List of wars involving England
This is a list of wars involving the Kingdom of England before the creation of the Kingdom of Great Britain by the Acts of Union 1707. For dates after 1708, see List of wars involving the United Kingdom.
- English victory - 36
- English defeat - 29
- Another result * - 12
*e.g. a treaty or peace without a clear result, status quo ante bellum, result of civil or internal conflict, result unknown or indecisive, inconclusive
10th and 11th centuries
Start | End | Name of conflict | Belligerents | Outcome | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
England & allies | England's opposition | ||||
927 | 937 | Æthelstan's invasion of Scotland | ![]() ![]() ![]() |
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Stalemate |
946 | 954 | Northumbria's war of independence | ![]() |
Northumbria | Victory
|
1016 | 1016 | Cnut the Great's invasion of England | ![]() |
![]() Cnut the Great |
Defeat
|
1026 | 1026 | Battle of Helgeå | ![]() ![]() |
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Victory
|
1066 | 1088 | Norman Conquest of England | ![]() |
![]() William of Normandy |
Defeat
|
1067 | 1081 | Norman invasion of Wales | ![]() |
Welsh kingdoms | Defeat
|
1075 | 1075 | Revolt of the Earls | ![]() |
Three earls | Internal Conflict, William was Victorious
|
1096 | 1099 | First Crusade | ![]() |
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Victory
|
12th century
Start | End | Name of conflict | Belligerents | Outcome | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
England & allies | England's opposition | ||||
1145 | 1149 | Second Crusade | ![]() Kingdom of Sicily (Holy land Crusade) |
Sultanate of Rum (Holy Land Crusade)
![]() ![]() ![]() Obotrite Confederacy (Wendish Crusade) |
Partial Crusader Victory
|
1189 | 1192 | Third Crusade | ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Ayyubids Zengids Sultanate of Rum Byzantine Empire | Partial Crusader victory |
13th century
14th century
15th century
Start | End | Name of conflict | Belligerents | Outcome | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
England & allies | England's opposition | ||||
1470 | 1474 | Anglo-Hanseatic War | ![]() |
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Defeat, Hanseatic victory |
1496 | 1498 | Italian War of 1494–1498 (1494–1498) |
League of Venice:
|
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Victory
|
16th century
17th century
Start | End | Name of conflict | Belligerents | Outcome | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
England & allies | England's opposition | ||||
1602 | 1661 | Dutch-Portuguese War (1602–1661) | ![]() ![]() (until 1640) ![]() ![]() ![]() Kingdom of Ndongo |
![]() ![]() (until 1640) Kingdom of Cochin Potiguara Tupis |
Stalemate
|
1625 | 1630 | Anglo-Spanish War (1625–1630) | ![]() Support: |
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Status quo ante bellum
|
1627 | 1629 | Anglo-French War (1627–1629) | ![]() |
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Status quo ante bellum |
1640 | 1668 | Portuguese Restoration War | ![]() ![]() ![]() |
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Victory
|
1652 | 1654 | First Anglo-Dutch War | ![]() |
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Victory |
1654 | 1660 | Anglo-Spanish War (1654–1660) | ![]() ![]() |
![]() ![]() |
Victory |
1661 | 1665 | Dano-Dutch War | ![]() ![]() |
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Victory
|
1665 | 1667 | Second Anglo-Dutch War | ![]() ![]() |
![]() ![]() ![]() |
Defeat
|
1672 | 1674 | Third Anglo-Dutch War | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
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Defeat
|
1672 | 1678 | Franco-Dutch War | ![]()
|
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|
Major French territorial gains
|
1686 | 1690 | Anglo-Mughal War | ![]() ![]() |
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Defeat
|
1687 | 1688 | Anglo-Siamese War | ![]() ![]() |
![]() (Unauthorised piracy by English sailors under Siamese employ) • ![]() |
Inconclusive
English factory rejected from Siam, after minor naval action, along with massacre in the aftermath: the war was not pursued. In 1688, a coup forced the closure of all official European trade in Siam for 150 years except for the Dutch. |
1688 | 1697 | Nine Years' War | Grand Alliance:![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
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Victory
|
18th century
Start | End | Name of conflict | Belligerents | Outcome | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
England & allies | England's opposition | ||||
1700 | 1721 | The Great Northern War (1700–1721) |
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|
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|
Inconclusive for England
Russian Allied victory:
|
1701 | 1714 | War of the Spanish Succession | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Kingdom of Portugal |
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Victory
|
Civil wars and revolutions
Start | End | Name of conflict | Belligerents | Outcome | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
English Government | Rebels | ||||
1069 | 1070 | Harrying of the North | ![]() |
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Internal Conflict, William was Victorious
An uprising which started 4 years after the Norman Conquest. Edgar Ætheling, the grandson of Edmund Ironside and the last notable heir to the House of Wessex, fought with the support of the King of Denmark Sweyn II, Anglo-Saxons, and Anglo-Scandinavians. It ended in defeat for the Anglo-Saxons & Anglo-Scandinavians. William the Conqueror paid Sweyn and his Danish fleet to go home, but the remaining rebels refused to meet him in battle, and he decided to starve them out by laying waste to the northern shires using scorched earth tactics. The Norman campaign to reconquer Northern England resulted in a genocide against the people living there. |
1070 | 1071 | Ely Rebellion | ![]() |
King of Denmark Sweyn II Hereward the Wake Morcar Bishop Aethelwine of Durham |
Internal Conflict, William Victorius
An anti-Norman insurrection centred on the Isle of Ely. The Danish king Sweyn Estrithson sent a small army to try to establish a camp on the Isle of Ely. The Isle became a refuge for Anglo-Saxon forces under Earl Morcar, Bishop Aethelwine of Durham and Hereward the Wake in 1071.[4] The area was taken by William the Conqueror only after a prolonged struggle.[5] |
1088 | 1088 | Rebellion of 1088 | ![]() |
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Internal Conflict, William Rufus Victorius |
1135 | 1154 | The Anarchy | Supporters of Stephen of Blois | Supporters of Empress Matilda and Henry Curtmantle | Civil War
|
1173 | 1174 | Revolt of 1173–74 | ![]() |
English rebels Kingdom of France Kingdom of Scotland County of Flanders County of Boulogne Duchy of Brittany |
Internal Conflict
|
1215 | 1217 | First Barons' War | ![]() |
Rebel Barons
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Civil War, Angevinian victory
|
1264 | 1267 | Second Barons' War | ![]() |
Rebel barons | Civil War, Royalist victory
|
1264 | 1267 | Welsh Uprising (1282) | ![]() |
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Internal Conflict, Royalist victory |
1321 | 1322 | Despenser War | ![]() |
Contrariants
Supported by:
|
Civil War, Decisive Royal victory
|
1326 | 1326 | Invasion of England (1326) | ![]() Edward II (POW) |
Contrariants Supported by: |
Civil War, Contrariants' victory
Continuation of the Despenser War. Isabella of France, and her lover, Roger Mortimers invasion led to:
|
1381 | 1381 | Peasants' Revolt | ![]() |
Rebel forces | Internal Conflict, Royal government victorious
|
1400 | 1415 | Glyndŵr RisingPart of the Hundred Years' War | ![]() |
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Internal Conflict, Total English victory |
1455 | 1485 | Wars of the Roses | ![]() Supported by: |
![]() ![]() Supported by: |
Civil War, Victory for the House of Lancaster and their allies
|
1497 | 1497 | Cornish Rebellion of 1497 | ![]() |
Cornish rebels |
Internal Conflict, English victory |
1549 | 1549 | Prayer Book Rebellion | ![]()
|
Southwestern Catholic Rebels
|
Internal Conflict, Edwardian victory
|
1639 | 1651 | Wars of the Three Kingdoms | ![]() |
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|
Civil War, Parliamentarian victory Bishops' Wars (1639)
Second Bishops' War (1640)
First English Civil War (1642–46)
Irish Confederate Wars (1642–48)
Scotland in the Wars of the Three Kingdoms (1644–47)
Second English Civil War (1648)
Cromwellian conquest of Ireland (1649)
Third English Civil War (1650–1652)
|
1685 | 1685 | Monmouth Rebellion | ![]() |
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Internal Conflict, Victory for James II |
1688 | 1689 | Glorious Revolution | ![]() |
William of Orange Dutch military forces British military forces |
Internal Conflict
|
1689 | 1746 | Jacobite Rebellions | ![]()
|
Jacobites | Civil War, Royalist victory in England, Scotland and Ireland
|
See also
- List of English civil wars
- List of wars in Great Britain
- Military history of England
- List of wars involving England and France
- List of wars involving the United Kingdom
References
- ^ Edmund II (king of England) @ Britannica.com. Retrieved 25 March 2010.
- ^ https://www.oxfordreference.com/display/10.1093/acref/9780195334036.001.0001/acref-9780195334036-e-0424
- ^ Geoffrey Parker p. 73
- ^ Hereward and the Isle of Ely, BBC History, accessed 6 January 2008
- ^ The taking of Ely, BBC History, accessed 6 January 2008
- ^ Weir (2006), p 223
- ^ Wagner & Schmid 2011.
- ^ Guy 1988.
- ^ McCaffrey 1984.
- ^ After Francis II became ill, his treasurer, Pierre Landais, ruling the Duchy in his stead, aided Richard III in attempting to capture Henry Tudor.
- ^ Francis II sheltered Henry Tudor, supplying him with money, troops, and ships. It was only after Francis fell ill that Henry was forced to flee Brittany to France.
Sources
- Guy, J. (1988). Tudor England. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-285213-7. OCLC 17677564.
- McCaffrey, Wallace (1984). "Recent Writings on Tutor History". In Schlatter, Richard (ed.). Recent Views on British History: Essays on Historical Writing since 1966. Rutgers University Press. ISBN 978-0-8135-0959-4.
- Wagner, John A.; Schmid, Susan Walters, eds. (2011). Encyclopedia of Tudor England. ABC-CLIO. ISBN 978-1-59884-298-2.
Further reading
- Barnett, Correlli. Britain and her army, 1509-1970: a military, political and social survey (1970).
- Carlton, Charles. This Seat of Mars: War and the British Isles, 1485-1746 (Yale UP; 2011) 332 pages; studies the impact of near unceasing war from the individual to the national levels.
- Chandler, David G., and Ian Frederick William Beckett, eds. The Oxford history of the British army (Oxford UP, 2003).
- Cole, D. H and E. C Priestley. An outline of British military history, 1660-1936 (1936). online
- Higham, John, ed. A Guide to the Sources of British Military History (1971) 654 pages excerpt; Highly detailed bibliography and discussion up to 1970.
- Sheppard, Eric William. A short history of the British army (1950). online
Historiography
- Messenger, Charles, ed. Reader's Guide to Military History (2001) pp 55–74; annotated guide to most important books.