8. The Falklands War
What Was It? The Falklands War lasted from early April to the middle of June 1982 and was one of the early landmarks of Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher's reign. The conflict arose after the Argentine leadership, under the military junta of General Galteri decided to invade the Falkland Islands in order to attempt to unite the nation under the flag of patriotism and distract them from the crippling economic predicament that the government found itself in. The Falklands, owned by Britain were soon invaded in an event that shocked most of the world as it had little to do with Cold War politics. This invasion was soon seen to be ill thought out however, as the British hit back and and soon restored peace to the Islands and a massive loss of face to Galteri's junta. Why Would COD Never Happen Here? While the Falklands War was seen as a big deal as far as the political career of Margaret Thatcher as well as being the death knell for the Galteri junta, there is little doubt that its effect on international politics was relatively minimal. In a time where almost all the conflicts of the world had some sort of Cold War ramification ( see the Suez Crisis above ) the Falklands was unique in just how local the conflict remained. Furthermore, much of the war was fought in sea and air combat, and the land invasion only took place over a few days. And the Americans did not participate, of course...
7. Bosnian War
What Was It? The Bosnian War was arguably the most covered war in the 1990's for most of the Western World. It took place between 1992 and 1995 in the former nation of Yugoslavia, which had been broken up into several nation states based around their various racial groups. This soon was broken by territorial disputes- particularly in areas that were ostentatiously Bosnian but the Croatian and Serbian governments believed they had a better claim to. Fighting was fierce and brutal, with the Serbian forces enacting what would be known as the chilling policy of 'ethnic cleansing' on whole villagers of Bosnians near the borders. Hindreds of thousands died, many of them civilians from the constant shelling that occurred. Why Would COD Never Happen Here? One could argue that there is no subject area that a video game should be afraid to touch, but the Bosnian War is a particularly grim one. Civilians and military casualties were not discriminated against and the ramifications have scarred the Balkan states up to the present day. If there was a war without a winner, this would probably be it.