United States Involvement in Other Countries 2025

The story of United States (U.S) involvement in other countries began in the 19th Century and continues all the way to the current era. US actions are often driven by economic opportunities, such as in the Pacific and Latin America, alongside the Monroe Doctrine, which urged the U.S. to seek a policy to repel European colonization in Western Hemisphere.

Other factors that call for foreign interventions by the U.S. include:

• Health projects
• Advancing democracy
• Defending territories
• Preventing the spread of nuclear weapons
• Countering terror attacks
• Defending human rights

19th Century U.S. involvements

1846 to 1848: U.S. and Mexico warred over California, Texas and what is now American South West. The U.S. troops invaded parts of Mexico, including Mexico City and Veracruz.

1854: Commodore Mathew Perry negotiated the Kanagawa Convention, which opened Japan to diplomacy and Western, ending its s national isolation. Later, the U.S. advanced an Open Door Policy that led to equal economic access to China in 1899.

1871: After an ambush, the American force comprising 650 people started a punitive campaign and captured and occupied several Korean strongholds.

1898: The short but significant Spanish-American War resulted in overwhelming victories for America against the Spanish Kingdom. The U.S. army invaded Spanish-controlled Cuba, granting it independence.

20th-Century U.S. involvements

The 20th Century saw the U.S. get involved in the First and Second World Wars. The U.S. troops joined their allies in international campaigns to fight against Imperial Japan and Nazi Germany.

World war II gave rise to a foreign policy of containment to prevent the spread of world communism. And the subsequent cold war resulted in the Eisenhower, Truman, Carter, Kennedy, and Reagan Doctrines. This made America embrace regime change, proxy conflicts, espionage, and other covert activities against the Soviet Union.

1991: The Soviet Union collapsed, and the U.S. became the world’s sole superpower. Henceforth, the U.S continued interventions in Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

2001: After the 2001 attacks, the U.S. collaborated with other NATO countries to launch the Global War on Terror, which waged counterterrorism campaigns against extremist groups like Islamic State and al-Qaeda in various countries.

2003: The bush doctrine saw America invade Iraq, and the military extended its presence in Asia and Africa through the foreign internal defence policy.

2014: In response to the Russian annexation of Crimea. Obama’s administration set up a program called the European Deterrence Initiative (EDI) that aimed at bolstering American military manifestation in Eastern and Central Europe. EDI funded the Atlantic Resolve operation to enhance NATO’s military planning capabilities.

2015: President Obama authorized U.S. forces to offer intelligence and logistical support to Saudi Arabia in their martial intervention in Yemen. The act established a joint planning cell between the countries like the U.S. and British troops who took part in the blockade of Yemen.

2019: During Donald Trump’s reign, tensions between America and Iran triggered a crunch in the Persian Gulf, making the U.S. bolder in its intervention in the region.

2021: the Biden administration declared al-Shabaab in Mozambique a terrorist group, requesting the Mozambique government to intercede in the Cabo Delgado conflict. A special force was deployed to train the Mozambican marines.