"Most Iconic Conflict of the Cold War?" Topic

Ambush Valley is the Vietnam/Indochina supplement from Osprey/Ambush Alley Games for their Force on Force rules system.

The back cover text reads:

In the 44-year-long history of the Cold War, few conflicts symbolized it as fully as those in Vietnam and Indochina. To contemporary observers, the Vietnam War was a clash between two ideological blocs of Communism and the West….

Given that the Vietnam War is certainly symbolic of the Cold War, which conflict of that period is the most symbolic of the Cold War?

Korean War.

Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.

Depends what you mean by conflict and symbolism. I suspect Korea springs to mind as a largely conventional conflict where the West squares off against communist forces.

The face off in 1961 over the building of the Berlin Wall, along with the Cuban Missile Crisis and the 1956 Hungarian Revolution probably has some of the the most iconic imagery.

Barry Goldwater's 1964 election campaign contains most of the nuttier aspects of the Cold War distilled into campaign speeches and sloganeering.

Other views might include the rather nasty little proxy wars the US involved itself in Central America, under the pretext of fighting communism. Guatemala springs to mind.

I think the Arab-Israeli Wars come to mind as iconic proxy wars.
The fact that they often veered off into actions the "principles" neither desired or anticipated makes them even more iconic.
These wars would look quite different if they were fought with weapons that the combatants made or bought themselves with no outside assistance.

I think the Arab-Israeli Wars come to mind as iconic proxy wars.

That's a category, not a nomination.

Well – in that case, I would say the Yom Kippur War in 1973

Vietnam. Has to be, visually it is by far the most recognisable.

Jaz
6sided.net – better than blogspot

That's a category, not a nomination.

Everybody's a Poll Suggestion critic these vdays…

OK. I nominate the Yom Kippur War of 1973 also. Rumor has it that it almost went nucular too!

South African Border War
link

I would say either the Cuban Missile Crisis or the West vs Terrorism

Depends who you are I imagine. For the Americans I imagine it's Vietnam, for the French most likely Algieria, for the British, Malaysia perhaps? We Canadians might think of CDN forces involvment in peacekeeping operations as the iconic image of the Cold War. Don't forget the people, from Nicaugura to Angola to Nepal, on who'se soil these "proxy" wars were fought.

Overall, I'd say Vietnam, then Afghanistan.

For a conventional war, I'd go for the Ogaden. Largely because of the way the participants changed who they were clients of in a short space of time.

Nam, Afghanistan, Angola,Yumm Kipper or Korea…

Wouldn't the South African border war just be an anti-colonial struggle re-badged?

All of them …

Angola and Nicaragua.

The one that never happened………..

I think Glengarry 3 nailed it.

My war – Vietnam. My Uncle – Korean War – according to him, it was very "Cold" there.

Korean War. It was the 1st really big proxy war between the two sides and we luckily if not ungogly closely managed to avoid using nukes on each other. If one side or the other had used nukes, even sparingly, the world would be very different. That set the tone.
In Angola and in Central and South America, those wars or at least their direct descendants are still being fought.
For French, Algeria.
For USA,CCCP,and China, Korea.
For UK, Malaysia.
For Africa, either Katanga/Rhodesia/UNITA.
For Germans, the Berlin Airlift.
For Greece, the "civil" war

Not sure what war is still being fought in Angola or Central America for that matter. I suppose you could say the current conflict in Colombia is a hangover from a Cold War era conflict, although it's pretty much morphed into something else. The only other conflict in South America and I'd be reticent to dignify it with such a title is the sputterings of what's left of Sendero Luminoso, that occaionally comes to life in Peru. Banditry would be a better term

Although Malaya/Malaysia _ought_ to be an iconic conflict for the UK it is largely forgotten by most people. I think its lack of iconic status shows in how much it shows up in popular culture – I can only think of two films set in the insurgency, both of them comedies.
Suez is the conflict which is most remembered from that era and has the impact on culture and political discussion, though I think that would be post-colonial rather than Cold War.

I think Timbo is right.

I'm glad others have mentioned the Berlin Airlift. It's very iconic of the Cold War, IMO.

- Shawn.

Yea, the Korean War, which is still not over…..

Korea

Vietnam – a long-running conflict with a Rolling Stones soundtrack ended by US public opinion when the VC had benn all but wiped out. Yet despite the commies overunning the south, capitalism ultimately won. If you don't believe me go to Saigon (few call it HCM city). Communism just can't compete as was proved by the fall of the Wall.