ABSTRACT
Conflict between non-Western powers was no mere postscript to the history of war in this period, or indeed in any other. Nor is it helpful to treat such conflicts as in some way simply adjuncts of the Cold War. That element was indeed important, not least due to the provision of weapons, munitions, finance, training and advice by protagonists in the Cold War, but the conflicts also had an autonomy in cause, course and consequence. This is particularly so if the range of conflict is considered, as it included not only struggles between sovereign states but also large-scale insurgencies and other instances of civil conflict. In many cases, both owed their origins to the after-effect of rapid decolonization as groups that had succeeded in ousting imperial powers, or benefited from their departure, found it less easy to govern successfully or to manage relations with neighbours. These struggles drew, in part, on pre-existing tensions – for example between regions with different ethnicities, religions and/or economic interests held together within the artificial boundaries of many states – and helped shape competing nationalisms; but there was also a powerful element of novelty stemming from the ideological struggles of the Cold War and their interaction with indigenous identities. In Indonesia, for example, the mid-1960s witnessed a very bloody civil war in which Communists were killed in large numbers by Islamic nationalists who were powerful in the army. Similarly, in Iraq the Communists were kept from power by Ba’ath nationalists.
