American Military History Timeline

American Military History Timeline

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A list of the wars and conflicts of American history. To access specific American wars or conflicts, click on the blue links. These American wars are listed in chronological order, beginning with the earliest conflicts.

Washington Crossing the Delaware in the Revolutionary War, December, 1776

Wars of The Early Republic

Primary Name of Conflict	Dates of Conflict (U.S. Involvement Only)	Type of Conflict	Primary Opponent(s) of the United States
The American Revolution	1775-1783	Inter-State and Colonial War	Great Britain
The Indian Wars *Note: See Timeline of American Colonial Indian Wars for wars during the Colonial period.	1775-1890	Wars of Imperialism	Native (Indian) Tribes and Nations of North America
Shay's Rebellion	1786-1787	Rebellion	Anti-(state)Government Rebels vs. Massachusetts
The Whiskey Rebellion	1794	Rebellion	Anti-Tax Rebels in Western Pennsylvania
Quasi-War With France	1798-1800	Inter-State (Naval) War	France
Fries's Rebellion "The Hot Water War"	1799	Rebellion	Anti-Tax Rebels in Pennsylvania
The Barbary Wars	1800-1815	Inter-State War	The Barbary States (Tripoli, Algiers & Morocco)
The War of 1812	1812-1815	Inter-State War	Great Britain

Wars of The Growing & Troubled Republic

Primary Name of Conflict	Dates of Conflict (U.S. Involvement Only)	Type of Conflict	Primary Opponent(s) of the United States
Mexican-American War	1846-1848	Inter-State War	Mexico
U.S. Slave Rebellions	1800-1865	Slave Rebellions	Various Slave groups
"Bleeding Kansas"	1855-1860	Civil War (state of Kansas)	Pro-Slavery vs. Anti-Slavery Kansans
Brown's Raid on Harper's Ferry	1859	Rebellion	Anti-Slavery Rebels (Led by John Brown)
United States Civil War	1861-1865	Civil War	United States (The North) vs. The Confederate States (The South)

Wars of The Imperial Republic

Primary Name of Conflict	Dates of Conflict (U.S. Involvement Only)	Type of Conflict	Primary Opponent(s) of the United States

U.S. Intervention in Hawaiian Revolution	1893	Internal Rebellion & Foreign Intervention	Hawaiian Government
The Spanish-American War	1898	Inter-State War	Spain
U.S. Intervention in Samoan Civil War	1898-1899	Civil War & Foreign Intervention	Samoan Faction
U.S.-Philippine War	1899-1902	Colonial War, War of Imperialism	The Philippines


Boxer Rebellion	1900	Internal Rebellion & Foreign Intervention	Chinese Government & "Boxer" Rebels
The Moro Wars	1901-1913	Colonial Wars	Philippine Muslim Rebels
U.S. Intervention in Panamanian Revolution	1903	Secessionist Revolution & Foreign Intervention	Colombia
The Banana Wars	1909-1933	Civil Wars & Foreign Intervention	Various Rebel Groups In Central America

"To Make The World Safe For Democracy"

Wars of The Global Republic

Primary Name of Conflict	Dates of Conflict (U.S. Involvement Only)	Type of Conflict	Primary Opponent(s) of the United States
U.S. Occupation of Vera Cruz	1914	Inter-State War	Mexico
Pershing's Raid Into Mexico	1916-1917	Inter-State, Border War	Mexican Government & Mexican Rebels ("Bandits")
World War I	1917-1918 (American involvement only)	Inter-State War	Germany
Allied Intervention in Russian Civil War	1919-1921	Civil War & Foreign Intervention	Russian Bolshevik (Soviet) Government
World War II	1941-1945 (American involvement only)	Inter-State War	Germany, Japan & Italy
The Cold War	1945-1991	Global Inter-State Cold War	The Soviet Union & Communist China
The Korean War	1950-1953	Inter-State War	North Korea & China
The Second Indochina War "Vietnam War"	1956-1975	Civil War, Inter-State War	North Vietnam & South Vietnamese "Viet Cong" Rebels
U.S. Intervention in Lebanon	1958	Civil War & Foreign Intervention	No real foe for U.S. Troops landed to support Lebanon Gov.
Dominican Intervention	1965	Civil War & Foreign Intervention	Rebels in the Dominican Republic
The Mayaguez Rescue Operation News Story	1975 (May 15)	Hostage Rescue & Inter-State Conflict	Khmer Rouge Guerrillas (the new government of Cambodia)
Iranian Hostage Crisis and Rescue Attempt-- "Desert One" or "Operation Eagle Claw"	1980 (April 25)	Hostage Rescue & Inter-State Conflict	Iran
U.S. Libya Conflict	1981, 1986	Inter-State War	Libya
U.S. Intervention in Lebanon "Bombing of the Marine Barracks"	1982-1984	Civil War,Foreign Intervention & Inter-State War	Syria & Various Muslim and Leftist Lebanese Militias

U.S. Invasion of Grenada	1983	Inter-State War	Marxist Grenadian Faction & Cuba
The Tanker War "Operation Earnest Will"	1987-1988	Inter-State War	Iran
U.S. Invasion of Panama	1989	Inter-State War	Panama
Second Persian Gulf War "Operation Desert Storm"	1991	Inter-State War	Iraq
"No-Fly Zone" War	1991-2003	Inter-State War	Iraq
U.S. Intervention in Somalia	1992-1994	Civil War & Foreign Intervention	Various Somali Militias
NATO Intervention in Bosnia (Operation Deliberate Force) Summary	1994-1995	Civil War,Foreign Intervention & Inter-State War	Bosnian Serb Rebels
U.S. Occupation of Haiti	1994	Foreign Intervention	Haitian Government
U.S. Embassy bombings and strikes on Afghanistan and Sudan (The bin Laden War)	August, 1998	Terrorist Conflict	The embassy bombings in August, 1998 by Osama bin Laden caused hundreds of deaths in Kenya and Tanzania. The U.S. retaliated by launching Tomahawk Cruise Missiles at suspected terrorist targets in Afghanistan and Sudan.
"Desert Fox" Campaign (part of U.S./Iraq Conflict)	December, 1998	Inter-State War	Iraq
Kosovo War Kosovo Links	1999	Civil War, Foreign Intervention & Inter-State War	Yugoslavia/Serbia

Attack on the USS Cole	October 12, 2000	Terrorist Conflict	Terrorists associated with Osama bin Laden

Attack on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon	September 11, 2001	Terrorist Conflict	Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida organization
Afghanistan War (Operation Enduring Freedom)	October 7, 2001-2021	War against Terrorism	The Taliban and Osama bin Laden's Al-Qaida organization
Third Persian Gulf War "Operation Iraqi Freedom"	March 19, 2003-December 31, 2011	Inter-State War	Iraq
Intervention in Haiti (UN Peacekeeping Mission)	March, 2004	Foreign Intervention in a civil conflict	Haiti
Intervention in Somali Civil War (aiding Ethiopia and the Transitional Government of Somalia during the Ethiopian intervention in the Somali Civil War) See also:U.S. Operations Against al-Qaida in Somalia (2006-Present)	Dec., 2006-2009	Foreign Intervention in a civil conflict	The Islamic Courts Union and Al-Qaida
Libyan War	March, 2011-Oct. 31, 2011	Foreign Intervention in a civil conflict	Libyan leader Muamar Gadhafi
Hunt for Joseph Kony (LRA War)	December, 2011-2017	Foreign Intervention in a civil conflict	Joseph Kony and the LRA guerrilla army
ISIS War	August, 2014-Ongoing	Foreign Intervention in a civil conflict	Islamic State Jihadist forces in Iraq, Syria, Yemen, Libya
U.S. Missile Strike on Syria	April 7, 2017	Foreign Intervention in a civil conflict	Syria
Persian Gulf Crisis (2019-2020)	December, 2019-Present	Inter-State Conflict/Foreign Intervention in a civil conflict	The U.S. engaged in clashes with Iran and with Iranian-backed Shiite Iraqi militias in late 2019 and 2020

SOURCES:

1. Kohn, George C. Dictionary of Wars. New York: Facts On File Publications. 1986.
2. Marley, David F. Wars of the Americas: A Chronology of Armed Conflict in the New World, 1492 to the Present. Santa Barbara, California: ABC-CLIO, 1998.

3. Wars and Conflicts of the U.S. Navy--Part of the United States Navy website.

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