The military 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 the American Revolutionary War. During this moment, the United States evolved from a colonial territory to newly formed nation following its independence from the Kingdom of Great Britain (1775–1783) to ultimately becoming a world superpower in the aftermath of World War II and through the present.John Whiteclay Chambers, ed., The Oxford Guide to American Military History (1999) As of 2024, the United States Armed Forces consists of the Army, Marine Corps, Navy, Air Force and Space Force, all under the command of the Department of Defense, and the Coast Guard, which is controlled by the Department of Homeland Security.
In 1775, the Continental Congress, convening in present-day Independence Hall in Philadelphia, established the Continental Army, the Continental Navy, and the Continental Marines, formally joining and escalating its war for independence in the Revolutionary War. This newly formed military, fighting alongside the Kingdom of France, triumphed over the British in the war, leading to its independence following the signing of the Treaty of Paris in 1783. In 1789, the new Constitution made the U.S. president the commander-in-chief, and gave Congress the authority to declare war.Jeremy Black, America as a Military Power: From the American Revolution to the Civil War (2002) 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 the war against the Islamic State.
Colonial wars (1607–1774)
The beginning of the United 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 against Native American tribes but also to resist possible raids by the small military forces of neighboring European colonies. They relied on the British regular Army and Navy for any serious military operation.
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.
In the early years of the British colonization of North America, military action in the thirteen colonies that would become the United States were the result of conflicts with Native Americans, such as in the Pequot War of 1637, King Philip's War in 1675, the Yamasee War in 1715 and Father Rale's War in 1722.
Beginning in 1689, the colonies became involved in a series of wars between Great Britain and France for control of North America, the most important of which were Queen Anne's War, in which the British conquered French colony Acadia, and the final French 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, including Virginia colonel George Washington, military experience which they put to use during the American Revolutionary War.Fred Anderson, The War That Made America: A Short History of the French and Indian War (2006)
War of Jenkins' Ear (1739–1748)
In the struggle for control of North America, the contest between Great Britain and France was the vital one, the conflict with Spain, a declining power, important but secondary. This latter conflict reached its height in the "War of Jenkins Ear," a prelude to the War of Austrian Succession, which began in 1739 and pitted the British and their American colonists against the Spanish.
In the colonies the war involved a seesaw struggle between the Spanish in Florida and the West Indies and the English colonists in South Carolina and Georgia. Its most notable episode, however, was a British expedition mounted in Jamaica against Cartagena, the main port of the Spanish 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.
War of Independence (1775–1783)
By 1774, ongoing political tensions between Great Britain and the Thirteen Colonies led the British to place the province of Massachusetts under martial law after the Patriots protested taxes they regarded as a violation of their constitutional rights as Englishmen. When shooting began at Lexington and Concord in April 1775, militia units from across New England rushed to Boston and bottled up the British in the city.
In 1775, gathering in present-day Independence Hall in Philadelphia, the Second Continental Congress formed the Continental Congress and appointed George Washington as its commander-in-chief, which was augmented throughout the war by colonial militia. In addition to the Army, Congress also created the Continental Navy and Continental Marines. Washington succeeded almost immediately in driving the British Army out of Boston in the Siege of Boston. But in late summer 1776, the British returned to New York, where they nearly captured Washington's army. The revolutionaries expelled British officials from the Thirteen Colonies. On 4 July 1776, the Second Continental Congress in Philadelphia unanimously adopted and issued the Declaration of Independence, which declared themselves independent from British colonial rule.Don Higginbotham, The war of American independence: military attitudes, policies, and practice, 1763–1789 (1983)
In the American Revolutionary War, the British lacked both a unified command and a clear strategy for winning the war. With the use of the Royal Navy, the British were able to capture coastal cities, but control of the countryside eluded them. A British sortie from Canada in 1777 ended with the disastrous surrender of a British army at Saratoga. With the coming in 1777 of General von Steuben, the training and discipline along Prussian lines began, and the Continental Army began to evolve into a modern force. France and Spain then entered the war against Great Britain as Allies of the U.S., ending its naval advantage and escalating the conflict into a world war. The Netherlands later joined France, and the British were outnumbered on land and sea in a world war, as they had no major allies apart from Indian tribes, Loyalists and Hessians.
A shift in focus to the southern American states in 1779 resulted in a string of victories for the British, but General Nathanael Greene engaged in guerrilla warfare and prevented them from making strategic headway. The main British army was surrounded by Washington's American and French forces at Yorktown in 1781, as the French fleet blocked a rescue by the Royal Navy. The British then sued for peace.
George Washington
General George Washington (1732–1799), who commanded the Continental Army against the British in the American Revolutionary War, proved an excellent organizer and administrator. Washington worked successfully with the Continental Congress and the state governors, selecting and mentoring his senior officers, supporting and training his troops, and maintaining an idealistic Republican Army. His biggest challenge was logistics, since neither the Continental Congress nor the states 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 of Boston in 1776, and was responsible for the surrender of the second and third armies in the Battle of Saratoga (1777) and Siege 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. The Loyalists, 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 the Loyalist leadership with them. Washington later astonished the world when, instead of seizing power, he gave his famed farewell address and retired quietly to his farm in Mount Vernon, Virginia, after serving one term as president from 1789 to 1797.Lesson Plan on "What Made George Washington a Good Military Leader?" NEH EDSITEMENTEdward G. Lengel, General George Washington: A Military Life (2007)
Patriots had a strong distrust of a permanent standing army, so the Continental Army was quickly demobilized, with land grants to veterans. Throughout the war, Washington deferred to elected officials, averted a potential coup d'état and resigned as commander-in-chief after the war, establishing a tradition of civil control of the U.S. military.
Early national period (1783–1812)
Following the American Revolutionary War, the United States faced potential military conflict on the high seas as well as on the western frontier. 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 professional officer 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.Richard H. Kohn, Eagle and Sword: The Federalists and the Creation of the Military Establishment in America, 1783–1802 (1975)
In the Treaty of Paris after the Revolution, the British had ceded the lands between the Appalachian Mountains and the Mississippi River to the United States, without consulting the Shawnee, 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 began dividing these lands for settlement. This provoked a war in the Northwest Territory in which the U.S. forces performed poorly; the Battle 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 a newly trained army to the region led by General Anthony Wayne, which decisively defeated the Indian confederacy at the Battle of Fallen Timbers in 1794.William B. Kessel and Robert Wooster, eds. Encyclopedia of Native American wars and warfare (2005) pp 50, 123, 186, 280