List of wars involving 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 5 times and these declarations cover a total of 11 separate instances against specific nations, there are currently 133 military conflicts included in these lists, 5 of which are ongoing.

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

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 (Korean War and Vietnam War) and War on terror (the War in Afghanistan and the Iraq War).

Five military engagements, encompassing four wars, all of which are interventions, currently involve the US: the Yemeni Civil War, the Somali Civil War, the Syrian Civil War, and the Gaza War.

Criteria for inclusion on these lists

The emblems of the eight U.S. uniformed services

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 5 times in the War of 1812, the Mexican–American War, the Spanish–American War, WWI, and WWII. These declarations cover a total of 11 separate instances against specific nations.^[1]^[2]This would exclude the Vietnam, Korean, Afghanistan, the American Indian Wars, Banana Wars, Civil War, and Iraq war in addition to many other smaller conflicts out of these lists. To display a wider sense of the scope of U.S. involvement in "wars" this list will focus on any military conflicts involving the United States Military regardless of size.
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. Another related page, 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. These lists are useful, but are generally separate from the criteria to be focused on in these articles.
Broadly speaking 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 (PMCs).
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.
For the (List of wars involving the 13 Colonies and the Illinois and Ohio Countries), while this list is related to the wars involving the United States, it serves as a historical prequel in that it focuses 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. Please visit that list for specifics on that criteria.

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 attempts: The Business plot or the Newburgh Conspiracy.

Cyber Wars: A form of military conflicts that takes place in cyberspace with cyber weapons. The Operation Olympic Games or the Operation Ababil.

Feuds: The Hatfield's and McCoy feud or the Earp Vendetta Ride.

Filibuster Wars: The Texas Revolution, actions of the Ever Victorious Army, the William Walker Wars, or the Fenian raids. (Note: This criteria 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 criteria 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.)

Gang Wars: The Dead Rabbits riot, or the Castellammarese War.

Isolated terrorist attacks: The Black Tom Bombing of 1916 or the 1983 Beirut barracks bombings. 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.

Labor Wars: The Great Railroad Strike or the Coal Wars. These conflicts may be considered a type of rebellion, even if the United States military were involved.

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. Exceptions: 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.

Riots: The L.A. Riots (this riot included military, but is isolated to a riot) or the Battle of Liberty Place.

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.

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.
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, the Coast Guard.
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.
North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) headquarters in Brussels, Belgium. The United States is the leading power in the world's most powerful military alliance.

List of wars involving the United States

Lists

1609–1774

1775–1900

1901–2000

2001–present

Background and Criteria

Criteria for inclusion on these lists

Examples for criteria that are not included

See also

References

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