In recent years conflicts in Eastern Europe and the Middle East have thrust the role of proxy forces back into the spotlight. This study examines the past use of proxy forces and the potential for improvement based on examples of failures. This study will revolve around the question: “How can lessons learned from failures in the use of proxy forces translate into modern conflicts.” This study uses two case studies from the Cold War era to highlight factors that led to failures in these specific instances. While there are examples of recent proxy force failures there is more extensive information available on past examples.
While much has changed since the Cold War in terms of the geopolitical and technological environment, the fundamentals of proxy warfare remain the same, a larger nation state funding a smaller resistance group with the goal of either overthrowing a target government or achieving another strategic goal. This study discovered that lessons learned from prior failures can be useful today. There are some key factors in past failures which can be used as examples of how to prevent similar issues in the future, while much has changed since the Cold War some things remain the same
