why is was the cold war called proxy war by the historians

‘There is much to recommend this volume… This book’s lasting contribution may be its reminder that breaking things is easier than fixing them.

In doing so, Understanding the New Proxy Wars helps reveal both the continuities and the differences between recent conflicts and those of times past. The volume draws upon research, surveys and interviews conducted in Syria, Iraq, Libya and Ukraine, as well as examining the propaganda output of those involved in these countries’ wars. In this collected volume, a range of researchers examine what constitutes proxy warfare and provide new insight into how these wars are waged, in contexts stretching from Ukraine to North Africa and Syria to Afghanistan. In reality, in the Greater Middle East and its periphery today, the growing power of regional states and non-state actors, combined with the proliferation of new technology, has reshaped proxy conflicts, in an increasingly multipolar and interconnected environment. Yet the popular understanding of proxy wars remains largely shaped by the experience of the Cold War.

Proxy warfare will shape the conflicts of the twenty-first century for the foreseeable future.

Why is was the cold war called proxy war by the historians