Military history of the United States

The military history of the United States spans a period of less than two and a half centuries. Over the course of those years, the United States grew from an alliance of thirteen British colonies without a professional military, to the world's sole remaining military superpower as of 2006.

Overview

Main articles: Military of the United States and Military budget in the United States

Until the Constitutional Convention, the military presence in what became known as the United States was organized by each U.S. state as a voluntary or conscripted militia. Since 1789, the United States Constitution has provided authority for the Congress to levy taxes and to raise a navy and national militia. Federal legislation eventually led to the modern nationalized system of military in the country. Historically, the amount of money the U.S. government spends on the military has often been a politically contentious issue.

As of 2006, the U.S. military consisted of an army, navy, air force and marine corps under the command of the United States Department of Defense. There also is the United States Coast Guard, which is controlled by the Department of Homeland Security. In each of these branches of military, the President of the United States is the commander in chief of the armed forces. In addition, each state has a national guard commanded by the state's governor and coordinated by the National Guard Bureau. The President of the United States has the authority during national emergencies to assume control of individual state national guard units.

Timeline

Colonial wars (1620–1774)

The beginning of the United States military lies in civilian frontiersmen, armed for hunting and basic survival in the wilderness. These were organized into local militias for small military operations, mostly against Native American tribes but also to resist possible raids by the small military forces of neighboring European colonies. They relied on the support of the British regular army and navy for any serious military operation.

In the early years of the British colonization of North America, military action in the colonies that would become United States were the result of conflicts with Native Americans, such as in the Pequot War of 1637 and King Philip's War in 1675. Slave uprisings such as the Stono Rebellion in 1739, and inter-colonial conflicts, such as the Pennamite Wars and the activities of the Green Mountain Boys, were also a part of the colonial military experience.

Beginning in 1689, the colonies also frequently became involved in a series of wars between Great Britain and France for control of North America, the most important of which were Queen Anne's War, in which the British annexed French Acadia, and the final French and Indian War (1754–1763), in which Britain effectively ended the French presence in North America. This final war was to give thousands of colonists, including George Washington, military experience which they put to use during the American Revolution.

War of Independence (1775–1783)

Ongoing political tensions between Great Britain and thirteen colonies became a crisis in 1774 when the British placed the province of Massachusetts under martial law. While shooting began at Lexington and Concord in 1775, the Continental Congress appointed George Washington as commander-in-chief of the newly created Continental Army, which was augmented throughout the war by colonial militia. General Washington was no great battlefield tactician—he lost more battles than he won—but his overall strategy proved to be sound: keep the army intact, wear down British resolve, and avoid decisive battles except to exploit enemy mistakes.

The British, for their part, lacked both a unified command and a clear strategy for winning. With the use of the Royal Navy, the British were able to capture coastal cities, but control of the countryside eluded them. A British invasion from Canada in 1777 ended with the disastrous surrender of a British army at Saratoga. France and Spain then entered the war against Great Britain.

A shift in focus to the southern American states resulted in a string of victories for the British, but guerrilla warfare and the tenacity of General Nathanael Greene's army prevented the British from making strategic headway. A French naval victory in the Chesapeake led to the surrender of a British army at Yorktown in 1781, resulting in the Treaty of Paris in 1783, which recognized the independence of the United States.

Since many Americans of the revolutionary generation had a strong distrust of permanent (or "standing") armies, the Continental Army was quickly disbanded after the Revolution. General Washington, who throughout the war deferred to elected officials, averted a potential crisis and submitted his resignation as commander-in-chief to Congress after the war, establishing a tradition of civil control of the U.S. military.

Early national period (1783–1815)

Following the American Revolution, the United States faced potential military conflict on the high seas as well as on the western frontier. The United States was a minor military power during this time, having only a modest army and navy. A traditional distrust of standing armies, combined with an exaggerated belief in the effectiveness of amateur militia, precluded the development of well-trained units and a professional officer corps. Jeffersonian leaders preferred a small army and navy, fearing that a large military establishment would involve the United States in excessive foreign wars, and potentially allow a domestic tyrant to seize power.

In the Treaty of Paris after the Revolution, the British had ceded the lands between the Appalachian Mountains and the Mississippi River to the United States, without consulting the Native Americans who lived there. Because many of the tribes had fought as allies of the British, the United States compelled tribal leaders to sign away lands in postwar treaties, and began dividing up these lands for settlement. This provoked a war in the Northwest Territory in which the U.S. forces performed poorly; the Battle of the Wabash in 1791 was the most severe defeat ever suffered by the United States at the hands of American Indians. President Washington dispatched a newly trained army to the region, which decisively defeated the Indian confederacy at the Battle of Fallen Timbers in 1795.

When revolutionary France declared Campaigns of 1793 in 1793, the United States sought to remain neutral, but the Jay Treaty, which was favorable to Great Britain, led to an undeclared "Quasi-War" with France. Fought at sea from 1798 to 1801, the United States won a string of victories in the Caribbean. George Washington was called out of retirement to head a "provisional army" in case of invasion by France, but President John Adams managed to negotiate a truce.

In 1801, the United States fought another undeclared war, this time with the city-state of Tripoli. When President Thomas Jefferson discontinued the custom of paying tribute to the Barbary States, the First Barbary War followed. After the U.S.S. Philadelphia was captured in 1803, Lieutenant Stephen Decatur led a raid which successfully burned the captured ship, preventing Tripoli from using or selling it. In 1805, after William Eaton captured the city of Derna, Tripoli agreed to a peace treaty. The other Barbary states continued to raid U.S. shipping, until the Second Barbary War in 1815 ended the practice.

By far the largest war the United States fought in this era was the War of 1812. When Great Britain and France went to war again in 1803 with renewed vigor, the United States sought to remain neutral while pursuing overseas trade. This proved difficult, and the United States finally declared war on Great Britain in 1812, the first time the U.S. had officially declared war. Not hopeful of defeating the Royal Navy, the U.S. attacked the British Empire by invading British Canada, hoping to use captured territory as a bargaining chip. The invasion of Canada was a debacle, though concurrent wars with Native Americans on the western front (Tecumseh's War and the Creek War) were more successful. After defeating Napoleon in 1814, Great Britain was able to send troops from Europe to America, leading to the burning of Washington on 25 August 1814. A second British offensive was defeated by Andrew Jackson at the Battle of New Orleans. By this time, diplomats in Europe had worked out a peace treaty, restoring the status quo ante bellum.

Continental expansion (1816–1860)

With the independence of the United States established, military efforts then focused on ensuring a dominant role on the continent, an idea which came to be known as "Manifest Destiny."

Although the War of 1812 ended as a stalemate between the United States and Great Britain in 1815, the frontier war essentially continued into 1818 with the First Seminole War. After the War of 1812 came the Seminole Wars, the Black Hawk War, and the era of Indian Removal.

The Texas Revolution was a war fought from October 2, 1835 to April 21, 1836 between Mexico and the breakaway province of Texas. In February 1836, Santa Anna led his army into Texas; delayed by the defense of the Alamo, he overwhelmed it and shot the prisoners. The Texans declared their independence on March 2, 1836. Sam Houston led a successful retreat, but other insurgents were defeated at Goliad; Santa Anna shot the prisoners. But he was defeated and captured at San Jacinto on April 21; Santa Anna signed a treaty recognizing Texas independence and its expanded boundaries. The government in Mexico City repudiated the treaty and vowed to subdue Texas, a position that led to the Mexican-American War with the United States in 1846.

US U.S. troops were sent to the Utah region in the Utah War to reassert federal primacy in the region.

American Civil War (1861–1865)

Sectional tensions had long existed between the states located north of the Mason-Dixon Line and those south of it, primarily centered on the "peculiar institution" of slavery and the ability of states to overrule the decisions of the national government. During the 1840s and 1850s, conflicts between the two sides became progressively more violent. Beginning with South Carolina in late 1860, states in the South seceded from the United States. On April 12 1861, forces of the South (known as the Confederate States of America or simply the Confederacy) opened fire on Fort Sumter, whose garrison was loyal to the forces of the North (who represented the United States or simply the Union).

The American Civil War caught both sides unprepared. Both the Union and the Confederacy had to build their armies practically from scratch. Both sides sought a quick victory focused on the respective nearby capitols of Washington, D.C. and Richmond, Virginia, but neither side would surrender their national identity cheaply. Even after the First Battle of Bull Run, many were slow to accept that war would last much longer than a single campaign. However, it spilled across the continent, and even to the high seas. Much of the vast resources of America would be consumed before it would be resolved.

The American Civil War is sometimes called the "first modern war" due to the use of mass conscription, military railroads, trench warfare, submarines, ironclads, automatic weapons, and rifles. It introduced the modern world to the horrors of total war.

Post-Civil War era (1865–1917)

History of the United States (1865-1918)

The scope of the Civil War was as great as many of those in Europe, and the United States began to see itself as potential player on the world stage. With the country now stretching to the Pacific, eyes turned to overseas. The motivation behind the Spanish-American War, Philippine-American War, and U.S. involvement in the Boxer Rebellion are debated among historians.

Indian Wars (1865–1890)

After the Civil War, work began in earnest on the Transcontinental Railroad, linking California with the eastern states. Many Native American tribes of the Great Plains resisted this encroachment. Generals from the Civil War such as William Tecumseh Sherman and Philip Sheridan were assigned to conquer any Indians who offered military resistance to the building of the railroad and the expansion of the United States.

Spanish-American War (1898)

The Spanish-American War took place in 1898, and resulted in the United States of America gaining control over the former Spanish colonies in the Caribbean and Pacific, most notably Puerto Rico, Guam and the Philippines.

Philippine-American War (1899-1913)

The Philippine-American War was between the armed forces of the United States and the Philippines from 1899 through 1913.

This conflict is also known as the "Philippine Insurrection." This name was historically the most commonly used in the U.S., but Filipinos and an increasing number of American historians refer to these hostilities as the "Philippine-American War," and, in 1999, the U.S. Library of Congress reclassified its references to use this term.

Banana Wars

The Banana Wars is a term used to describe US intervention in Latin America from the end of the Spanish American War in 1898 until 1935. These wars include involvement in Cuba, Mexico, Panama with the Panama Canal Zone, Haiti (1915-1935), Dominican Republic (1916-1924) and Nicaragua (1912-1925) & (1926 - 1933).

Most notable of these conflicts was when U.S. forces occupied the Mexican city of Veracruz for over six months in 1914, in response to the April 9, 1914 "Tampico Affair," which involved the brief arrest of U.S. sailors by soldiers of the regime of Mexican President Victoriano Huerta. The incident came in the midst of poor diplomatic relations with the United States, related to the ongoing Mexican Revolution.

In response to the Tampico Affair, U.S. President Woodrow Wilson ordered the Navy to occupy Veracruz. Huerta was overthrown and a regime more favorable to the U.S. was installed. The incident, however, worsened U.S.-Mexican relations for many years.

The Boxer Rebellion

The Boxer Rebellion was an uprising against Western commercial and political influence in China during the final years of the 19th century. The U.S. contributed army and marine units, the China Relief Expedition, to an international joint force which captured Peking and forced a Chinese capitulation. By August 1900, over 230 foreigners, thousands of Chinese Christians and unknown numbers of rebels, their sympathisers and other Chinese had been killed in the revolt and its suppression.

First World War (1917-1918)

The United States tried to remain neutral when World War I broke out in August 1914. However Washington insisted on its neutral right to send ships without them being attacked by German submarines. The ships carried food and raw materials to Britain. In 1917 the Germans resumed submarine attacks, knowing that it would lead to American entry. However the U.S. had deliberately kept its army small, and mobilization took a year. Meanwhile the U.S. sent more supplies and money to Britain and France, and started the first peacetime draft. Economic mobilization was much slower than expected, so the decision was made to send divisions to Europe without their equipment, relying instead on British and French supplies. By summer 1918 a million "doughboys" were in Europe under the command of John J. Pershing, with 25,000 more arriving every week. The failure of Germany's spring offensive meant they had exhausted their manpower reserves and were unable to launch attacks or even defend their lines, Meanwhile the German home front revolted and a new German government signed a conditional surrender, the Armistice, ending the war on November 11, 1918.

Between the wars (1918–1941)

Russian Revolution

The so-called Polar Bear Expedition was the involvement of U.S. troops, during the tail end of World War I and the Russian Revolution, in fighting the Bolsheviks in Arkhangelsk, Russia in 1918 and 1919

Second World War (1941-1945)

During the interwar period the United States again reduced its military, but mobilized to its largest levels for the ensuing Second World War. The global conflict started in the 1930's and raged until 1945, involving most of the peoples of the world. It was the most extensive and costly war in history as well as the history of the United States.

US involvement in World War II was initially limited to providing war material and financial support to the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union, and China. The US entered officially on 7 December 1941 with the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, followed by attacks on US and British possessions across the Pacific. On 11 December, the remaining Axis powers, Germany and Italy, declared war on the US, drawing the US firmly into the war and removing all doubts about the global nature of the conflict.

The loss of 8 battleships and 2 thousand sailors and airmen at Pearl Harbor forced the US to rely on its remaining aircraft carriers, which won a major victory over Japan at Midway just 6 months into the war. The Navy and Marine Corps followed this up with an island hopping campaign across the central and South Pacific in 1943-45, reaching the outskirts of Japan in the Battle of Okinawa. During 1942 and 1943, the US deployed millions of men and thousands of planes and tanks to the UK, beginning with the strategic bombing of Nazi Germany and occupied Europe and leading up to the Allied invasions of occupied North Africa in November, 1942, Sicily and Italy in 1943, France in 1944, and the invasion of Germany in 1945, parallel with the Soviet invasion from the east. That led to the surrender of Nazi Germany in May 1945. In the Pacific, the US experienced much success in naval campaigns during 1944, but bloody battles at Iwo Jima and Okinawa in 1945 led the US to look for a way to end the war with minimal loss of lives. The U.S. used atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki to shock the Japanese leadership, which (combined with the Soviet invasion of Manchuria) quickly brought about the surrender of Japan.

Despite the crippling effects of the Great Depression, the United States was able to mobilize quickly, eventually becoming the dominant military power in most theaters of the war (excepting only eastern Europe and mainland China), and the industrial might of the US economy is widely cited as a major factor in the Allies' eventual victory in the war. Early in the war, the US military was perceived by some observers to be too "green" and untested to be of much use other than cannon fodder against experienced German and Japanese troops, but the US acquitted itself well and established a modern military tradition as an elite and well-trained force. Strategic and tactical lessons learned by the US, such as the importance of air superiority and the dominance of the aircraft carrier in naval actions, continue to guide US military doctrine more than 60 years later.

World War II holds a special place in the American psyche as the country's greatest triumph, and the soldiers of World War II are frequently referred to as "the greatest generation" for their sacrifices in the name of liberty. Over 16 million served (about 13% of the population), and over 400,000 were killed during the war; only the American Civil War saw more Americans killed. The US entered the war, like many other nations, as a country struggling with economic and social problems and unsure of its identity. It emerged as one of the two undisputed superpowers along with the Soviet Union, and unlike the Soviet Union, the US homeland was virtually untouched by the ravages of war. The importance of US military and political power in world affairs since 1945 cannot be overstated; the outcome of the war and the fortunes of the victors have shaped world events to this day.

During and following the Second World War, the United States and United Kingdom developed an increasingly strong defence and intelligence relationship. Manifestations of this include extensive basing of US forces in the UK, shared intelligence, shared military technology (e.g. nuclear technology), shared procurement (mainly British purchases of American weapon systems). See: Special relationship.

For specific units, see List of United States Army divisions during World War II.

Cold War (1945–1991)

Following the second world war, the United States emerged as a global superpower vis-a-vis the Soviet Union in the Cold War. In this period of some forty years, the United States provided foreign military aid and direct involvement in proxy wars against the Soviet Union. It was the principal foreign actor in the Korean War and Vietnam War during this era. Nuclear weapons were held in ready by the United States under a concept of mutually assured destruction with the Soviet Union.

Postwar Military Reorganization (1947)

The National Security Act of 1947, meeting the need for a military reorganization to complement the U.S. superpower role, combined and replaced the former Department of the Navy and War Department with a single cabinet-level Department of Defense. The act also created the National Security Council, the Central Intelligence Agency, and the Air Force.

Korean War

The Korean War was a conflict between North Korea and South Korea (Republic of Korea, or ROK). It was also a Cold War proxy war between the United States and its United Nations allies and the communist powers of the Soviet Union (also a UN member nation) and the People's Republic of China (which later also gained UN membership). The principal combatants were North and South Korea. Principal allies of South Korea included the United States, Canada, Australia, the United Kingdom, although many other nations sent troops under the aegis of the United Nations. Allies of North Korea included the People's Republic of China, which supplied military forces, and the Soviet Union, which supplied combat advisors and aircraft pilots, as well as arms, for the Chinese and North Korean troops. In the United States, the conflict was termed a police action under the aegis of the United Nations rather than a war, largely in order to remove the necessity of a Congressional declaration of war.

The war started badly for the US and UN. North Korean forces struck massively in the summer of 1950 and nearly drove the outnumbered US and ROK defenders into the sea. However the United Nations intervened, naming Douglas MacArthur commander of its forces, and US-ROK forces acting under the UN auspices held a perimeter around Pusan, gaining time for reinforcement. MacArthur, in a bold but risky move, ordered an amphibious invasion well behind the front lines at Inchon, cutting off and routing the North Koreans and quickly crossing the 38th Parallel into North Korea. As UN forces continued to advance toward the Yalu River on the border with Communist China, MacArthur and U.S. President Harry Truman came into serious disagreement about military objectives and resolution of the conflict. In November, 1950, after public warnings that MacArthur had dismissed, the Chinese Army poured across the border and sent UN forces reeling back across the 38th Parallel. MacArthur was later relieved of his command by Truman for insurbordination, and while some feared the conflict might spark another world war, negotiations beginning shortly after MacArthur's dismissal eventually resulted in a stalemate and armistice in 1953, with the two Koreas remaining divided at the 38th Parallel. North and South Korea are still today in a state of war, having never signed a peace treaty, and US forces remain stationed in South Korea as part of US foreign policy.

Bay of Pigs Invasion

The Bay of Pigs Invasion (also known in Cuba as Playa Girón after the beach in the Bay of Pigs where the landing took place) was a CIA-planned and funded landing by armed Cuban exiles in southwest Cuba in an attempt to overthrow the Cuban government of Fidel Castro in 1961. The Eisenhower and Kennedy administrations had made the judgment that Castro's nationalization of key Cuban export industries and the subsequent shift toward the Soviet Union could not be tolerated, and thus moved to overthrow him. However, the invasion failed proving to be an international embarrassment for the Kennedy administration. The failed invasion became both a symbol and example of 'groupthink' and poor decision making. Although not an operation by U.S. military forces, consideration was given by the Kennedy administration to providing air support to the exile forces or exploiting any success of the invasion with reinforcement by U.S. Marines.

Dominican Intervention

Main article: Operation Power Pack

On April 28, 1965, 400 Marines were landed in Santo Domingo to evacuate the American Embassy and foreign nationals after dissident Dominican armed forces attempted to overthrow the ruling civilian junta.. By mid-May, a peak strength of 23,850 U.S. soldiers, Marines, and Airmen were in the Dominican Republic and some 38 naval ships were positioned offshore. They evacuated nearly 6,500 men, women, and children of 46 nations, and distributed more than 8 million tons of food.

Vietnam War

The Vietnam War was a war fought between 1957 and 1975 on the ground in South Vietnam and bordering areas of Cambodia and Laos (see Secret War) and in the strategic bombing (see Operation Rolling Thunder) of North Vietnam. In Vietnam, the conflict is known as the "American War." Although a small US presence had existed in Vietnam since the late 1950's, major US involvement is generally considered to have begun in 1964, after the Gulf of Tonkin Incident.

Fighting on one side was a coalition of forces including the Republic of Vietnam (South Vietnam or the "RVN"), the United States, South Korea, Thailand, Australia, New Zealand, and the Philippines. Participation by the South Korean military was financed by the United States, but Australia and New Zealand fully funded their own involvement. Other countries normally allied with the United States in the Cold War, including the United Kingdom and Canada, refused to participate in the coalition, although a few of their citizens volunteered to join the U.S. forces. The U.S. and its allies fought against the North Vietnamese Army (NVA) as well as the National Liberation Front (NLF, also known as Viet Cong), a guerilla force within South Vietnam. The NVA received substantial military and economic aid from the Soviet Union, turning Vietnam into a proxy war.

The U.S. framed the war as part of its policy of containment of Communism in south Asia, but American forces were frustrated by an inability to engage the enemy in decisive battles, corruption and incompetence in the Army of the Republic of Vietnam, and ever increasing protests at home. The Tet Offensive in 1968, although a major military defeat for the NLF, marked the psychological turning point in the war. NLF forces appeared to be everywhere at once, even overrunning the US embassy in Saigon, supposedly one of the most secure places in the country, and news anchor Walter Cronkite, in a famous broadcast from the battlefield, pronounced the war "unwinnable." After more than 57,000 dead and many more wounded, US forces withdrew in 1973 with no clear victory, and in 1975 South Vietnam was finally conquered by North Vietnam and unified. The chaotic evacuation of the US embassy in April 1975, as NVA forces closed in on the city, made for enduring images of desperate souls clinging to helicopter skids, trying to escape Communist rule.

Even today, Vietnam is a politically divisive subject in the U.S. Some view Vietnam as a noble, if flawed, cause; "the only war that America lost" is a phrase occasionally used. Others see the conflict as a quagmire; a waste of American blood and treasure in a conflict that did not concern US interests. Military service during Vietnam is still an issue in U.S. presidential campaigns, more than 30 years after US troops left the country, and fears of another "quagmire" have been major factors in U.S. military planning since 1975.

Tehran hostage rescue

Following the Iranian revolution and the resulting Iran hostage crisis, Operation Eagle Claw attempted to rescue the hostages using a combination of special forces and helicopter evacuation. Operational problems forced commanders to abort the mission, and 8 servicemen were killed in a helicopter accident in the Iranian desert. The failure was attributed to inappropriate equipment, incomplete and unrealistic planning, and the lack of joint service training. Despite its size, the mission had significant effects on US military doctrine and training, and led directly to the creation of SOCOM.

Grenada

In October, 1983, alarmed by a violent power struggle in Grenada, the U.S. quickly assembled an international coalition and dispatched paratroopers, Marines, Rangers, and special operations forces to the island in Operation Urgent Fury. Over a thousand Americans were on the island. The invasion force quickly moved to seize the entire island, eventually taking hundreds of military and civilian prisoners from a variety of East Bloc nations.

Beirut

Main article: Multinational Force in Lebanon

In 1983 fighting between Palestinian refugees and Lebanese factions reignited that nation's long-running civil war. A UN agreement brought an international force of peacekeepers to occupy Beirut and guarantee security. US Marines landed in August 1982 along with Italian and French forces. On October 23, 1983, a suicide bomber driving a truck filled with 6 tons of TNT crashed through a fence and destroyed the Marine barracks, killing 241 Marines; seconds later, a second bomber levelled a French barracks, killing 58. Subsequently the US Navy engaged in bombing of militia positions inside Lebanon. While US President Ronald Reagan was initially defiant, political pressure at home eventually forced the withdrawal of the Marines in February 1984.

Panama

On December 20, 1989 the United States invaded Panama, mainly from U.S. bases within the then-Canal Zone, to oust dictator and former CIA agent Manuel Noriega. In 1977, both nations had signed a treaty returning the Panama Canal to Panama by 1999, but the US did not wish to relinquish control of the strategically vital area to Noriega, whose government was becoming a narco-state. US troops quickly overwhelmed the Panamanian Defense Forces, and Noriega was captured on January 3, 1990 after the Vatican refused his asylum request. A new government was installed and new elections were held. Control of the Canal was returned to Panama as scheduled on December 31, 1999.

Post-Cold War era (1991–present)

Following the end of the Cold War, the United States armed forces fought numerous limited wars as a self-envisioned constabulatory force. It began a "global war on terrorism" after the September 11, 2001 attacks.

Gulf War

The Persian Gulf War was a conflict between Iraq and United Nations member states, specifically a coalition force of 34 nations led by the United States. The lead up to the war began with the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait in August 1990 which was met with immediate economic sanctions by the United Nations against Iraq. The coalition commenced hostilities in January 1991, resulting in a decisive victory for the coalition forces, which drove Iraqi forces out of Kuwait with minimal coalition deaths. Despite the low death toll, over 180,000 US veterans would later be classified as "permanentely disabled" according to the US Department of Veterans Affairs (National Gulf War Resource Center; see also Gulf War Syndrome). The main battles were aerial and ground combat within Iraq, Kuwait and bordering areas of Saudi Arabia. Land combat did not expand outside of the immediate Iraq/Kuwait/Saudi border region, although the coalition bombed cities and strategic targets across Iraq, and Iraq fired missiles on Israeli and Saudi cities.

In retrospect, the scale of the coalition's victory was not a foregone conclusion. Before the war, many observers believed the US and its allies could win but might suffer substantial casualties (certainly more than any conflict since Vietnam), and that the tank battles across the harsh desert might rival those of North Africa during World War II. After nearly 50 years of proxy wars, and constant fears of another war in Europe between NATO and the Warsaw Pact, some thought the Gulf War might finally answer the question of which military philosophy would have reigned supreme. Iraqi forces were battle-hardened after 8 years of war with Iran, and they were well-equipped with late model Soviet tanks, jet fighters and anti-aircraft weapons; in comparison, the US had no major combat experience since its withdrawal from Vietnam nearly 20 years earlier, and major changes in US doctrine, equipment and technology since then had never been tested under fire.

However, the battle was one-sided almost from the beginning. After devastating initial strikes against Iraqi air defenses and command and control facilities on 17 January 1991, coalition forces achieved total air superiority almost immediately. The Iraqi air force was destroyed within a few days, with some planes fleeing to Iran where they were interned for the duration of the conflict. The overwhemling technological advantages of the US, such as stealth aircraft and infrared sights, quickly turned the air war into a "turkey shoot." The heat signature of any tank foolish enough to start its engine made an easy target. Air defense radars were quickly destroyed by radar-seeking missiles fired from wild weasel aircraft. Grainy video clips, shot from the nose cameras of missiles as they zeroed in on impossibly small targets, were a staple of US news coverage and revealed to the world a new kind of war, compared by some to a video game. Over 6 weeks of relentless pounding by planes and helicopters, the Iraqi army was almost completely beaten but did not retreat, under orders from Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, and by the time the ground forces invaded on 24 February, many Iraqi troops were so happy to be alive that they quickly surrendered to forces much smaller than their own; in one instance, Iraqi forces attempted to surrender to a television camera crew that was advancing with coalition forces.

After just 100 hours of ground combat, and with all of Kuwait and much of southern Iraq under coalition control, US President George H. W. Bush ordered a cease-fire and negotiations began resulting in an agreement for cessation of hostilities. Some US politicians were disappointed by this move, believing Bush should have pressed on to Baghdad and removed Hussein from power; there is little doubt that coalition forces could have accomplished this if they had desired. Still, the political ramifications of removing Hussein would have broadened the scope of the conflict greatly, and many coalition nations refused to participate in such an action, believing it would create a power vacuum and destabilize the region.

Following the Gulf War, in order to protect minority populations, the US, Britain, and France declared and maintained no-fly zones in northern and southern Iraq, which the Iraqi military frequently tested. The no-fly zones persisted until the 2003 invasion of Iraq, although France withdrew from participation in patrolling the no-fly zones in 1996, citing a lack of humanitarian purpose for the operation.

Additionally, following the discovery of an aborted assassination plot aimed at former President George H.W. Bush, Navy ships bombed Iraqi intelligence facilities with cruise missiles in June 1993.

Somalia

US troops participated in a UN peacekeeping mission in Somalia beginning in 1992. By 1993 the US troops were augmented with Rangers and special forces with the aim of capturing warlord Mohamed Farrah Aidid, whose forces had massacred peacekeepers from Pakistan. During a failed attempt at capturing Aidid, US troops became trapped overnight by a general uprising in the Battle of Mogadishu. 19 American soldiers were killed, and a US television crew filmed graphic images of the body of one soldier being dragged through the streets by an angry mob. US forces were quickly withdrawn, and the incident had a profound effect on US thinking about peacekeeping and intervention. The book Black Hawk Down was written about the battle, and was the basis for the later movie of the same name.

Yugoslavia

During the war in Yugoslavia in the early 1990's, the US operated in Bosnia. The USA was one of the NATO member countries who bombed Yugoslavia between March 24th and June 9th 1999 during the Kosovo War.

War on Terrorism (2001–present)

The War on Terrorism is a global effort by the governments of several countries (primarily the United States and its principal allies) to neutralize international groups it deems as terrorist (primarily radical Islamist terrorist groups, including al-Qaida) and ensure that rogue nations no longer support terrorist activities. It has been adopted as a response to the September 11, 2001 attacks.

Afghanistan

The invasion of Afghanistan in order to depose that country's Taliban government and destroy training camps associated with al-Qaida is understood to have been the opening, and in many ways defining, campaign of the broader War on Terrorism. The emphasis on special forces, political negotiation with autonomous military units, and the use of proxy militaries marked a significant change from prior U.S. military approaches.

Philippines

In January 2002, the US sent more than 1,200 troops to assist the Armed Forces of the Philippines in combating terrorist groups linked to al-Qaida, such as Abu Sayyaf. Operations are taking place mostly in the Sulu Archipelago, where terrorists and other groups are active. The majority of troops provide logistics, however a sizable portion are Special Forces troops that are training and assisting in combat operations against the terrorist groups.

Iraq War (2003-present)

After the lengthy Iraq disarmament crisis culminated with an American demand that Iraqi President Saddam Hussein leave Iraq, which was refused, a coalition led by the United States and Great Britain fought the Iraqi army in the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Approximately 250,000 United States troops, with support from 45,000 British, 2,000 Australian and 200 Polish combat forces, entered Iraq primarily through their staging area in Kuwait. (Turkey had refused to permit its territory to be used for an invasion from the north.) Coalition forces also supported Iraqi Kurdish militia, estimated to number upwards of 50,000. After approximately three weeks of fighting, Hussein and the Ba'ath Party were forcibly removed, followed by an extended period of military occupation while civil government was re-established (see Post-invasion Iraq, 2003-2006).

Border Operation (2006)

Approximately 6000 US National Guard troops will be placed on the US-Mexico border to assist the Border Patrol with enforcement of immigration laws.

Related lists

References

Atlas of American Military History, Stuart Murray (2005) ISBN 0816055785
American Military History: 1775-1902, Ed. Maurice Matloff (1996) ISBN 0938289705
American Military History and the Evolution of Western Warfare, Robert Doughty (1996) ISBN 0669416835
The American Way of War: A History of United States Military Strategy and Policy, Russell Frank Weigley (1977) ISBN 025328029X
A Handbook of American Military History: From the Revolutionary War to the Present, Ed. Jerry K. Sweeney and Kevin B. Byrne (1997) ISBN 0813328713
The Oxford Companion to American Military History, Ed. John Whiteclay II Chambers, Fred Anderson, Lynn Eden, Joseph T. Glatthaar, Ronald H. Spector, and G. Kurt Piehler (2000) ISBN 0195071980

External links

Instances of Use of United States Forces Abroad, 1798-1993 by Ellen C. Collier, Specialist in U.S. Foreign Policy, Foreign Affairs and National Defense Division
United States Military Campaigns, Conflicts, Expeditions and Wars Compiled by Larry Van Horn, U.S. Navy Retired
Veterans Of The US Armed Forces Services, information, resources, and image gallery for veterans of the United States Armed Forces.
Statistics of US foreign policy since 1945
Military History wiki

Military of the United States | Military history of the United States | Military history by country

Militärgeschichte der USA | Yhdysvaltain sotahistoria

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