Cold War proxy
Superpower-backed skirmish
A Cold War proxy was a country, conflict, or force that served as a stand-in for direct confrontation between the United States and Soviet Union.
Rather than risk nuclear war, the superpowers funded, armed, and supported opposing sides in regional conflicts—Korea, Vietnam, Angola, Afghanistan.
The civil war became a Cold War proxy battle.
The term now applies to any conflict where larger powers fight through smaller actors.
- VietnamSoutheast Asian coastal nation
- KoreaEast Asian divided peninsula
- AfghanistanCentral Asian landlocked nation
- third worldLess developed nations collectively
- surrogateOne acting for another
satellite state · puppet · foreign aid · CIA · KGB · covert · insurgency · guerrilla · intervention · containment · domino theory · Angola · Nicaragua · Contras · mujahideen · arms race · nuclear standoff · espionage
Cold War proxydiplomatic negotiation
Official discussion between nations
détente · peaceful coexistence · rapprochement · cultural exchange · trade agreement
Cold War proxystrategic partnership
Planned cooperative business relationship
military cooperation · joint operations · mutual defense pact · wartime alliance · condominium
cold, colder, coldest, coldly, coldness, war, wars, warring, warred