The Contra War: The Nicaragua Civil War

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To what extent was the Nicaragua Civil War, also known as the Contra War, an example of a War that broke out due to the Cold War context?
Introduction

The Nicaraguan Civil War to a large extent can be seen as a war due to cold war context. The civil war was seen as the final proxy war of the cold war and it took place during 1979 and 1990. Before the civil war had started it was a violent revolution whereby the people of Nicaragua were attempting to overthrow the dictatorship at the time. In 1979 the Sandinista rebels overthrew the Somoza family which ruled as dictators (Source C). In 1980 part of Ronald Reagan’s campaign was to control and end the Soviet Union, these campaigns played a crucial role in Nicaragua and this was because the Soviet …show more content…

This is evident in all Proxy Wars and it is due to the Cold War context which had arisen after World War 2. The USA had backed the contras, who were a group of anti-Sandinista guerrillas that wanted to overthrow the government this was because the Sandinista junta, launched a left-wing political programme (source E). The contras were a group of guerrillas that had consisted of ex-National Guard, which were taken out of their position when the Sandinista junta took power, right-wingers, indigenous people “and former Sandinistas that had become disillusioned with the revolution”(Source F). The neutrality act of 1789 was violated when the contras were training in Florida, just after Ronald Reagan had taken presidency; the aims of the contras were first shown when they wreaked havoc in Nicaragua, this was done by blowing up the health clinics that the Sandinista government had set up as well as torturing and killing civilians (Source I). The Nicaragua Civil war can also be named the Contra war; this is because of there being another civil war that had taken place in 1979 which was the revolution where the Sandinista government had taken

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