List of wars involving the United States

Further information: Military history of the United States

These are lists of military conflicts, that United States have been involved in. There are currently 123 military conflicts on these lists, 5 of which are ongoing. These include major conflicts like the American Revolutionary War, the War of 1812, the Mexican–American War, the American Civil War, the Spanish-American War, World War I, World War II and the Gulf War. They also include US involvement in widespread periods of conflict like the Indian Wars, the Cold War (including the Korean War and the Vietnam War), and the War on Terror (including the Iraq War, the War in Afghanistan, and others).

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.

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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.
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  Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) headquarters at the George Bush Center for Intelligence in Langley, Virginia

Time frames

1609–1774

 · List of Colonial Wars

1775–1900

 · List of wars involving the United States from the 18th and 19th centuries

1901–2000

 · List of wars involving the United States from the 20th century

2001–present

 · List of wars involving the United States from the 21st century

Criteria

Criteria for inclusion on these lists

1. The United States has only officially declared war 5 times in the American Revolution, the War of 1812, the Spanish American War, WW1, and WW2. This would exclude the Vietnam, Korean, Afghanistan, the Native American Wars, Banana Wars, Civil War, and Iraq wars 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.
2. There are other separate, but related articles 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. There's also a list called List of conflicts in the United States, however this list is more of a broad list of any type of violent action in the U.S. larger than a generic murder. These lists are useful, but are generally separate from the criteria to be focused on in these articles.
3. Broadly speaking these lists do not focus on rebellions, single terrorist attacks on the United States, riots, assassinations, labor wars, state wars, feuds, rang 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 miliary 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).
4. This list may include operations against piracy if it involves the Unites 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 rescue mission and marks a single operation that only involved one battle such as the Battle of Ty-ho Bay.

Examples for criteria that are not included

• 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.

• 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.

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

• 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.

• State or local wars: The Toledo War or the Battle of Athens.

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

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

• Range Wars: The Johnson County War or the Castaic Range War.

• Assassinations or assassination attempts: Assassination of John F. Kennedy, or the Attempted assassination of Donald Trump in Pennsylvania.

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

See also

• List of notable deployments of U.S. military forces overseas
• Timeline of United States military operations
• Military history of the United States
• United States Armed Forces
• List of American military installations
• List of United States drone bases
• Social history of soldiers and veterans in the United States
• Uniformed services of the United States
• Attacks on the United States