The United States is a country thanks to one of the most well-known conflicts in history: the American Revolution. Yet the United States continued to be involved in military matters at home and abroad for centuries to come, many of which aren’t taught at all in American schools.

10Fiji Expeditions

There were two Fiji expeditions: the first in 1855 and the second in 1859. The first expedition responded to damages on American property that occurred during the Fijian civil war. A US warship with a detachment of marines was sent to obtain compensation from Seru Cakobau, the self-proclaimed king of Fiji. When Cakobau couldn’t pay, troops clashed with native warriors and successfully routed them.

The second expedition was ordered after two American traders were killed and cannibalized by natives on the Fijian island of Waya. A force of 10 marines and 40 sailors was dispatched, armed with carbines and swords as well as one 12-pounder howitzer cannon. The plan was to attack the mountain village of Somatti, forcing the natives into combat.

The commander of the expedition, Lt. Caldwell, wrote in his journal, “It was a novel undertaking to assault and destroy a mountain tribe in their stronghold with a party of Seamen.” The journey up the mountain proved more treacherous than the group had anticipated, and they were forced to abandon the howitzer. Once they reached the village, they found the natives waiting for them ready to fight.

A pitched battle ensued, in which the expeditionary forces successfully defeated a force of nearly 300 Wayan warriors, mostly armed with clubs and bows, in what became known as the Battle of Somatti.

9Barbary Wars

The Barbary Wars occurred in the early 19th century and was fought between the United States and what was referred to as the “Barbary states.” These were the North African Muslim states and cities such as Tripoli and Algiers, which were technically under control of the Ottomans but acted relatively autonomously. Problems arose when pirates from these areas began to attack US merchant ships and demanded tribute from the United States in exchange for safe passage.

Following the American Revolution, the United States did not have the navy presence or the funds necessary to raise a navy capable of repelling the pirates, so instead, they paid tribute. However, these payments only encouraged the pirates to capture more American ships, taking their crews hostage. Things changed when, under the presidencies of Thomas Jefferson and James Madison, the United States refused to pay.

By this point, the US Navy was a more capable fighting force, and naval fleets were sent into the Mediterranean to fight the pirates and protect American merchant ships. The operations were successful, and the threat of piracy was greatly reduced.

8The Moro Rebellion

In the wake of the Spanish-American War, the Spanish ceded the Philippines to the United States in 1899. Most Filipinos were not happy about occupation, and several armed conflicts broke out.

In the southern Philippines, one group known as the Moros was particularly troublesome. The Moros were Muslim Filipinos who had a long history of resisting imperialism. The Americans tried to assimilate them and put an end to some Moro practices they saw as unacceptable, such as slavery. The Moros openly resisted, and from 1901–1913, the Moro Rebellion raged. They often fortified mountains and volcanoes and were prone to launch “berserker”-type attacks.

The Rebellion officially ended in 1913 after a particularly bloody battle known as the Battle of Bud Bagsac, in which the American troops killed all 500 Moros defending the mountain of Bagsac. Brigadier General John Pershing, the commander of the US troops, described the battle of Bud Bagsac, saying, “The fighting was the fiercest I have ever seen . . . they [Moros] are absolutely fearless, and once committed to combat, they count death as a mere incident.”

7The Korean Expedition

In 1871, a US Navy squadron was sent to Korea to establish trade relations and investigate the fate of the American ship General Sherman. The General Sherman was a merchant ship conducting business in Korea. In 1866, after accidently grounding, it was attacked by the Koreans, and its crew were massacred. The Navy squadron was subsequently fired upon by a Korean fort for unknown reasons. The United States demanded an apology within 10 days, and when none came, an assault was launched.

The Koreans had several forts and shoreline batteries along the Gangwha Strait that proved to be easy targets for the attacking forces. The Navy shelled and assaulted these fortifications, taking them with relative ease due to the outdated weaponry of the Koreans. The largest battle took place on June 10, when US troops attacked and captured the Gangwha Citadel. Close-quarter fighting ensued, leaving hundreds of Koreans dead. The US troops left, and by 1882, friendly relations were opened once again.

6The Invasion Of Grenada

In 1983, a communist coup took place on the Caribbean island nation of Grenada. The coup was supported by Cuba, who sent troops to help take control of the country. In the wake of the power struggle, the new communist government suspended civil rights and began to take political prisoners. The Reagan administration, opposed to the spread of communism and concerned for the safety of 600 US medical students in the country, launched a military intervention.

Several Rangers, Navy SEALs, and marines were quickly deployed to take control of the island. In total, about 6,000 troops were involved. The communist resistance was defeated in a matter of days, and Grenada returned to democratic elections in 1984.

5The Quasi War

During the American Revolutionary War, the French monarchy loaned large sums of money to the Americans to fight the British, with the understanding that the Americans would slowly pay it back over time. However, in 1794, the French monarchy was toppled by the French Revolution, and the American government stopped the payments. Angered by this, the new French Republic began attacking and capturing US merchant ships.

In 1798, after attempts at negotiation failed, the United States deployed its navy to combat the French threat, thus beginning the Quasi War. For the next two years, the two nations battled each other on the high seas throughout the Atlantic and the Caribbean. Hostilities concluded in 1800 with the signing of the Convention of 1800.

4The Battle Of Ambos Nogales

In the early 20th century, tensions were high at the Mexican-US border. Skirmishes between US troops and Mexican bandits and Mexican troops had led to an increased military presence on the border. The publication of the Zimmermann Telegraph, a proposed alliance between Germany and Mexico, only served to heighten American anxieties.

Things boiled over on August 27, 1918, when a dispute between Mexican and US custom agents broke into an all-out battle in the town of Nogales, right on the border with both US and Mexican residents. The fighting was chaotic but ended only hours later when a ceasefire was called by the two governments. Many people on both sides died or were wounded in the battle.

3The Samoan Civil Wars

Between 1886 and 1899, the islands of Samoa in the Pacific Ocean were locked in a series of civil wars over who was to be king. The United States, Britain, and Germany all had vested interests in Samoa for commercial and territorial reasons and became involved in the conflict, each sending several warships. This resulted in a naval standoff over who had control of the islands, for years known as the “Samoan Crisis.”

During the Second Samoan Civil War, the United States and Britain fought alongside Samoan troops against German-backed Samoan rebels, who wished to make Mata’afa Iosefo their king. After a series of battles and skirmishes, the United States, Britain, and Germany came to an agreement in 1899 known as the “Tripartite Convention,” in which they abolished the Samoan monarchy. Samoa was subsequently divided, with the Eastern Islands becoming US territory and the Western islands becoming a German colony.

2The Utah War

Since the founding of Mormonism in 1830, the group often found itself in conflict with the United States government. In 1847, after a series of particularly violent episodes in Missouri and Illinois, many Mormons under the direction of their leader Brigham Young began to move west in hopes that isolation would secure their religious freedom. Thousands settled in the what is today Utah. In 1850, Congress created the “Utah Territory” and appointed Brigham Young as its first governor.

In 1857, newly elected president James Buchanan found the power Young had over the Mormons unsettling and ordered his removal from office. Afraid of resistance, he sent 2,500 troops to the territory to ease the transition. However, this only increased tensions. In response, Young raised a sizeable militia and began to terrorize the US troops by burning their supplies and stealing their cattle. Open conflict between the two sides almost broke out several times. However, the “war” ended in 1858 after Buchanan and Young agreed to terms of peace.

1The Battle Of Negro Fort

During the early 19th century, an old British fort on the frontier of northern Spanish Florida became a place of refuge for black freedmen and escaped slaves. The fort, which became known as “Negro Fort,” and the area around it was home to nearly 800 black men, women, and children. Many Americans, including President Andrew Jackson, saw this escaped slave colony as a threat to the very institution of slavery.

On July 17, 1816, the garrison of the fort ambushed an American gunboat in the area, killing all but one of the crew. After hearing this, Jackson ordered the fort to be destroyed. Before the battle began, the American general in command called for the fort and its inhabitants to surrender. The freedmen refused, finding it better to fight and die than return to slavery. The red flag signaling that no quarter would be given was raised above the fort, and the battle began on July 27.

Despite the bravery of the defendants, the battle ended quickly when a shot from a Navy gunboat hit the fort’s powder storage, causing a massive explosion. This killed almost everyone in the fort and effectively ended the battle. In his report, the American commander Col. Clinch wrote, “The explosion was awful and the scene horrible beyond description.”

Brad is currently a student as Fordham University. He can be reached for comments or questions at [email protected].

For as long as humans have been fishing to feed themselves, they have also been fighting over access to the best catch. While we don’t have any records of cavemen bashing each other’s brains in over who gets the biggest trout, there is a long history of bitter conflict in the fishing industry. This list covers some of the times that tension between fishermen erupted into riots, international incidents, and full-blown armed conflict.

10 Oyster Wars (1865-1959)

The Oyster Wars began after the American Civil War with a boom in the Chesapeake Bay oyster industry. Chesapeake oyster towns became a frontier flocked by fortune-seekers. Violence soon erupted between locals and new arrivals, and when the locals ran out of new settlers to shoot at, they turned on each other. Gunfire was exchanged between Maryland and Virginia watermen, and within the states between fishermen from different counties.

It wasn’t long before the government began to intervene in these fishing squabbles, creating the Maryland “Oyster Navy,” a nautical police force that was notoriously ineffective. In 1882, Virginia’s governor William Cameron sent a militia to seize seven boats suspected of illegal oyster dredging in the Rappahannock River. Violent skirmishes over oyster territory continued until 1959, when Maryland patrollers fatally shot a Virginian waterman named Berkeley Muse. To avoid further bloodshed, the two states signed a compact designed to end the century-long conflict.

9 Palingoproer: The Dutch Eel Riot (1886)

One of the favorite pastimes in 19th century Amsterdam was known as eel-pulling (palingtrekken). A rope was stretched across a canal, with a live eel tied in the middle. Men would then cruise beneath the eel-rope in small boats and attempt to pull the slippery fish loose. He who freed the eel received a prize of six guilders, which was decent walking-around money back then. The sport was illegal by the 1880s, but that didn’t halt its popularity.

On July 25, 1886, a lively session of palingtrekken was afoot on the Lindegracht Canal. They had already pulled three times when the police showed up and demanded a stop to the spectacle, entering one of the houses where the ropes were tied to cut the eel loose. The legend says that the falling rope hit a spectator, who started whacking the police with an umbrella. In a matter of hours, a full-blown riot broke out, with spectators throwing bricks at police. Things cooled down overnight, but the next day the army opened fire on rioters storming the police station. Twenty-six civilians were killed and thirty-two were severely injured, making the Palingoproer one of the most severe cases of police brutality in Dutch history.

8 Newlyn Mackerel Riots (1896)

Newlyn is a seaside town in western England with a long history as a fishing port. In the late 19th century, most Newlyn fishermen were strictly religious and refused to work on the Sabbath. However, they had to share their waters with large fishing companies from the east coast of England, who were perfectly fine with fishing on Sundays. This meant the eastern boats could bring their catch to market on Monday, which let them sell at much higher prices. Resentment among observant Newlyn fishermen boiled over in May of 1896, when Tuesday prices dropped as low as 3 shillings for 120 mackerel.

On May 18th, a crowd of fed-up fishermen boarded boats from the east and tossed thousands of mackerels back into the sea. The outrage spread to other Cornish fishing communities, some of whom also attacked eastern boats and erected barriers to prevent access to their harbors. Eventually the local authorities called in the military to quell the rioters, who threw stones at the authorities but eventually settled down, leaving the eastern companies to continue fishing on Sundays.

7 Cod Wars (1415-1976)

Cod is perhaps one of the most economically important fish in history, so it’s no surprise that countries have fought over the right to harvest it. The Cod Wars between the United Kingdom and Iceland are certainly the longest-lasting entry on this list, with historians claiming as many as ten separate episodes spanning several centuries. The first Cod War started in 1415 with English authorities arresting a Danish official in Iceland, which was then the territory of Denmark. This conflict resulted in a treaty agreement that was negotiated and re-negotiated between the two countries for centuries, with each waiting for political instability in the other to regain power over the cod trade.

There were three Cod Wars in the 20th century, mostly involving warning shots, cutting of nets, and ramming of boats. Though the two countries’ ships exchanged minor blows, there were only two casualties recorded in the modern Cod Wars: the accidental deaths of a British fisherman and an Icelandic engineer. It is generally agreed that Iceland was the victor of the Cod Wars, with the resulting treaty agreements effectively ending British long-distance fishing.

6 Lobster War (1961-1964)

Do lobsters crawl or swim? This was the central question in the so-called Lobster War between France and Brazil in the early 1960s. Brazilian authorities insisted that spiny lobsters crawl along the continental shelf of their territory, while French fishermen claimed they swam like fish, making them fair game for any country to harvest. After complaints of French ships catching lobster off the coast of Pernambuco, the Brazilian president gave France 48 hours to withdraw all boats. When they refused, the Brazilian Navy captured a French vessel and shut off access to all French boats off their coast. The next year, Brazil seized three more French vessels. This ignited an international incident that was not resolved until 1964, when the countries to reach an agreement that expanded Brazil’s territorial waters but allowed limited French lobster fishing. No blood was shed, but the country’s respective biologists continued debating whether lobsters crawl or swim for many years after.

5 Galveston Bay Shrimp Conflict (1979-1981)

After the Vietnam war, some refugees fleeing Southeast Asia settled in the Galveston Bay area of Texas and found jobs on shrimp boats. The growth of the refugee shrimper population upset local white shrimpers, who saw them as competition for the limited resources of the bay. The tensions turned to violence in 1979, when a fistfight resulted in the shooting of a white crabber and the burning of several Vietnamese boats. This ongoing ethnic conflict brought the Texas Knights of the Ku Klux Klan to Galveston in 1981, where they began terrorizing Vietnamese shrimpers with armed demonstrations on and off the water. Many white supremacists directly threatened violence against the Vietnamese shrimpers, waving pistols and circling their boats in paramilitary gear.

A resulting harassment trial brought by the Southern Poverty Law Center revealed a video of KKK leader Louis Beam encouraging his militia to “utterly destroy everybody.” The lawsuit ended the harassment and disbanded the paramilitary groups, but by then many Vietnamese shrimpers had already moved away or suffered property damage. This incident was the inspiration for the 1985 film Alamo Bay. Beam and his followers went on to perpetrate extremist violence in other parts of the country, laying the groundwork for contemporary white supremacist groups that still threaten violence against minority communities today.

4 Turbot War (1995)

In 1995, the Canadian Coast Guard seized the Spanish trawler Estai, which was fishing in international waters off the coast of Newfoundland. Canadian authorities claimed the Spanish vessel had exceeded its quota of Greenland turbot, a goofy-looking flatfish that goes great with butter and capers. Despite the EU condemning the seizure as an act of “organized piracy,” Canadian vessels cut off the nets of three more Spanish and Portuguese fishing boats in the following weeks. Tensions increased, and Spain even sent a warship to protect its fishing vessels. Eventually, Canada reached an agreement with the EU that ended the conflict by strengthening fishing enforcement and increasing Spain’s turbot quota. No one invited the turbots to the negotiating table. Just the dinner table.

3 Great Scallop War (2012-2020)

In October 2012, a group of about forty French vessels surrounded a few British fishing boats off the coast of France. French fishermen were upset that their country prohibited them from harvesting scallops between May and October, while British fishermen could fish year-round. According to the British fishermen, the French vessels threw stones and nets at the British boats, along with French taunts worthy of any Monty Python sketch. Despite the best efforts of both countries, violence flared between British and French scallop fishermen again in 2018 and 2020. Along with rocks, the French fishermen were accused of throwing frying pans, flares, gasoline bombs, and oil at their British rivals. No love lost between these neighbors!

2 Guang Da Xing No. 28 Incident (2013)

On May 9, 2013, a Filipino Coast Guard patrol boat opened fire on an unarmed Taiwanese boat, the Guang Da Xing No. 28, which was fishing in disputed waters between the two island nations. The coast guard gunfire hit the small vessel at least 45 times, resulting in the death of 65-year-old fisherman Hoh Shi Cheng. This incident was a flashpoint in the conflict between the two countries, whose territorial claims overlap in the waters where the boat was shot. Demonstrations occurred in both countries after the shooting, including a Filipino ex-policeman publicly burning a Taiwanese flag to send the message that “Filipinos are not cowards.” Relations between the two nations have since normalized, and the eight coast guard employees who committed the shooting were convicted in 2019.

1 Nova Scotia Mi’kmaq Lobster Dispute (2020)

The most recent entry in this list is the Mi’kmaq Lobster Dispute, which has yet to reach a resolution. According to a 1999 Canadian Supreme Court decision, members of the Mi’kmaq Indigenous tribe have the right to fish on a small scale whenever and wherever they want. In September 2020, the Sipekne’katik First Nation opened a small lobster fishery in Nova Scotia, which was quickly criticized by non-Indigenous fishermen for operating outside of the commercial season. In October, several mobs of non-Indigenous fishermen laid siege to Indigenous-owned lobster facilities in Nova Scotia, throwing rocks, breaking windows, and threatening to set the entire place on fire if the employees inside did not leave. One facility was burned to the ground and the remaining live lobsters poisoned with PVC cement. Canadian officials have called for peace in the wake of the violence in Nova Scotia, but tensions remain high between Indigenous and non-Indigenous fishermen.

Wars are tragic, devastating affairs, which is why no one wants to fight them longer than it takes to resolve the issue. That’s not always the case, however, as we know of quite a few conflicts in history that went on for tens or hundreds of years. Some of the longest wars of the past could even be classified as eras of their own, often outlasting the people – and sometimes even the empires – that started them.

10. Great Beaver Wars – 61 years

Beginning in 1640, the Great Beaver Wars were a series of conflicts between the Iroquois Confederacy – also called Five Nations – and an alliance of France with various Algonquian-speaking native-American tribes living in the Ohio Country and Great Lakes regions. 

The conflict lasted for over 60 years until 1701, making it one of the longest wars in the history of the continent. 

The primary cause was control over the lucrative fur trade in the region, resulting in the Iroquois Confederacy launching military campaigns against competing factions like the Huron, Petun, and Erie tribes. The wars were mostly limited to the Great Lakes and Ohio River Valley areas, which were the major centers for fur trading at the time. In the aftermath, many Native American tribes were displaced or decimated as a result of the conflict. Additionally, it disrupted the existing balance of power in the region and significantly weakened the influence of the tribes, which were eventually assimilated or relocated by European colonization. 

9. Anglo-Ashanti Wars – 77 years

Lasting from 1823 to 1900, the Anglo-Ashanti Wars were a series of conflicts between the Ashanti Empire – located in present-day Ghana – and the British Empire. The wars spanned several decades, with major conflicts breaking out from 1823-1831, 1863-1864, and 1873-1874.

They were mainly fought in what was then known as the Ashanti empire – a powerful entity in West Africa that posed a major challenge to British efforts to colonize the region. The Ashanti were known for their military prowess among other African empires of the time and employed effective guerrilla warfare tactics against the trained British forces, defeating them decisively in the first two wars. 

Ultimately, however, it was the superior British firepower that ended the war, followed by a series of treaties to establish British control over the trade of slave, gold, and other valuable resources on the African west coast. 

8. Eighty Years’ War

As the name makes it abundantly clear, the Eighty Years’ War lasted for 80 years, fought between the Spanish Empire and the Dutch Republic between 1568 and 1648. It’s also sometimes called the war of Dutch independence from Spain, as the conflict originated from religious and political tensions in the Spanish-controlled Netherlands. 

The Dutch Protestants, led by William I of Orange, revolted against the rule of the Catholic Spanish Empire, largely thanks to the oppressive and discriminatory policies of Philip II. Authorities in Spain aimed to maintain their control over the region and suppress Protestantism, resulting in a war that would soon draw all of Europe into a brutal conflict in the form of the Thirty Years’ War.

While Spain enjoyed some early successes, the entry of France into the war turned it in the favor of the Dutch, resulting in the formal recognition of the Dutch Republic as an independent state of Europe. Both the Thirty and Eighty Years’ Wars ended with the Peace of Münster in 1648, and played a crucial role in the broader struggle for religious and political freedom in Europe.

7. Anglo-Afghan Wars – 80 years

The Anglo-Afghan Wars refer to a series of three conflicts between Great Britain and Afghanistan, starting in 1839 and ending in 1919. They were a part of a larger geopolitical battle between the British and Russian Empire that began in 1830, also known as the Great Game.

Throughout the drawn-out conflict, British forces – seeking to protect its interests in India – fought against Afghan forces led by multiple emperors, including Dost Mohammad Khan and Sher Ali Khan. Much of the fighting took place inside Afghanistan, with major battles in cities like Kabul and Kandahar. 

Like its other colonies, the British created strong alliances and diplomatic ties with local Afghan factions, allowing them to score some early victories and hold on to a significant amount of territory during the first invasion. That would soon change, however, as almost the entire British contingent was wiped out during their disastrous 1842 retreat from the country. By the end of it in 1919, the British government had to sign an armistice giving up control of Afghanistan’s foreign affairs. 

6. Sengoku Period – 101 years

The Sengoku period was one of the most tumultuous eras in Japanese history. It began around 1467 with the ?nin War – a power struggle between rival samurai clans across the country. The primary warring parties were the local daimyos – or feudal lords – and their powerful armies, as they sought to gain influence in the power vacuum left by the weakening and eventual defeat of the centralized Ashikaga shogunate.

The period saw a number of battles, sieges, and skirmishes across Japan, and within about a hundred years of fighting, Japan was divided into numerous small fiefdoms ruled by a few hundred warlords. The Sengoku period ended in 1568 with the emergence of Oda Nobunga as the most powerful daimyo, though it would be his successor – Toyotomi Hideyoshi – who finally reunified Japan into a single state. 

5. Australian Frontier Wars – 146 years

The colonial frontier wars in Australia began with the arrival of British ships in 1788, putting the poorly-armed and supplied native population against the trained, battle-hardened imperial British army. Despite those odds, however, the conflict couldn’t be resolved for almost another one-and-a-half centuries, costing the lives of as many as 60,000 natives according to some estimates. 

Like other places around the world, the period was marked by intense violence against civilians and military targets alike, resulting in the almost-complete wipeout of the indigenous population due to factors like conflict or disease. By one estimate, the native population was reduced by around 90 per cent between 1788 and 1900. 

4. Crusades – 196 years

By the 11th century, much of the ancient Christian world had been conquered by Islamic armies, including important regions like Palestine, Syria, Egypt, and Anatolia. The Crusades refers to the time period between 1095 to 1291, when armies assembled and funded by Christian countries organized military campaigns to retake the regions around the Holy Land. 

The campaigns saw some initial successes, including the formation of an independent Christian state in Palestine and Syria. They were no match for the emerging Islamic power, however, as those victories were eventually reversed by the powerful Muslim armies emerging in the region at the time. The conflict began to come to an end after the failure of the Ninth Crusade, followed by the Muslim conquest of Acre in 1291. 

3. Yaqui Wars – 396 years

From 1533 to 1929, New Spain – and later Mexico – fought a bitter civil war against the native-American Yaqui people. The Yaqui Wars saw intermittent-yet-intense violence, often resulting in summary executions and other crimes against the native population. 

The primary cause of the conflict was the encroachment of native land by European and Mexican settlers, particularly the ancestral lands claimed by the Yaqui. Fighting was limited to the state of Sonora, where the Mexican government employed both military forces and private armies against the Yaqui, utilizing tactics like scorched-earth and manhunts to subdue the population. Thousands were forcefully deported to far-away locations, which severely affected the fighting ability of the rebels and led to their eventual defeat in 1929. 

2. Roman-Persian Wars – 680 years

The Persian-Roman Wars – fought between 53 BC and 627 AD – were easily one of the longest-lasting conflicts in history. It well outlasted the empires that started it – Rome and Parthia – and would eventually be fought between the Roman Republic, Roman Empire, and Byzantine Empire in the west, and the Parthian and Sassanid Empires in the east. 

It has often been called a Great War of the ancient era, thanks to its unimaginable scale and duration, as the conflict was spread across a region ranging from the Transcaucasus in eastern Europe to Mesopotamia in the Middle East. While it didn’t result in any significant territorial gains for either side, the Roman-Persian wars made sure that neither the Byzantine empire nor Persia had the means to counter the oncoming Islamic armies.

1. Reconquista – 770 years

The Reconquista refers to a nearly 770-years-long period of conflict triggered by the Islamic conquest of territories on the Iberian peninsula, particularly the defeat of the Visigothic Kingdom  of Hispania in 711. It was fought between Christian kingdoms in the north, including Castile, Aragon, and Portugal, and an Iberian Muslim faction known as the Moors, who established various Islamic states in the south of the region.

While there were many complex political and economic reasons behind the war, it was primarily driven by religious fervor and territorial expansion. The Reconquista progressed gradually but surely, with Christian forces slowly pushing southward over the centuries. It ended with the fall of the Emirate of Granada, the last Muslim stronghold, in 1492. The Christian forces that captured the city were led by Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella I of Castile, effectively ending Muslim rule in Iberia.

At the peak of its power, the British empire encompassed about one-fourth of the world’s area and population, making it by far the largest empire in history. Like every other successful empire before it, a large part of that was acquired on the battlefield, thanks to a formidable navy, technological improvements like cannons, and a strong economy based on trade from across the globe. 

10. Tacky’s Rebellion

The British colony of Jamaica went through a series of slave revolts in 1760, collectively known as Tacky’s Rebellion after one of its notable commanders. It all began on April 8, when about 100 slaves from the northern St. Mary’s parish rebelled and captured the surrounding estates, killing any European settlers they found along the way. It grew into a serious uprising when the rebels – mostly from the Akan tribe in what is now Ghana –  marched on an unguarded British fort and raided its armory. 

While it soon spread to other regions of Jamaica and posed a serious challenge to British colonial power in the Caribbean, the rebellion was eventually suppressed by brutal counter insurgency tactics. By one estimate, more than 500 people – including black civilians suspected of aiding the rebels – were killed by British soldiers and local collaborators during the uprising. Hundreds of others were deported as enslaved workers to other regions, like the Bay of Honduras and Nova Scotia. 

9. Battle Of Omdurman

The Battle of Omdurman in Sudan was a part of the larger Mahdist war – a decades-long fight between the Egyptian government and a branch of Islam known as Mahdism. It began in 1881, when a Sudanese cleric, Muhammad Ahmad, declared an independent Mahdi state and rebelled against Egyptian rule. Britain entered the conflict on the side of Egypt, mostly to protect the newly-built Suez canal and its trade route to India. 

It was a long and bloody conflict, lasting until the final battle at Omdurman in 1898. Despite being outnumbered, the Anglo-Egyptian contingent was armed with state-of-the-art weapons – like Maxim machine guns and early bolt-action rifles – resulting in a massacre for the Mahdists. By the end of it, around 10,000 were killed in battle, compared to about 500 casualties on the Anglo-Egyptian side. 

8. Queen Anne’s War

The Second Intercolonial War, also known as Queen Anne’s War in the UK, was primarily fought between colonial Britain and an alliance of France and a few native American tribes, with a limited involvement of other countries like Spain, the Netherlands, and Portugal. Beginning in 1702 with a formal declaration of war by Britain, it was a part of the larger colonial rivalry between Britain and France. Some historians have even called it the North-American theater of the Spanish War of Succession. 

Fighting was largely limited to the New England-New York frontier between England and France, and often involved raids on settlements ruled by the other side instead of open battles. In one of its bloodiest episodes, about 100 people – including children – were killed by French and native American forces in Deerfield, Massachusetts. 

Queen Anne’s War would last until peace was established in Europe between 1713 and 1715. As a result, France was forced to concede Acadia – now called Nova Scotia – Newfoundland, and a few other colonies in the region to Britain. 

7. First Matabele War

The Matabele kingdom was a powerful state in what is now Zimbabwe. Unfortunately, it was also an obstacle to British colonial ambitions in the region, specifically of the British South Africa Company. By 1891, Matabeleland and a few other nearby provinces had been declared British protectorates by the government in London, setting the stage for an inevitable confrontation with Matabelese forces. 

The First Matabele War happened in 1893, pitting a massively outnumbered force of about 700 soldiers of the British South African Police against more than 100,000 professional Matabele warriors. While the defenders wielded a large number of rifles, too, they were no match against British firepower, especially Maxim guns. Fighting ended with the capture of the capital Bulawayo on November 4, 1904, and the war came to an official end with the death of the Matabele king in 1894. 

6. Mau Mau Rebellion

The Kenya Land and Freedom Army – also called Mau Mau – was a popular African nationalist movement that posed a major threat to British rule in Kenya. While it originally started as a secret society within the Kikuyu tribe, it soon turned into a unified effort by various tribes against European colonialism. As it turned into a large fighting force and started targeting British interests, the authorities responded by declaring a state of emergency in October 1952. 

The Mau Mau were adept at guerrilla warfare due to their extensive knowledge of the terrain, though the better-equipped British forces ultimately proved victorious. Hostilities came to an end at the end of 1955, resulting in the deaths of more than 10,000 natives due to the harsh counter-insurgency measures deployed by Britain and local loyalists. 

5. Malayan Emergency

The Malayan Emergency was one of the first conflicts of the Cold War, fought between British colonial forces and the Malaysian Communist Party. Like other British possessions in the region, the Malayan states had returned to British control after the end of Japanese occupation in WW2, despite the decisive role played in the war by MCP militias. In 1948, the Federation of Malay was formed as a British protectorate, restoring British colonial interests in the region and putting the previous rulers – called sultans – back into power. 

A state of emergency was declared by the government in June, 1948, after guerrilla fighters from the MCP and other communist factions started a violent insurgency to establish a people’s Malaysian state. British forces responded with a massive counter-insurgency campaign, involving repressive measures against civilians and forced relocation of at least 500,000 people across the territory, mostly Chinese. The conflict officially ended in a British victory in 1960, with a total loss of around 500 soldiers and 1,300 policemen on the British side, and about 6,000 fighters on the rebel side. 

4. Anglo-Ashanti Wars

The Ashanti empire was a powerful kingdom in the southern part of the modern nation of Ghana, ruling over a large territory for over two centuries. Much of its wealth and power came from the trans-Atlantic slave trade, as it was both a major source and destination of slaves in the resource-rich Gold Coast region. 

For much of its existence, the Ashanti kingdom was at war with the British colonial empire. The Anglo-Ashanti wars were a series of conflicts between the two powers in the 19th century, beginning in 1823 and ending with a bloody rebellion in 1900. While Ashanti forces were victorious in the initial conflicts, they were outmatched by the British war machine. The Anglo-Ashanti Wars consolidated British control over the Gold Coast region, until Ghana gained its independence in 1957. 

3. Cape Frontier Wars

Between 1779 and 1878, Dutch colonists and later British forces around Cape Colony engaged in one of the longest anti-colonial struggles in history. Fought primarily between European colonists and the Xhosa people – a pastoralist tribe in the Eastern Cape region of modern-day South Africa – they were a series of conflicts for the control of the eastern frontiers of South Africa, now known as the Cape Frontier Wars, or the Xhosa Wars. 

It could be placed in the context of larger struggles against colonialism and slavery ongoing at the time, as the Xhosa people were also prime targets for slavers in South Africa. While Xhosa forces were successful against Dutch militias in the beginning, the entry of British forces in 1811 turned the war in the colonists’ favor. In a curious turn of events, the Xhosa willingly slaughtered all their cattle following a prophecy in 1857, resulting in the decimation of their economy and widespread starvation. The defending forces were decisively defeated by 1878, and all Xhosa lands were eventually incorporated into the colony. 

2. Battle Of Plassey

The Battle of Plassey was fought in the northeastern part of what is now India, between the British East India Company and the ruling Nawab of Bengal, aided by the French East India Company. The short-lived battle – lasting for only a few hours on June 23, 1757 – could be seen as a part of the global Seven Years’ War between France and England. 

While the Nawab’s forces – numbering close to 50,000 men, including 16,000 cavalry – vastly outnumbered the 3,000-strong British contingent, he was eventually betrayed by one of his commanders, Mir Jafar. About one-third of that large army never entered the fight, causing confusion and a loss of morale amongst the rest of his troops. By the end of it, the Nawab was forced to flee the battlefield, resulting in a British victory at a cost of about 21 lives, compared to more than 1,500 casualties on the Bengali and French side. 

1. Battle Of Peking

The Battle of Peking on August 14, 1900 was only a part of the larger Boxer Rebellion – an anti-foreign nationalist uprising across China supported by the ruling Qin dynasty. By June, 1900, the uprising threatened almost all foreigners and Christians in the capital of Peking – now Beijing. A small relief force, led by the British Vice-Admiral Edward Seymour, was sent in from Tianjin on June 10, though they had to retreat due to heavy resistance by imperial Chinese troops. 

As the situation deteriorated rapidly, a much larger force of 55,000 soldiers from Britain, America, Japan, France, and Russia was assembled. By this time, foreigners and Chinese Christians in the city had organized themselves into a besieged zone called the Legation Quarter, defended by makeshift fortifications and a few hundred soldiers. Despite heavy resistance by rebels and Chinese soldiers, the International coalition was able to lift the siege and rescue most of them by August 14.