While we are often taught about the Cold War as a period of ideological and military rivalry between the U.S. and the Soviet Union, what's often glossed over is the extent to which this rivalry was fought through covert operations, including coups d'état and assassinations.

These actions were a primary tool for both superpowers to expand their spheres of influence, secure access to vital resources, and prevent the spread of a rival ideology, often at the expense of local sovereignty and democracy.

The United States: A History of Covert Intervention

The U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) was at the forefront of this covert warfare, particularly in Latin America, the Middle East, and parts of Asia. The rationale was simple: to prevent a country from falling to communism, no matter what. The U.S. feared that a democratically elected socialist or a nationalist leader would align with the Soviet Union, threatening U.S. corporate interests and geopolitical stability.

• Iran (1953): The U.S. and the UK orchestrated a coup against Iran's democratically elected prime minister, Mohammad Mosaddegh. Mosaddegh's "crime" was his plan to nationalize Iran's oil industry, which had been under the control of the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company (now BP). The CIA, under Operation Ajax, provided financial and military support to the Shah's loyalists, who overthrew Mosaddegh and reinstalled the Shah as an absolute monarch. This action secured U.S. access to Iranian oil and set the stage for decades of authoritarian rule, which ultimately led to the 1979 Islamic Revolution and lasting anti-American sentiment.

• Guatemala (1954): The U.S. also intervened in Guatemala, where the democratically elected president, Jacobo Árbenz Guzmán, enacted a land reform program that threatened the vast holdings of the United Fruit Company, a powerful U.S. corporation. The U.S. government, influenced by deep corporate connections (Secretary of State John Foster Dulles and his brother, CIA Director Allen Dulles, both had ties to the company), launched a CIA-backed coup. This action, Operation PBSuccess, installed a brutal military dictatorship that led to decades of civil war, a conflict that cost hundreds of thousands of lives and destabilized the entire region.

• Assassination Plots: The CIA also developed plots to assassinate foreign leaders it deemed a threat. The most famous was the repeated attempts to kill Cuban leader Fidel Castro, with methods ranging from poisoned cigars to exploding seashells. While none of these attempts were successful, they exposed the U.S. government's willingness to resort to extreme measures. The U.S. was also implicated in the assassination of Congolese Prime Minister Patrice Lumumba in 1961 and played a role in the coup that led to his death, primarily to prevent a pro-Soviet government from taking power in the resource-rich nation.

The Soviet Union: A History of Suppression and Control

The Soviet Union's covert actions were primarily focused on maintaining control over its satellite states in Eastern Europe and preventing any signs of political liberalization that could threaten its security. The KGB, the Soviet intelligence agency, played a key role in this.

• Hungary (1956): When a popular uprising in Hungary sought to end one-party rule and withdraw from the Soviet-dominated Warsaw Pact, the Soviet Union sent a large military force to brutally crush the rebellion. The Soviets arrested and executed key leaders, including Prime Minister Imre Nagy, who was a symbol of the democratic reform movement. This action demonstrated that the USSR would not tolerate any country within its sphere of influence breaking away.

• Czechoslovakia (1968): A similar pattern emerged during the Prague Spring in Czechoslovakia, where the communist government, led by Alexander Dubček, initiated a series of liberalizing reforms, promising "socialism with a human face." The Soviet Union and its Warsaw Pact allies viewed these reforms as a dangerous sign of Western influence. In Operation Danube, a massive Soviet-led military invasion quickly crushed the reform movement, arresting and removing Dubček from power. This action solidified the Brezhnev Doctrine, which stated that the Soviet Union had the right to intervene in any socialist country to preserve the socialist system.

• Afghanistan (1979): The Soviet invasion of Afghanistan was a direct result of the Soviet leadership's fear that a communist government they had propped up was about to collapse. The Soviet Union's initial goal was to stabilize the regime, but the invasion turned into a decade-long war against anti-Soviet Mujahideen fighters, who were heavily funded and armed by the U.S. and its allies. This was a classic proxy war, where a superpower's attempt to control a nation through a puppet government led to a prolonged and bloody conflict with immense human cost.

The Long-Term Consequences

The hidden history of these coups and assassinations reveals a fundamental hypocrisy on both sides of the Cold War. The U.S. often championed democracy and freedom while simultaneously overthrowing democratically elected governments that were not aligned with its interests. The Soviet Union, which claimed to be the champion of the working class and self-determination, brutally suppressed any nationalist or democratic movement that threatened its control.

The legacy of these actions is still felt today. The instability and deep-seated political problems in many of these countries can be traced back to the moment their democratic aspirations were crushed by a superpower. The long-term consequences often included a rise in military dictatorships, a legacy of human rights abuses, and a profound distrust of foreign intervention. The Cold War was not just a battle of ideologies; it was a ruthless, often amoral struggle for power, waged with a disregard for the sovereignty and well-being of nations caught in the crossfire.