Military history of the United Kingdom

The military history of the United Kingdom covers the period from the creation of the united Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707,^[1] with the political union of England and Scotland, to the present day.

From the 18th century, with the expansion of the British Empire and the country's industrial strength, Britain's military force became one of the largest and most powerful in the world, particularly its navy, with advanced technology and bases across the world. It declined during the 20th century in the wake of two world wars, decolonisation and the rise of the United States and the USSR as the new superpowers. Britain has been involved in a great many armed conflicts since the union in 1707, the majority alongside allies, on all continents except for Antarctica. Today it still remains a major power with frequent military interventions across the globe since the end of the Cold War in 1990.

The British Armed Forces encompass the Royal Navy, the British Army, and the Royal Air Force.

18th century

• War of the Spanish Succession (1702–1713) - England and Scotland, later Great Britain, Germany, Portugal and Holland, were allied against France and Spain
  • Queen Anne's War (1702–1713)
• Jacobite Rebellions 1715-16; 1719; 1745–46) - Civil War
  • Clifton Moor Skirmish, near Penrith (1745) - last land battle in England
  • Battle of Culloden (1746) - last land battle in Great Britain
• War of the Quadruple Alliance (1718–1720) - Great Britain, France, Austria and Holland v Italy and Spain
• War of Jenkins' Ear (1739–1742) - Great Britain v Spain
• War of the Austrian Succession (1742–1748) - Great Britain, Austria and Holland v France and Germany
  • King George's War (1744–1748)
• Seven Years' War (1756–1763) - the first "world war"
  • French and Indian War (1754–1763) - Great Britain and Germany v Austria, France, Russia, Sweden, and Spain
  • Anglo-Cherokee War (1759–1763) - Britain v Cherokee nation
• Pontiac's Rebellion (1763–1766) - Britain v American Indian coalition
• First Anglo-Mysore War (1766–1769) - Britain v Kingdom of Mysore
• American War of Independence (1775–1783) - Britain v North American colonists, France & Spain
• First Anglo-Maratha War (1775–1782) - Britain v Maratha Empire
• Fourth Anglo-Dutch War (1780–1784) - Britain v Holland
• Second Anglo-Mysore War (1780–1784) - India
• Third Anglo-Mysore War (1789–1792) - India
• Australian frontier wars (1788-1930s) - Britain v Australian Aborigines
• French Revolutionary Wars (1793–1802) - Great Britain, Austria, Spain, Russia and Germany v France
  • War of the First Coalition (1793–1797)
  • War of the Second Coalition (1798–1801)
• Fourth Anglo-Mysore War (1798–1799) - India
• Irish Rebellion - Britain v United Irishmen and France

19th century

• Australian frontier wars (1788-1930s)
• French Revolutionary Wars (1793–1802) - Great Britain, Austria, Spain, Russia, Germany v France
  • War of the First Coalition (1793–1797)
  • War of the Second Coalition (1798–1801)
• Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815) - United Kingdom, Prussia, Austria, Sweden, Spain, Portugal and Russia v France
  • South American War (1806–1807)
  • Anglo-Turkish War (1807–1809)
  • Anglo-Russian War (1807–1812)
  • Gunboat War (1807–1814)
  • Peninsular War (1808–1814)
  • Hundred Days (1815)
• First Kandian War (1803–1804) - Sri Lanka
• Second Anglo-Maratha War (1803–1805) - India
• Vellore Mutiny (1806) - India
• Anglo-Dutch Java War (1810–1811)
• War of 1812 (1812–1815)
• Anglo-Nepalese War (1814–1816)
• Second Kandian War (1815) - Sri Lanka
• Third Anglo-Maratha War (1817–1818) - India
• First Anglo-Burmese War (1824–1826)
• Upper Canada Rebellion (1837)
• Lower Canada Rebellion (1837)
• Syrian War (1839–1840)
• First Anglo-Afghan War (1839–1842)
  • Battle of Ghazni
• First Opium War (1839–1842) - United Kingdom v China
• Gwalior Campaign (1843)
• First Anglo-Sikh War (1845–1846) - India
• New Zealand Wars (1845–1872)
• Second Anglo-Sikh War (1848–1849) - India
• Second Anglo-Burmese War (1852–1853)
• Crimean War (1854–1856) - United Kingdom, France, Ottoman Empire, and Piedmont-Sardinia v Russia
• Second Opium War (1856–1860) - United Kingdom and France v China
• Anglo-Persian War (1856–1857) - United Kingdom and Persia
• Indian Rebellion (1857)
• Pig War (1859) - United Kingdom v USA
• Anglo-Bhutanese War (1865)
• Second Anglo-Afghan War (1878–1880)
• Anglo-Zulu War (1879)
• First Boer War (1880–1881)
• Gun War (1880–1881)
• Mahdist War (1881–1899)
• Third Anglo-Burmese War (1885)
• Sikkim Expedition (1888)
• Anglo-Zanzibar War (1896)
• Tirah Campaign (1897–1898)
• Second Boer War (1899–1902)
• Boxer Rebellion (1900) - United Kingdom, Austria-Hungary, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, USA, and China

20th century

• Anglo-Aro war (1901–1902) - Nigeria
• British expedition to Tibet (1903–1904)
• World War I (1914–1918) - United Kingdom, France, Belgium, Serbia, Italy, Russia, United States vs Germany, Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria and Ottoman Empire
• Easter Rising (1916) - Ireland
• Allied intervention in the Russian Civil War (1918–1922)
• Third Anglo-Afghan War (1919)
• Anglo-Irish War (1919–1921)
• World War II (1939–1945) see Military history of the United Kingdom during World War II
  • Air warfare of World War II
  • The Pacific War (1937–1945)
  • Anglo-Iraqi War (1941)
• Greek Civil War (1941–1949)
• Palestine (1945–1948)
• Cold War (1946–1990)
• Malayan Emergency (1948–1960)
• Korean War (1950–1953)
• Mau Mau Uprising (1952–1960)
• Cyprus Emergency (1955–1959)
• Suez Crisis (1956)
• Brunei Revolt (1962)
• Dhofar Rebellion (1962–1975)
• Indonesia-Malaysia confrontation (1962–1966)
• Aden Emergency (1963–1967)
• Northern Ireland Troubles (1969-mid 1990s)
• Cod War Confrontation (1975–1976)
• Iranian Embassy Siege (1980)
• Falklands War (1982)
• The First Gulf War (1990–1991)
• The Bosnian War (1992–1996)
• Operation Desert Fox (1998)
• The Kosovo War (1999)

21st century

• Sierra Leone Civil War (2000)
• The Global War on Terror (2001–Present)
• The Afghanistan War (2001–Present)
• Iraq War and Iraqi insurgency (2003–2009)
• 2011 Libyan uprising (2011)

List of civil wars

1. Jacobite Rebellions (1715–16; 1719; 1745–46) - the last civil war in Great Britain
   • Clifton Moor Skirmish, near Penrith (1745) - the last land battle on English soil
   • Battle of Culloden (1746) - the last land battle in Great Britain
2. American Revolutionary War (1775–1783) - in North America; effectively a civil war, with Loyalists fighting Revolutionaries
3. The Troubles - in Northern Ireland, with some (terrorist) activity in Great Britain

See also

• List of wars involving Great Britain
• Military history of England
• Military history of Scotland
• History of the RAF
• History of the Royal Marines
• History of the Royal Navy
• History of the British Army
• Military history of Ireland

References

1. ^ Acts of Union 1707 parliament.uk, accessed 31 December 2010; Uniting the kingdom? nationalarchives.gov.uk, accessed 31 December 2010; Making the Act of Union 1707 scottish.parliament.uk, accessed 31 December 2010