Lists of wars involving the United States

Further information: Colonial American military history and Military history of the United States

This is an index of lists detailing military conflicts involving the United States, organized by time period. Although the United States has formally declared war only five times and these declarations cover a total of 11 separate instances against specific nations, there are currently 191 non-colonial military conflicts included in these lists, seven of which are ongoing. Between all six lists, there are currently 228 military conflicts.^[1]

Situation Room, the operations center at the White House with advanced communications equipment for the president to maintain command and control of U.S. forces around the world.

Formal declarations of war include the War of 1812 (United Kingdom), the Mexican–American War (Mexico), the Spanish–American War (Spain), World War I (Germany and Austria-Hungary) and World War II (Japan, Germany, Italy, Bulgaria, Hungary and Romania).^[2]

Since World War II, the U.S. has engaged in numerous military operations authorized by Congress or initiated by the executive branch without formal declarations of war; notable examples include the Cold War (the Korean War, the Vietnam War, and the Gulf War) and the war on terror (the war in Afghanistan, the Iraq War, the second Iraq War, and the Syria War).

As of the current date, the United States is involved in 7 publicly known military engagements across 5 different wars. Wars with direct U.S. involvement include war on terror (Somalia, Syria and Yemen) and the war on drugs (U.S. military campaign). Wars with indirect U.S. involvement include the Russo-Ukrainian War (U.S. involvement), the Gaza War (U.S. involvement), and the Israel–Hezbollah conflict.^{[Note 1]}

The emblems of the eight U.S. uniformed services

Lists

1609–1700		List of 17th-century wars involving the Thirteen Colonies	Thirteen Colonies of British America before U.S. Independence
1701–1774		List of 18th-century wars involving the Thirteen Colonies
1775–1800		List of wars involving the United States in the 18th century	United States   Countries the United States have fought in, attacked or declared war based on locations on the lists   Ongoing wars directly involving the United States
1801–1900		List of wars involving the United States in the 19th century
1901–2000		List of wars involving the United States in the 20th century
2001–present		List of wars involving the United States in the 21st century

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  The White House, the seat of the president of the United States in Washington, D.C.. The president is the commander-in-chief of the U.S. Armed Forces.
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  The United States Department of Defense headquarters at the Pentagon in Washington, D.C. USDOD coordinating and supervising the six U.S. armed services: the Army, Navy, Marines, Air Force, Space Force, and the Coast Guard.
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  Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) headquarters at the George Bush Center for Intelligence in Langley, Virginia. CIA collecting and analyzing intelligence from around the world and conducting covert operations.
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  North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) headquarters in Brussels, Belgium. The United States is the leading power in the world's most powerful military alliance.

Notes

Criteria for inclusion on these lists
1. Under Article I, Section 8 of the U.S. Constitution, Congress holds the exclusive power to declare war. The United States has only officially declared war five times in the War of 1812, the Mexican–American War, the Spanish–American War, World War I, and World War II. These declarations cover a total of 11 separate instances against specific nations.[3][4] This would exclude American Civil War, the Vietnam War or the War in Afghanistan, in addition to many other conflicts out of these lists. To display a wider sense of the scope of U.S. involvement in "wars", these lists focus on any military conflicts involving the United States military regardless of size.
2. There are several related articles that cover other forms of violence, such as Attacks on the United States, List of rebellions in the United States, List of massacres in the United States, and list of Family feuds in the United States. List of conflicts in the United States covers any type of violent action in the U.S., ranging from isolated homicide, to wars that would meet the criteria for inclusion in this article series.
3. These lists do not focus on small-scale rebellions, single terror attacks, riots, assassinations, labor wars, state wars, feuds, range wars, or gang wars, as much as military conflicts involving the United States military (U.S. Army, U.S. Navy, U.S. Marine Corps, U.S. Airforce, U.S. Coast Guard (when acting in a military capacity), U.S. Space Force, the United States Intelligence Agencies (when acting in a military capacity; for instance, the Special Activities Center), the United States Public Health Service Commissioned Corps, NOAA Commissioned Officer Corps, Merchant Marines, and U.S. private military companies.
4. These lists may include operations against piracy, if it involves the United States military, but generally should cover a whole operation and not a single action or battle, unless that particular operation was wide but only consisted of one major battle. For example, Operation Ocean Shield included several conflicts such as the Dai Hong Dan incident and the Maersk Alabama hijacking. Operation Ocean Shield can be included, because it is part of a wider conflict, but the Dai Hong Dan incident and the Maersk Alabama hijacking would not. Similarly, the Aegean Sea anti-piracy operations of the United States had several battles, but only one more thoroughly reported (Battle of Doro Passage). These operations would be included, but not the Battle of Doro Passage. An exception to the rule of single battles is if a conflict is a punitive action or hostage rescue mission and marks a single operation that only involved one battle, such as the Battle of Ty-ho Bay.
5. List of 17th-century wars involving the Thirteen Colonies and List of 18th-century wars involving the Thirteen Colonies both serve as a historical prequel, in that they focus on the colonies and territories that would later make up the United States. As such, the criteria will be similar and different in several respects.[Note 2]
6. These lists do not include conflicts where the United States was involved only in providing military aid (weapons, ammunition, vehicles and other equipment), humanitarian aid, financial assistance or diplomatic support to other parties (e.g., Bangladesh Liberation War, Calderonista invasion of Costa Rica, Haitian conflict, Nepalese Civil War, or Western Sahara War).
7. These lists may include operations involving capturing of military or merchant vessels and/or military personal either from the United States to another nation or enemy Non-state actor; or from another nation or Non-state actor to the United States. For example the 2016 U.S.–Iran naval incident and the takeover of the MV Morning Glory By Navy Seals, are incidents that may be included on these lists. However, similar to criteria 4 if this incident is part of a wider conflict and not a stand alone incident it should not be included. For example, the United States seizure of the oil tanker Skipper should not be included as it was a part of the 2025 United States naval deployment in the Caribbean and its related strikes on vessels, and the capture of the USS Pueblo (AGER-2) by North Korea should not be included, because it is a part of the Korean DMZ Conflict.

Examples for criteria that are not included
Assassinations or assassination attempts: Assassination of John F. Kennedy or the Attempted assassination of Donald Trump in Pennsylvania.
Coup d'état or coup attempts: The Business plot or the Newburgh Conspiracy.
Cyber Wars: Operation Olympic Games or Operation Ababil.[Note 3]
Evacuations from an active war zone: Operation Silver Wake, Operation Eastern Exit or Operation Shining Express.[Note 4]
Feuds: The Hatfield's and McCoy feud or the Earp Vendetta Ride.
Filibuster Wars: The Texas Revolution, actions of the Ever Victorious Army, most of the William Walker Wars.[Note 5]
Gang Wars: The Dead Rabbits riot or the Castellammarese War.
Humanitarian military operations: Operation Unified Response, Operation Tomodachi or Operation Sahayogi Haat.
Isolated terrorist attacks: The Black Tom Bombing or the Beirut barracks bombings.[Note 6]
Labor Wars: The Great Railroad Strike or the Coal Wars.[Note 7]
UN Peacekeeping Missions and Non-UN Peacekeeping Missions: The International Force East Timor, the Kosovo Force or the Multinational Force and Observers.[Note 8]
U.S. military exercises and NATO exercises: Ulchi-Freedom Guardian, Operation Saber Strike or Steadfast Defender.
Posses: Ned Christie's War or the Willie Boy Manhhunt.[Note 9]
Range Wars: The Johnson County War or the Castaic Range War.
Rebellions: The Whiskey Rebellion or the Ruby Ridge Siege, as well as Slave rebellions.[Note 10]
Riots: The L.A. Riots or the Battle of Liberty Place.[Note 11]
Shows of force/ Gunboat diplomacy: The Panama crisis of 1885, Operation Brother Sam, and the 2011–2012 Strait of Hormuz dispute.[Note 12]
State or local wars: The Toledo War or the Battle of Athens.
Trade Wars: China–United States trade war or United States trade war with Canada and Mexico.

1. The United States provides military support, training, or shares intelligence with one or more parties in a conflict without directly engaging in combat with its own troops.
2. Please go to the colonial wars lists for more specifics about the criteria for those lists.
3. A form of military conflicts that takes place in cyberspace with cyber weapons.
4. If it is demonstrated that an evacuation which is isolated from any other conflict, became a fighting withdrawal whereby U.S. forces came under fire and/or fired at an enemy while retreating then this may be considered a military conflict. A loose example of this would be Operation Libelle, however this operation itself would not be included as it did not involve the U.S. military.
5. This criterion is for wars involving American filibusters alone, not wars where the United States military fought with filibusters such as the Patriot War (Florida) and the Patriot War (Canada–United States border). This criterion is also not for the United States military capturing territory from American filibusters such as the U.S. capture of the Florida Parishes from the Republic of West Florida or the Amelia Island Affair.
6. Some terrorist attacks, such as 9/11 or the 2021 Kabul airport attack, may be considered as a part of a wider military such as the War in Afghanistan or Operation Inherent Resolve, but should not be included as conflicts among these articles.
7. These conflicts may be considered a type of rebellion, even if the United States military were involved.
8. If a peacekeeping mission turns into a conflict, it can be added to the lists.
9. If it can be demonstrated that the U.S. military participated in a posse conflict and if it is sizable enough to be considered a war, then this criterion does not apply.
10. The Civil War and Bleeding Kansas taken together were wider conflicts than the average rebellion. As such, editors mark these as exceptions to the general no-rebellion policy. In addition, all territorial rebellions such as the Philippine–American War, Moro War, Mormon Wars or the Puerto Rican Nationalist Party insurgency are exceptions as well.
11. Even if the United States military were involved for riot control.
12. If a show of force turns is or turned into a shooting action then it may be included on these lists. For example, the 2025 United States naval deployment in the Caribbean.