American Colonial Wars
- LAST REVIEWED: 06 February 2012
- LAST MODIFIED: 06 February 2012
- DOI: 10.1093/obo/9780199791279-0074
- LAST REVIEWED: 06 February 2012
- LAST MODIFIED: 06 February 2012
- DOI: 10.1093/obo/9780199791279-0074
Introduction
The colonial period of US history was rife with military conflict between European immigrants and Native Americans/Indians, among rival European imperial powers, among groups of European settlers, and among groups of Indians. Little has been written about conflict among Indians because sources of information concerning them are so few. The remaining three types of warfare often overlapped as settlers of European origins, Indians, and imperial governments all sought allies for support in their wars. In addition, tensions with Indians and differing views on Indian policy contributed to the outbreak of violence among colonists.
General Overviews
Textbooks on the colonial period of US history tend to be descriptive rather than analytical in their treatment of colonial war. Leach 1973 and Peckham 1964 survey these conflicts with emphasis on the wars between British and French colonists and their Indian allies. Davies 1974 provides context for the wars for maritime empire during the 17th century. Richter 2001 views the colonial era from the Indian point of view. The final three volumes of Parkman 1865–1892, a massive history of France and England in North America, focus on warfare between the imperial rivals. Indian relations receive attention though the various groups are usually treated in their roles as allies of England and France. Washburn 1988 covers the colonial era in a cursory fashion. Nester 2000 traces a century and a half of imperial rivalry that culminated in the French and Indian War. Grenier 2010 provides graduate students and nonspecialists with an excellent historiographical analysis of major works on the subject. Anderson and Cayton 2005 differs from the narrative nature of most surveys. The authors survey three hundred years of American military history in arguing that war has been as essential an ingredient in the formation of American culture and the development of the US political system as it has in the nation’s rise to world power.
Anderson, Fred, and Andrew Cayton. The Dominion of War: Empire and Liberty in North America, 1500–2000. New York: Viking, 2005.
The determination of settlers to expand led to warfare that became characteristic of American society. Views the colonial era through the relations between Samuel de Champlain and William Penn and the Indians each encountered.
Davies, K. G. The North Atlantic World in the Seventeenth Century. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1974.
Focuses on the Dutch, French, and English in the Caribbean and North America.
Grenier, John. “Warfare during the Colonial Era, 1607–1765.” In Companion to American Military History. Edited by James C. Bradford, 9–21. Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell, 2010.
Historiographical essay that identifies the most significant works and points out lacunae in coverage and interpretation.
Leach, Douglas Edward. Arms for Empire: A Military History of the British Colonies in North America, 1607–1763. New York: Macmillan, 1973.
A sophisticated account of both European and American military institutions and the major wars Europeans and Americans conducted.
Nester, William R. The Great Frontier War: Britain, France and the Imperial Struggle for North America, 1607–1755. Westport, CT: Praeger, 2000.
Nester demonstrates that British dominance of North America was far from inevitable, that Indian allies played a crucial role in the outcome, and that each side had both inept and able commanders. Thematic chapters on “Trade and Conquest,” “Economies and Societies,” and “Armies and Navies” that trace developments prior to 1754 are followed by chapters on developments during 1754 and 1755.
Parkman, Francis. France and England in North America. 6 vols. Boston: Little, Brown, 1865–1892.
Often-reprinted classic history for which the author traveled to the places where events took place. The prose now seems stilted in places, but the volumes contain important information not found elsewhere.
Peckham, Howard H. The Colonial Wars, 1689–1762. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1964.
Descriptive narrative with a focus on operations in the period after 1689; designed for undergraduate readers.
Richter, Daniel K. Facing East from Indian Country: A Native History of Early America. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2001.
Uses the lives of Pocahontas, Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha, and Metacom/King Philip as a lens through which to view the European settlement of eastern North America. Describes Native-American culture east of the Mississippi River and the complexities of relations between the native groups and English, Spanish, and French settlers, concluding that the native societies were far safer during the 17th and 18th centuries than later, when the culture of the new United States virtually destroyed their way of life.
Washburn, Wilcomb E., ed. History of Indian-White Relations. Vol. 4 of Handbook of North American Indians. Edited by William C. Sturtevant. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1988.
Includes fifty-seven essays divided into six sections, the shortest of which, “Military Situations,” contains three essays; the first of which, on colonial wars, by Douglas Leach, focuses on the Atlantic seaboard.
Users without a subscription are not able to see the full content on this page. Please subscribe or login.
How to Subscribe
Oxford Bibliographies Online is available by subscription and perpetual access to institutions. For more information or to contact an Oxford Sales Representative click here.
Article
- 1916 Easter Rising, The
- 1812, War of
- Aerial Bombardment, Ethics of
- Afghanistan, Wars in
- Africa, Gunpowder and Colonial Campaigns in
- African Military History and Historiography
- African Wars of Independence
- Air Transport
- Allenby, Edmund
- All-Volunteer Army, Post-Vietnam Through 2016
- American Colonial Wars
- American Indian Wars
- American War of Independence
- Amir Timur
- Animals and the Military
- Antietam, Battle of
- Arab-Israeli Wars, 1948-Present
- Arctic Warfare
- Argentine Armed Forces
- Armed Forces of the Ottoman Empire, 1683–1918
- Armored War
- Arms Control and Disarmament
- Army, Roman
- Artillery
- Artists and War Art
- Assyrian Warfare
- Attila and the Huns
- Australia from the Colonial Era to the Present
- Austrian Succession, War of the
- Austro-Hungarian Armed Forces
- Balkan Liberation, 1878–1913, Wars of
- Baltic Crusades
- Battle of Agincourt
- Battle of Bannockburn: 1341
- Battle of Plassey, 1757
- Battle of Route Coloniale 4, 1950: France’s first devastat...
- Battle of Salamis: 480 BC
- Battle of Tours (732?)
- Boer Wars
- Bonaparte, Napoleon
- Brazilian Armed Forces
- Britain and the Blitz
- British Armed Forces, from the Glorious Revolution to Pres...
- British Army in World War II
- British Army of the Rhine, The
- British-India Armies from 1740 to 1849
- Canada from World War I to the Present
- Canada in World War II
- Canada through World War I
- Cavalry since 1500
- Chaco War
- Charlemagne
- China's Modern Wars, 1911-1979
- Chinese Civil War, 1945-1949
- Chivalry
- Christianity and Warfare in the Medieval West
- Churchill, John, 1st Duke of Marlborough
- Churchill, Winston
- Civilians
- Clausewitz, Carl von
- Coalition and Alliance War
- Cold War, 1945-1990
- Cold War Dictatorships in the Southern Cone (Brazil, Argen...
- Commemoration
- Communications, French Revolution to the Present
- Conflict and Migration
- Conquest of Mexico and Peru
- Conscription
- Cornwallis, Charles
- Counterinsurgency in the Modern World
- Crimean War, 1853–1856
- Cromwell, Oliver
- Crusades, The
- Cuban Missile Crisis
- Defense Industries
- Dien Bien Phu, Battle of
- Dominion Armies in World War II
- Douhet, Giulio, airpower theorist
- Eisenhower, Dwight
- Ethnic Cleansing and Genocide
- European Wars, Mid-Nineteenth-Century
- Finland in World War II
- France in World War I
- Frederick the Great
- French Armies, Early Modern
- French Military, 1919-1940
- French Revolutionary Wars, The
- Gender Issues
- German Air Forces
- German Army, 1871–1945
- German Sea Power, 1848-1918
- German Unification, Wars of
- Germany's Eastern Front in 1941
- Grant, Ulysses S.
- Greek and Roman Navies
- Guerrilla Warfare, Pre-20th-Century
- Gunpowder Warfare in South Asia: 1400–1800
- Haig, Douglas
- Haitian Revolution (1789–1804)
- Hippolyte, Comte de Guibert, Jacques Antoine
- Hiroshima/Nagasaki
- History of Intelligence in China
- Hundred Days Campaign of 1918
- Hundred Years War
- Hungary, Warfare in Medieval and Early Modern
- Imperial China, War in
- India 'Mutiny' and 'Revolution,' 1857-1858
- Indian Army in World War I
- Indian Warfare, Ancient
- India-Pakistan Wars
- Indochina Wars, 1946-1975
- Information Warfare
- Intelligence, Military
- International Efforts to Control War
- Iraq Wars, 1980s-Present
- Irish Civil War, 1922–1923
- Irish Revolution, 1911-1923, The
- Italian Armed Forces in the Modern Age
- Italian Campaign, World War I
- Japanese Army in the World War II Era, The Imperial
- Japanese Navy
- Jomini, Antoine-Henri
- Justice, Military, the Anglo-American Tradition
- Justice of War and Justice in War
- Khan, Genghis
- Kursk, Battle of
- Learning and Adapting: The British Army from Somme to the ...
- Lee, Robert E.
- Lepizig, Battle of
- Literature and Drama, War in
- Loos, Battle of
- Louis XIV, Wars of
- Low-Intensity Operations
- Manzikert, Battle of
- Maratha Navy
- Media
- Medicine, Military
- Medieval French Warfare
- Medieval Japan, 900-1600
- Mercenaries
- Meuse-Argonne Offensive
- Mexico and the United States, 1836–1848, Wars of
- Midway, Battle of
- Militarism
- Military Officers, United States
- Military Revolutions
- Militia
- Modern Piracy
- Mongol Wars
- Montgomery, Bernard Law
- Music and War
- Napoleonic Wars, The
- Napoleonic Wars, War and Memory in the
- NATO
- Navy, British
- Nelson, Horatio
- New Zealand
- Nimitz, Chester
- Nuclear Culture
- Nuclear Weapons
- Occupations and Military Government
- Operational Art
- Ottoman Navy
- Pacifism
- Passchaendale, Battle of
- Patton, George
- Peacekeeping
- Peninsular War
- Polish Armed Forces, 1918-present
- Political Purges in the 20th Century
- Poltava, Battle of
- Popular Culture and Modern War
- Prehistoric Warfare
- Pre-Revolutionary Mexican Armed Forces: 1810–1910
- Prince Eugene of Savoy
- Prisoners
- Private Military and Security Companies
- Propaganda
- Psychiatric Casualties
- Race, Ethnicity, and War
- Race in the US Military
- Red Cross
- Religio-Military Orders
- Revolt in the Spanish Netherlands: 1561–1609 (Dutch Revolt...
- Roman Empire
- Roman Republic
- Roses, Wars of the
- Russian and Soviet Armed Forces
- Russian Campaign of 1812
- Russian Civil War, 1918–1921
- Russian Military History
- Russian Military History, 1762-1825
- Russo-Japanese War
- Safavid Army
- Sailing Warships
- Science and Technology in War
- Science Fiction, Military
- Semi-Military and Paramilitary Organizations
- Seven Years' War
- Seven Years' War in North America, The
- Sino-Japanese Wars, 1895-1945
- South Africa's Apartheid Wars
- South West Pacific, 1941–1945, Campaigns in
- Southeast Asian Military History, Colonial
- Southeast Asian Military History, Precolonial
- Space and War
- Spain since the Reconquista
- Spanish Civil War
- Special Operations Forces
- Special Operations Forces
- Stalingrad, Battle of
- Steppe Nomadic Warfare
- Strategy
- Submarine Warfare
- Swedish Armed Forces
- Tactics
- Terrorism
- Tet Offensive
- The Allied Bombardment of Occupied Europe During World War...
- The United States and the Middle East, 1945-2001
- Third Battle of Panipat
- Thirty Years War, 1618–1648
- Trench Warfare
- Uganda–Tanzania War, 1978–1979
- United States Marine Corps, The
- Urban Warfare
- US Air Force
- US Air Power
- US Army
- Verdun, Battle of
- Victorian Warfare, 1837–1902
- Vietnam War
- Vietnam War in Hollywood Feature Films
- War at Sea in the Age of Napoleon
- War, Chemical and Biological
- War Correspondents
- War, Culture of
- War in Mughal India
- War of the Spanish Succession, 1701–1714
- Warfare in Qing China
- Warfare, Precolonial, in Africa
- Warships, Steam
- Women in the Military
- World War I in Film
- World War I Origins
- World War I: The Eastern Front
- World War I: The Western Front
- World War II and the Far East
- World War II in Film
- World War II in the Mediterranean and Middle East
- World War II, Indian Army in
- World War II Origins
- World War II, Russo-German War
- Yugoslavian Civil War, 1991–1999
- Zhukov, Georgii
- Zulu Wars