated dictatorships in the world.
North Vietnam, backed by the USSR and China, fought against South Vietnam, which was supported by the United States. The U.S. sent over half a million troops at the height of the war, making it one of the largest proxy conflicts in history.
The Viet Cong’s guerrilla tactics and the determination of the North Vietnamese proved extremely difficult to overcome. Despite America’s superior technology, the war dragged on for twenty years and drained U.S. resources, morale, and political stability.
The war ended with the fall of Saigon in 1975 and a communist victory. Vietnam was reunified, but the U.S. suffered its first major military defeat, which reshaped its foreign policy. Domestically, the war caused mass protests, distrust in government, and a "Vietnam Syndrome" that made future interventions controversial.
The Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan to support a struggling communist government, sparking a decade-long conflict. The United States, Pakistan, and Saudi Arabia funded and armed the Mujahideen resistance fighters.
The war became known as the "Soviet Union’s Vietnam" because it drained resources, damaged morale, and turned global opinion against Moscow. The U.S. supplied weapons like the Stinger missile, which allowed rebels to shoot down Soviet helicopters, changing the tide of battle.
The Soviets eventually withdrew in 1989, a major humiliation that accelerated the USSR’s collapse two years later. However, the power vacuum left behind contributed to decades of instability in Afghanistan, eventually giving rise to the Taliban and later global terrorism.
After Portugal gave up its colony, Angola fell into a brutal civil war. The U.S. and South Africa supported the UNITA rebels, while the Soviet Union and Cuba backed the MPLA government. Cuba even sent tens of thousands of soldiers, making it one of the most internationalized proxy wars of the Cold War.
Angola became a battlefield not just for ideology, but also for resources like oil and diamonds. The conflict dragged on for decades, even after the Cold War ended, showing how proxy wars can take on a life of their own.
The war only ended in 2002 after massive destruction, the deaths of hundreds of thousands, and the displacement of millions. It left Angola deeply scarred, but also rich in lessons about how superpower rivalries could devastate smaller nations.
In Nicaragua, the left-wing Sandinista government came to power after overthrowing a dictatorship. The U.S. opposed the Sandinistas, seeing them as aligned with Cuba and the Soviet Union, and funded the right-wing Contra rebels.
This led to a long, bloody conflict inside Nicaragua. The U.S. role became highly controversial at home after the Iran-Contra scandal was exposed, where American officials secretly sold weapons to Iran and funneled the money to the Contras, bypassing Congress.
The war left deep divisions in Nicaragua’s politics and economy. Although elections eventually brought peace, the scars of the Contra War are still felt today, showing how Cold War proxy wars shaped Latin America’s political landscape for decades.