Since 1890, the United States have deployed U.S. troops in various parts of the world to protect its interests and have in turn affected events in those countries. The US sent troops to Argentina to help prop up the Argentine government in 1890. In 1891, US troops landed in Chile to fight nationalist rebels who were challenging American interests in Chile. Both these events led to large scale protests and counter resistance that added to recurring instability in Latin America. In the period 1892 to 1902, US troops invaded Cuba and only withdrew after obtaining concessions from the Cuban government in the form of Guantanamo Bay.
American invasion of Cuba in that period instilled a feeling of hatred against America by the Cuban ruling elite that culminated in the island becoming the longest lasting communist bastion in the world. In Nicaragua and Honduras, U.S. troops were repeatedly sent to protect American interests. However, that did not lead to stability in those countries. From the period 1894 to 1948, US troops were stationed in various parts of China at first to protect American ‘Sphere of Influence’ and later to support the nationalist forces of Chiang Kai Shek against the Communist onslaught to no avail.
This brought misery to the Chinese and lasting distrust of all things American. The greatest contribution of American troops was in the Second World War where it was American might that finally defeated the Axis powers. As a result of American participation, democracy flourished in Western Europe and in previously militaristic Japan. It was the presence of American troops in Japan and the genius of General Douglas McArthur that converted a former defeated enemy into a steadfast ally of America. Today, the US-Japanese alliance is the bulwark of American East Asia policy that acts as a check against Chinese adventurism.
The end of the Second World War brought on the Cold War where American troops intervened directly in various parts of the world in support of containment of the Soviet Union and the spread of democracy. In the process, the fallout on the countries that were mere pawns in this grand chessboard was mostly negative. The Korean War led to the deaths of thousands of Koreans, Chinese and American troops and brought about the partition of the peninsula.
This has led to an inimical and unpredictable communist North Korea but a stable democratic South Korea whose growing economic and military power adds to the American East Asia policy. In South East Asia, the Vietnam war led to the deaths of thousands of Vietnamese, American troops and ravaged Vietnam’s economy. America failed and Vietnam united under the communist flag. In the process, outlying countries such as Laos and Cambodia too were savaged and have still remained poverty stricken.
In Europe, American troop deployments have had the maximum beneficial effects. It was American forces that sustained the Berlin airlift and then stabilized West Germany to check any further westward Soviet advance. It can be safely stated that it was American troops in Europe and the NATO that contained Soviet expansion into Europe. The stability and security provided by American troops and the Marshall plan allowed Western Europe to rebound back to prosperity. The fall of the Soviet Union has further added the number of democratic countries in Europe. Despite the Balkans being a European affair, it was American action and bombing of Serbian positions that has led to a fragile peace in the Balkans.
In the Middle East, deployment of American troops has followed a realist approach with American interests being the prime factor. In this part of the region, American troops have provided stability to autocratic monarchs and have prevented the region from coming under the sway of either a military dictatorship as envisaged by Saddam Hussein or a religious theocracy as envisioned by Iran. The effect of American involvement in the Middle East has been mostly disastrous for the countries in question. Iraq is a prime example of what direct military intervention can lead to. American troop presence in Saudi Arabia guarantees the safety of the Al Saud dynasty that otherwise would have crumbled under the attack by Al Qaeda and religious fundamentalists. There is, however, an undeniable fact that it is the presence of American troops and the US CENTCOM in Bahrain that has kept the Persian Gulf open and safe from blackmail by Iran for the entire world.
In the Afghanistan-Pakistan theatre, American troops are providing the main efforts in fighting the Al-Qaeda and the Taliban. The effect in both the countries has been of increasing instability and rampant anti-Americanism. The Taliban have many supporters in Afghanistan and the lawless North West Frontier Province of Pakistan. Stability in Afghanistan is a chimera and it would be just matter of time before American troops would be forced to quit the region leaving behind a strife prone divided country. On the whole, the use of American troops in other countries has had an adverse effect on the countries effected except Western Europe, Japan and South Korea which are the only parts of the world where the influence has been positive.