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Themilitary history of the United States spans over four centuries, dating back to 1607 and pre-dating by nearly two centuries the founding of the nation following theAmerican Revolutionary War. During this moment, theUnited States evolved from a colonial territory to newly formed nation following its independence from theKingdom of Great Britain (1775–1783) to ultimately becoming a worldsuperpower in theaftermath of World War II and through the present.[1] As of 2024, theUnited States Armed Forces consists of theArmy,Marine Corps,Navy,Air Force andSpace Force, all under the command of theDepartment of Defense, and theCoast Guard, which is controlled by theDepartment of Homeland Security.
In 1775, theContinental Congress, convening in present-dayIndependence Hall inPhiladelphia, established theContinental Army, theContinental Navy, and theContinental Marines, formally joining and escalating its war for independence in the Revolutionary War. This newly formed military, fighting alongside theKingdom of France, triumphed over theBritish in the war, leading to itsindependence following the signing of theTreaty of Paris in 1783. In 1789, the newConstitution made theU.S. president the commander-in-chief, and gaveCongress the authority to declare war.[2] Major conflicts involving the U.S. military include the American Revolutionary War,American Indian Wars,War of 1812,Mexican–American War,American Civil War,Spanish–American War,World War I,World War II,Korean War,Vietnam War,Gulf War,War in Afghanistan,Iraq War, and thewar against the Islamic State.
The beginning of theUnited States military lies in civilian frontier settlers, armed for hunting and basic survival in the wilderness. These were organized into local militias for small military operations, mostly againstNative Americantribes but also to resist possible raids by the small military forces of neighboring European colonies. They relied on theBritish regular Army andNavy for any serious military operation.[3]
In major operations outside the locality involved, the militia was not employed as a fighting force. Instead the colony asked for (and paid) volunteers, many of whom were also militia members.[4]
In the early years of theBritish colonization of North America, military action in thethirteen colonies that would become theUnited States were the result of conflicts with Native Americans, such as in thePequot War of 1637,King Philip's War in 1675, theYamasee War in 1715 andFather Rale's War in 1722.
Beginning in 1689, the colonies became involved in aseries of wars betweenGreat Britain andFrance for control ofNorth America, the most important of which wereQueen Anne's War, in which the Britishconquered French colonyAcadia, and the finalFrench and Indian War (1754–63) when Britain was victorious over all the French colonies in North America. This final war was to give thousands of colonists, includingVirginia colonelGeorge Washington, military experience which they put to use during theAmerican Revolutionary War.[5]
In the struggle for control of North America, the contest betweenGreat Britain andFrance was the vital one, the conflict withSpain, a declining power, important but secondary. This latter conflict reached its height in the "War of Jenkins Ear," a prelude to theWar of Austrian Succession, which began in 1739 and pitted the British and their American colonists against the Spanish.[6]
In the colonies the war involved a seesaw struggle between the Spanish inFlorida and theWest Indies and the English colonists inSouth Carolina andGeorgia. Its most notable episode, however, was a British expedition mounted inJamaica againstCartagena, the main port of theSpanish colony in Colombia. The mainland colonies furnished a regiment to participate in the assault as British Regulars under British command. The expedition ended in disaster, resulting from climate, disease, and the bungling of British commanders, and only about 600 of over 3,000 Americans who participated ever returned to their homes.[6]
By 1774, ongoingpolitical tensions betweenGreat Britain and theThirteen Colonies led the British to place theprovince of Massachusetts under martial law after thePatriots protested taxes they regarded as a violation of their constitutional rights as Englishmen. When shooting began atLexington and Concord in April 1775, militia units from acrossNew England rushed toBoston and bottled up the British in the city.
In 1775, gathering in present-dayIndependence Hall inPhiladelphia, theSecond Continental Congress formed theContinental Congress and appointedGeorge Washington as its commander-in-chief, which was augmented throughout the war by colonialmilitia. In addition to the Army, Congress also created theContinental Navy andContinental Marines. Washington succeeded almost immediately in driving theBritish Army out ofBoston in theSiege of Boston. But in late summer 1776, the British returned toNew York, where they nearly captured Washington's army. The revolutionaries expelled British officials from theThirteen Colonies. On 4 July 1776, theSecond Continental Congress inPhiladelphia unanimously adopted and issued theDeclaration of Independence, which declared themselves independent from British colonial rule.[7]
In theAmerican Revolutionary War, the British lacked both a unified command and a clear strategy for winning the war. With the use of theRoyal Navy, the British were able to capture coastal cities, but control of the countryside eluded them. A Britishsortie from Canada in 1777 ended with the disastrous surrender of aBritish army atSaratoga. With the coming in 1777 ofGeneral von Steuben, the training and discipline along Prussian lines began, and the Continental Army began to evolve into a modern force.France andSpain then entered the war againstGreat Britain as Allies of theU.S., ending its naval advantage and escalating the conflict into a world war. TheNetherlands later joined France, and the British were outnumbered on land and sea in a world war, as they had no major allies apart fromIndian tribes,Loyalists andHessians.
A shift infocus to the southern American states in 1779 resulted in a string of victories for the British, but GeneralNathanael Greene engaged inguerrilla warfare and prevented them from making strategic headway. The mainBritish army was surrounded byWashington's American and French forces atYorktown in 1781, as the French fleet blocked a rescue by theRoyal Navy. The British then sued for peace.
GeneralGeorge Washington (1732–1799), who commanded theContinental Army against theBritish in theAmerican Revolutionary War, proved an excellent organizer and administrator. Washington worked successfully with theContinental Congress and the state governors, selecting and mentoring his senior officers, supporting and training his troops, and maintaining an idealisticRepublican Army. His biggest challenge was logistics, since neither the Continental Congress nor thestates had the funding to provide adequately for the equipment, munitions, clothing, paychecks, or even the food supply of the soldiers. As a battlefield tactician, Washington was often outmaneuvered by his British counterparts. As a strategist, however, Washington had a better idea of how to win the war than the British.
During the Revolutionary War, the British sent four invasion armies. Washington's strategy forced the first army out ofBoston in 1776, and was responsible for the surrender of the second and third armies in theBattle of Saratoga (1777) andSiege of Yorktown (1781). He limited the British control to New York and a few places while keeping Patriot control of the great majority of the population. TheLoyalists, on whom the British had relied too heavily, comprised about 20% of the population but were never well organized. As the war ended, Washington was present as the British garrison in New York City evacuated the city in November 1783, taking theLoyalist leadership with them. Washington later astonished the world when, instead of seizing power, he gave his famedfarewell address and retired quietly to his farm inMount Vernon, Virginia, after servingone term aspresident from 1789 to 1797.[8][9]
Patriots had a strong distrust of a permanentstanding army, so the Continental Army was quickly demobilized, with land grants to veterans. Throughout the war, Washington deferred to elected officials, averteda potential coup d'état and resigned as commander-in-chief after the war, establishing a tradition of civil control of the U.S. military.[10]
Following theAmerican Revolutionary War, the United States faced potential military conflict on the high seas as well as on the westernfrontier. The United States was a minor military power during this time, having only a modest army, marine corps, and navy. A traditional distrust of standing armies, combined with faith in the abilities of local militia, precluded the development of well-trained units and a professionalofficer corps.Jeffersonian leaders preferred a small army and navy, fearing that a large military establishment would involve the United States in excessive foreign wars, and potentially allow a domestic tyrant to seize power.[11]
In theTreaty of Paris after the Revolution, the British had ceded the lands between theAppalachian Mountains and theMississippi River to the United States, without consulting theShawnee,Cherokee,Choctaw and other smaller tribes who lived there. Because many of the tribes had fought as allies of the British, the United States compelled tribal leaders to sign away lands in postwar treaties, and begandividing these lands for settlement. This provoked awar in theNorthwest Territory in which the U.S. forces performed poorly; theBattle of the Wabash in 1791 was the most severe defeat ever suffered by the United States at the hands of American Indians. President Washington dispatched anewly trained army to the region led by GeneralAnthony Wayne, which decisively defeated the Indian confederacy at theBattle of Fallen Timbers in 1794.[12]
Whenrevolutionary France declaredwar on Great Britain in 1793, the United States sought to remain neutral, but theJay Treaty, which was favorable to Great Britain, angered the French government, which viewed it as a violation of the 1778Treaty of Alliance. Frenchprivateers began to seize U.S. vessels, which led to an undeclared "Quasi-War" between the two nations. Fought at sea from 1798 to 1800, the United States won a string of victories in the Caribbean. George Washington was called out of retirement to head a "provisional army" in case of invasion by France, but PresidentJohn Adams managed to negotiate a truce, in which France agreed to terminate the prior alliance and cease its attacks.[13] After France and Britain signed thePeace of Amiens leading to a lull in theFrench Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, PresidentThomas Jefferson scaled back military spending.[14]
TheBerbers along theBarbary Coast (modern dayLibya) sentpirates to capture merchant ships and hold the crews for ransom. The U.S. paid protection money until 1801, when PresidentThomas Jefferson refused to pay and sent in the Navy to challenge theBarbary States, theFirst Barbary War followed. After theUSS Philadelphia was captured in 1803, LieutenantStephen Decatur led a raid which successfully burned the captured ship, preventing Tripoli from using or selling it. In 1805, afterWilliam Eaton captured the city ofDerna, Tripoli agreed to a peace treaty. The other Barbary states continued to raid U.S. shipping, until theSecond Barbary War in 1815 ended the practice.[15]
By far the largest military engagement during this era was theWar of 1812.[16] With Britain locked in amajor war withNapoleonic France, both sides interdicted American shipping to the other side. The United States sought to remain neutral while pursuing overseas trade, and Anglo-American relations worsened as the Royal Navy impressed alleged deserters off American merchantmen. Britain also supported Indian resistance to American colonization in theNorthwest Territory, with the goal of creating anIndian barrier state there that would blockAmerican expansion. The United States declared war on the United Kingdom in 1812, the first time the U.S. had officially declared war.
The conflict began with a series of American invasions ofBritish Canada, with the Americans hoping to use captured territory as a bargaining chip. The invasions of Canada, however, proved a debacle, though concurrent wars with Native Americans on the western front, includingTecumseh's War and theCreek War, were more successful. After defeatingNapoleon in 1814, Britain sent large veteran armies to invadeNew York, raidWashington, D.C., and capture the key control of theMississippi River atNew Orleans. The New York invasion was a fiasco after the American victory at theBattle of Plattsburgh. The British succeeded inoccupying Washington on 25 August 1814, but were repulsed in theirChesapeake Bay Campaign at theBattle of Baltimore. The British invasion ofLouisiana was stopped at theBattle of New Orleans with heavy casualties. The winners were thecommanding general of theBattle of New Orleans, Major GeneralAndrew Jackson, who later became president. Although the war had been unpopular among large segments of the American public, the victory at New Orleans led those who had supported the war to feel their position was vindicated. TheTreaty of Ghent ended the conflict, and the U.S. and Britain never again went to war. The Indians, weakened by the loss of their last remaining European ally, were gradually displaced from their lands by American colonization.[17]
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With the rapid expansion of the farming population,Democrats looked to the west for new lands, an idea which became known as "Manifest Destiny." In theTexas Revolution (1835–1836), the settlers declared independence as theRepublic of Texas and defeated theMexican Army, but Mexico was determined to reconquer the lost province and threatened war with the U.S. if itannexed Texas. The U.S., much larger and more powerful, did annex Texas in 1845 and war broke out in 1846 over boundary issues.[18][19]
In theMexican–American War 1846–1848, the U.S. Army under GeneralsZachary Taylor andWinfield Scott and others, invaded and after a series of victorious battles (and no major defeats) seizedSanta Fe de Nuevo México andAlta California, and also blockaded the coast, invadednorthern Mexico, and invaded central Mexico, capturing the national capital ofMexico City. The peace terms involved American purchase of thearea from California to New Mexico for $10 million.[20]
Long-building tensions between the Northern andSouthern States overslavery suddenly reached a climax after the 1860 election ofAbraham Lincoln of the new anti-slaveryRepublican Party as U.S. president. Southern statesseceded from the U.S. and formed a separateConfederacy. Within the Confederate states, many U.S. forts with garrisons still loyal to theUnion were cut off. Fighting started in 1861 whenFort Sumter was fired upon by Confederate troops and waves of patriotism swept both the North and the South.[21]
The civil war caught both sides with weak military forces. Neither the North's small standing army nor the South's scattered state militias were capable of winning a civil war. Both sides raced to raise new armies—larger than any U.S. forces before—first with repeated calls for volunteers, but eventually resorting to unpopular large-scaleconscription for the first time in U.S. history.
TheUnion Army initially sought a quick victory by trying to capture the Confederate capital atRichmond, Virginia, not far from the U.S. capital atWashington, D.C. TheConfederate States Army hoped to win by getting Britain and France to intervene, or else by exhausting the North's willingness to fight.
As the fighting between the two capitals stalled, the North found more success in campaigns elsewhere, using rivers, railroads, and the seas to help move and supply their larger forces, putting a stranglehold on the South—theAnaconda Plan. The war spilled across the continent, and even to the high seas. After four years of appallingly bloody conflict, with more casualties than all other U.S. wars combined, the North's larger population and industrial might slowly ground the South down. The resources and economy of the South were ruined, while the North's factories and economy prospered filling government wartime contracts.
The American Civil War is sometimes called the "first modern war" due to the mobilization and destruction of the civilian base—total war—and due to by many technical military innovations involvingrailroads,telegraphs,rifles,trench warfare, andironclad warships with turret guns.[22][23]
After the Civil War, population expansion, railroad construction, and the culling of the buffalo herds heightened military tensions on theGreat Plains.[24] Specifically, according to Colville scholarDina Gilio-Whitaker in her bookAs Long as Grass Grows, "While the railroads wreaked havoc on Indian lives in numerous ways, one of the most destructive and tragic outcomes of the United States' industrial expansion was the near extermination of the Plains buffalo herds, with the railroads as the strategic prerequisite to carry out the plan".[25] So extreme was the buffalo extermination that by the 1890s fewer than one thousand remained, scattered mostly on private ranches.[26] Severaltribes, especially theSioux andComanche, fiercely resisted confinement toreservations. The main role of the Army was to keep indigenous peoples onreservations and to end their wars against settlers and each other,William Tecumseh Sherman andPhilip Sheridan were in charge. A famous victory for thePlains Nations was theBattle of the Little Big Horn in 1876, when Col.George Armstrong Custer and two hundred plus members of the7th Cavalry were killed by a force consisting of Native Americans from theLakota,Northern Cheyenne, andArapaho nations. The last significant conflict came in 1890 and ended in theWounded Knee Massacre.[27]
TheSpanish–American War was a short but decisive war marked by quick, overwhelming American victories at sea and on land against theSpanish Empire. The Navy was well-prepared and won laurels, even as politicians tried (and failed) to have it redeployed to defendEast Coast cities against potential threats from the feebleSpanish Navy fleet.[28] The Army performed well in combat in Cuba. However, it was too oriented to small posts in the West and not as well-prepared for an overseas conflict.[29] It relied on volunteers and state militia units, which faced logistical, training and food problems in the staging areas inFlorida.[30] The United States freedCuba (after anoccupation by the U.S. Army). By thepeace treaty Spain ceded to the United States its colonies ofPuerto Rico,Guam, and thePhilippines.[31] The Navy set up coaling stations there and inHawaii (which was forcibly overthrown in 1893, via a coup d'état against Queen Liliʻuokalani and annexed later in 1898).[32][33] The U.S. Navy now had a major forward presence across thePacific Ocean and (with the lease ofGuantánamo Bay Naval Base in Cuba) a major base in the Caribbean guarding the approaches to theGulf Coast and thePanama Canal.[34]
To win its first colonies, the U.S. had lost 385KIA (369 Army, 10 Navy, 6 Marines); 1,662WIA (1,594 Army, 47 Navy, 21 Marines); and 2,061 dead of disease in the combat zones (a total of 5,403 died of disease at all locations, including stateside posts). Total Spanish combat deaths in action against U.S. forces were about 900.[35]
ThePhilippine–American War (1899–1902) was an armed conflict between a group ofFilipino revolutionaries and the American forces following the ceding of the Philippines to the United States after the defeat of Spanish forces in theBattle of Manila. The Army sent in 100,000 soldiers (mostly from the National Guard) under GeneralElwell Otis. Defeated in the field and losing its capital in March 1899, the poorly armed and poorly led rebels broke into armed bands. The insurgency collapsed in March 1901 when the leaderEmilio Aguinaldo was captured by GeneralFrederick Funston and hisMacabebe allies. Casualties included 1,037 Americans killed in action and 3,340 who died from disease; 20,000 rebels were killed.[36] The war resulted in at least 200,000 Filipino civilian deaths, mostly due to famine and disease.[37] Some estimates for total civilian dead reach up to a million. Atrocities were committed by the U.S. during the conflict, including reprisals,scorched earth campaigns, and the forcible relocation of many civilians.[38][39][40][41]
Hostilities between the United States and theMoro people in the southern Philippines erupted in 1902 after the insurgency in the main islands petered out. The rebellion saw American Marines engage in guerrilla warfare against MoroJuramentados and bandits, and it was during this conflict that the United States first adopted theM1911 pistol. The rebellion was over by 1913, though conflicts between Moros and the current Philippine governmentcontinue to the present.[42]
The overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom began on 16 January 1893, with acoup d'état against QueenLiliʻuokalani on the island ofO'ahu.[32][33] The coup d’état was predated by several events, such as the1887 Constitution of the Hawaiian Kingdom, also referred to as the Bayonet Constitution which was prepared by pro-American residents to strip theHawaiian monarchy of its power and consolidate power among the non-Native settlers in Hawai'i.[43] It became known as the Bayonet Constitution because of the armed militia used to intimidate KingKalākaua and force him to sign it or be removed.
The coup d'état was led by theCommittee of Safety, a 13-member group made up of non-native Hawaiian's. The Committee of Safety initiated the overthrow by organizing a group armed non-native men to depose Queen Liliʻuokalani.[44] The United States Military forces involved in the coup d’état consisted of 1 cruiser, theUSS Boston, and 162U.S. Navy andUSMC personnel.[44] This military presence was justified by the supposed threats to non-combatant American lives, property, and economic interests, largely of plantations.[33][45][46] The insurgency led to the house arrest of QueenLiliʻuokalani who stayed in ʻIolani Palace until her death in 1917. The ultimate goal of the coup d’état was eventual annexation into the United States. The insurgents formed the Republic of Hawai'i which instatedSanford B. Dole, as the republic's firstPresident. It was backed by the sugar plantation owners in Hawai'i, such as Dole. Hawaii was annexed by the United States in 1898.[33][46][45] The United States military still has a prominent presence in Hawai'i, and they have been linked to several instances of environmental degradation and causes of pollution.[47]
The Navy was modernized in the 1880s, and by the 1890s had adopted the naval power strategy of CaptainAlfred Thayer Mahan—as indeed did every major navy. The old sailing ships were replaced by modern steelbattleships, bringing them in line with the navies of Britain and Germany. In 1907, most of the Navy's battleships, with several support vessels, dubbed theGreat White Fleet, were featured in a 14-month circumnavigation of the world. Ordered by PresidentTheodore Roosevelt, it was a mission designed to demonstrate the Navy's capability to extend to the global theater.[48]
Secretary of WarElihu Root (1899–1904) led the modernization of the Army. His goal of a uniformed chief of staff as general manager and a European-type general staff for planning was stymied by GeneralNelson A. Miles but did succeed in enlargingWest Point and establishing theU.S. Army War College as well as theGeneral Staff. Root changed the procedures for promotions and organized schools for the special branches of the service. He also devised the principle of rotating officers from staff to line. Root was concerned about the Army's role in governing the new territories acquired in 1898 and worked out the procedures for turning Cuba over to the Cubans, and wrote the charter of government for the Philippines.[49]
Rear AdmiralBradley A. Fiske was at the vanguard of new technology innaval guns and gunnery, thanks to his innovations in fire control 1890–1910. He immediately grasped the potential for air power, and called for the development of atorpedo plane. Fiske, as aide for operations in 1913–15 to Assistant SecretaryFranklin D. Roosevelt, proposed a radical reorganization of the Navy to make it a war-fighting instrument. Fiske wanted to centralize authority in a chief of naval operations and an expert staff that would develop new strategies, oversee the construction of a larger fleet, coordinate war planning including force structure, mobilization plans, and industrial base, and ensure that the U.S. Navy possessed the best possible war machines. Eventually, the Navy adopted his reforms and by 1915 started to reorganize for possible involvement in the World War then underway.[50]
Banana Wars is an informal term for the minor intervention in Latin America from 1898 until 1935. These include military presence inCuba,Panama with thePanama Canal Zone,Haiti (1915–1935),Dominican Republic (1916–1924) andNicaragua (1912–1925; 1926–1933). TheU.S. Marine Corps began to specialize in long-term military occupation of these countries, primarily to safeguard customs revenues which were the cause of local civil wars.[51] For example, in May 1912, during theNegro Rebellion by Afro-Cuban rebels, President William H. Taft sent 1,292 men to Cuba to protect the American-ownedsugarcaneplantations and their associated properties, as well as copper mines, railroads, and trains. The rebellion occurred primarily inOriente Province. In the end, between 3,000 and 6,000 Afro-Cubans, including civilians were killed by the Cuban Army during the suppression of the rebellion which was completed by July 1912.[52][53] The rebels attacked the Marines only once, at El Cuero, but were repulsed without casualties on either side.[54]
Banditry and guerrilla resistance during the Banana Wars was endemic. U.S. Marine losses in theDominican Republic, 1916–1922, totaled 17 killed, 54 dead, 55 wounded (from a peak strength of 3,000). The Marines inflicted about 1,000 Dominican casualties.[55] The most serious insurgencies occurred inHaiti, where some 5,000 rough mountaineers of the north, calledCacos, rebelled in 1915–17, losing 200 killed, to Marine losses of 3 KIA, 18 WIA, of 2,029 deployed. In 1918, the Cacos, angered by the Marine-enforced practice ofcorvée (forced labor), followed the leadership ofCharlemagne Peralte and Benoit Batraville into rebellion again, against the 1,500-man1st Marine Brigade and the 2,700-manHaitian Gendarmerie. The rebellion lasted for more than 19 months, 17 October 1918 – 19 May 1920. Both Caco leaders were killed in battle, along with at least 2,004 of their men. The Marines lost 28 slain in action and the Gendarmerie lost 70 killed.
TheMexican Revolution involved repeated coups overthrowing the national government. This was a violation of democracy thatPresident Woodrow Wilson would not permit. He sent U.S. forcesto occupy the Mexican city ofVeracruz for six months in 1914, when the "Tampico Affair" of 9 April 1914 occurred, involving the arrest of American sailors by soldiers of the regime of Mexican PresidentVictoriano Huerta.[56] In early 1916, the Mexican generalPancho Villa, a presidential contender who had suffered defeats, sent 500 soldiers on a murderous raid on the American city ofColumbus, New Mexico. Wilson sent the U.S. Army under GeneralJohn J. Pershing to punish Villa in thePancho Villa Expedition. Villa fled deep into Mexico, with the Americans in pursuit. Mexican nationalism turned against the U.S., and with war looming with Germany, Wilson ordered Pershing to withdraw, and Villa escaped.[57]
The United States originally wished to remain neutral whenWorld War I broke out in August 1914. However, it insisted on its right as a neutral party to immunity from German submarine attack, even though its ships carried food and raw materials to Britain. In 1917 the Germansresumed submarine attacks, knowing that it would lead to American entry. When the United States declared war in early April 1917, the United States Army was still small by European standards (most of which hadconscription) and mobilization would take at least a year. Meanwhile, the United States continued to provide supplies and money to Britain and France, and initiated the first peacetime draft.[58] Industrial mobilization took longer than expected, sodivisions were sent to Europe without equipment, relying instead on the British and French to supply them.[59]
By summer 1918, a million American soldiers, or "doughboys" as they were often called, of theAmerican Expeditionary Force (AEF) were in Europe, serving on theWestern Front under the command ofGeneralJohn Pershing, with 10,000 more arriving every day. The failure of theGerman Army'sSpring Offensive exhausted its manpower reserves and it was unable to launch new offensives. TheImperial German Navy and home front then revolted and anew German government signed a conditional surrender,the Armistice, ending the war on the Western Front on 11 November 1918.[60]
The so-calledPolar Bear Expedition was the involvement of 5,000 U.S. troops, during theRussian Civil War, in blocking theBolsheviks inArkhangelsk, Russia as part of the greaterAllied military expedition in the Russian Civil War. There was no significant combat for the Americans.[61]
The U.S. sponsored a major world conference to limit the naval armaments of world powers, including the U.S., Britain, Japan, and France, plus smaller nations.[62] Secretary of StateCharles Evans Hughes made the key proposal of each country to reduce its number of warships by a formula that was accepted. The conference enabled the great powers to reduce their navies and avoid conflict in the Pacific. The treaties remained in effect for ten years, but were not renewed as tensions escalated.[63]
After the costly U.S. involvement in World War I,isolationism grew within the nation. Congress refused membership in theLeague of Nations, particularly due toArticle X of the League's charter. Pursuant to Article X, the charter would have required by contract theUnited States Military to intervene if a member of the League were attacked; this prompted the United States Senate to vehemently oppose theTreaty of Versailles.[64] Isolationism further grew after the events of theNye Committee, which investigated corrupt military spending and fueled theMerchants of death[65] argument, thus increasing anti-war opinions.
In response to the growing turmoil in Europe and Asia, the gradually more restrictiveNeutrality Acts were passed, which were intended to prevent the U.S. from supporting either side in a war. PresidentFranklin D. Roosevelt sought to support Britain, however, and in 1940 signed theLend-Lease Act, which permitted an expansion of the "cash and carry" arms trade to develop with Britain, which controlled the Atlantic sea lanes.[66]
Roosevelt favored the Navy (he was in effective charge in World War I), and used relief programs such as thePublic Works Administration to support Navy yards and build warships. For example, in 1933 he authorized $238 million in PWA funds for thirty-two new ships. TheArmy Air Corps received only $11 million, which barely covered replacements and allowed no expansion.[67]
Due to the underlying pressure against military involvement by both citizens and politicians, the United States was reluctant to intervene in any overseas conflicts. The involvement that the United States had towardthe Japanese Invasion of Manchuria in 1931 only extended as far as non-recognition. Other events such asBenito Mussolini'sItalian Conquest of Ethiopia went ignored by the U.S. along with the League of Nations being unable to act upon the usage of chemical weapons by the Italian fascists.[68] No official involvement was waged during theSpanish Civil War and theSecond Sino-Japanese War, though both wars utilizedloopholes for U.S. involvement, such as volunteering and using British ships as a middleman for delivering provisions (since the Neutrality Acts only specified American ships). This, along with Roosevelt'sQuarantine Speech, produced mixed opinions among Americans that were still anxious about military involvement. Non-interventionists were mainly constituent in the Republican Party, but other Democratic politicians, such asLouis Ludlow, attempted to pass bills to compromise and even amend theUnited States Constitution for the purpose of calling for publicReferendum to decide military involvement in cases that do not immediately follow an attack on the United States.[69]This amendment was introduced many times, but failed to gain enough support, including opposition even by Roosevelt.[70]
The overall neglect for military involvement eventually resulted in appeasement in the early stages of World War II, at the distress of Roosevelt (who wanted to continue cash-and-carry for theEuropean theater andthe Pacific). After being rebuffed by Congress for attempting to reinstate cash-and-carry for the European theater, Roosevelt eventually won the favor of restoring the arms trade withbelligerent nations after Germany'sinvasion of Poland, which is said bymany to have fixed the United States economy. Total involvement in the war began after theAttack on Pearl Harbor, where isolationism began to cede.
Starting in 1940 (18 months before Pearl Harbor), the nation mobilized, giving high priority toair power. American involvement in World War II in 1940–41 was limited to providingmateriel and financial support to Britain, theSoviet Union, and theRepublic of China. The U.S.entered officially on 8 December 1941 following theJapanese attack onPearl Harbor,Hawaii. Japanese forces soonseized American, British and Dutch possessions across the Pacific and Southeast Asia, with Hawaii and Australia serving as the main staging points for the eventual liberation of these territories.[71]
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The loss of eight battleships and 2,403 Americans[72] at Pearl Harbor forced the U.S. to rely on its remainingaircraft carriers, which won a major victory over Japan atMidway just six months into the war, and on its growing submarine fleet. The Navy and Marine Corps followed this up with anisland hopping campaign across the central and south Pacific in 1943–1945, reaching the outskirts of Japan in theBattle of Okinawa. During 1942 and 1943, the U.S. deployed millions of men and thousands of planes and tanks to the UK, beginning with thestrategic bombing ofNazi Germany and occupied Europe and leading up to theAllied invasions of occupied North Africa in November 1942,Sicily andItaly in 1943,France in 1944, and theinvasion of Germany in 1945, parallel with the Soviet invasion from theEastern Front. That led to thesurrender of Nazi Germany in May 1945. While the final EuropeanAxis Powers were defeated within a year ofOperation Overlord, the fighting in Central Europe was especially bloody for the United States, with more U.S. military deaths occurring in Germany than in any other country during the war.[73]
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In the Pacific, the U.S. experienced much success in naval campaigns during 1944, but bloody battles atIwo Jima andOkinawa in 1945 led the U.S. to look for a way to end the war with minimal loss of American lives. The U.S.used atomic bombs onHiroshima andNagasaki to destroy the Japanese war effort and to shock the Japanese leadership, which quickly caused thesurrender of Japan. Following the dropping ofatomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan surrendered to the Allied forces on 15 August 1945, ending 35 years ofJapanese occupation of Korean Peninsula. American forces under GeneralJohn R. Hodge arrived at thesouthern part of the Korean Peninsula on 8 September 1945, while theSoviet Army and some Korean Communists had stationed themselves in thenorthern part of the Korean Peninsula.
The United States was able to mobilize quickly, eventually becoming the dominant military power in most theaters of the war (excepting onlyCentral and Eastern Europe), and the industrial might of theU.S. economy became a major factor in theAllies' mobilization of resources. Strategic and tactical lessons learned by the U.S., such as the importance ofair superiority and the dominance of theaircraft carrier in naval actions, continue to guide U.S. military doctrine into the 21st century.
World War II holds a special place in the American psyche as the country's greatest triumph, and the U.S. military personnel of World War II are frequently referred to as "theGreatest Generation." Over 16 million served (about 11% of the population), and over 400,000 died during the war. The U.S. emerged as one of the two undisputedsuperpowers along with theSoviet Union, and unlike the Soviet Union, the U.S. homeland was virtually untouched by the ravages of war. During and following World War II, the United States and Britain developedan increasingly strong defense and intelligence relationship. Manifestations of this include extensive basing of U.S. forces in the UK,shared intelligence, sharedmilitary technology (e.g.nuclear technology), and shared procurement.
Following World War II, the United States emerged as a globalsuperpower vis-a-vis the Soviet Union in theCold War. In this period of some forty years, the United States provided foreign military aid and direct involvement inproxy wars against the Soviet Union. It was the principal foreign actor in theKorean War andVietnam War during this era. Nuclear weapons were held in ready by the United States under a concept ofmutually assured destruction with the Soviet Union.[74]
TheNational Security Act of 1947, meeting the need for a military reorganization to complement the U.S. superpower role, combined and replaced the former Department of the Navy and War Department with a singlecabinet-levelDepartment of Defense. The act also created theNational Security Council, theCentral Intelligence Agency, and theAir Force.
TheKorean War was a conflict between the United States and itsUnited Nations allies and thecommunist powers under influence of the Soviet Union (also a UN member nation) and thePeople's Republic of China (which later also gained UN membership). The principal combatants wereNorth andSouth Korea. Principal allies of South Korea included the United States, Canada, Australia, the United Kingdom, although many other nations sent troops under the aegis of theUnited Nations Command. Allies of North Korea included the People's Republic of China, which supplied military forces, and the Soviet Union, which suppliedcombat advisors and aircraft pilots, as well as arms, for the Chinese and North Korean troops.[75]
The war started badly for the U.S. and UN. TheKorean People's Army struck massively in the summer of 1950 and nearly drove the outnumbered U.S. and ROK defenders into the sea. However the United Nations intervened, namingDouglas MacArthur commander of itsforces, and UN-U.S.-ROK forces held a perimeter aroundPusan, gaining time for reinforcement. MacArthur, in a bold but risky move, ordered an amphibious invasion well behind the front lines atInchon, cutting off and routing the North Koreans and quickly crossing the38th Parallel into North Korea. As UN forces continued to advance toward theYalu River on theborder with Communist China, the Chinese crossed the Yalu River in October and launched a series of surprise attacks that sent the UN forces reeling back across the 38th Parallel. Truman originally wanted aRollback strategy to unify Korea; after the Chinese successes he settled for aContainment policy to split the country.[76] MacArthur argued for rollback but wasfired by PresidentHarry Truman after disputes over the conduct of the war. Peace negotiations dragged on for two years until PresidentDwight D. Eisenhower threatened China with nuclear weapons; an armistice was quickly reached with the two Koreas remaining divided at the38th parallel. North and South Korea are stillde jure in astate of war, having never signed a peace treaty, andAmerican forces remain stationed in South Korea as part of American foreign policy.[77]
In the1958 Lebanon crisis that threatened civil war,Operation Blue Bat deployed several hundred Marines to bolster the pro-Western Lebanese government from 15 July to 25 October 1958.
On 28 April 1965, 400 Marines were landed inSanto Domingo to evacuate the American Embassy and foreign nationals after dissident Dominican armed forces attempted to overthrow the ruling civilian junta. By mid-May, peak strength of 23,850 U.S. soldiers, Marines, and Airmen were in the Dominican Republic and some 38 naval ships were positioned offshore. They evacuated nearly 6,500 men, women, and children of 46 nations, and distributed more than 8 million tons of food.
The intervention cost the U.S. 27 KIA and 172 WIA. Another 20 Americans died from non-hostile causes; 111 were seriously injured. Ten of the KIA were Marines; 13 were from the82nd Airborne. Among the 2,850 Dominican dead were 325 National Police officers and 500 members of the armed forces. An estimated 600 rebels were killed. Civilians accounted for the remainder.
TheVietnam War was a war fought between 1955 and 1975 on the ground inSouth Vietnam and bordering areas ofCambodia andLaos (seeSecret War) and in thestrategic bombing (seeOperation Rolling Thunder) ofNorth Vietnam. American advisors came in the late 1950s to help theRVN (Republic of Vietnam) combat Communist insurgents known as "Viet Cong." Major American military involvement began in 1964, after Congress provided PresidentLyndon B. Johnson with blanket approval for presidential use of force in theGulf of Tonkin Resolution.[78]
Fighting on one side was a coalition of forces including theRepublic of Vietnam (South Vietnam or the "RVN"), the United States, supplemented by South Korea, Thailand, Australia, New Zealand, and the Philippines. The allies fought against theNorth Vietnamese Army (NVA) as well as the National Liberation Front (NLF, also known as Viet communistsViet Cong), or "VC", a guerrilla force within South Vietnam. The NVA received substantial military and economic aid from the Soviet Union[79] and China,[80] turning Vietnam into aproxy war.[81]
The military history of the American side of the war involved different strategies over the years.[82][83] The bombing campaigns of the Air Force were tightly controlled by the White House for political reasons, and until 1972 avoided the main Northern cities ofHanoi andHaiphong and concentrated on bombing jungle supply trails, especially theHo Chi Minh Trail.[84] The most controversial Army commander wasWilliam Westmoreland whose strategy involved systematic defeat of all enemy forces in the field, despite heavy American casualties that alienated public opinion back home.[85]
The U.S. framed the war as part of its policy ofcontainment ofCommunism inSoutheast Asia, but American forces were frustrated by an inability to engage the enemy in decisive battles, corruption and supposed incompetence in theArmy of the Republic of Vietnam, and ever-increasing protests at home. TheTet Offensive in 1968, although a major military defeat for the NLF with nearly half their forces eliminated, marked the psychological turning point in the war. Furthermore, the revelation, in November 1969, of the 1968My Lai massacre of 347 to 504 Vietnamese civilians by American soldiers further increased opposition to U.S. involvement in the war.[86] With PresidentRichard M. Nixon opposed to containment and more interested in achievingdétente with both the Soviet Union and China, American policy shifted to "Vietnamization," – providing very large supplies of arms and letting the Vietnamese fight it out themselves. After more than 58,000 dead and many more wounded, American forces withdrew in 1973 with no clear victory, and in 1975 South Vietnam was finally conquered by communist North Vietnam and unified.[87][88]
Memories and lessons from the war are still a major factor in American politics. One side views the war as a necessary part of theContainment policy, which allowed the enemy to choose the time and place of warfare. Others note the U.S. made major strategic gains as the Communists were defeated in Indonesia, and by 1972 both Moscow and Beijing were competing for American support, at the expense of their allies in Hanoi. Critics see the conflict as a "quagmire"—an endless waste of American blood and treasure in a conflict that did not concern U.S. interests. Fears of another quagmire have been major factors in foreign policy debates ever since.[89] The draft became extremely unpopular, and President Nixon ended it in 1973,[90] forcing the military (the Army especially) to rely entirely upon volunteers. That raised the issue of how well the professional military reflected overall American society and values; the soldiers typically took the position that their service represented the highest and best American values.[91]
Between 966,000 and 3,010,000 Vietnamese people died during the war, including between 405,000 and 627,000 civilians.[92][93] Additionally, the effects ofAgent Orange and other chemicals used duringOperation Ranch Hand, a military operation aimed at depriving the Vietcong of food and vegetation cover, continue to damage the environment andcause illness among Vietnamese people and their descendants.[94][95][96] The soil in Vietnam still tests positive for many of the chemicals used.[97] These chemicals are known to cause numerous health effects such as multiple cancers, peripheralneuropathy, and spina bifida in those exposed and their descendants[96][98]
In October, 1983, a power struggle in Grenada, which had installed a communist-leaning government, led to increased tensions in the region. Prime MinisterMaurice Bishop was deposed on 16 October byHudson Austin, and executed on 19 October. Neighboring nations asked the U.S. to intervene. The invasion was a hurriedly devised grouping of paratroopers, Marines, Rangers, and special operations forces inOperation Urgent Fury. The invasion began on 25 October. Over a thousand Americans quickly seized the entire island, fighting both Grenadian and Cuban soldiers, and taking hundreds of military and civilian prisoners, especially Cubans, who were building a large military airstrip.[99][100]
In 1983 fighting betweenPalestinian refugees andLebanese factions reignited that nation'slong-running civil war. A UN agreement brought aninternational force of peacekeepers to occupyBeirut and guarantee security. U.S. Marines landed in August 1982 along with Italian and French forces. On 23 October 1983, a suicide bomber driving a truck filled with 6 tons of TNT crashed through a fence anddestroyed the Marine barracks, killing 241 Marines; seconds later, a second bomber leveled a French barracks, killing 58. Subsequently, the U.S. Navy engaged in bombing of militia positions inside Lebanon. While U.S. PresidentRonald Reagan was initially defiant, political pressure at home eventually forced the withdrawal of the Marines in February 1984.[101]
Code-named Operation El Dorado Canyon, comprised the jointUnited StatesAir Force,Navy, andMarine Corps air-strikes againstLibya on 15 April 1986. The attack was carried out in response to the1986 Berlin discotheque bombing, and resulted in the killing of 45 officers and 15 civilians.
On 20 December 1989 theUnited States invaded Panama, mainly from U.S. bases within the then-Canal Zone, to oust dictator and international drug traffickerManuel Noriega. American forces quickly overwhelmed the Panamanian Defense Forces, Noriega was captured on 3 January 1990 and imprisoned in the U.S. and a new government was installed.[102]
TheGulf War was a conflict betweenIraq and acoalition force of 34 nations led by the United States. The lead up to the war began with theIraqi invasion of Kuwait in August 1990 which was met with immediate economic sanctions by theUnited Nations against Iraq. The coalition commenced hostilities in January 1991, resulting in a decisive victory for the U.S. led coalition forces, which drove theIraqi Armed Forces out ofKuwait with minimal coalition deaths. Despite the low death toll from combat, over 180,000 U.S. veterans were later be classified as "permanently disabled" according to theU.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (seeGulf War Syndrome). The main battles were aerial and ground combat within Iraq, Kuwait and bordering areas ofSaudi Arabia. Land combat did not expand outside of the immediate Iraq/Kuwait/Saudi border region, although the coalition bombed cities and strategic targets across Iraq, and Iraq firedScud missiles on Israeli and Saudi cities.[103]
Before the war, many observers believed the U.S. and its allies could win but might suffer substantial casualties (certainly more than any conflict since Vietnam), and that the tank battles across the harsh desert might rival those of North Africa during World War II. After nearly 50 years ofproxy wars, and constant fears of another war in Europe betweenNATO and theWarsaw Pact, some thought the Persian Gulf War might finally answer the question of which military philosophy would have reigned supreme. Iraqi forces were battle-hardened after8 years of war withIran, and they were well equipped with late modelSoviet tanks and jet fighters, but the antiaircraft weapons were crippled; in comparison, the U.S. had no large-scale combat experience since its withdrawal fromVietnam nearly 20 years earlier, and major changes in U.S. doctrine, equipment and technology since then had never been tested under fire.[citation needed]
The conflict was largely one-sided from the beginning. The reasons for this are the subject of continuing study by military strategists and academics. There is general agreement that U.S. technological superiority was a crucial factor but the speed and scale of the Iraqi collapse has also been attributed to poor strategic and tactical leadership and low morale among Iraqi troops, which resulted from a history of incompetent leadership. After devastating initial strikes against Iraqi air defenses and command and control facilities on 17 January 1991, coalition forces achieved total air superiority almost immediately. TheIraqi Air Force was destroyed within a few days, with some planes fleeing to Iran, where they were interned for the duration of the conflict. The overwhelming technological advantages of the U.S., such asstealth aircraft andinfrared sights, quickly turned the air war into a "turkey shoot". The heat signature of any tank which started its engine made an easy target. Air defense radars were quickly destroyed by radar-seeking missiles fired fromwild weasel aircraft. Grainy video clips, shot from the nose cameras of missiles as they aimed at impossibly small targets, were a staple of U.S. news coverage and revealed to the world a new kind of war, compared by some to a video game. Over 6 weeks of relentless pounding by planes and helicopters, theIraqi Army was almost completely beaten but did not retreat, under orders from Iraqi PresidentSaddam Hussein, and by the time the ground forces invaded on 24 February, many Iraqi troops quickly surrendered to forces much smaller than their own; in one instance, Iraqi forces attempted to surrender to a television camera crew that was advancing with coalition forces.[citation needed]
After just 100 hours of ground combat, and with all of Kuwait and much of southern Iraq under coalition control, U.S. PresidentGeorge H. W. Bush ordered a cease-fire and negotiations began resulting in an agreement for cessation of hostilities. Some U.S. politicians were disappointed by this move, believing Bush should have pressed on toBaghdad and removed Hussein from power; there is little doubt that coalition forces could have accomplished this if they had desired. Still, the political ramifications of removing Hussein would have broadened the scope of the conflict greatly, and many coalition nations refused to participate in such an action, believing it would create a power vacuum and destabilize the region.[104]
Following the end of the war, to protect minority populations, the U.S., Britain, and France declared and maintainedno-fly zones in northern and southern Iraq, which the Iraqi military frequently tested. The no-fly zones persisted until the2003 invasion of Iraq, although France withdrew from participation in patrolling the no-fly zones in 1996, citing a lack of humanitarian purpose for the operation.[citation needed]
U.S. troops participated in a UN peacekeeping mission inSomalia beginning in 1992. By 1993 the American troops were augmented with Rangers and special forces with the aim of capturing warlordMohamed Farrah Aidid, whose forces had massacred peacekeepers from Pakistan. During a raid in downtownMogadishu, U.S. troops became trapped overnight by a general uprising in theBattle of Mogadishu. Eighteen American soldiers were killed, and a U.S. television crew filmed graphic images of the body of one soldier being dragged through the streets by an angry mob. Somali guerrillas paid a staggering toll at an estimated 1,000–5,000 total casualties during the conflict. After much public disapproval, American forces were quickly withdrawn by PresidentBill Clinton. The incident profoundly affected American views on peacekeeping and intervention. The bookBlack Hawk Down was written about the battle, and was the basis for the latermovie of the same name.[105]
Operation Uphold Democracy (19 September 1994 – 31 March 1995) was an intervention designed to reinstate the elected PresidentJean-Bertrand Aristide, who was reported to have died in office during the bombing of the presidential palace. The operation was effectively authorized by the 31 July 1994United Nations Security Council Resolution 940.[106]
During theYugoslav Wars in the early 1990s, the U.S. operated inBosnia and Herzegovina as part of the NATO-led multinational implementation force (IFOR) inOperation Joint Endeavour. The U.S. was one of theNATO member countries who bombed Yugoslavia between 24 March and 9 June 1999 during theKosovo War and later contributed to the multinational forceKFOR.[107]
Thewar on terror is a global effort by the governments of several countries (primarily the United States and its principal allies) to neutralize internationalterrorist groups (primarilyIslamic terrorist groups, includingal-Qaeda) and ensure that countries considered by the U.S. and some of its allies to be "rogue nations" no longer support terrorist activities. It has been adopted primarily as a response to theSeptember 11, 2001 attacks on the United States. Since 2001, terrorist motivated attacks upon service members have occurred inArkansas andTexas.[citation needed]
Theintervention in Afghanistan (Operation Enduring Freedom – Afghanistan) to depose that country'sTaliban government and destroytraining camps associated with al-Qaeda is understood to have been the opening, and in many ways defining, campaign of the broader War on Terrorism. The emphasis onSpecial Operations Forces (SOF), political negotiation with autonomous military units, and the use of proxy militaries marked a significant change from prior U.S. military approaches.[108]
On 29 February 2020, the United States and theTaliban signed a conditionalpeace deal inDoha which required thatU.S. troops withdraw from Afghanistan within 14 months so long as the Taliban cooperated with the terms of the agreement not to "allow any of its members, other individuals or groups, including al-Qaeda, to use the soil of Afghanistan to threaten the security of the United States and its allies".[109][110] TheIslamic Republic of Afghanistan was not a party to the deal and rejected its terms regarding release of prisoners.[111] AfterJoe Biden became president, he moved back the target withdrawal date to 31 August 2021 from April.[112]
The withdrawal coincided with the2021 Taliban offensive. During the offensive, the U.S. carried out limited airstrikes in support of Afghan forces and to destroy captured equipment.[113][114] The Taliban defeated theAfghan Armed Forces culminating with thefall of Kabul on 15 August 2021. On the same day, the president of AfghanistanAshraf Ghani fled toTajikistan and the Taliban declared victory and the war over. The U.S. military took control ofKabul's airport as part ofOperation Allies Refuge to evacuate citizens and certain Afghans.[115][116]
In January 2002, the U.S. sent more than 1,200 troops (later raised to 2,000) to assist theArmed Forces of the Philippines in combating terrorist groups linked to al-Qaeda, such asAbu Sayyaf, underOperation Enduring Freedom – Philippines. Operations have taken place mostly in theSulu Archipelago, where terrorists and other groups are active. The majority of troops providelogistics. However, there are special forces troops that are training and assisting in combat operations against the terrorist groups.
After the lengthyIraq disarmament crisis culminated with an American demand that Iraqi PresidentSaddam Hussein leaveIraq, which was refused, acoalition led by the United States and the United Kingdom fought the Iraqi Armed Forces in the2003 invasion of Iraq. Approximately 250,000 United States troops, with support from 45,000 British, 2,000 Australian and 200 Polish combat forces, entered Iraq primarily through theirstaging area in Kuwait. (Turkey had refused to permit its territory to be used for an invasion from the north.) Coalition forces also supported IraqiKurdish militia, estimated to number upwards of 50,000. After approximately three weeks of fighting, Hussein and theBa'ath Party were forcibly removed, followed by 9 years of military presence by the United States and the coalition fighting alongside the newly elected Iraqi government against various insurgent groups.[citation needed]
As a result of theLibyan Civil War, the United Nations enactedUnited Nations Security Council Resolution 1973, which imposed a no-fly zone over Libya, and the protection of civilians from the forces ofMuammar Gaddafi. The United States, along withBritain, France and several other nations, committed a coalition force against Gaddafi's forces. On 19 March 2011, the first U.S. action was taken when 114Tomahawk missiles launched by American and British warships destroyed shoreline air defenses of the Gaddafi regime.[117] The U.S. continued to play a major role inOperation Unified Protector, theNATO-directed mission that eventually incorporated all of the military coalition's actions in the theater. Throughout the conflict however, the U.S. maintained it was playing a supporting role only and was following the UN mandate to protect civilians, while the real conflict was betweenGaddafi loyalists andLibyan rebels fighting to depose him.[118] During the conflict, Americandrones were also deployed.[119]
With the emergence of theIslamic State and its capture of large areas of Iraq and Syria, a number of crises resulted that sparked international attention. ISIL had perpetrated sectarian killings and war crimes in both Iraq and Syria. Gains made in theIraq War were rolled back as Iraqi army units abandoned their posts. Cities were taken over by the terrorist group which enforced its brand of Sharia law. The kidnapping and decapitation of numerous Western journalists and aid-workers also garnered interest and outrage among Western powers. The U.S. intervened with airstrikes in Iraq over ISIL held territories and assets in August, and in September a coalition of U.S. and Middle Eastern powers initiated a bombing campaign in Syria aimed at degrading and destroying ISIL andAl-Nusra-held territory.[120] By December 2017, ISIL had no remaining territory in Iraq, following the 2017 Western Iraq campaign and lost all remaining territory in Syria in March 2019. Airstrikes by U.S. and Coalition forces have continued in Syria against the Assad government especially after theDouma chemical attack in 2018.
This article incorporates text from this source, which is in thepublic domain.In December, Spain ceded the Philippines to the United States for $20 million.
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