Military history of the United States

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 spirit in American life. The items enumerated here begin with the establishment of the American state in 1776, and either are located within American territorial boundaries 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)
• 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 (1914)
• Invasion of Haiti (1915-1934)
• Occupation of the Dominican Republic (1916–1924)
• Pancho Villa Expedition (1916–1917)
• World War I (1917–1918)
• (Northern Russian Expedition) (Russian Civil War) (1919–1921)
• Shanghai Landing
• Spanish Civil War (1936–1938)
• World War II (1941–1945)
• Cold War (1946–1989)
• Korean War (1950–1953)

• 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)
• Invasion of Grenada (1983)
• Operation El Dorado Canyon (1986)
• Operation Earnest Will (1987-1988)
• 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)

Indian Conflicts, Wars, Battles, Expeditions and Campaigns

See also: Indian Wars

• Sullivan Expedition (1779)
• Northwestern Indian Wars (1790–1795, 1811)
• Battle of Fallen Timbers (1794)
• (1794)
• (1806)
• Tecumseh's War (1811)
  • Battle of Tippecanoe (1811)
• Little Belt Affair (1811)
• Peoria War (1813)
• 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)
• (1850)
• Mariposa War (1850–1851)
• (1851–1852)
• Walker War (1853)
• 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)
• (1857)
• Mendocino War (1858)
• Spokane-Coeur d'Alene-Paloos War (1858)
• (1859)
• (1859)
• (1859)
• Paiute War (1860)
• Kiowa-Comanche War (1860)
• Cheyenne Campaign (1861–1864)
• Sioux War (1862-1863)
• 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)

Ethnic Cleansing and Control

See also: Indian removal

• Trail of Tears (1838–1839)
• Long Walk of the Navajo (1868)
• Lynching epidemic (~1880–~1920)
• 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)
• 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)
• 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)

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, 1974)
• Argentine Military Coup (Argentine, 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)
• Virginius Affair (1873)
• Hatfields and McCoys (1860–1891)
• Fenian Invasion of Canada (1866)
• 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)

Latter-Day Saints

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

Republic of Texas

• Texas Revolution (1835–1836)
• (1841)

See Also

• Militia
• United States Armed Forces
• 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 by Ellen C. Collier, Specialist in U.S. Foreign Policy, Foreign Affairs and National Defense Division
• United States Military Campaigns, Conflicts, Expeditions and Wars Compiled by Larry Van Horn, U.S. Navy Retired
• Basic Statistics for United States Imperialism