List of United States foreign interventions since 1945

This is a list of United States interventions since 1945. The list is incomplete. There is only limited historical context. You can help with checking if any of the alleged actions are true, provide historical context, and add events that are not in the list. Whether the additions should be put in the list directly or have articles that discuss the events is left to the contributor.

1940s

Alleged US support to Portuguese dictator Salazar, 1930's to 1974.
Occupation and rebuilding of Japan 1945-1952 after World War II, drafting Japan's current democratic constitution.
Occupation and rebuilding of West Germany after World War II. Merged US occupation region with the French and British ones to form the Federal Republic of Germany in 1949.
US provides military aid to right-wing forces battling communist insurgents in Greece in 1947.
Central Intelligence Agency involvement in Italian elections, involving propaganda and the alleged buying of votes, in order to prevent the Communist Party of Italy coming to power, in 1948.
Marshall Plan 1948-1951

1950s

Largest contributor in UN-led Korean War from 1950 until 1953.
US (CIA) and UK (MI-6) overthrow Prime Minister Mohammed Mossadegh of Iran (Operation Ajax) - 1953.
CIA-orchestrated overthrow of Jacobo Arbenz Guzmán in Guatemala (Operation PBSUCCESS) - 1954.
US support for Ngo Dinh Diem of Vietnam from 1955 - 1963. [1]
US support for Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista until his overthrow in 1959.
Alleged US support to the Apartheid in South Africa.
Alleged US-backed establishment of François Duvalier as dictator of Haiti. [2] [3]

1960s

US-backed abortive Bay of Pigs Invasion of Cuba in 1961.
Alleged CIA assassination of Congo's democratically elected leader, Patrice Lumumba. [4]
Alleged CIA involvement in the 1961 Canadian election.
US support of Ba'ath Party coup in Iraq in 1963; support for dictator Saddam Hussein until 1990, including during Iran-Iraq war (where chemical weapons were used against Iran). [5]
Alleged CIA-backed overthrow of Juan Bosch, the democratically elected leader of the Dominican Republic. [6]
Alleged CIA-backed overthrow of Jose Maria Velasco Ibarra of Ecuador in 1963.
U.S. backs coup of South Vietnamese President Ngo Dinh Diem in 1963. [7]
CIA-backed overthrow of Joao Goulart in Brazil in 1964, CIA training for its death squads. [8] [9]
Alleged CIA-backed overthrow of Sukarno in Indonesia in 1965, contributing to estimated deaths of one million suspected Communists. [10]
Vietnam War - (1964-1975) - contributing to estimated deaths of three million Vietnamese.
Bombing campaigns against Laos, with more US bombs dropped than during all of World War Two, from 1964 - 1975.
Bombing campaigns against Cambodia; an estimated 600,000 civilians killed.
Alleged CIA-backed military coup brings dictator Mobutu Sese Seko to power in the Congo in 1965.
Alleged CIA support to military coup against Ghanese leader Kwame Nkrumah in 1966.
Alleged CIA-backed military coup ushers in Regime of the Colonels in Greece in 1967.
American support for Israel in the 1967 Six-Day War and the 1982 Lebanon War.
Alleged CIA-organised military operation ends in execution of Che Guevara in Bolivia in 1968.

1970s

Alleged CIA-supported coup against Prince Sihanouk in Cambodia in 1970.
Alleged CIA-supported military coup against President Juan Torres of Bolivia in 1971.
American support for Pakistan in the 1971 Indo-Pakistani War.
Alleged CIA corruption of the 1972 Australian election.
U.S. support for the Chilean coup of 1973.
CIA support for UNITA rebels in Angola, from 1976 - 1984.
Alleged corruption of 1976 Portuguese Election.
Alleged corruption of 1976 Jamaican Election.
U.S. backs military rulers of El Salvador (1977).
Alleged support to ousted Khmer Rouge, from 1979 - 1993
Following overthrow of the dictator Samosa in Nicaragua by the Sandinistas, the CIA supports the Contras from 1979 - 1989. Nicaragua still has not received the U.S. restitutions for military and paramilitary activities as ruled by the International Court of Justice and as supported by a United Nations General Assembly resolution. [11]
Alleged American intervention in civil war in Yemen, from 1979 - 1984.
NAWAPA water project.

1980s

CIA support for death-squads in El Salvador throughout the 1980s. [12]
Training of Nicaraguan Contras and support to repressive regimes in Honduras during the 1980s.
Alleged CIA support to Gwangju Massacre in 1980.
Alleged CIA and South African backing to a coup attempt in the Seychelles in 1981.
US invasion of Grenada, overthrow of Marxist government (Operation Urgent Fury) - 1983.
US support to coup against Timoci Bavrada, democratically elected Prime Minister of Fiji in 1987.
US invasion of Panama, overthrow of Manuel Noriega (Operation Just Cause) - 1989.

1990s

UN-led Gulf War following Iraqi invasion of Kuwait (1991).
US support for UN-led sanctions against Iraq, resulting in the estimated deaths of over one million civilians, from 1990 to 2003.
The Helms-Burton Law against Cuba.
Failed US intervention in Somalia to assist UN food aid delivery. 1993
NATO bombing of Bosnian Serbs. Led to the end of the Bosnian Civil War. 1995
US-led bombing campaign, called Operation Desert Fox, against Iraq in enforcement of the UN designated No-Fly zones created to protect Kurds and Marsh Arabs. 1998
US bombing of Afghanistan in 1998.
US bombing of the Al-Shifa pharmaceutical factory in Sudan - in 1998.
NATO's bombing of Serbia in the Kosovo Conflict. Officially aimed at preventing ethnic cleansing of Albanians. 1999

2000s

US invasion of Afghanistan, overthrow of Taliban in 2001.
The Hague Invasion Act, 2002.
Alleged CIA-backed abortive coup against democratically-elected President Hugo Chávez of Venezuela in 2002. [13]
US Invasion of Iraq, overthrow of Saddam Hussein - 2003
American support in the overthrow of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide of Haiti in 2004. (see: 2004 Haiti rebellion)

As well as these military interventions the United States also pursued and gained economic controls over many developing states. Some claim that the International Monetary Fund and World Bank assisted American foreign policy in this area. (If correct, this would also require implicit co-operation of other countries, as the US has only 18% of the IMF's voting rights. [14])

Furthermore, the United States has provided continued military support for repressive regimes, including those of Saudi Arabia, Colombia, Pakistan and Egypt.

External links

A Hemisphere of Our Own: U.S. Foreign Policy in Central America - 2 Hours Talk Given by Noam Chomsky at UC Berkeley in 1984 - RealAudio format.
Conversations with History: Militarism and the American Empire - With Chalmers Johnson, President of the Japan Policy Research Institute - RealVideo format.
Instances of Use of United States Forces Abroad, 1798-1993 by Ellen C. Collier, Specialist in U.S. Foreign Policy, Foreign Affairs and National Defense Division
United States Military Campaigns, Conflicts, Expeditions and Wars Compiled by Larry Van Horn, U.S. Navy Retired
Basic Statistics for United States Imperialism
US interventions in Latin America
When foreign intervention is justified: Women under the Taliban