TIMELINE - US Wars and Conflicts

Terms in this set (13)

American Revolutionary War

1775-1783
The American Revolutionary War, also known as the American War of Independence, was a war between the Kingdom of Great Britain and the thirteen "United Colonies" which expelled royal officials in 1775, set up the Second Continental Congress, formed an army, and declared their independence as a new nation, the United States of America in 1776. The war was the culmination of the political American Revolution, whereby the colonists overthrew British rule. By 1778 major European powers had joined against Britain.

U.S. Casualties: 4435 deaths, 6188 wounded [Sources: Defense Department, Center for Defense Information, military historian Al Nofi]

The First Barbary War (also known as the Barbary Coast War or the Tripolitan War)

(1801 to 1805)
was the first of two wars fought between the United States of America and the North African states known collectively as the Barbary States. These were the independent Sultanate of Morocco, and the three Regencies of Algiers, Tunis, and Tripoli, which were quasi-independent entities nominally belonging to the Ottoman Empire.

U.S. Casualties: 2 deaths, 3 wounded in action

US and British Interests Collide -- Setting up War of 1812: President James Madison asked the United States Congress to declare war on the British Empire. In his war message, Madison took principal aim at Britain's complete disregard of US sovereignty on the high seas:

British cruisers have been in the continued practice of violating the American flag on the great highway of nations, and of seizing and carrying off persons sailing under it, not in the exercise of a belligerent right founded on the law of nations against an enemy, but of a municipal prerogative over British subjects.

U.S. Casualties: 20,000 deaths, 4505 wounded in action

Mexican-American War

1846-1848

The Mexican-American War, also usually known in the United States as The Mexican War and in Mexico as la intervención norteamericana (the North American Intervention) or la guerra del 47 (the War of '47), was a military conflict fought between the United States and Mexico from 1846 to 1848, in the wake of the 1845 U.S. annexation of Texas. Mexico had not recognized the secession of Texas in 1836 and announced its intention to take back what it considered a rebel province.

U.S. Casualties: 13,271 deaths, 4152 wounded in action

American Civil War

04/12/1861 - 04/09/1865

The American Civil War was a major war between the United States (the "Union") and eleven Southern slave states that declared their secession and formed the Confederate States of America, led by President Jefferson Davis. The Union, led by President Abraham Lincoln and the Republican Party, opposed the expansion of slavery and rejected any right of secession.
Result: Union victory; Reconstruction; Slavery abolished

Casualties: (Union) 110,000 deaths, 275,200 wounded in action; (Confederacy) 93,000 death, 137,000+ wounded in action

Spanish-American War

04/25/-08/12/1898

The Spanish-American War was a conflict between the Kingdom of Spain and the United States of America that took place from April to August 1898. The war ended in victory for the United States and the end of the Spanish Empire in the Caribbean and Pacific. Only 113 days after the outbreak of war, the Treaty of Paris, which ended the conflict, gave the United States control over the former Spanish colonies of Puerto Rico, the Philippines and Guam, and control over the process of independence of Cuba, which was completed in 1902.

U.S. Casualties: 332 combat deaths

08/1914 - 11/11/1918

World War I, also known as the First World War, and (before 1939) the Great War, was a world conflict lasting from August 1914 to the final Armistice on November 11, 1918. The Allied Powers, led by France, the Russian Empire, the British Empire, and later, Italy and the United States, defeated the Central Powers: Austria-Hungary, the German Empire, Bulgaria and the Ottoman Empire.

U.S. Casualties: 53,402 deaths, 204,002 wounded in action [Sources: Defense Department, Center for Defense Information, military historian Al Nofi]

12/08/1941-08/14/1945

World War II, or the Second World War, was a worldwide conflict fought between the Allied Powers and the Axis Powers, from 1939 until 1945. Armed forces from over seventy nations engaged in aerial, naval, and ground-based combat. Spanning much of the globe, World War II resulted in the deaths of over sixty million people, making it the deadliest conflict in human history. Total includes the estimated 9 million lives lost in the Holocaust. The war ended with an Allied victory.

U.S. Casualties: 407,300 deaths, 670,846 wounded in action [source]

06/25/1950-07/27/1953

The Korean War, occurring a civil war between the states of North Korea and South Korea that were created out of the post-World War II Soviet and American occupation zones in Korea, with large-scale participation by other countries.

U.S. Casualties: 54,246 deaths, 8142 missing in action

1959-04/30/1975

U.S. military advisors first became involved in Vietnam as early as 1950, when they began to assist French colonial forces. In 1956, these advisors assumed full responsibility for training the Army of the Republic of Vietnam or ARVN. Large numbers of American combat troops began to arrive in 1965.

U.S. Casualties: 58,193 deaths, 153,303 wounded in action, 1948 missing in action [source]

08/02/1990-02/28/1991

The 1991 Gulf War was a conflict between Iraq and a coalition force of approximately 30 nations. The Gulf War led by the United States and mandated by the United Nations in order to liberate Kuwait.

U.S. Casualties: 378 deaths, less than 1000 wounded in action

03/20/2003-12/15/2011

The Iraq War is an ongoing conflict in the Middle Eastern country of Iraq, which began with the 2003 invasion of Iraq. The U.S.-led coalition overthrew Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein and occupied Iraq in an attempt to establish a new governmental regime.

U.S. Casualties: 4,404 deaths; 31,827 wounded in action [source]

10/07/2001 - PResent

The wake of the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States, marking the beginning of its War on Terrorism campaign, seeking to oust the Taliban and find al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden. The officially-stated purpose of the invasion was to destroy al-Qaeda and deny them sanctuary and freedom of movement within Afghanistan.

U.S. Casualties: 1098 deaths, 2379 wounded in action [source]

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