America's Wars: Interventions, Regime Change, and Insurgencies after the Cold War (Cambridge Military Histories)

The collapse of the Soviet Union ushered in American global hegemony in world affairs. In the post-Cold War period, both Democrat and Republican governments intervened, fought insurgencies, and changed regimes. In America's Wars , Thomas Henriksen explores how America tried to remake the world by militarily invading a host of nations beset with civil wars, ethnic cleansing, brutal dictators, and devastating humanitarian conditions. The immediate post-Cold War years saw the United States carrying out interventions in the name of Western-style democracy, humanitarianism, and liberal internationalism in Panama, Somalia, Haiti, Bosnia and Kosovo. Later, the 9/11 terrorist attacks led America into larger-scale military incursions to defend itself from further assaults by al Qaeda in Afghanistan and from perceived nuclear arms in Iraq, while fighting small-footprint conflicts in Africa, Asia, and Arabia. This era is coming to an end with the resurgence of great power rivalry and rising threats from China and Russia. "The Cold War's end marked the start of a three-decade era of serial conflict for the United States, often for lofty humanitarian goals. Unlike the superpower standoff of the preceding epoch, the unique period since the Berlin Wall's fall in 1989 witnessed a series of small-scale conflicts, medium-sized wars, and numerous counterterrorism operations during a time of peace among the great powers. The previous four-decade span recorded nothing similar. Rather the "limited wars" in Korea and Vietnam were fought to contain the spread of communism. The immediate post-Wall years, instead, saw the United States behave as a liberal hegemon carrying out quasi-wars to make the world safe for Western-style democracy, to feed the starving, or to protect imperiled peoples, all in fulfillment of liberal internationalism dating from Woodrow Wilson. . The frequent hostilities after the Wall were unanticipated by Washington or other world capitals. No threat emerged from the dying Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, the West's arch rival after World War II. Thus, Washington politicians promised peace dividends, slashed military budgets, and talked about non-defense spending for civilian purposes. The U.S. Defense Department did undergo substantial reductions among its service branches, although it got little peace"-- Provided by publisher An End And A Beginning : From Cold War To Panama Invasion For Regime Change -- The Persian Gulf War And Its Aftermath -- Wars Other Than War, Wars In Somalia, Haiti, Bosnia, And Kosovo -- Afghanistan : Regime Change And Building Society In The Graveyard Of Empires -- The Iraq War : Changing A Regime, Building Democracy, And Fighting An Insurgency -- American's Small-footprint Wars : Asia, Africa, & The Middle East -- America's Forever Wars : Afghanistan, Syria, And Iraq -- A Conclusion : The New Era. Thomas H. Henriksen. Includes Bibliographical References And Index. Electronic Reproduction. Cambridge Available Via World Wide Web. Acknowledgments List of Abbreviations Introduction 1 An End and a Beginning: From Cold War to the Panama Invasion for Regime Change 2 The Persian Gulf War and Its Aftermath 3 Wars Other Than War: Wars in Somalia, Haiti, Bosnia, and Kosovo 4 Afghanistan: Regime Change and Building Society in the Graveyard of Empires 5 The Iraq War: Changing a Regime, Building Democracy, and Fighting an Insurgency 6 America’s Small-Footprint Wars: Asia, Africa, and the Middle East 7 America’s Larger Forever Wars: Afghanistan, Syria, and Iraq 8 A Conclusion: The New Era Notes Bibliography Index The collapse of the Soviet Union inaugurated a period of unconstrained American military intervention. In America's Wars, Thomas Henriksen explores how in the post-Cold War period the United States intervened, fought insurgencies, and changed regimes in its quest to protect democracy, human rights, and America's interests.