Re: [OT]Nukes... tunnels.... boom....

On Mon, 11 Mar 2002 00:01:00 +0000, Jonathan White
<jonw@nessie.mcc.ac.uk>
wrote:

>There have been numerous occasions since
>WWII (let alone WWI) when European national forces have been involved
>directly in armed conflicts, without the US committing as much as
single
>bullet.

I picked up my copy of Penguin's "Atlas of World History", volume two.

- Russo-Polish War, 1920: war ended with the help of French
intervention.
- Italian invasion of Abyssinia (Ethopia), 1935
- Spanish Civil War, 1936-39: although the International Brigades
included
Britons, French, Americans, Canadians, and others, the only "official"
support
came from Germany, Italy, Portugal (all supported the rebels), and
Russia
(supported the monarchy).
- Italian occupation of Albania, 1939
- Greco-Turkish War, 1920-22.
- Irish "Civil War" 1919-21: conflict between Irish nationalists, Irish
"loyalists" and Britain, resulting in the establishment of the Irish
Free
State.
- Wars of the "warlords" for Peking in Northern China, 1916-26: "Western
powers" supported the warlords; can't tell if the US was among them (I
believe
it was) but definitely involved Europeans.
- Britain was involved in China (Shanghai in particular), not just Hong
Kong,
during the Nationalist Revolution in 1925-27.
- Britain helped put down communist uprising in Greece after withdrawal
of
German forces, 1944-45.
- UN intervention in Cyprus, 1964 (mostly Canadian, British, and other
UN
troops).
- 1st Indo-China War, 1946-54: surprised John didn't remember _this_
one, it's
the French involvement in Vietnam.
- French involvement in Algerian struggle for liberation, 1954-62
- Burmese Civil War, 1948-54: British troops were involved.
- Guerrilla war in Malaya, 1954-57: British troops involved in a counter
insurgency war against Chinese supported partisans. SAS participation
was well
documented.
- Mau-mau campaigns, Kenya, 1952-1954: nationalist partisans/terrorists
fought
against British police and military.
- Uprising in Congo, 1959-60: Belgium sent in paratroopers to try to
quell
uprising. UN troops stabilized the situation.
- Aden, late 1958-62: I'm not sure when Britain pulled out of Aden (now
Yemen), but British troops were involved in various uprisings there in
the
late 1950s. I know as my Dad's regiment was _this_ close to getting
posted
either to Aden or to Cyprus (ended up posted to Germany).

This doesn't include the myriad peace treaties established during the
inter-war period, nor does it cover European nations moving troops to
other
nations to bolster independence or regimes (such as Britain setting up
RAF
bases in Iraq during the inter-war period, and the establishment of the
Anglo-Iran Oil Co. in the 1950s). It also doesn't include the many UN
operations that had heavy British or British Commonwealth (Canada, in
particular), or French involvement.

The book's cut off date was 1975. The post 1975 involvements are
probably
pretty much understood on this list.

Allan Goodall		       agoodall@hyperbear.com
http://www.hyperbear.com

"Now, see, if you combine different colours of light,
 you get white! Try that with Play-Doh and you get
 brown! How come?" - Alan Moore & Kevin Nolan,