Military History of the United States - Definition and Overview

The article is about the military history of the United States. The categories on this (incomplete, in-development) list are somewhat arbitrary: Not all of these events were military, some were not even violent, but together they delineate the reappearance of the martial spirits in the life of the United States. The items enumerated here begin with the establishment of the states in 1776, and either are located within territorial boundaries of the United States or involve the armed forces of the federal government or the militias of the separate states and territories.

Militarized Conflicts

This is a list of militarized conflicts involving the United States, the dates show the years in which U.S. military units (primarily regular, occasionally irregular) participated.

• American Revolutionary War (1776–1783)
• Quasi-War (1798–1801)
• First Barbary War (1801–1805)
• War of 1812 (1812–1815)
• Second Barbary War (1815)
• Mexican-American War (1846–1848)
  • Bear Flag Revolt (1846)
• Nicaragua Naval Battles (1854–1858)
• Utah War (1857–1858)
• American Civil War (1861–1865)
• Occupation of Nicaragua (1867, 1894–1933)
• Shinmiyangyo Battle in Korea (1871)
• Hawaiian Coup (1893)
• Spanish-American War (1898)
• Samoan Civil War (1898–1899)
• Philippine-American War (1899–1913)
• Boxer Rebellion (1900)
• Panamanian Revolution (1903)
• Tampico Affair & Occupation of Veracruz, Mexico (1914)
• Invasion of Haiti (1915-1934)
• Occupation of the Dominican Republic (1916–1924)
• Pancho Villa Expedition (1916–1917)
• World War I (1917–1918)
  • Polar Bear Expedition (Russian Civil War) (1918–1919)
• Spanish Civil War (1936–1938)
• World War II (1941–1945)
• Cold War (1946–1991)
• Korean War (1950–1953)
  

  

  The Vietnam War was one of the longest military conflicts in U.S. history.
• Vietnam War (1964–1975)
• Invasion of Dominican Republic (1965)
• Capture of USS Pueblo (1968)
• Mayagüez Incident (1975)
• Operation Eagle Claw (1980)
• Gulf of Sidra Incidents (1981, 1989)
• Lebanon Peacekeeping (1982–1984)
• Invasion of Grenada (1983)
• Operation El Dorado Canyon (1986)
• Operation Earnest Will (1987–1988)
  • Operation Prime Chance (1987–1988)
  • Operation Praying Mantis (1988)
• Operation Golden Pheasant (1988)
• Invasion of Panama (1989)
• Gulf War (1991)
  • Iraqi No-Fly Zones (1991–2003)
  • Operation Provide Comfort (1991–1996)
• Battle of Mogadishu (1993)
• Operation Uphold Democracy (Haiti) (1994)
• Bosnia and Herzegovina (as member of IFOR and SFOR peacekeeping forces, 1995—)
• Operation Infinite Reach (strikes on Sudan and Afghanistan, 1998)
• Kosovo War (1999)
• War on Terrorism (2001—)
  • Invasion of Afghanistan (2001—)
• Iraq War (2003—)
• Haiti Rebellion (2004)

Native American Conflicts, Wars, Battles, Expeditions and Campaigns

See also: Indian Wars, Native American massacres

• American Revolutionary War (western theater)
  • Wyoming Valley Massacre (1778)
  • Cherry Valley Massacre (1778)
  • Sullivan Expedition (1779)
• Northwest Indian War (1785–1795)
  • Battle of Fallen Timbers (1794)
• Nickajack Expedition (1794)
• Sabine Expedition (1806)
• Tecumseh's War (1811)
  • Battle of Tippecanoe (1811)
• Little Belt Affair (1811)
• War of 1812 (western theater)
• Peoria War (1813)
• Creek War (1813–1814)
  • Battle of Horseshoe Bend (1814)
• Seminole Wars (1817–1818, 1835–1842, 1855–1858)
• Arikara War (1823)
• Fever River War (1827)
• Le Fèvre Indian War (1827)
• Sac and Fox War (1831)
• Black Hawk War (1832)
• Sabine-Southwestern War (1836–1837)
• Osage Indian War (1837)
• Navajo Wars (1849–1861)
• Cayuse War (1848–1855)
• Pitt River Expedition (1850)
• Mariposa War (1850–1851)
• Yuma Expedition (1851–1852)
• Walker War (1853)
• Grattan Massacre (1855)
• Yakima War (1855)
• Snake River War (1855)
• Klickitat War (1855)
• Puget Sound War (1855–1856)
• Rogue River Wars (1855–1856)
• Klamath and Salmon Indian Wars (1855)
• Florida Indian War (1855–1858)
• Tintic War (1856)
• Gila Expedition (1857)
• Mendocino War (1858)
• Spokane-Coeur d'Alene-Paloos War (1858)
• Pecos Expedition (1859)
• Antelope Hills Expedition (1859)
• Bear River Expedition (1859)
• Paiute War (1860)
• Kiowa-Comanche War (1860)
• Cheyenne Campaign (1861–1864)
• Sioux Uprising (1862)
• Cheyenne-Arapaho-Kiowa-Comanche Wars (1863–1869)
  • Sand Creek Massacre (1864)
• Snake War (1864–1868)
• Red Cloud's War (1866–1868)
• Comanche Wars (1867–1875)
• Battle of Washita River (1868)
• Marias Massacre (1870)
• Modoc War (1872–1873)
• Red River War (1874)
• Apache Wars (1873, 1885–1886)
• Black Hills War (1876–1877)
  • Battle of the Little Bighorn (1876)
• Nez Perce War (1877)
• Bannock War (1878)
• Cheyenne War (1878–1879)
• Sheepeater Indian War (1879)
• White River War (1879)
• Ute War (1879-1880)
• Ghost Dance War (1890–1891)
• Wounded Knee Massacre (1890)
• AIM Takeovers (~1969–~1974)

Ethnic Cleansing and Control

• Indian Removal (1830s)
  • Trail of Tears (1838–1839)
• Long Walk of the Navajo (1863–1868)
• WWII-Era Japanese American Internment (1942–1946)

Armed Insurrections and Slave Revolts

See also: Slave rebellion, Tax revolt

• Shays' Rebellion (1786)
• Whiskey Rebellion (1794)
• John Fries' Rebellion (1799)
• Gabriel Prosser's Rebellion (1800)
• Louisiana Territory Slave Rebellion (1811)
• Fort Blount Revolt (1816)
• Denmark Vesey's Uprising (1822)
• Nat Turner's Rebellion (1831)
• Amistad Seizure (1839)
• Anti-Rent War (1839–~1844)
• Creole Incident (1841)
• Dorr Rebellion (1841–1842)
• John Brown's Raid on Federal Armory at Harper's Ferry (1859)

Range Wars

See also: Range war

• Franklin County War (Idaho, 1866–1872)
• Mason County War (Texas, 1874–1877)
• Colfax County War (New Mexico, 1875)
• Lincoln County War (New Mexico, 1877–1878)
• Johnson County War (Wyoming, 1892)
• Pleasant Valley War (Arizona, 1886)
• Sheep Wars (Texas-New Mexico borderlands, ~1879–1900)
• Posey War (Utah, 1923)

Bloodless Boundary Disputes

• Toledo War (1835, Michigan Territory-Ohio)
• Aroostook War (1838–1839, U.S.-Canada)
• Honey War (1839, Iowa Territory-Missouri)
• Fifty-Four Forty or Fight! (1844, U.S.-Canada)
• Pig War (1859, U.S.-Canada)
• Chamizal Dispute (1895–1963, U.S.-Mexico)

Terror, Paramilitary Groups and Guerrilla Warfare

See also: List of terrorist incidents

• Green Mountain Boys (pre-U.S. through Revolution)
• Francis Marion (1780–1782)
• Bleeding Kansas (~1854–~1860)
• Cortina Troubles (1859–1861)
• Kansas Jayhawkers (1861–1863)
• Quantrill's Raiders (1861–1863)
• Ku Klux Klan (1877–present)
• Knights of the White Camelia
• White League (1874–)
  • Coushatta Massacre (1874)
  • Colfax Riot (1874)
• Black Patch Tobacco Wars (1904-1914?)
• Wall Street Bombing (1920)
• Capitol Attack (1954)
• Weather Underground (1969–1976)
• Symbionese Liberation Army (1970s)
• Marine Barracks Bombing (1983)
• U.S. Embassy Bombing (1983)
• World Trade Center Bombing (1993)
• Oklahoma City Bombing (1994)
• U.S. Embassy Bombings (1998)
• USS Cole Bombing (2000)
• 9/11 (2001)

Secession Attempts, etc.

See also: List of extinct states, Unrecognized historic regions of the United States

• Westsylvania (1776)
• Republic of Vermont (1777–1791)
• State of Franklin (~1784–~1790)
• Oconee War (1784)
• Burr Conspiracy (~1804–~1807)
• Republic of West Florida (1810)
• Republic of Indian Stream (1832–1842)
• Patriot War (1837–1838)
• Free City of Tri-Insula (1861)
• Confederate States of America (1861–1865)
• State of Jefferson (1941)
• Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket (1977)
• Conch Republic (1982)

Covert Operations, U.S.-Supported Coups, etc.

• Baltimore Crisis (Chile, 1891)
• Operation Ajax (Iran, 1951–1953)
• Operation PBSUCCESS (Guatemala, 1954)
• Bay of Pigs Invasion (Cuba, 1961)
• Operation Mongoose (Cuba, 1961–1963)
• Brazilian Military Coup (Brazil 1964)
• Secret War (Cambodia-Laos, 1962–1975)
• Chilean Coup (Chile, 1973)
• Argentine Military Coup (Argentina, 1976)
• Operation Condor (Latin America, 1960s–1970s)
• Mujahideen vs. USSR (Afghanistan, 1979–1989)
• Contras (Nicaragua, 1980s)

Miscellaneous

• Yankee-Pennamite Wars (1769–1784)
• Chesapeake Affair (1807)
• Railroad War (1853–1855)
• Hatfields and McCoys (1860–1891)
• Sinking of the General Sherman (1866)
• Fenian Invasion of Canada (1866)
• Brooks-Baxter War (1873)
• Virginius Affair (1873)
• Canal Zone Riots (1964)
• Israeli Attack on USS Liberty (1967)
• Kent State Shootings (1970)
• War on Drugs (~1972—)
• Iran Hostage Crisis (1979–1981)
• Iraqi Attack on USS Stark (1987)
• Vincennes Incident (1988)
• USBATF Raid on Branch Davidians (1993)

Latter-Day Saints

• Mormon War (1838)
• Mountain Meadows Massacre (1857)

Republic of Texas

• Texas Revolution (1835–1836)
• Texas Santa Fe Expedition (1841)

See Also

• Militia
• World War
• United States Armed Forces
• Awards and decorations of the United States military
• Department of Defense
• United States casualties of war
• List of riots
• List of strikes
• List of massacres
• List of military and non-military operations and projects
• List of U.S. foreign interventions since 1945

External links

• Instances of Use of United States Forces Abroad, 1798-1993 (http://www.history.navy.mil/wars/foabroad.htm) by Ellen C. Collier, Specialist in U.S. Foreign Policy, Foreign Affairs and National Defense Division
• United States Military Campaigns, Conflicts, Expeditions and Wars (http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~vanhornfamily/military.htm) Compiled by Larry Van Horn, U.S. Navy Retired
• Basic Statistics for United States Imperialism (http://www.whatreallyhappened.com/usinterventionism.html)