The Battle of Mogadishu

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THE BATTLE OF MOGADISHU

Introduction

This case study is on the battle of Mogadishu. This battle took place on October 3rd and 4th of 1993 in the country of Somalia which is located in Africa. This battle changed the foreign policy of the United States. The battle cost the Americans 18 lives, and 77 wounded. Estimates are that it cost the Somalis about 500 lives and wounded 1000.1 This battle was fought with some of Americas most highly trained and lethal warriors. The main effort of the battle was led by Rangers from the 75th Ranger Regiment and Special Operations Forces Detachment- Delta. It started out as a peace keeping mission and escalated into a mission to capture a Somali warlord. It ultimately ended up being a mission to rescue cut off troops in one of the fiercest fire fights that U.S. Special Forces had ever been in.

History

Somalia is a country that has been fought over since the 1800’s when it was used as an important coal refueling station for ships. England, France, and Italy claimed part of the country for themselves. In 1960 the British and Italian colonies merged creating what is known today as Somalia. In 1977 the French colony became what is known today as Djibouti.2 Mohamed Siad Barre seized power to become the president and soon sided with communist Russia during the Cold War era. Siad was more of a brutal Marxist dictator than a president emphasizing nationalism as opposed to clan loyalty which goes against Somalia’s culture. He is over run by his own people returning the country to a clan-based culture. The aftermath of this results in a civil war between clans in 1988. After Siads withdrawal, he becomes a clan leader of one of many clans in the country.3 Soon after the revolution, the coali...

... middle of paper ...

...this battle. If not for the high degree of professionalism, there clearly would have been many more casualties. This would also have been much worse if not for the air support and thousands of hours of training conducted by the soldiers.

Bibliography

Bowden, Mark. Blackhawk Down. New York: Atlantic Monthly Press, 1999.

Eversmann, Matt and Schilling, Dan, ed. The Battle Of Mogadishu: Firsthand Accounts From The Men Of Task Force Ranger. New York: Ballantine

Books, 2004.

“History Of Somalia.” http://www.historyworld.net/wrldhis/PlainTextHistories.

asp?historyid=ad20.

Snyder, R. “Operation Restore Hope/Battle Of Mogadishu.” 2001.

http://novaonline.nvcc.edu/eli/evans/his135/Events/Somalia93/Somalia93.

html#background.

Steed, Brian. Armed Conflict: The Lessons Of Modern Warfare. New York:

Ballantine Books, 2002.

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