The Agone editions publish a list of US military interventions, from Haiti in 1915 to Vietnam, illustrating a bellicose foreign policy.
“Between us, I would welcome any war as it seems to me that this country needs it,” said Theodore Roosevelt in 1897. This quote serves as an introduction to an analysis published by Agone editions, based in Marseille. In the second part of a series entitled “On war as US foreign policy, 1846-2026,” the publishing house chronicles the factual account of American military operations abroad between 1915 and 1970, partially based on a 1962 US State Department report. This list highlights a consistent interventionist policy, far beyond the two world wars.
Latin America, a closely monitored backyard
The publication emphasizes the recurrence of interventions in what Washington has long considered its “backyard.” As early as 1915, American troops landed in Haiti, establishing a 19-year occupation. A year later, in 1916, the Dominican Republic experienced its fourth intervention, leading to an eight-year occupation. Nicaragua saw the deployment of 5,000 soldiers in 1926 to suppress a revolutionary movement. Later, in 1954, Guatemala witnessed the overthrow of its democratic government by CIA-backed mercenaries, with support from the American aviation. The failure of the Bay of Pigs invasion in Cuba in 1961, an operation carried out by armed Cuban exiles trained by the CIA to overthrow the Castro government, is also remembered as a pivotal moment in this regional control policy.
Containment of communism as a global justification
With the onset of the Cold War, the fight against communist influence became the main driver of American interventions. In 1947, the United States took over from the British in Greece, providing massive military support (74,000 tons of material) to the right-wing regime to crush a left-wing guerrilla. In 1950, under a UN mandate, the US army led the international coalition in Korea to repel the North’s invasion of the South, a conflict that resulted in the death of two million Koreans.
The most striking example of this period remains the Vietnam War (1961-1972). Agone’s analysis recalls that the United States employed its entire military arsenal, except for nuclear weapons, against a nationalist movement. The conflict, which spread to neighboring Laos and Cambodia through relentless bombings, resulted in millions of deaths and a resounding defeat that caused an “unprecedented moral crisis” in the United States.
Covert operations and protection of economic interests
Beyond direct interventions, the document highlights the role of intelligence services and the defense of strategic interests. In 1953, the CIA orchestrated a coup in Iran to overthrow Prime Minister Mossadegh, who had nationalized oil, installing the Shah for the following twenty-five years. In Indonesia, in 1965, the CIA supported a bloody military operation that ousted President Sukarno and resulted in hundreds of thousands of deaths, marking the beginning of the Suharto regime.
The Middle East is also a focal point, with the sending of marines to Lebanon in 1958 to protect a pro-American government and secure the region’s oil interests. The publication also mentions the constant diplomatic and military involvement with Israel during the period.
This historical chronicle is part of a four-part series. The first part is available on the Agone editions website.
