The United States of America has widely been viewed as the “world police” for nearly a century by many other countries. This is mainly due to our clandestine, overt, contracted, or unofficial involvement in global conflicts over the past century in the defense or betterment of our national interests and ideology. One of the newest examples of American involvement in foreign conflict is our engagement in supporting Ukraine’s defense against the Russian invasion of the 2020s, but that is far from the first or the last time the United States has done similar actions. How does the Untied States influence global conflict without direct deployment of United States Military assets, and how does the United Sates view or rationalize these choices?
At our founding, the United States lacked the naval power to project force upon other nations; with the exception of a single ship raiding port villages in the United Kingdom. The process of starting America’s leap into foreign conflict was slow, but the seeds of what was to come had been sown. By the turn of the century, the nation was beginning to gather territory through westward expansion across the Appalachia’s and not long after in 1823 President James Monroe signs the Monroe Doctrine. This doctrine stated,” that the Old World and New World had different systems and must remain distinct spheres, Monroe made four basic points: (1) the United States would not interfere in the internal affairs of or the wars between European powers; (2) the United States recognized and would not interfere with existing colonies and dependencies in the Western Hemisphere; (3) the Western Hemisphere was closed to future colonization; and (4) any attempt by a European power to oppress or control any nation in the Western Hemisphere would be viewed as a hostile act against the United States.” (Encyclopedia Britannica 2023) This sought to give the United States an official layer of protection from the traditional colonial empires that had dominated the region for several centuries prior, but also made promises the United States simply could not keep. This put the United States in a strange position of power over the hemisphere, and opened the door to some of our first global conflicts.
Many years of internal conflict and progression later, a soft spoken hero would arise from the ashes of the Spanish American War. The man in question is Theodore Roosevelt, otherwise affectionately remembered as “Teddy” Roosevelt. Teddy wanted to expand America’s military reach and, “he maintained that a chief executive must be willing to use force when necessary while practicing the art of persuasion. He therefore sought to assemble a powerful and reliable defense for the United States to avoid conflicts with enemies who might prey on weakness.” (Milkis 2021) This lead to a large increase in our military’s size, especially the United States Navy as,” Roosevelt believed that a large and powerful Navy was an essential component of national defense because it served as a strong deterrent to America's enemies. During his tenure as President, [Roosevelt] built the U.S. Navy into one of the largest in the world, by convincing Congress to add battleships to the fleet and increasing its number of enlisted men.” (Milkis 2021) This decision proved instrumental, as it was one of the first times American military might had been displayed to the world. Some of the many reasons for his vast naval expansion were, “to show off the ‘Great White Fleet’ and impress other countries around the world with U.S. naval power; to allow the Navy to gain the experience of worldwide travel; and to drum up domestic support for his naval program.” (Milkis 2021) With this entrance to the world stage as a military power, the United States could begin its climb to becoming the sole superpower of the globe.
Today, as previously mentioned, the Monroe doctrine’s promises have not been fully kept as American M1A2 Abrams tanks lurch across the muddy fields near Bakhmut, Ukraine. This version of American Foreign policy is something more in line with Teddy Roosevelt’s “big stick” he spoke about when discussing the proper attitude of, “speak softly and carry a big stick.” (Milkis 2021) In this case, the stick is substituted for American military technology and assets as it helps to further enforce American military dominance overseas. However, as the United States military provides solid equipment and assets to the Ukrainian military, we have also contributed in a less straightforward way: mercenaries. According to the Ukrainian government,“on Feb. 27, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced the formation of a foreign legion, called the International Legion for the Territorial Defense of Ukraine, that incorporates the foreign volunteers who had already come to Ukraine to fight Russia and aims to recruit others via a tourism website. Ten days later, Ukraine reported that it had received 20,000 requests to join from people in 52 countries. U.S. citizens were among the first new enlistees." (Malet 2022) United States citizens involved in foreign conflicts is just one way America’s influence can outshine our government’s influence, but poses significant questions of how this can affect the legalities of our involvement. One major legal problem is how countries treat mercenaries who have become prisoners of war,” under international law, when soldiers become noncombatants when wounded or captured, they are supposed to be protected from reprisals, torture, or degrading treatment as hostages, and they must be provided legal protections against collective punishment for acts of their country. However, mercenaries do not enjoy the same protections as lawful combatants, including the rights afforded to prisoners of war, and governments are free to treat them as they see fit.” (Malet 2022)
This complicated question over the status of American volunteers as mercenaries coupled with America’s official support in the way of equipment poses several challenges to the United States. One of the largest problems is the possibility of losing our non-official assets, as Russia will not attack “American military” targets, but has proven its resolve against our “mercenaries.” One article highlights this by stating,“Russia has already acted on its threats with the aggressive step of a missile strike on a military facility near Ukraine’s border with Poland on March 13, on the grounds that it was, ‘a training facility for Western mercenaries.' If no foreign volunteers were killed, it was not due to restraint.” (Malet 2022) This is a way that Russia can target Americans in the Ukrainian conflict, and although they have no direct correlation with the United States military, their losses are still perceived as such. This perception of mercenaries representing the United States has significant domestic legal questions as well,” The Justice Department has not said whether it’s legal for Americans to join the Ukraine conflict. But no Americans are known to face criminal charges just for traveling to Ukraine to fight Russia, which invaded its neighbor on Feb. 24. This document shows that if law enforcement officials wanted to bring charges, they’ve had plenty of opportunities.” (Malet 2022) One of the main reasons being the fear of proving the Russian propaganda right as,” the U.S. government is gathering information about Americans traveling to Ukraine and is interested in their activity after they return. But critics say the focus on “violent extremist-white supremacists” echoes one of the Kremlin’s top propaganda points: that supporting Ukraine means also supporting neo-Nazis.” (Politico 2022) This echo of Russian propaganda has presented the United States with a new challenge,” dissuading Americans from fighting alongside soldiers who have received some of their training and many of their weapons from the U.S. itself.” (Politico 2022)
This challenge isn’t the first time America has grappled with its own mercenaries and civilians over foreign conflicts, and some legal precedent still stands. As one article eloquently states,” Decades ago, after the end of the Vietnam War, a few American servicemen found themselves on the battlefields of a tiny former African nation: Rhodesia.” (Beekman 2015) Since the times of Teddy Roosevelt, it has become commonplace for the United States to interfere with foreign conflict, and this has also contributed to a rise in unofficial conflict. One such instance was a unit called the “Crippled Eagles” who operated against the wishes of the United States military by directly participating in the Rhodesian Bush War of the 1960s and 70s. Rhodesia was a small independent state existing within the borders of modern day Zimbabwe in sub-saharan Africa that gained its independence from great Britain in 1965 and waged a 14 year long war against its communist neighbors. This war was ongoing during the American war in Vietnam, and many American soldiers,” viewed the American withdrawal from Vietnam as a betrayal of the United States’ commitment to fight communism.” (Beekman 2015) According to the article,” As Vietnamization took hold and American involvement dwindled, many Vietnam veterans found themselves uncertain about what their future held. The American military was at a cultural low point, and the inflation-based economic woes of the late 1970s presented many vets with an unfavorable employment market.” (Beekman 2015)
This involvement in a foreign conflict without sanction from the United States government was heavily influenced by mercenary culture. One such instance of exploiting this was,” … most notably through ads in the infamous ‘Soldier of Fortune’ magazine.”(Beekman 2015) Similar to the situation with American volunteers in Ukraine in the 2020s,”Many of the foreign nationals who fought for Rhodesia were characterized as mercenaries, but the military required a three-year minimum term of service, and most were paid the same as any other Rhodesian trooper.” As of now, this process seems eerily similar to that of Ukraine; seeing as that they have formed their own units mixed with foreign volunteers entering the,” foreign ‘international' legion for volunteers from abroad.” (Person 2022) The article on American involvement in Rhodesia makes a compelling argument about the place of American volunteers, and argues that by definition the volunteers are not mercenaries. The author does this by claiming, “[The volunteers] also mainly joined existing units like the Rhodesian Light Infantry, Special Air Service, and the Selous Scouts; there wasn’t a foreign ‘volunteer' unit that could be characterized as a mercenary force.”(Beekman 2015) This doesn’t mean there wasn’t legal questions over unofficial American involvement,”while U.S. law did not explicitly prohibit American citizens from fighting in Rhodesia, it was a thorny issue for policymakers.”(Beekman 2015)
With a precedent for American volunteers fighting in foreign conflicts it is safe to say that the United States still recognizes the citizenship of the volunteer soldiers. That being said, the United States officially has not deployed combat troops to Ukraine, and may not ever officially do so, yet as more Americans die on the battlefield the resolve of United States policy makers will be tested. Due to the unofficial nature of prior incidents of American volunteer forces in foreign conflicts the majority of data regarding the matter has been lost or deliberately ignored for the sake of preventing this becoming a trend or to spare the embarrassment of lives lost. This makes predicting the future of American volunteers in Ukraine difficult, as the cleanest examples of such come from the records of the now defunct and destroyed state of Rhodesia. However, with modern technology showcasing the horror of war right on your phone and television it will be harder to hide the toll for American volunteers. As of right now there are dozens if not hundreds of American volunteers in Ukraine that regularly publicize their experiences in the defense of Ukraine through news interviews, social media, or self published books. The information gathered over the next few months to years added to the information we have gathered thus far will seek to paint a more broad and representative picture of our unofficial involvement in foreign conflict, but until the data has been collected and sorted it is hard to present the issue in a complete format.
In conclusion, even though the United States has supported Ukraine officially with military equipment and advisors, the American volunteers in the region are in a precarious position. Their legacy will be made in real time, and the history of our involvement in conflict since the military expansion of Teddy Roosevelt has pushed America’s culture into one of war and influence that shines even in our civilian population. What other nation has had such an impact in preventing global aggression and halting the progress of our enemies? This question can only be answered with the United States of America, and even when our soldiers may not directly answer freedom’s call due to the politics of our leaders, America’s volunteer fighters have picked up freedoms sword and lead their charge into either the halls or the gallows of history.
Sources
Beekman, Christian. “Vets Who Want to Fight ISIS Can Learn Something from Old Fights in the African Bush.” Task & Purpose, 23 Jan. 2015, https://taskandpurpose.com/military-life/vets-want-fight-isis-can-learn-something-old-fights-african-bush/.
“Customs and Border Protection Bulletin: American Fighters Headed to Ukraine Questioned at U.S. Airports.” POLITICO, https://www.politico.com/news/2022/05/24/american-fighters-ukraine-white-supremacists-00034860.
Malet, David. “The Risky Status of Ukraine's Foreign Fighters.” Foreign Policy, 15 Mar. 2022, https://foreignpolicy.com/2022/03/15/ukraine-war-foreign-fighters-legion-volunteers-legal-status/.
Milkis, Sidney, et al. “Theodore Roosevelt: Foreign Affairs.” Miller Center, 18 Feb. 2021, https://millercenter.org/president/roosevelt/foreign-affairs.
“Monroe Doctrine.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 4 Apr. 2023, https://www.britannica.com/event/Monroe-Doctrine.
Person. “Ukraine Establishing Foreign Legion for Volunteers from Abroad - President.” Reuters, Thomson Reuters, 27 Feb. 2022, https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/ukraine-establishing-foreign-legion-volunteers-abroad-president-2022-02-27/.
(This article was written for educational and commentary purposes and will receive no financial compensation for its completion. Any institution, organization, or individual may request its removal on the grounds of privacy or rights at any time by contacting my email)
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