America's Forgotten Wars

America's first undeclared war. After the French began seizing US merchant ships, President Adams launched an undeclared naval war without Congressional approval. The US Navy captured 85+ French vessels. It established the precedent that presidents could wage war without formally declaring it — a pattern that would define American military action for the next 225 years.

When the Pasha of Tripoli declared war on the US for not paying enough tribute, Jefferson sent the Navy 5,000 miles to blockade North Africa. The Marines' famous march "to the shores of Tripoli" comes from this war. William Eaton led a ragtag army across the Libyan desert to capture the city of Derna — the first time the US flag was raised in conquest on foreign soil.

While the US was busy with the War of 1812, Algeria resumed attacking American shipping. After the war ended, Madison sent a naval squadron that forced Algeria, Tunis, and Tripoli to sign treaties ending tribute payments permanently. The entire campaign lasted just three months.

After Malay warriors attacked the American merchant ship Friendship, President Jackson sent the frigate USS Potomac to bombard the town of Kuala Batee without Congressional knowledge or approval. The Marines stormed ashore and burned the town. Jackson didn't even inform Congress until after the fact.

After another attack on American traders, a US naval force returned to Sumatra to bombard and destroy the town of Muckie. Two ships and 360 Marines participated. The expedition was part of a growing pattern of using naval power to protect American commercial interests anywhere on the globe.

After the murder of American traders, the US Navy bombarded and burned Fijian villages on two separate occasions. Marines went ashore to destroy property and enforce payment of reparations. The 1858 expedition involved shelling the island of Waya and demanding an indemnity.

Commodore Matthew Perry sailed four warships into Tokyo Bay uninvited and essentially threatened to bombard Japan unless they opened to American trade. The "Black Ships" carried more than 100 cannons. Perry returned the next year with nine ships. Japan, facing the choice between trade or war against a technologically superior force, signed the Treaty of Kanagawa.

When a Nicaraguan mob injured an American diplomat, the USS Cyane bombarded and completely destroyed the town of Greytown. A court later ruled the president could order such attacks without Congressional approval, establishing a critical precedent for executive war-making.

After Paraguay fired on a US Navy survey ship, President Buchanan sent a massive fleet of 19 warships and 2,500 men — the largest US naval force deployed to the Southern Hemisphere up to that time — to extract an apology, an indemnity, and a trade treaty.

After Korea fired on US ships conducting an unauthorized survey, the Navy retaliated by landing 650 Marines who stormed and captured five Korean forts, killing an estimated 243 Korean soldiers. Korea still refused to open to trade, making the expedition a military success but a diplomatic failure.

When the Chōshū domain fired on American merchant ships in the Straits of Shimonoseki, the USS Wyoming steamed in alone and attacked, sinking two ships. A year later, a combined fleet of American, British, French, and Dutch warships bombarded the Chōshū fortifications, destroying them completely.

After Paiwan aborigines killed the crew of a wrecked American bark, 181 Marines landed on Taiwan to punish them. The expedition was repulsed — one of the few times in the 19th century that a US punitive expedition failed in its objective.

When Chinese nationalists besieged foreign embassies in Beijing, the US sent 5,000 troops as part of an eight-nation coalition that fought its way from the coast to the capital. American troops participated in the capture and looting of Beijing. China was forced to pay a $333 million indemnity (over $12 billion today).

A 36-year series of occupations, interventions, and regime changes across Latin America — all to protect American corporate interests, especially the United Fruit Company. The US occupied Cuba (1898–1902, 1906–1909, 1917–1922), Honduras (7 times), Nicaragua (1912–1933), Haiti (1915–1934), Dominican Republic (1916–1924), Panama (carved from Colombia in 1903), and more.

The US occupied Nicaragua for 21 years, propping up friendly governments and fighting a guerrilla war against Augusto Sandino and his nationalist forces. Marines were deployed to protect American mining and banking interests. When the US finally withdrew, it left behind the Somoza dictatorship.

After political instability threatened American banking interests, Marines occupied Haiti for 19 years. They dissolved the Haitian parliament at gunpoint, rewrote the constitution to allow foreign land ownership, imposed forced labor (corvée), and killed an estimated 15,000 Haitians. Marine Sergeant Faustin Wirkus actually crowned himself "King of La Gonâve."

Marines occupied the Dominican Republic for eight years, imposed martial law, censored the press, and fought a guerrilla war in the eastern provinces. The occupation established the Dominican National Guard, which was later used by Rafael Trujillo to seize power and rule as dictator for 31 years.

After Pancho Villa raided Columbus, New Mexico, killing 18 Americans, President Wilson sent 10,000 troops under General Pershing deep into Mexico. The expedition used airplanes in combat for the first time in US history, deployed trucks and motorized vehicles at scale, and lasted 11 months — but never caught Villa. It nearly triggered a full-scale war with Mexico.

The US sent 13,000 troops to Russia to intervene in the civil war — 5,000 to Archangel in northern Russia and 8,000 to Vladivostok in Siberia. The "Polar Bear Expedition" fought pitched battles against Bolshevik forces in Arctic conditions. Troops endured -40°F temperatures and had no clear mission. Congress was barely informed.

After Mexican authorities arrested US sailors in Tampico, President Wilson ordered the Navy to seize the port of Veracruz. 800 Marines and sailors stormed the city, fighting street-by-street against Mexican cadets and civilians. The US held Veracruz for seven months.

President Eisenhower sent 14,000 Marines and Army troops to Lebanon after the Iraqi revolution raised fears of communist expansion in the Middle East. It was the first application of the Eisenhower Doctrine. Troops landed on beaches full of sunbathers and bikini-clad tourists.

When a constitutionalist rebellion threatened to restore the democratically elected president, LBJ sent 42,000 troops claiming a communist threat. It was the largest US military intervention in Latin America since the Banana Wars era.

Reagan invaded the tiny island of Grenada (population 91,000) after a Marxist coup, claiming 600 American medical students were in danger. 7,600 US troops overwhelmed token resistance from Grenadian and Cuban forces. The invasion lasted just a few days.

Bush Sr. invaded Panama with 27,684 troops to overthrow Manuel Noriega — a former CIA asset turned liability. Operation Just Cause was the largest US military action since Vietnam. The El Chorrillo neighborhood was devastated, with estimates of 200-4,000 Panamanian civilian casualties.

What began as a humanitarian mission to deliver food became a manhunt for warlord Aidid. The Battle of Mogadishu ("Black Hawk Down") killed 18 US soldiers and an estimated 1,000-3,000 Somalis in a single day. The images of a dead American soldier dragged through the streets caused the US to withdraw.

NATO, led by the US, bombed Bosnian Serb positions in 1995 (Operation Deliberate Force) and Serbia itself for 78 days in 1999 (Operation Allied Force) to stop ethnic cleansing. The 1999 campaign dropped 23,000 bombs. No US combat deaths, but hundreds of Serbian civilians were killed, including the bombing of the Chinese embassy.

After "liberating" the Philippines from Spain, the US fought a brutal war against Filipino independence forces. 125,000 US troops were deployed. The war featured concentration camps, water torture, and the burning of entire villages. An estimated 200,000-1,000,000 Filipino civilians died. The Moro Rebellion continued until 1913.

The US occupied Cuba three separate times after the Spanish-American War. The Platt Amendment gave the US the right to intervene in Cuban affairs at will and established the Guantánamo Bay naval base (which the US still holds). American corporations came to dominate Cuba's economy.

For 87 years, the US Navy maintained a permanent armed presence on China's rivers and coasts. Gunboats patrolled the Yangtze River 1,300 miles inland. Marines were stationed in Beijing, Shanghai, and Tianjin. The US participated in the suppression of the Taiping Rebellion, the Boxer Rebellion, and numerous smaller interventions.

Reagan ordered airstrikes on Tripoli and Benghazi in retaliation for the Berlin disco bombing. F-111s from Britain and carrier aircraft struck military and government targets. Gaddafi's adopted daughter was killed. France refused overflight rights, forcing bombers on a 14-hour round trip.