The Banana Wars E75 Sandino's War: The Long Fight for Nicaragua
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Show Notes
This episode highlights the peak of U.S. military intervention in Nicaragua, where the Marine Corps carried the burden of stabilizing a nation caught in continuous civil war and political breakdown. Initially sent to disarm warring factions and oversee fair elections, Marines were soon thrust into full-scale counterinsurgency against Sandino's growing rebel force.
Political divisions in Washington, exhaustion among American troops, and the unreliability of Nicaraguan government forces complicated the mission. By the early 1930s, U.S. leaders began shifting responsibility to the Nicaraguan National Guard. The last Marines left in 1933, ending a two-decade-long intervention.
Though the effort failed to deliver lasting peace, it solidified the Marine Corps' identity as a rapid-response force and shaped its doctrine on small wars and irregular combat. Lessons that would carry forward into the next generation of global conflict.
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