In June 1954 a CIA-backed force invaded Guatemala and toppled President Jacobo Árbenz, who had been elected democratically. The Guatemalan Revolution had begun in 1944 and brought minimum wages, near-universal suffrage and land reform for landless peasants under Árbenz. The United States viewed these changes as communist because Árbenz had legalised the Communist Party, and the United Fruit Company lobbied hard for action after losing profits from reforms. Eisenhower approved the CIA's Operation PBSuccess in 1953, which armed and trained a force of 480 men under Carlos Castillo Armas. The invading force performed poorly militarily, but psychological warfare and fear of a US invasion led the army to refuse to fight. Árbenz resigned, and Castillo Armas then banned opposition parties and reversed the reforms. A civil war followed from 1960 to 1996.

Hampi is a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Karnataka, India, with more than 1,600 surviving remains spread over 4,100 hectares. It was the capital of the Vijayanagara Empire from 1336 to 1565. Travellers from Persia and Portugal described it as a prosperous, wealthy and grand city with temples, markets and farms along the Tungabhadra River. By 1500 it was estimated to be the world's second-largest city after Beijing, and probably India's richest at the time. In 1565 a coalition of Muslim sultanates defeated the Vijayanagara Empire, its capital was conquered and destroyed, and the city was left in ruins. Hampi remains a religious centre, with the active Virupaksha Temple at its heart.