The American Revolution
1775-1783: Serving: 184,000 to 250,000 Service Deaths: 4,435
Who we fought: Great Britain, in essence our own government.
Who fought with us: France, later in the War.
The outcome: The United States won its independence.
Quick fact: The spirit of revolution simmered slowly after about 1750, as Britain piled taxes and restrictive regulations on the American colonists. War finally broke out at Lexington when the British tried to disarm the patriots there.
The Ohio Valley Campaigns
1790-1812: Service Deaths: N/A
Who we fought: The American Indian - Creek, Miami, Shawnee and others.
The outcome: The frontier was pushed steadily westward.
Quick fact: Only interrupted by the War of 1812, efforts to force open Indian lands to white settlement resulted in broken treaties and on-again, off-again warfare in the current states of Ohio, Indiana and Illinois. Tecumseh and Tippecanoe became household names.
The Whiskey Rebellion
1794: Service Deaths: N/A
Who we fought: Rebellious whiskey merchants and supporters in western Pennsylvania.
The outcome: The rebellion ended and whiskey was taxed.
Quick fact: This was the first test of President Washington's authority to use the national militia to suppress insurrection internally. In actuality, little fighting resulted and the rebellion melted away in the face of Maj. Gen. Henry Lee's forces.
The Quasi-War
1798-1800: Service Deaths: 20 (Navy & Marines)
Who we fought: An undeclared war with France.
The outcome: U.S. naval squadrons, operating principally in West Indian waters, sought out and attacked enemy privateers until France agreed to an honorable settlement. (Convention of Mortefontaine, 30 September 1800)
Quick fact: The U.S. wins 9 of 10 naval encounters. Between 1798 and 1800 the U.S. Navy captured more than 80 French ships although neither country officially declared war.
The Barbary Wars
1801-05, 1815: Service Deaths: 35 (Navy & Marines)
Who we fought: The Pasha of Tripoli (now Libya), and three other North African states which supported piracy.
The outcome: U.S. captives freed; intermittent peace.
Quick fact: Barbary pirates had preyed on Christian ships for decades, collecting tribute. U.S. refused higher tribute, leading to two wars. In 1805, Marines crossed hundreds of miles of desert ..."to the shores of Tripoli"... to free U.S. captives.
Chesapeake & Little Belt Affairs
1807 & 1811: Service Deaths: 3 (Chesapeake)
Who we fought: Great Britain
The outcome: 22 June 1807: HMS Leopard fired two broadsides into USS Chesapeake, killing three and wounding 18. Four men were then forcibly removed to the British ship. 16 May 1811: USS President opened fire on HMS Little Belt. The Little Belt sustained much greater damage, with nine killed and twenty-three wounded.
Quick fact: Both of these incidents were in sight of American land. This proved anything was liable to come under a British hail or fire and gave strong support for The War of 1812.
Battle of Tippecanoe
1811: Serving: 1,000: Service Deaths: 62
Who we fought: The Shawnee, Tecumseh and the Prophet were two Shawnee Indians. They also were brothers.
The outcome: The American army drove off the Indians and burned Prophetstown to the ground. Most Indians no longer believing in the Prophet caused Tecumseh's confederation collapsed.
Quick fact: Commanded by William Henry Harrison, then governor of Indiana Territory, used his popularity as a successful Indian fighter to run for President of the United States. His campaign slogan was "Tippecanoe and Tyler too!"
The War of 1812 (2nd War for Independence)
1812-1815: Serving: 286,730 Service Deaths: 2,260
Who we fought: Great Britain
The outcome: Britain surrendered.
Quick fact: An unfortunate war that many believe didn't have to be, but began over the British impressment of U.S. sailors on the high seas. It burned Washington, but gave us our national anthem.
The Creek War
1813-1814: Service Deaths: N/A
Who we fought: Creek Indians
Who fought with us: Choctaws and Chickasaws
The outcome: The Creek Indians cede to the United States all their land east of the Mississippi River.
Quick fact: The Creek were aided and abetted by the Spaniards who supplied arms and ammunition. General Jackson demanded satisfaction from the Spanish, and as this was not furnished, Jackson took Pensacola. When this was done, the war was soon closed.
The First Seminole War
1817-1818: Serving: 1,800 Service Deaths: N/A
Who we fought: The Seminole and Creek tribes of southern Georgia and Florida.
The outcome: Suppression of Seminole attacks.
Quick fact: Seminole attacks on whites in Georgia were incited by two British adventurers. U.S. troops under Andrew Jackson moved south, capturing the Brits and burning Spanish forts in Florida. Spain ceded Florida to U.S. in 1819.
The Black Hawk War
1832: Serving: 1,000 regulars, 300 mounted volunteers, and 4,000 militia Service Deaths: 70 (settlers and soldiers)
Who we fought: Chief Black Hawk and about 500 Sac and Fox warriors.
The outcome: The Indians were decisively defeated at Bad Axe Creek, Wisconsin.
Quick fact: Reneging on two treaties ceding his tribal lands in western Illinois, Black Hawk led 2,000 of his people back across the Mississippi in an attempt to resettle there. They were defeated by 500 U.S. regulars, and re-established on a reservation in Iowa.
Assault on Sumatra
1832: Serving: 250 Marines (USS Potomac): Service Deaths: 2 (Navy)
Who we fought: Malay pirates
The outcome: The U.S. retaliates against an attack on the American ship Friendship, killing 100 Sumatrans and burning the town of Quallah Battoo (now in Indonesia).
Quick fact: The first U.S. armed intervention in Asia.
The Texas War for Independence
1835-1836: Service Deaths: N/A
Who we fought: The government of Mexico, under President Santa Anna.
Who fought with us: Texas was aided by a variety of American adventurers and military men, including Sam Houston, Davy Crockett, Jim Bowie and William Travis.
The outcome: Texas won her independence, and joined the Union nine years later.
Quick fact: Though technically not an American war, in essence the embattled Texians were all Americans seeking rights under the Mexican constitution of 1824, which Santa Anna had abolished. Best remembered for the heroic stand at the Alamo.
The Second Seminole War
1835-1842: Service Deaths: 1,600
Who we fought: The Seminole tribe of Florida, under Chief Osceola.
The outcome: The Seminoles were shipped west as planned.
Quick fact: When the U.S. decided that the Seminoles should be relocated to Arkansas, they naturally thought that was a dumb idea. Six bitter, hard-fought years and 1,600 American lives later, 3,800 half-starved Indians were shipped to Arkansas.
Aroostook War (Northeastern Boundary Dispute)
1838-1839: Serving: 10,000 Service Deaths: 0
Who we fought: Great Britain
The outcome: Britain agreed to refer the dispute to a boundary commission, and the matter settled in 1842 by the Webster-Ashburton Treaty.
Quick fact: The U.S. fights an undeclared war over Maine's boundaries. Troops camp along the Aroostook River in a conflict without casualties.
The Mexican War
1846-1848: Serving: 78,718 Service Deaths: 13,283
Who we fought: Mexico
The outcome: Mexico surrendered.
Quick fact: This conflict was an indirect effect of the Texas fight for freedom a decade before, as it erupted over her southern boundary. The surrender gave us most of our present southwest, including California.
Cayuse War
1847-1850: Serving: 500 Service Deaths: N/A
Who we fought: Cayuse Indians
The outcome: The U.S. military forces the Cayuse to surrender and hangs five people.
Quick fact: The Cayuse killed eleven whites living at a Presbyterian mission in what is called the Whitman Massacre.
Bleeding Kansas
1854-1861: Service Deaths: N/A
Who we fought: Three distinct political groups occupied Kansas: pro-slavers, free-staters and abolitionists. Federal troops quell the fighting between these opposing factions.
The outcome: Violence continued until 1861 when Kansas entered the Union as a free state on January 29th.
Quick fact: In May 1856, an 800-man "posse" made up of border ruffians from Missouri sacked Lawrence, wrecking the newspaper offices and burning the hotel and the home of the Free-Soil governor. Four days later, fanatic abolitionist John Brown and four of his sons seized five proslavery settlers from their homes along Pottawatomie Creek and, in front of the settler's families, hacked them to death with broadswords. More than 200 men would be killed in the era known as "Bleeding Kansas".
Third Seminole War (Billy Bowlegs War)
1855-1858: Service Deaths: N/A
Who we fought: Seminole Indians
The outcome: The war ended with Bowlegs' surrender on May 7, 1858.
Quick fact: In exchange for small cash outlays, Bowlegs agreed to leave Florida with about 165 members of his tribe to Indian Territory in Oklahoma. The tiny Seminole remnant that hung on has never surrendered.
Mormon Expedition (The Utah War)
1857-1858: Service Deaths: N/A
Who we fought: Mormon militia, called the Nauvoo Legion
The outcome: Approximately 30,000 people evacuated all the Mormon settlements in northern Utah while The outcome of the Utah War was being determined. When Johnston's army marched through a deserted Salt Lake City on 26 June 1858 and then went on to build Camp Floyd forty miles to the southwest, the Utah War was over.
Quick fact: The largest military operation in the United States between the times of the Mexican War and the Civil War.
Apache-Geronimo surrendered in 1886. Geronimo died on Feb. 17, 1909, a prisoner of war.
Modoc-Boston Charlie, Black Jim, Schonchin John, and Captain Jack were hanged on the morning of October 3, 1873. The surviving Modocs were taken to the Quapaw Agency in Oklahoma where disease accomplished what bullets could not.
Sioux/Cheyenne/Arapaho-231 men were killed at the battle of the Little Bighorn 25 Jun 1876.
Sioux-Crazy Horse surrendered on May 6, 1877, in September 1877, while being led to a guardhouse, a soldier ran him through with a bayonet. Sitting Bull surrendered on July 19, 1881, on December 15, 1890, one of the 43 Lakota Sioux policemen sent to bring him into Standing Rock Reservation, put a bullet through his head.
Nez Percé-Chief Joseph was surrounded by troops on 5th October, 1877.
Bannocks/Paiutes-On July 15th, 1878 a band of reservation Umatilla's entered Chief Egan's camp, pretending that they wanted to join the resistance, instead, they killed him.
Sioux-On December 29, 1890, soldiers entered the Indian camp at Wounded Knee Creek demanding that all Indian firearms be relinquished. A scuffle ensued and a firearm discharged. The silence of the morning was broken and soon other guns echoed in the river bed. When it ended, at least 150 Indians had been killed and 50 wounded. In comparison, army casualties were 25 killed and 39 wounded.
The Indian Wars
1860-1890: Service Deaths: N/A
Who we fought: The American Indian - Paiute, Cheyenne, Crow, Pawnee, Sioux, Arapaho, Apache, Commanche.
The outcome: The frontier was pressed ever westward, and ultimately closed.
Quick fact: The glamor of the Wild West and charging horse cavalry surrounds what was really a series of broken treaties, massacres by both sides, and forced relocation of native tribes whenever their land was coveted for gold or settlement.
The Civil War (War Between the States)
1861-1865: Serving: 2,213,363 (North); 600,000 to 1,500,000 (South) Service Deaths: 364,511 (North); 159,821 to 165,000 (South)
Who we fought: Each other. North versus South.
Who fought with us: Some European nations played us off against each other.
The outcome: The Union was preserved, the South subdued.
Quick fact: Our costliest war in terms of total American deaths and destruction. Beyond the final abolition of slavery, many of the core issues that split the nation were not fully resolved.
The First U.S. Korea War
1871: Serving: 650 (Marines and Navy Bluejackets) Service Deaths: 3
Who we fought: The Koreans
The outcome: The U.S. avenges the earlier loss of the U.S. Merchant Marine ship General Sherman and the 20 persons killed, destroying five forts and inflicting as many as 650 casualties on the defending Koreans. The U.S. forces departed on July 3. A treaty is secured in 1882.
Quick fact: The Medals of Honor awarded for action in Korea in 1871 were the first awarded for foreign service against a foreign enemy of the United States.
Coup in Hawaii
1893: Serving: 165 (aboard the USS Boston)
Who we fought: Supporters of Queen Liliuokalani
The outcome: The Kingdom of Hawaii ended after Queen Liliuokalani was
deposed in a coup by American businessmen and with the support of U.S. minister to Hawaii, John L. Stevens, on January 17, 1893. The strategic placement of the Marines proved instrumental in preventing the royal forces from effectively responding to the coup.
Quick fact: President Grover Cleveland investigated the coup and fired Stevens. He apologized to the queen. And on Dec. 18, 1893, he briefed Congress on his findings: "By an act of war, committed with the participation of a diplomatic representative of the United States and without authority of Congress, the government of a feeble but friendly and confiding people has been overthrown," Cleveland said. "A substantial wrong has thus been done, which a due regard for our national character, as well as the rights of the injured people, requires we should endeavor to repair."
The Spanish-American War
1898: Serving: 306,760 Service Deaths: 2,446
Who we fought: Spain
The outcome: Spain surrendered.
Quick fact: Our only conflict where the enemy declared war first. The War gave us the story of the Rough Riders; the treaty gained us the Philippines, which we held until the end of World War II.
The Philippine Insurrection
1899-1902: Serving: 60,000 Service Deaths: 5,000
Who we fought: Nationalist insurgents and Moro tribesmen.
The outcome: The rebellion was quelled, but not extinguished.
Quick fact: For help against Spain, the Filipinos had been falsely promised independence. As a result, the U.S. Army had its first taste of costly and deadly guerrilla warfare, as it attracted the same ire from nationalists as had their former Spanish masters.
The Boxer Rebellion
1900: Serving: 2,500 Service Deaths: N/A
Who we fought: Chinese "Boxer" rebels, fighting foreign influence in their homeland.
Who fought with us: Britain, France, Germany, Japan and Russia.
The outcome: The beseiged legations were relieved, precipitating the end of the Rebellion.
Quick fact: Each nation whose legation was trapped by the rebels in the diplomatic quarter of Peking sent a contingent of troops, totaling about 16,000. The suppression of the Rebellion marked the beginning of the end of the ancient Chinese monarchy.
Nicaragua
1912-25, 27-33: Service Deaths: 55 (Navy & Marines)
Who we fought: Anyone interested in revolution, including Augusto Sandino.
The outcome: Established various shaky governments.
Quick fact: A classic case of "nation-building", the U.S. arranged the ouster of a bad president in 1909, then had to send in Marines for 20 years to supervise ensuing elections and quell rebellions. Led inevitably to the ugly Somoza and Sandinista regimes.
Tampico Affair
1914: Serving: 787 (marines and sailors) Service Deaths: 22
Who we fought: Mexico
The outcome: Gen. Victorio Huerta arrested and detained two sailors detached from the USS Dolphin who had went ashore at Tampico to retrieve supplies. The sailors were released a short time later. The U.S. Navy's Atlantic Fleet was ordered to occupy Tampico. Another crisis festering down the coast in Vera Cruz, however, prevented U.S. troops from occupying the city, and the Tampico incident came to an end with no real conclusion.
Quick fact: The U.S. consul's office in Vera Cruz had been warned that a German ship delivering arms for Huerta was expected in the port on April 21,1914. U.S. forces in the area went to seize the town's customhouse and capture the guns. On April 30, 1914, the U.S. Army's Fifth Infantry Brigade, under the command of Brig. Gen. Frederick Funston, arrived at Vera Cruz. The brigade assumed occupation duty from the marines and also organized a military government to restore order to the city.
Invasion of Haiti
1915: Serving: USS Washington Service Deaths: 17
Who we fought: Anyone who ostensibly wanted to harm American property and interests.
The outcome: U.S. Marines occupy Haiti after a civil war; a treaty between the U.S. and the Haitian Senate makes the island nation a virtual U.S. protectorate.
Quick fact: Troops withdraw in 1934.
Pancho Villa's Rebellion
1916-1917: Service Deaths: 1 (Navy)
Who we fought: Pancho Villa's rebel army, which was challenging the shaky Mexican government.
The outcome: Villa's followers were dispersed, ending cross-border incursions.
Quick fact: President Wilson's dabbling in Mexico's internal squabbles led to rebel leader Pancho Villa's attacks into New Mexico. General "Black Jack" Pershing led an expedition into Mexico, scattering Villa's army and gaining soon-to-be-useful experience.
World War I
1917-1918: Serving: 4,734,991: Service Deaths: 116,516
Who we fought: The Central Powers - Germany, Austria-Hungary, and a few others.
Who fought with us: The Allies - Britain and her empire, France, Russia (until early 1918), Italy, Serbia, others.
The outcome: The Central Powers surrendered.
Quick fact: Until this war, the U.S. was viewed militarily by mainline Europe as we might view a banana republic today - a quaint backwater. That view changed forever after 1918.
Archangel/Siberia Expedition
1918-1920: Serving: 15,000 Service Deaths: N/A
Who we fought: Russian revolutionaries.
Who fought with us: Most of our western allies from the ongoing World War.
The outcome: We withdrew without results.
Quick fact: In a crazy undertaking lacking vision and foresight, two Allied forces were sent into post-revolutionary Russia (via Archangel and Vladivostok) to curb Japanese expansionism and support White Russians fighting Bolshevism. Casualties were horrendous.
Protection of Shanghai's International Settlement
1927-1941: Serving: 1,200 to 1,600 Marines (USS Chaumont)
Who we fought: Initially, the threat to the Americans came from a conflict internal to China, but, within a few years, it evolved into one resulting from the tensions between China and Japan.
Who fought with us: Shanghai Volunteer Corps and the British.
The outcome: The Nationalist officials in Shanghai strongly encouraged removal of all naval personnel from North China. Washington agreed to the withdrawal of the 4th Marines and permission for evacuation was given on November 10, 1941.
Quick fact: Thousands of cheering people waving American and Chinese flags lined the streets to see the regiment, which had played such an intimate part in community life for over 14 years, parade through the Settlement for the last time.
World War II
1941-1945: Serving: 16,112,556 Service Deaths: 405,399
Who we fought: The Axis nations - mainly Nazi Germany, Italy and Japan.
Who fought with us: The Allies, including the British Empire, the Soviet Union, and many others worldwide.
The outcome: Unconditional surrender of all Axis nations.
Quick fact: Though we joined the War after Japan's sneak attack on Pearl Harbor, we had been helping Britain resist the Nazis for two years, and had been tweaking Japan over its aggression in China. Our last great patriotic war.
The Korean War
1950-1953: Serving: 5,720,000 Service Deaths: 36,576
Who we fought: North Korea, indirectly Red China.
Who fought with us: The United Nations, except for the communist bloc.
The outcome: An armistice-in-place at the pre-existing border.
Quick fact: The Korean War resolved no issues, and reinstated the status-quo-ante after over fifty thousand American deaths. But it did save the Republic of South Korea from subjugation by the North, and showed our willingness to fight clear communist aggression.
Defense of Chinese Nationalists (Operation Pullback)
1955: Serving:
Who we fought: Communist Chinese
The outcome: The U.S. 7th Fleet helps Nationalist Chinese evacuate 25,000 troops and 17,000 civilians from China to Taiwan to escape victorious Communist forces.
Quick fact:
Lebanon
1958: Serving: 14,000 Service Deaths: N/A
Who we fought: Islamic radicals, both Lebanese and foreign.
The outcome: Lebanon was stabilized for about 15 years.
Quick fact: The Marines sent onto Beirut's beaches were more a stabilizing factor than active combatants. After about 4,000 deaths in three months of civil war, Lebanon was fairly peaceful until the PLO set up HQ there in the 70's.
Anti-Communist Intervention
1962: Serving: 14,000 Service Deaths: N/A
Who we fought:
The outcome:
Quick fact: President John F. Kennedy orders 5,000 troops to Thailand to support the right-wing Laotian government.
Myth: The U.S. soldiers were very young and poorly educated.
Fact: The average age was 23, and 79% of our troops were high school graduates.
Myth: The soldiers were mostly poor and from minorities.
Fact: While 30% of the 58,000 killed came from the lowest third in income. 26% came from the highest third: 12.5% were black.
Myth: Many were jailed for draft-evasion.
Fact: Though 500,000 did dodge the draft, only 9,000 were convicted.
The Vietnam War
1964-1973: Serving: 8,744,000: Service Deaths: 58,151
Who we fought: North Vietnam, and South Vietnamese revolutionaries (Viet Cong).
Who fought with us: Nominally the United Nations, except for the communist bloc.
The outcome: South Vietnam was absorbed by the communists.
Quick fact: Vietnam was the first televised war, the first war America lost, and the worst case of misplaced focus and priorities in high places in our long, successful military history. We lacked the political vision and commitment to pursue and end the war.
The Dominican Intervention
1965: Serving: 24,000 troops 38 ships Service Deaths: 24
Who we fought: Socialist revolutionary forces
Who fought with us: The Inter-American Peace Force; Brazil, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, and, later, Paraguay.
The outcome: "Act of Reconciliation" that provided for a provisional government to succeed both the military junta and the rebel regime.
Quick fact: One bright moment in all of the ugliness of the Dominican Intervention occurred on May 1. Lieutenant Ben Passmore, US Navy Medical Corps, delivered an 8 pound baby boy to Mr. and Mrs. Rodolfo Paez of the Dominican Republic on board USS Yancey. The boy's middle name was given in honor of the ship and a cake-cutting ceremony and the traditional passing out of cigars were held in honor of the newborn Dominican Child by the crew of the Yancey.
Mayaguez Incident
1975: Serving: Service Deaths: 18 (+23 in Crash of helicopter carrying Combat Security Police Squadron)
Who we fought: Khmer Rouge
The outcome: An American merchant ship, SS Mayaguez and its 39 man crew was rescued, though at high cost.
Quick fact: The Mayaguez incident is no more than a footnote in most histories of the period. It and the men who carried out the rescue deserve better than that. At a time when its resolve was in doubt, the US showed the world that it would pay whatever price was necessary to protect its citizens and preserve its national honor.
Iranian Hostage Rescue Mission
1980: Serving: Service Deaths: 8
Who we fought:
Who fought with us: .
The outcome: .
Quick fact: Operation Eagle Claw.
Lebanon Peacekeeping
1982-1984: Serving: Service Deaths: 265
Who we fought: Terrorist, Syria
Who fought with us: .
The outcome: .
Quick fact: .
Grenada (Urgent Fury)
1983: Service Deaths: 19
Who we fought: The government of Grenada.
The outcome: The captive students were rescued.
Quick fact: When the legitimate government of Grenada was overthrown by leftist radicals, American students became captives. The rescue operation was totally successful, but even General Schwartzkopf says it cost needless lives through intelligence foibles.
Libya Raid (Operation El Dorado Canyon)
1986: Service Deaths:
Who we fought: Col. Moammar Gadhafi, Libya
The outcome: Destruction of the infrastructure of state sponsored
terrorism inside Libya and it showed all terrorist that the United States was determined to, and capable of, combating terrorism worldwide.
Quick fact: The use of force was specifically prompted by what the President claimed was "irrefutable proof" that Libya had directed the terrorist bombing of a West Berlin discotheque nine days earlier which had killed one American and injured 200 others.
Panama (Just Cause)
1989-1990: Serving: 27,000 Service Deaths: 24
Who we fought: Primarily President Manuel Noriega - wanted on drug charges - and his henchmen.
The outcome: Noriega was arrested; democracy was restored.
Quick fact: The operation was a textbook success viz. our stated goals of arresting Noriega (after a bit of a search) and restoring democracy. It did, however, violate international law and our own policy against intervention in internal politics.
Gulf War I (Desert Shield/Storm)
1990-1991: Serving: 467,159: Service Deaths: 382
Who we fought: Iraq
Who fought with us: The United Nations; mainly various Arab nations in the area.
The outcome: Iraq was pushed back behind its borders.
Quick fact: America's shortest war by far and, when compared to Vietnam, one with clearly defined goals and a predetermined exit strategy. We may have liked to have seen Saddam hung from a lamp-post, but that was never in the cards. We'll probably regret it.
Somalia (Restore Hope/UNOSOM)
1992-1994: Serving: Service Deaths: 43
Who we fought:
Who fought with us: .
The outcome: .
Quick fact: .
Haiti (Uphold Democracy)
1994-1996: Serving: Service Deaths: 4
Who we fought:
Who fought with us: .
The outcome: .
Quick fact: .
The Balkans
1995-?: Service Deaths: N/A
Who we fought: Various nationalists trying to redraw the political and cultural geography of defunct Yugoslavia by force.
Who fought with us: Most of our NATO allies, though the U.S. contributed the big firepower.
The outcome: Tenuous peace in Bosnia, a reversal of victims in Serbian Kosovo, new brush fires all over.
Quick fact: Despite a hopeful change in Serb leadership, the Balkans are still the Balkans and U.S. troops are playing cop. This tale is not yet over, as Kosovo's "victims" become the aggressors in neighboring Macedonia.
The War on Terrorism
Operation Enduring Freedom
2001-Present: Serving: 380,000 Service Deaths: 91 (as of Jan 9, 04, includes CIA)
Who we fought: Islamic terrorists and their supporting states.
Who fought with us: Britain, Russia, varying support from many other nations.
The outcome: The Taliban government ousted, and Al Quaida defeated in Afghanistan. Developing.
Quick fact: After the September 11, 2001 attack on America by Islamic extremists, President Bush declared war on all terrorists and their supporters, beginning with al-Quaida and the Afghan Taliban government.
Gulf War II (Operation Iraqi Freedom)
2003-Present: Service Deaths: 1,700
Who we fought: The government of Iraq, under Saddam Hussein, then Islamist insurgents.
Who fought with us: Britain. No thanks to erstwhile friends France, Germany and Russia.
The outcome: Successful elections held in early 2005. Developing ...
Quick fact: After months of saber-rattling in an attempt to get Saddam to step down (or flee) peacefully, the U.S. invaded Iraq aiming to disarm the dictator. Baghdad fell on April 9, 2003. Saddam was captured on Dec 13, 2003, eight months after Baghdad fell. Guerilla skirmishing continues.
