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The military history of North America can be viewed in a number of phases.
| This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page . (Learn how and when to remove these template messages)
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The military history of North America can be viewed in a number of phases.
Prior to the voyages of Christopher Columbus, warfare and conquest occurred from time to time between the indigenous peoples of the Americas. Examples of early indigenous conflicts include Tikal-Calakmul wars in the Yucatán. In central Mexico, the Aztec Empire fought their enemies in intermittent ritual wars known as the Flower war. Icelandic vikings may have also fought with the indigenous peoples of Newfoundland in 1003, and 1010.
Following Christopher Columbus's establishment of permanent settlements in the Caribbean, the Spanish authorized expeditions for the discovery, conquest, and colonization of new territory. In 1519, Spanish conquistadors waged a military campaign against the Aztec Empire. The campaign culminated in the fall of Tenochtitlan, after a coalition force made up of conquistadors and indigenous tribes that rivaled the Aztecs, captured the city. Subsequent campaigns of conquest were undertaken by Spanish in the Yucatán, and Guatemala. Indigenous resistance and conflicts against the authorities of the Viceroyalty of New Spain (present-day Central America and Mexico), and its succeeding governments continued to occur intermittently. These wars are collectively referred to as the Mexican Indian Wars.
European colonization in Northern America (present-day Canada and the United States) saw conflicts between European colonizers and the indigenous peoples of Northern America. These series of conflicts and wars are collectively referred to as the American Indian Wars. In the Great Lakes region of Northern America, the period of early European contact saw indigenous conflicts between the members of the Iroquois Confederacy, with the support of their English and Dutch allies, against various indigenous groups, including the Huron-Wendat Confederacy, the Illinois Confederation, and Wabanaki Confederacy, all of whom were supported by their French allies. This indigenous conflict, collectively referred to as the Beaver Wars, was fought primarily over control of the North American fur trade.
In addition to these conflicts, European nations also used their North American colonial possessions to wage wars with one other colonial territories in the event of a larger war in Europe or for the control of resources. A number of colonial territories saw conflict with rival colonies as a result of a larger European war. Several North American colonies were attacked by other European powers in conflicts such as the Anglo-Spanish War of 1585 to 1604, and the Eighty Years' War. Campaigns of colonial conquest were also fought during this time, with the Dutch conquest of New Sweden during the Second Northern War, and the English conquest of New Netherland during the Second Anglo-Dutch War. By the beginning of the 18th century, the kingdoms of England, France, and Spain were the only remaining colonial powers on the North American mainland.
From 1689 to 1763, a series of conflicts between the English/British and the French took place, which saw the two European powers fight a number of wars, spanning a number of continents, including North America. During this period, the colonial powers fought over control of the colonies of British America and New France. The North American portion of the British-French struggle culminated in the Seven Years' War, referred to as the French and Indian War in the United States. The war secured British predominance in Northern America, and saw the end of French-rule in New France. At the war's conclusion, the French were forced to cede all its possessions east of the Mississippi River and Canada to the British; as well as cede its Louisiana territory to the Spanish. The Spanish in turn, ceded Spanish Florida to the British.
The beginning of the next phase was marked by the American Revolutionary War in 1775, an independence war where the Thirteen Colonies, and its European allies, fought against Great Britain. Following the independence of the United States, several internal conflicts erupted in the new country including Shays' Rebellion, and the Whiskey Rebellion.
Although the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars were largely confined to Europe, the North American continent also saw some action between its belligerents. In the early years of the French Revolution, a successful slave revolt broke out in the French colony of Saint-Domingue. With assistance from the British, the Haitian Revolution eventually saw the independence of the Empire of Haiti. A direct consequence of the Haitian Revolution was the French invasion of Santo Domingo, a neighbouring Spanish colony in 1801. The West Indies campaign from 1804 to 1810 saw the Spanish and British reconquest of Santo Domingo's in 1808. In addition, the British invaded several French colonies in the West Indies, including Guadeloupe, and Martinique.
In addition to these campaigns, the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars was a contributing factor for a number of other conflicts on the continent. From 1798 to 1800, the United States and the French First Republic fought an undeclared war over debt-repayments, known as the Quasi-War. The Napoleonic Wars was also a contributing factor towards the War of 1812, a conflict in Northern America fought between the United States, and the United Kingdom, along with their remaining colonies in British North America, particularly the Canadas. Napoleon's invasion of Iberia also led to the eventual independence of New Spain in the Mexican War of Independence. The turmoil caused by Napoleon's invasion of Spain also led to the peaceful independence of the colony of Santo Domingo in 1821. However, it was quickly annexed by Haiti in 1822. Their independence was reestablished following the Dominican War of Independence. After a period of Spanish re-colonization, the independence of the Dominican Republic was reasserted in the Dominican Restoration War.
The mid-19th century saw a number of conflicts, including the Mexican–American War; and two French interventions in Mexico, the first from 1838 to 1839, and the second from 1861 to 1866. The end of the century saw the expulsion of the Spanish from their last major territories on the continent during the Spanish–American War.
Internal conflict was also an issue in this period. The colonial and Dominion governments of the Canadas saw several rebellions including the Rebellions of 1837, and the North-West Rebellion. The Mexican government faced a war of secession in Mexican Texas (the Texas Revolution), as well as internal civil conflict (such as the Reform War).
Slavery was a major point of contention in the United States for the first-half of the 19th century. During that period, the United States saw several slave revolts, including German Coast Uprising in 1811, Nat Turner's slave rebellion in 1831, the 1842 Slave Revolt in the Cherokee Nation, and John Brown raid in 1859. The long-standing controversy regarding slavery eventually led to the American Civil War. Lasting from 1861 to 1865, the war saw the collapse of the Confederate States of America, as well as the abolition of slavery in the United States. Other slave revolts in North America includes Bussa's rebellion in Barbados. Bussa's revolt in 1816 was an example of a Caribbean slave revolt during the period. In addition to these internal conflicts, intermittent indigenous conflicts continued to persist in the 19th century.
Following the Spanish–American War, military operations on the North American continent were largely confined to American occupations, police actions, and interventions in Central America and the Caribbean. These military interventions, collectively referred to as the Banana Wars, were conducted to maintain American economic interests in the area. The series of conflicts ended in 1934, with their withdrawal from Haiti, and the adoption of Good Neighbor policy by American President Franklin Roosevelt. During the early-20th century, the two intermittent indigenous conflicts that began in the 16th century came to an end. The last skirmish of the American Indian Wars was in 1924, when the last Apache raid in the United States took place. The last skirmish of the Mexican Indian War was in 1933, between the Mexican government, and the Maya people of the Yucatán.
The first half of the 20th century saw two significant civil conflicts in Mexico. The Mexican Revolution, from 1910 to 1919, saw a series of successive political rebellions against the government of Mexico. The conflict resulted in the creation of the 1917 Constitution of Mexico. The Cristero War, from 1926 to 1929, was a widespread rebellion against the secularist, anti-Catholic and anti-clerical policies of the incumbent Mexican government. The conflict came to an end following an American-brokered ceasefire in 1929.
During World War II, the North American theatre was a minor area of the conflict, although several isolated attacks on the North American coast were carried out by the Empire of Japan, and Nazi Germany. From 1942 to 1943, American and Canadian forces were engaged in the Aleutian Islands Campaign, where they defended the Alaska Territory against Japanese incursion. On the eastern side of the continent, the Battle of the St. Lawrence was an anti-submarine campaign between Canada and Germany. The Battle of the St. Lawrence is considered to be a part of the larger Battle of the Atlantic, where Allied navies aimed to protect the North Atlantic convoys from German U-boats.
Following the Second World War, most countries in the Americas, including every country in Central America, Mexico, and the United States, signed the Inter-American Treaty of Reciprocal Assistance in 1947, a treaty that committed its signors to the doctrine of hemispheric defence. A similar treaty of collective defence between Canada and the United States was arranged through NATO. In April 1948, the Organization of American States was created during the Ninth International Conference of American States held in Bogotá, with member states pledging to fight communism on the American continent. The American government supported the National Liberation Party of Costa Rica during the 1948 Costa Rican Civil War, as a result of their opposition to the communist government.
In 1953, the first successful communist revolution occurred in the Americas, with the Cuban Revolution. An American-sponsored counter-revolutionary invasion was repelled in 1961 during the Bay of Pigs Invasion. The discovery of Soviet missiles in Cuba in 1963 led to a standoff between the United States, and Cuba and the Soviet Union, known as the Cuban Missile Crisis. The crisis escalated to the point where a United States Navy quarantined the island nation. The crisis was eventually resolved when the Soviets agreed to withdraw their missiles from the island, in exchange for the withdrawal of American missiles in Turkey, and Italy; as well as an agreement that the United States would not invade Cuba without direct provocation. The Escambray rebellion was another counter-revolutionary rebellion in the Escambray Mountains of Cuba. Lasting for six years (1959–65).
Throughout the Cold War-era, the United States, along with its allies in the Americas, staged military interventions in several countries in North America, in an effort to contain communism. Military interventions of this nature include the Dominican Civil War in 1963, and the invasion of Grenada in 1983. As the Central American crisis unraveled in the late 1970s, several Central American states including El Salvador, Guatemala, and Nicaragua, saw civil wars and pro-communist revolutions erupt in their country. Various factions involved in those conflicts saw support from either the United States, or the Eastern Bloc, as the civil conflicts became proxies of the larger Cold War.
The countries of El Salvador and Honduras also fought a brief war in July 1969, known as the Football War.
The Zapatista uprising of 1994 was a rebellion in Chiapas, Mexico, coordinated by the Zapatista Army of National Liberation. Launched in response to the implementation of the North American Free Trade Agreement, the rebellion resulted in the San Andrés Accords, granting a number of rights, autonomy, and recognition for the indigenous population of Chiapas. Low-level skirmishes and violent incidents relating to the Zapatista uprising persisted in Chiapas.
The history of the Caribbean reveals the significant role the region played in the colonial struggles of the European powers since the 15th century. In the modern era, it remains strategically and economically important. In 1492, Christopher Columbus landed in the Caribbean and claimed the region for Spain. The following year, the first Spanish settlements were established in the Caribbean. Although the Spanish conquests of the Aztec empire and the Inca empire in the early sixteenth century made Mexico and Peru more desirable places for Spanish exploration and settlement, the Caribbean remained strategically important.
The history of North America encompasses the past developments of people populating the continent of North America. While it was widely believed that continent first became a human habitat when people migrated across the Bering Sea 40,000 to 17,000 years ago, recent discoveries may have pushed those estimates back at least another 90,000 years. People settled throughout the continent, from the Inuit of the far north to the Mayans and Aztecs of the south. These complex communities each developed their own unique ways of life and cultures.
During the Age of Discovery, a large scale colonization of the Americas, involving a number of European empires, took place between around 1492 and 1800. The Norse had explored and colonized areas of Europe and the North Atlantic, colonizing Greenland and creating a short term settlement near the northern tip of Newfoundland circa 1000 CE. However, the later colonization by the European powers involving the continents of North America and South America is arguably more well-known.
The French and Indian Wars were a series of conflicts that occurred in North America between 1688 and 1763, some of which indirectly were related to the European dynastic wars. The title French and Indian War in the singular is used in the United States specifically for the warfare of 1754–63, which composed the North American theatre of the Seven Years' War and the aftermath of which led to the American Revolution. The French and Indian Wars were preceded by the Beaver Wars.
Decolonization or decolonisation is the undoing of colonialism, the latter being the process whereby imperial nations establish and dominate foreign territories, often overseas. Some scholars of decolonization focus especially on independence movements in the colonies and the collapse of global colonial empires. Other scholars extend the meaning to include economic, cultural and psychological aspects of the colonial experience.
The Spanish Empire, sometimes referred to as the Hispanic Monarchy or the Catholic Monarchy was a colonial empire governed by Spain and its predecessor states between 1492 and 1976. In conjunction with the Portuguese Empire, it was the first empire to usher the European Age of Discovery and achieve a global scale, controlling vast portions of the Americas, Africa, various islands in Asia and Oceania, as well as territory in other parts of Europe. It was one of the most powerful empires of the early modern period, becoming known as "the empire on which the sun never sets". At its peak in 1810, the Spanish Empire covered over 13 million square kilometres, or 10.17% of the world, making it one of the largest empires in history.
The term Latin America primarily refers to the Spanish- and Portuguese-speaking countries in the New World.
The Atlantic Revolutions were numerous revolutions in the Atlantic World in the late 18th and early 19th century. Following the Age of Enlightenment, ideas critical of absolutist monarchies began to spread. A revolutionary wave soon occurred, with the aim of ending monarchical rule, emphasizing the ideals of the Enlightenment, and spreading liberalism.
Slavery in the Spanish American colonies was an economic and social institution which existed throughout the Spanish Empire including Spain itself. In its American territories, early Spanish monarchs put forth laws against enslaving Indigenous peoples of the Americas. Queen Isabella outlawed the enslavement of Native Americans in the Spanish colonies of the New World because she viewed the natives as subjects of the Spanish monarchy. While Spain displayed an early abolitionist stance towards the Indigenous, some instances of illegal Native American slavery continued to be practiced by rogue individuals, particularly until the New Laws of 1543 which expressly prohibited it.
Colonial war is a blanket term relating to the various conflicts that arose as the result of overseas territories being settled by foreign powers creating a colony. The term especially refers to wars fought during the nineteenth century between European armies in Africa and Asia.
The military history of Mexico encompasses armed conflicts within that nation's territory, dating from before the arrival of Europeans in 1519 to the present era. Mexican military history is replete with small-scale revolts, foreign invasions, civil wars, indigenous uprisings, and coups d'état by disgruntled military leaders. Mexico's colonial-era military was not established until the eighteenth century. After the Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire in the early sixteenth century, the Spanish crown did not establish on a standing military, but the crown responded to the external threat of a British invasion by creating a standing military for the first time following the Seven Years' War (1756–63). The regular army units and militias had a short history when in the early 19th century, the unstable situation in Spain with the Napoleonic invasion gave rise to an insurgency for independence, propelled by militarily untrained, darker complected men fighting for the independence of Mexico. The Mexican War of Independence (1810–21) saw royalist and insurgent armies battling to a stalemate in 1820. That stalemate ended with the royalist military officer turned insurgent, Agustín de Iturbide persuading the guerrilla leader of the insurgency, Vicente Guerrero, to join in a unified movement for independence, forming the Army of the Three Guarantees. The royalist military had to decide whether to support newly independent Mexico. With the collapse of the Spanish state and the establishment of first a monarchy under Iturbide and then a republic, the state was a weak institution. The Roman Catholic Church and the military weathered independence better. Military men dominated Mexico's nineteenth-century history, most particularly General Antonio López de Santa Anna, under whom the Mexican military were defeated by Texas insurgents for independence in 1836 and then the U.S. invasion of Mexico (1846–48). With the overthrow of Santa Anna in 1855 and the installation of a government of political liberals, Mexico briefly had civilian heads of state. The Liberal Reforms that were instituted by Benito Juárez sought to curtail the power of the military and the church and wrote a new constitution in 1857 enshrining these principles. Conservatives comprised large landowners, the Catholic Church, and most of the regular army revolted against the Liberals, fighting a civil war. The Conservative military lost on the battlefield. But Conservatives sought another solution, supporting the French intervention in Mexico (1862–65). The Mexican army loyal to the liberal republic were unable to stop the French army's invasion, briefly halting it in with a victory at Puebla on 5 May 1862. Mexican Conservatives supported the installation of Maximilian Hapsburg as Emperor of Mexico, propped up by the French and Mexican armies. With the military aid of the U.S. flowing to the republican government in exile of Juárez, the French withdrew its military supporting the monarchy and Maximilian was caught and executed. The Mexican army that emerged in the wake of the French Intervention was young and battle tested, not part of the military tradition dating to the colonial and early independence eras.
Revolutionary War(s) may refer to:
In Hispanic America, criollo is a term used originally to describe people of full Spanish descent born in the viceroyalties. In different Latin American countries the word has come to have different meanings, sometimes referring to the local-born majority.
The decolonization of the Americas occurred over several centuries as most of the countries in the Americas gained their independence from European rule. The American Revolution was the first in the Americas, and the British defeat in the American Revolutionary War (1775–1783) was a victory against a great power, aided by France and Spain, Britain's enemies. The French Revolution in Europe followed, and collectively these events had profound effects on the Spanish, Portuguese, and French colonies in the Americas. A revolutionary wave followed, resulting in the creation of several independent countries in Latin America. The Haitian Revolution lasted from 1791 to 1804 and resulted in the independence of the French slave colony. The Peninsular War with France, which resulted from the Napoleonic occupation of Spain, caused Spanish Creoles in Spanish America to question their allegiance to Spain, stoking independence movements that culminated in various Spanish American wars of independence (1808–33), which were primarily fought between opposing groups of colonists and only secondarily against Spanish forces. At the same time, the Portuguese monarchy fled to Brazil during the French invasion of Portugal. After the royal court returned to Lisbon, the prince regent, Pedro, remained in Brazil and in 1822 successfully declared himself emperor of a newly independent Brazilian Empire.
The historical phenomenon of colonization is one that stretches around the globe and across time. Ancient and medieval colonialism was practiced by the Phoenicians, the Greeks, the Turks, and the Arabs.
Philippines campaign may refer to various military campaigns that have been fought in the Philippine Islands, including:
The Spanish American wars of independence were numerous wars in Spanish America with the aim of political independence from Spanish rule during the early 19th century. These began shortly after the start of the French invasion of Spain, during the Napoleonic Wars, as a struggle for sovereignty in both hemispheres, between those who wanted a unitary monarchy (Royalist) rather than a plural monarchies or Republics (Patriots). Thus, the strict period of military campaigns would go from the battle of Chacaltaya (1809), in present-day Bolivia, to the battle of Tampico (1829), in Mexico.
The military history of South America can be divided into two major periods - pre- and post-Columbian - divided by the entrance of European forces to the region. The sudden introduction of steel, gunpowder weapons and horses into the Americas would revolutionize warfare. Within the post-Columbian period, the events of the early 19th century, when almost all of South America was marked by wars of independence, also forms a natural historical juncture. Throughout its history, South America has had distinct military features: it has been geographically separated from many major military powers by large oceans; its unique terrain has imposed major logistical challenges, and privileged naval lines of communications.
France–Americas relations started in the 16th century, soon after the discovery of the New World by Christopher Columbus, and have developed over a period of several centuries.
