[[File:President Biden in the new Situation Room.jpg|thumb|[[Situation Room]], the operations center at the White House with advanced communications equipment for the president to maintain [[command and control]] of U.S. forces around the world.]]
[[File:President Biden in the new Situation Room.jpg|thumb|[[Situation Room]], the operations center at the White House with advanced communications equipment for the president to maintain [[command and control]] of U.S. forces around the world.]]
This is an index of lists detailing military conflicts involving the [[United States]], organized by time period. Although the United States has formally [[Declaration of war by the United States|declared war only five times]] and these declarations cover a total of 11 separate instances against specific nations, there are currently 183 non-colonial military conflicts included in these lists, eight of which are ongoing. Between all six lists, there are currently 220 military conflicts.<ref>{{Cite web |title=History of American Wars |url=https://www.gettysburgflag.com/history-of-american-wars?srsltid=AfmBOopBmL54clfRhER4l1X5WOybIyK4sVvb5RAZ7NyBnLB82N30ZDbw |access-date=2025-08-10 |website=www.gettysburgflag.com}}</ref>
This is an index of lists detailing military conflicts involving the [[United States]], organized by time period. Although the United States has formally [[Declaration of war by the United States|declared war only five times]] and these declarations cover a total of 11 separate instances against specific nations, there are currently 183 non-colonial military conflicts included in these lists, of which are ongoing. Between all six lists, there are currently 220 military conflicts.<ref>{{Cite web |title=History of American Wars |url=https://www.gettysburgflag.com/history-of-american-wars?srsltid=AfmBOopBmL54clfRhER4l1X5WOybIyK4sVvb5RAZ7NyBnLB82N30ZDbw |access-date=2025-08-10 |website=www.gettysburgflag.com}}</ref>
Formal declarations of war include the [[War of 1812]] ([[United States declaration of war on the United Kingdom|United Kingdom]]), the [[Mexican–American War]] ([[United States declaration of war on Mexico|Mexico]]), the [[Spanish-American War]] ([[United States declaration of war on Spain|Spain]]), [[World War I]] ([[United States declaration of war on Germany (1917)|Germany]] and [[United States declaration of war on Austria-Hungary|Austria-Hungary]]) and [[World War II]] ([[United States declaration of war on Japan|Japan]], [[United States declaration of war on Germany (1941)|Germany]], [[United States declaration of war on Italy|Italy]], [[United States declaration of war on Bulgaria|Bulgaria]], [[United States declaration of war on Bulgaria|Hungary]] and [[United States declaration of war on Bulgaria|Romania]]).<ref>{{Cite web |title=VA.gov {{!}} Veterans Affairs |url=https://www.va.gov/vetsinworkplace/docs/em_datesnames.asp |access-date=2025-08-10 |website=www.va.gov |language=en}}</ref>
Formal declarations of war include the [[War of 1812]] ([[United States declaration of war on the United Kingdom|United Kingdom]]), the [[Mexican–American War]] ([[United States declaration of war on Mexico|Mexico]]), the [[Spanish-American War]] ([[United States declaration of war on Spain|Spain]]), [[World War I]] ([[United States declaration of war on Germany (1917)|Germany]] and [[United States declaration of war on Austria-Hungary|Austria-Hungary]]) and [[World War II]] ([[United States declaration of war on Japan|Japan]], [[United States declaration of war on Germany (1941)|Germany]], [[United States declaration of war on Italy|Italy]], [[United States declaration of war on Bulgaria|Bulgaria]], [[United States declaration of war on Bulgaria|Hungary]] and [[United States declaration of war on Bulgaria|Romania]]).<ref>{{Cite web |title=VA.gov {{!}} Veterans Affairs |url=https://www.va.gov/vetsinworkplace/docs/em_datesnames.asp |access-date=2025-08-10 |website=www.va.gov |language=en}}</ref>
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 five times and these declarations cover a total of 11 separate instances against specific nations, there are currently 183 non-colonial military conflicts included in these lists, seven of which are ongoing. Between all six lists, there are currently 220 military conflicts.[1]
Formal declarations of war include the War of 1812 (United Kingdom), the Mexican–American War (Mexico), the Spanish-American War (Spain), World War I (Germany and Austria-Hungary) and World War II (Japan, Germany, Italy, Bulgaria, Hungary and Romania).[2]
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 (the Korean War, the Vietnam War, and the Gulf War) and the war on terror (the war in Afghanistan, the Iraq War, the second Iraq War, and the Syria War).
As of the current date, the United States is involved in 7 publicly known military engagements across 5 different wars. Wars with direct U.S. involvement include war on terror (Somalia, Syria and Yemen) and the war on drugs (U.S. military campaign). Wars with indirect U.S. involvement include the Russo-Ukrainian War, the Gaza War, and the Israel–Hezbollah conflict.[Note 1]
| Criteria for inclusion on these lists |
|---|
| 1. 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 five times in the War of 1812, the Mexican–American War, the Spanish–American War, World War I, and World War II. These declarations cover a total of 11 separate instances against specific nations.[3][4] This would exclude American Civil War, the Vietnam War or the War in Afghanistan, in addition to many other conflicts out of these lists. To display a wider sense of the scope of U.S. involvement in “wars”, these lists focus on any military conflicts involving the United States military regardless of size. |
| 2. 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. 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. |
| 3. 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. |
| 4. 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. |
| 5. List of 17th-century wars involving the Thirteen Colonies and List of 18th-century wars involving the Thirteen Colonies both serve as a historical prequel, in that they focus 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.[Note 2] |
| 6. These lists do not include conflicts where the United States was involved only in providing military aid (weapons, ammunition, vehicles and other equipment), humanitarian aid, financial assistance or diplomatic support to other parties (e.g., Bangladesh Liberation War, Calderonista invasion of Costa Rica, Haitian conflict, Nepalese Civil War, or Western Sahara War). |
- ^ The United States provides military support, training, or shares intelligence with one or more parties in a conflict without directly engaging in combat with its own troops.
- ^ Please go to the colonial wars lists for more specifics about the criteria for those lists.
- ^ A form of military conflicts that takes place in cyberspace with cyber weapons.
- ^ This criterion 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 criterion 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.
- ^ 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.
- ^ These conflicts may be considered a type of rebellion, even if the United States military were involved.
- ^ If a peacekeeping mission turns into a conflict, it can be added to the lists.
- ^ If it can be demonstrated that the U.S. military participated in a posse conflict and if it is sizable enough to be considered a war, then this criterion does not apply.
- ^ 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.
- ^ Even if the United States military were involved for riot control.
