List of wars involving South Africa

This is a list of wars involving the Union of South Africa and its successor, the Republic of South Africa .

Conflict	South Africa and allies	Opponents	Results	Prime Minister (1912–94) President (1994–)	Losses
World War I (1914–1918)	Allied Powers:   France   United Kingdom  and Empire:   Australia Canada   Ceylon   Egypt   Newfoundland   New Zealand   India   South Africa Russia [a]   Italy (from 1915)   United States (from 1917)   Japan and others ...	Central Powers:   Germany   Austria-Hungary   Ottoman Empire   Bulgaria (from 1915) and others ...	Victory Partition of the Ottoman Empire, dissolution of Austria-Hungary, transfer of German colonies and territories to other countries Formation of new countries in Europe and the Middle East, such as Poland, Yugoslavia, Weimar Germany, Soviet Russia and Soviet Union, Lithuania, Estonia, Latvia, Austria, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Turkey, Hejaz, and Yemen	Louis Botha	9,726 dead [1]
Maritz Rebellion (1914–1915)	{  British Empire   Union of South Africa	South African Republic Supported by:   German Empire	Government victory Rebellion suppressed South Africa occupies German South West Africa Rise of the National Party
Russian Civil War [2] (1918–1920)	White Movement United Kingdom   United States France   Japan   Italy   China   Canada   Australia   India South Africa   Czechoslovakia   Poland   Greece   Romania   Yugoslavia   Estonia	Russian SFSR   Far Eastern Republic Latvian SSR Ukrainian SSR Commune of Estonia Mongolian Communists	Defeat(limited involvement) [2] Allied withdrawal from Russia Defeat of the White Movement		Unknown
Rand Rebellion (1921–1922)	Union of South AfricaSouth Africa	South African Communist Party	Government victory Rebellion suppressed	Jan Smuts	153 dead [3] (both sides)
Bondelswarts Rebellion (1922)	South Africa South West Africa	Bondelswarts	Government victory Rebellion suppressed		100 dead, 468 wounded (Bondelswarts)
World War II (1939–1945)	Soviet Union   United States   United Kingdom   China France Poland   Yugoslavia   Greece   Netherlands   Belgium   Luxembourg   Denmark   Norway   Czechoslovakia   Canada   Australia   New Zealand   India   South Africa Philippines Ethiopia Brazil   Mexico Mongolia	Germany   Japan   Italy   Romania   Hungary   Bulgaria Slovakia   Croatia   Finland   Thailand   Iraq	Victory Collapse of the German 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		6,840 dead 1,841 missing 14,589 prisoners
Greek Civil War (1944–1945) [4]	Cairo Government   United Kingdom South Africa	ELAS	Victory Treaty of Varkiza		None
Korean War (1950–1953)	South Korea   United States   United Kingdom   Canada   Turkey   Australia Ethiopia   Philippines   New Zealand Thailand Greece   France   Colombia   Belgium South Africa   Netherlands   Luxembourg	North Korea   China   Soviet Union	Stalemate The Korean Armistice Agreement 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	D. F. Malan	34 dead [5] 9 prisoners
Rhodesian Bush War (1965–1979)	Rhodesia (1964–1979)   Zimbabwe Rhodesia (1979)   Portugal (1964–1974) [b]   South Africa (from 1967) [6]	ZANU (ZANLA) [7] ZAPU (ZIPRA) Mozambique [8] ANC (MK) [8]   Zambia [9]	Stalemate Lancaster House Agreement End to armed hostilities Free elections with ZANU and ZAPU participation Formation of Zimbabwe Rhodesia disestablished; Zimbabwe gains internationally recognised independence in its place.	B. J. Vorster	Unknown
Mozambican Civil War (1978–1985) [10]	RENAMO   Zimbabwe Rhodesia   South Africa	FRELIMO ANC	Stalemate(limited involvement) Non-aggression pact (Nkomati Accord)	P. W. Botha	Unknown
South African Border War (1966–1989) [11]	South Africa   Portugal UNITA FNLA	SWAPO SWANU MPLA   Cuba ANC   Zambia	Stalemate Withdrawal of foreign forces from Angola Namibian independence from South African rule		2,038 dead [12]
Natal Civil War (1987–1994) [13]	IFP	ANC	Stalemate [13] Violence subsided following 1994 elections		Unknown
Operation Boleas (1998)	South Africa   Botswana	LDF rebels	Victory Suspected coup d'état in Lesotho quelled	Nelson Mandela	11 dead [14]
Battle of Bangui (2013)	South Africa   Central African Republic	Séléka	Disputed [15] François Bozizé successfully escorted to safety,Rebel advance towards South African base repelled	Jacob Zuma	15 dead [16]
M23 Rebellion (2012-2013)	Democratic Republic of the Congo MONUSCO Force Intervention Brigade   South Africa [17]   Tanzania [18]   Malawi [19]	March 23 Movement Alleged support:   Uganda [20]   Rwanda [20]	Victory M23 disarms and demobilises [21]		None
ADF Insurgency (2014–present)	DR Congo   Uganda   South Africa   Tanzania   Malawi	ADF	Ongoing UNF Intervention Brigade intervention from 2014		1 dead
Insurgency in Cabo Delgado (2017–present)	SADC   South Africa   Mozambique   Tanzania   Angola   Botswana   Rwanda   Malawi   Lesotho	Ansar al-Sunna Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant	Ongoing involvement of South African Special forces from July 2021	Cyril Ramaphosa	1 [22]

See also

• 1981 Seychelles coup attempt

Notes

1. The Russian Empire during 1914–1917, the Russian Republic during 1917. The Bolshevik government signed a separate peace with the Central Powers shortly after their armed seizure of power, resulting in a Central Powers victory on the Eastern Front of the war, and the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic's defeat. However, this peace treaty was nullified by an Allied Powers victory on the Western Front, and the end of the war.
2. Portuguese forces assisted the Rhodesians in cross-border operations into Portuguese Mozambique. See Operation Flotilla and Operation Birch.

References

1. Commonwealth War Graves Commission Annual Report 2013–2014 Archived 2015-11-04 at the Wayback Machine , page 48. Figures include identified burials and those commemorated by name on memorials.
2. Scientia Militaria: South African Journal of Military Studies, Vol 15, Nr 4, 1985, pp. 46-48. Accessed January 24, 2016.
3. Bendix, S. (2001) Industrial Relations in South Africa. Claremont: Juta. p. 59
4. See Air operations during the Greek Civil War#South African Air Force
5. "Casualties of Korean War" (in Korean). Ministry of National Defense of Republic of Korea. Archived from the original on 2013-01-20. Retrieved 14 February 2007.
6. Houser, George M. Rhodesia To Zimbabwe: A Chronology. New York: The Africa Fund, 1977, p. 7: ZAPU and the African National Congress of South Africa jointly began an armed struggle in northwestern Rhodesia centered in Wankie. This campaign lasted into 1968, with several hundred ZAPU and South African ANC guerrillas involved. South African troops entered Rhodesia to support the government. Prime Minister Vorster said: "We are good friends (with Rhodesia) and good friends know what their duty is when the neighbour's house is on fire."
7. Norman 2003, p. 65.
8. Thomas 1995, pp. 16–17.
9. "'Da mu nisam 'sredio' susret s Titom, Mugabe nikad ne bi priznao Hrvatsku': prekaljeni diplomat Frane Krnić za 'Slobodnu' otkrio svoje veze s nedavno preminulim liderom Zimbabvea". Slobodna Dalmacija . 17 September 2019. Retrieved 8 August 2020.
10. South Africa agreed to withdraw its support for RENAMO in 1984. However, South Africa only withdrew from the Mozambican Civil War in 1985. For more information, see War and Society: The Militarisation of South Africa, edited by Jacklyn Cock and Laurie Nathan, pp.104-115
11. Note: South Africa was already involved in combating SWAPO insurgents in 1966, but intervention in Angola started in 1975 with Operation Savannah.
12. "SA Roll of Honour: List of Wars". Justdone.co.za. Retrieved 15 January 2013.
13. Taylor, Rupert. "Justice denied: political violence in Kwazulu‐Natal after 1994." African Affairs 101, no. 405 (2002): 473-508.
14. "'A fractious lot': Anatomy of (another) coup in Lesotho". Daily Maverick. 3 July 2015.
15. References:
    • Helmoed Römer Heitman.
16. "CAR battle claims another SANDF soldier". Enca. South Africa.
17. South Africa deploys troops to DR Congo: News Archived 24 June 2013 at the Wayback Machine . Africareview.com (2 June 2012). Retrieved on 2013-09-04.
18. "Last batch of Tanzanian troops now in Goma for the Force Intervention Brigade". MONUSCO. 12 June 2013. Archived from the original on 3 December 2013. Retrieved 10 October 2013.
19. "UN troops clash with rebels in DR Congo – Africa". Al Jazeera English. Archived from the original on 27 August 2013. Retrieved 4 November 2013.
20. According to a leaked U.N. report. "Rwanda defence chief leads DR Congo rebels, UN report says". BBC. 17 October 2012. Archived from the original on 27 November 2012. Retrieved 17 October 2012.
21. Andrew Harding (5 November 2013). "BBC News – DR Congo M23 rebels 'end insurgency'". BBC. Archived from the original on 6 November 2013. Retrieved 6 November 2013.
22. "Remains of SA soldier killed in Mozambique handed over to family". africanews.

Sources

• Thomas, Scott (1995). The Diplomacy of Liberation: the Foreign Relations of the ANC Since 1960 (1st ed.). London: I.B. Tauris. ISBN   978-1-85043-993-6.
• Norman, Andrew (December 2003). Robert Mugabe and the Betrayal of Zimbabwe. Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Company. ISBN   978-0-7864-1686-8.