List of wars involving Canada

This is a list of wars and armed conflicts in and involving Canada in chronological order, from the 11th century to the 21st century. It is divided into two main sections.

The first section outlines conflicts that happened in what is now Canada before its confederation in 1867. It includes notable events like the Battle of Vinland, Beaver Wars, Acadian Civil War, and various Anglo-Dutch Wars, highlighting the belligerents involved and the outcomes.

The second section discusses wars involving Canada since its confederation in 1867. It lists conflicts such as the Fenian Raids, Red River Rebellion, Mahdist War, Canada in World War I and Canada in World War II, detailing the combatants, results, and casualties for each event. Ongoing conflicts and military operations, such as the military intervention against the Islamic State and involvement in maritime security operations in response to Houthi attacks are also covered.

See also: List of Canadian military operations and list of Canadian peacekeeping missions

List

Colonial conflicts (11th century – 1867)

The following were conflicts that occurred in present-day Canada from the 11th century AD to the mid-19th century, prior to Canadian confederation. Belligerents in these conflicts typically involved colonies in Canada (e.g. New France, the Canadas), and/or First Nations groups residing in the region.

Conflict	Combatant 1	Combatant 2	Result
Battles of Vinland (approximately 1000 CE)	Vikings	Skræling	Skræling victory and Viking withdrawal [1]
Beaver Wars (1609–1701)	Iroqouis	Algonquian allies	Military stalemate Great Peace of Montreal Growth of French influence in the Great Lakes region Huron-Wendat Confederacy destroyed or assimilated Military refugee migration results in expansion of Iroquois hunting grounds Further Iroquois territorial expansion halted in military campaigns by the Council of Three Fires
Acadian Civil War (1635–1654)	Kingdom of France   New France (Saint John Administration)	Kingdom of France   New France (Port Royal Administration)	Saint John Administration victory Charles de La Tour restored as governor of Acadia in 1653 Followed by English attacks on French settlements in the Bay of Fundy in 1654
Second Anglo-Dutch War (1665–1667)	Dutch Republic	Kingdom of England Newfoundland Colony	Status quo ante bellum Dutch capture of St. John's in 1665 led by Michiel de Ruyter St. John's retaken by English
Third Anglo-Dutch War (1672–1674)	Dutch Republic	Kingdom of England Colony of Avalon	Status quo ante bellum Dutch capture of Ferryland on 4 September 1673 by ships Green Wife, Arms of Leyden. Schacator, Unity Ferryland retaken by English in 1674
King William's War (1688–1697)	Kingdom of France   New France Wabanaki Confederacy	England English America Iroquois	Status quo ante bellum
Queen Anne's War (1702–1713)	Kingdom of France   New France   Spain Wabanaki Confederacy Caughnawaga Mohawk Choctaw Timucua Apalachee Natchez	England (before 1707) English America   British Empire (after 1707) British America Muscogee Chickasaw Yamasee Iroquois Confederacy	British-Allied victory France cedes to Britain the control of Acadia, Newfoundland, Hudson Bay, and Saint Kitts
Dummer's War (1722–1725)	New England Colonies Mohawk	Wabanaki Confederacy Abenaki Pequawket Mi'kmaq Maliseet
King George's War (1744–1748)	Kingdom of France   New France Wabanaki Confederacy	British Empire British America Iroquois Confederacy	Status quo ante bellum
Father Le Loutre's War (1749–1755)	Wabanaki Confederacy Mi'kmaw militia Maliseet militia   Kingdom of France   New France Acadian militia	British Empire Nova Scotia	British victory Beginning of the expulsion of the Acadians in 1755
Seven Years' War (1756–1763)	Kingdom of France   New France Wabanaki Confederacy Abenaki Mi'kmaw militia Acadian militia Algonquin Lenape Ojibwa Odawa Shawnee	British Empire British America Iroquois Confederacy Catawba Cherokee (before 1758)	British-Allied victory British military conquest of New France France cedes New France east of the Mississippi River to Great Britain, retaining Saint Pierre and Miquelon, and transfers Louisiana to Spain
Pontiac's War (1763–1766)	British Empire Province of Quebec	Ottawas Ojibwas Potawatomis Hurons Miamis Weas Kickapoos Mascoutens Piankashaws Delawares Shawnees Wyandots Mingos Iroquois	Military stalemate First Nations concede British sovereignty but compel British policy changes
American Revolutionary War (1775–1783)	British Empire Province of Quebec Nova Scotia Onondaga Mohawk Cayuga Seneca Mi'kmaq Cherokee Odawa Muscogee Susquehannock Shawnee	United States   France   Spain Oneida Tuscarora Catawba Lenape Chickasaw Choctaw Mahican Mi'kmaq Abenaki Cheraw Seminole Pee Dee Lumbee	American-Allied victory Incursions into Quebec and Nova Scotia repulsed Great Britain cedes to the United States the area east of the Mississippi River and south of the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence River Great Britain cedes East Florida, West Florida, and Menorca to Spain
War of 1812 (1812–1815)	British Empire   Lower Canada   Upper Canada Tecumseh's Confederacy Shawnee Ojibwe Fox Iroquois Miami Mingo Odawa Kickapoo Lenape Mascouten Potawatomi Sauk Wyandot   Spain (1814)	United States Choctaw Cherokee Muscogee Seneca	Status quo ante bellum Military stalemate
Pemmican War (1812–1821)	North West Company Metis	Hudson's Bay Company Selkirk's settlers	Merger between the North West Company and Hudson Bay Company
Rebellions of 1837–1838 (1837–1838)	Lower Canada Château Clique   Upper Canada Family Compact	Patriotes Republic of Lower Canada Hunters' Lodges Republic of Canada	Government victory Patriote rebellion crushed by loyalist forces; Republic of Canada dismantled Defeat of Hunters' Lodges Unification of Upper and Lower Canada into the Province of Canada

Canada (1867–present)

The following table lists conflicts involving Canada since confederation in 1867. Since that time there have been 26 conflicts with 2 of them currently ongoing:

Conflict	Combatant 1	Combatant 2	Result	Killed	Wounded
Fenian raids (1866–1871)	Canada [a]	Fenian Brotherhood	Victory Fenians cease raids	22	32
Red River Rebellion (1869-1870)	Canada	Métis	Victory The Wolseley Expedition takes control of Fort Garry (modern day Winnipeg) Louis Riel flees to the United States	1	Unknown
Wolseley Expedition (1870)	Canada	Métis	Victory Red River Rebellion defeated The legislature passes the Manitoba Act in 1870 Red River Colony enters Canada as the province of Manitoba	None	None
Mahdist War (1881–1899)	United Kingdom   Canada Egypt	Sudan	Victory Sudan becomes the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, a condominium of the British Empire	16 [2]	Unknown
North-West Rebellion (1885)	Canada	Provisional Government of Saskatchewan (Métis) Cree–Assiniboine	Victory Completion of the Canadian Pacific Railway Trial of Louis Riel	50 [3]	103
Second Boer War (1899–1902)	United Kingdom   Canada   Australia   New Zealand   India   Ceylon Cape Colony Natal Colony Rhodesia	Orange Free State   South African Republic	Victory British sovereignty over the Orange Free State and the Transvaal in accordance with the Treaty of Vereeniging	267 [4]	>250 [5]
First World War (1914–1918)	France   United Kingdom   Russia   United States China   Italy   Japan   Canada   Newfoundland   Australia   New Zealand   India   South Africa   Serbia   Montenegro   Romania   Belgium   Greece   Portugal   Brazil	Germany   Austria-Hungary   Ottoman Empire   Bulgaria	Victory End of the German, Russian, Ottoman, and Austro-Hungarian empires Formation of new countries in Europe and the Middle East Transfer of German colonies and regions of the former Ottoman Empire to other powers Establishment of the League of Nations	66,944 [6]	~172,000 [7]
Russian Civil War (1918–1920)	White Movement   France   United Kingdom   United States China   Italy   Japan   Canada   Australia   India   South Africa   Serbia   Romania   Greece   Czechoslovakia   Poland   Estonia	Russian SFSR   Far Eastern Republic Latvian SSR Ukrainian SSR Commune of Estonia Mongolian Communists	Inconclusive/Other Result Victory for the Bolshevik Red Army in Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, South Caucasus, Central Asia, Tuva, and Mongolia; incorporation of those territories into the Russian SFSR and Soviet Union Allied forces withdrawal from Russia Bolshevik victory over White Army The Soviet Union becomes the new Russian power Russian famine of 1921–1922 Victory for pro-independence and anti communist movements in Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Poland; expulsion of Bolshevik forces from those territories	14	24
Second World War (1939–1945)	Soviet Union   United States   United Kingdom   China   France   Poland   Canada   Australia   New Zealand   India   South Africa   Yugoslavia   Greece   Denmark   Norway   Netherlands   Belgium   Luxembourg   Czechoslovakia   Brazil   Mexico   Ethiopia	Germany   Japan   Italy   Hungary   Romania   Bulgaria   Croatia   Slovakia   Finland Vichy France   Thailand   Manchukuo   Mengjiang	Victory Collapse of the Third Reich Fall of Japanese and Italian Empires Creation of the United Nations Emergence of the United States and the Soviet Union as superpowers Beginning of the Cold War Beginning of the Atomic Age	~45,300 [8]	~55,000
Korean War (1950–1953)	South Korea   United Nations   United States   United Kingdom   Australia   Belgium   Canada   France   Philippines   Colombia   Ethiopia   Greece   Luxembourg   Netherlands   New Zealand   South Africa   Thailand   Turkey	North Korea   China   Soviet Union	Ceasefire Ceasefire armistice North Korean invasion of South Korea repelled UN invasion of North Korea repelled Chinese invasion of South Korea repelled Korean Demilitarized Zone established Little territorial change at the 38th parallel border	516 [9]	1,042
Congo Crisis (1960–1963)	Congo-Léopoldville UNOC	Katanga   South Kasai	Victory	Unknown	Unknown
Insurgency in Quebec (1962–1973)	Canada	Front de libération du Québec	Victory FLQ guerrillas are disbanded in 1973, after collapse in 1971.	Unknown	Unknown
Oka Crisis (1990)	Canada	Mohawk Warrior Society	Victory End of Mohawk blockade Federal government purchased the Pines from Municipality of Oka to prevent further development	1 [10]	30 [11]
Persian Gulf War (1990–1991)	Kuwait   United States   United Kingdom   Saudi Arabia   France   Canada   Egypt Syria   Qatar   United Arab Emirates   Oman   Bangladesh	Iraq	Victory Removal of Iraqi invasion force from Kuwait Imposition of sanctions against Iraq	None	None
Somali Civil War (1992–1995)	United States   United Kingdom   Spain   Saudi Arabia   Malaysia   Pakistan   Italy   India   Greece   Germany   France   Canada   Botswana   Belgium   Australia   New Zealand	Somali National Alliance	Victory UN humanitarian mandate fulfilled, saving around 100,000 lives Somalia Affair Dissolution of Canadian Airborne Regiment The Somali Civil War is ongoing	1	None
Bosnian War (1992–1995)	Bosnia and Herzegovina   Croatia   NATO   Belgium   Canada   Denmark   France   Germany   Italy   Luxembourg   Netherlands   Norway   Portugal   Spain   Turkey   United Kingdom   United States	Republika Srpska	Victory Dayton Accords Internal partition of Bosnia and Herzegovina according to the Dayton Accords Deployment of NATO-led IFOR to oversee the peace agreement Massive civilian casualties for the Bosniak ethnic group	23 [12]	unknown
Operation Medak Pocket (September 9–17, 1993)	Canada   France Republic of Serbian Krajina	Croatia	Canadian strategic victory Croatian forces recover Divoselo and Čitluk (in total 48 km2) Croatian withdrawal UN secures Medak Pocket Canada holds out against an army three times its size without suffering casualties.	None	4
Kosovo War (1998–1999)	UÇK (KLA) AFRK (FARK)   Albania   Croatia   NATO   Belgium   Canada   Czech Republic   Denmark   France   Germany   Hungary   Italy   Luxembourg   Netherlands   Norway   Poland   Portugal   Spain   Turkey   United Kingdom   United States	FR Yugoslavia	Victory Kumanovo Treaty Yugoslav security forces pull out of Kosovo KLA veterans join the UÇPMB, starting the Preševo insurgency	None	None
International Force for East Timor (1999–2000)	Australia   New Zealand   Bangladesh   Brazil   Canada   Denmark   France   Germany   Ireland   Italy   Jordan   Kenya   Malaysia   Norway   Philippines   Portugal   Singapore   South Korea   Thailand   United States	Pro-Indonesian militia	Victory Defeat of pro-Indonesian militia Stability in East Timor Arrival of UN peacekeepers	None	None
War in Afghanistan (2001–2014)	Afghanistan   United States   United Kingdom   Germany   Italy   France   Canada   Australia   New Zealand   Georgia   Poland   Romania   Turkey ISAF   Albania   Armenia   Austria   Azerbaijan   Bahrain   Belgium   Bosnia and Herzegovina   Bulgaria   Croatia   Czech Republic   Denmark   El Salvador   Estonia   Finland   Greece   Hungary   Iceland   Ireland   Jordan   Latvia   Lithuania   Luxembourg   Malaysia   Mongolia   Montenegro   Netherlands   Norway   Portugal   Republic of Macedonia   Singapore   Slovakia   Slovenia   South Korea   Spain   Sweden    Switzerland   Tonga   Ukraine   United Arab Emirates Northern Alliance	Taliban al-Qaeda Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan HI-Gulbuddin Hezb-e Islami Khalis Haqqani network Lashkar-e-Taiba Jaish-e-Mohammed East Turkestan Islamic Movement Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan Islamic Emirate of Waziristan Tehreek-e-Nafaz-e-Shariat-e-Mohammadi Islamic Jihad Union Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan	Withdrawal/Allied defeat Fall of the Taliban government in Afghanistan Destruction of al-Qaeda camps Over two thirds of al-Qaeda's leadership demolished Occupation of Afghanistan Establishment of a new Afghan government Killing of Osama bin Laden Withdrawal of allied forces, including Canada in 2014. Taliban victory in Afghanistan in the year 2021 after an effective resurgence [13] Fall of the Afghan National Army (ANA), [14] which was previously trained by Canadian soldiers [15] Taliban control of US weapons and equipment following the rapid withdrawal of allied forces [16]	166 [17] [18]	2,071 [19]
First Libyan Civil War (2011)	NTC   Qatar   NATO   Belgium   Bulgaria   Canada   Denmark   France   Greece   Italy   Netherlands   Norway   Romania   Spain   Turkey   United Kingdom   United States   Sweden   Jordan   United Arab Emirates	Libya	Victory Overthrow of Muammar Gaddafi in Libya Death of Muammar Gaddafi Dissolution of the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya	None	None
Iraqi Civil War (2013–2017)	Iraq [20] Assyrian Forces (Iraqi command)   Iraqi Turkmen Front Iraqi Communist Party   Iran   Hezbollah Syria [21] Iraqi Kurdistan [20] Assyrian Forces (Kurdish command) Sinjar Alliance PKK [22]   Rojava [22] CJTF–OIR   United States   United Kingdom   Canada [23] [24]   Australia [25]   France   Italy   Netherlands   Finland [26]   Denmark [27]	Islamic State Naqshbandi Army (2013–15)	Victory Iraqi territorial integrity preserved ISIL expelled from all strongholds by 11 November 2017 [28] [29] Iraq declares the defeat of ISIL on 9 December 2017 after securing the western desert with neighbouring Syria [30] End of open conflict and return of relative stability to Iraq following the end of the war [31]	1	Unknown
Military intervention against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (2014–present)	United States   United Kingdom   Australia   Belgium   Canada   Denmark   France   Germany   Italy   Netherlands   New Zealand   Norway   Portugal   Spain   Sweden   Turkey	Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant	Ongoing Airstrikes on ISIL and al-Qaeda affiliates positions in Iraq and Syria Multinational humanitarian effort Arming and support for local ground forces 2 American journalists, 2 British humanitarian workers, and 1 French tourist executed [32] [33] [34] As of February 2016, Canada has discontinued bombing ISIS positions [35] but still has special operations units in Iraq [36]	2	At Least 3
Red Sea crisis (2023–present)	Israel   United Kingdom   United States   Canada   Australia   New Zealand   Bahrain   Denmark   Germany   Greece   Netherlands   Norway   Sri Lanka   Singapore   Seychelles   Egypt [a]   France   Italy   India   Pakistan   Saudi Arabia [a]	Supreme Political Council [b]   Houthis   Iran [c]    Axis of Resistance Hezbollah [39] Islamic Resistance in Iraq [40] Supported by:   North Korea (alleged) [41]	Ongoing Disruption of international maritime trade and the global economy due to Houthi attacks and hijackings Beginning of Operation Prosperity Guardian in December 2023 Canada deploys 3 staff officers and an of unspecified number of land, air and sea support vehicles. [42] Missile strikes against Houthi-controlled territory in January 2024	Unknown	Unknown

See also

• List of Anglo-French conflicts on Hudson Bay
• List of Canadian military operations
• List of Canadian peacekeeping missions
• List of massacres in Canada

Notes

1. Raids conducted in 1866 occurred in the Province of Canada, and the colony of New Brunswick, prior to Canadian confederation
2. Political legitimacy of all Houthi-led government bodies has been rejected by the United Nations, rival Yemeni factions, the Gulf Cooperation Council, and the United States.
3. The Iranian government has deployed military personnel to Houthi-controlled Yemen, who are actively involved in attacks on commercial shipping. ^{[37] [38] [39]}

References

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5. "Canada Remembers the South African War Historical Sheet". Veterans Affairs Canada. February 20, 2019.
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