List of wars involving Belgium

This article is an incomplete list of wars and conflicts involving Belgium and its colonial empire since its secession and independence from the United Kingdom of the Netherlands in 1830–39.

Start	Finish	Name of Conflict	Belligerents (excluding Belgium)		Outcome
			Allies	Enemies
1830	1839	Belgian Revolution Ten Days' Campaign	Belgian rebels France	United Kingdom of the Netherlands	Treaty of London: Recognition by the European powers of the independence and neutrality of Belgium
1839	1839	Cotton Riot	Protesting cotton labourers Orangists	Belgian Government	Belgian Government victory Riot suppressed by government soldiers Some protectionist measures
1832	1834	Liberal Wars	Portugal  United Kingdom France Spain	Miguelites	Liberal victory, Constitutional monarchy is restored
1856	1857	Labour riots in Ghent and Tournai[1]	Protesting labourers	Belgian Government	Belgian Government victory Riots suppressed by government soldiers
1861	1867	French intervention in Mexico	Mexican Empire France  Austrian Empire  Spain  United Kingdom Egypt Eyalet Polish Revolutionaries	United Mexican States United States of America (entered in 1865)	French withdrawal, Republican victory
1881	1899	Mahdist War	British Empire  Kingdom of Italy Congo Free State Ethiopian Empire	Mahdist Sudanese	Anglo-Egyptian victory
1891	1892	Stairs Expedition to Katanga	Congo Free State supported by:  Belgium	Yeke state of Msiri	Congo Free State victory Msiri killed, Mukanda-Bantu becomes vassal prince Belgium acquires the colony of Katanga
1892	1894	Belgo-Arab War	Congo Free State	Zanzibari slave traders	Congo Free State victory
1895	1895	Luba rebellion	Congo Free State supported by:  Belgium	Luba rebels	Congo Free State victory Many Luba men had to perform forced labour in the Katanga mines[2]
1895	1908	Batetela Rebellions	Congo Free State	Batetela people	Congo Free State victory
1905	1917	Kasongo Nyembo rebellion[2]	Congo Free State (until 1908)  Belgium  Belgian Congo (from 1908)	Luba rebels led by Kasongo Nyembo	Belgian victory Kasongo Nyembo banished[2]
1914	1918	World War I	Allies: France  British Empire  Russian Empire (1914–17)  United States (1917–18) and others	Central Powers  German Empire  Austria-Hungary  Ottoman Empire  Kingdom of Bulgaria (1915–18)	Allied victory Belgium acquires Eupen-Malmedy from Germany
1914	1918	East African campaign (part of World War I)	Allies:  United Kingdom  South Africa  India Rhodesia British East Africa Nyasaland Uganda  Belgium  Belgian Congo  Portugal Portuguese Mozambique	Central Powers  German Empire German East Africa	Allied victory Allied conquest and partition of German East Africa Belgium acquires Ruanda-Urundi from German East Africa
10 May 1940	28 May 1940	Battle of Belgium (part of World War II)	Belgium France  British Empire  Netherlands  Luxembourg	Nazi Germany	Belgian surrender and German occupation of Belgium
1940	1945	World War II	Allies	Axis powers	Allied victory
1950	1953	Korean War	United Nations (UN Resolution 84)	North Korea  China  Soviet Union	Ceasefire
1959	1962	Rwandan Revolution			Independence of the Republic of Rwanda Independence of the Kingdom of Burundi
1960	1966	Congo Crisis	Katanga  South Kasai	Republic of the Congo (Léopoldville)  United Nations (United Nations Operation in the Congo)	Withdrawal of Belgian Armed Forces Debellation of the State of South Kasai in 1961 Debellation of the State of Katanga in 1963 New Belgian intervention Operation Dragon Rouge and Operation Dragon Noire in 1964
1972	1973	Second Cod War	United Kingdom  Denmark  West Germany  Belgium	Iceland	Icelandic victory
1975	1976	Third Cod War	United Kingdom  West Germany  Belgium	Iceland	Icelandic victory
May 1978	June 1978	Shaba II	Zaire  France  United States	Front for the National Liberation of the Congo	Franco-Belgian victory
1990	1991	Gulf War	Coalition forces	Ba'athist Iraq	Coalition victory
1991	2003	Iraqi no-fly zones	United States  United Kingdom  France (1991–1998)  Australia  Netherlands  Saudi Arabia  Turkey  Italy	Ba'athist Iraq	Coalition victory
1992	1995	Somali Civil War	United States  United Kingdom  Spain  Saudi Arabia  Malaysia  Pakistan  Italy  India  Greece  Germany  France  Canada  Botswana  Australia	United Somali Congress	Victory UN humanitarian mandate fulfilled. About 100,000 lives were saved by outside resistance. Civil war is ongoing.
1998	1999	Kosovo War	Kosovo Liberation Army  Albania NATO force	Federal Republic of Yugoslavia	NATO victory United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo
2001	ongoing	War in Afghanistan	Afghanistan  United States ISAF	Taliban	Fall of Taliban régime Ongoing Taliban insurgency
2011		2011 military intervention in Libya	National Transitional Council  NATO forces	Libyan Arab Jamahiriya	Fall of Gaddafi régime
2014	ongoing	2014 military intervention against ISIS		Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant	Ongoing

See also

• List of wars in the Low Countries until 1560 – includes wars on the present territory of Belgium until 1560.
• For wars in the Southern Netherlands (Spanish Netherlands & Austrian Netherlands), the Principality of Liège, and the Princely Abbey of Stavelot-Malmedy during 1560–1830, see
  • List of wars involving Spain (1560–1713)
  • List of wars involving Austria (1713–1795)
    • The 1789–91 Brabant and Liège Revolutions are sometimes seen as foreshadowing the 1830–39 Belgian Revolution
  • List of wars involving France (1795–1815)
  • List of wars involving the Netherlands (1815–1890)
• History of Belgium
• Belgian Army

References

1. Els Witte, Jean-Pierre Nandrin, Eliane Gubin, Gita Deneckere. Nieuwe geschiedenis van Belgie / 1 1830-1905 / druk 1: 1830-1904 (in Dutch). Lannoo Uitgeverij. p. 35. ISBN 9789020962192. Retrieved 8 August 2020.CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
2. Appiah, Anthony; Henry Louis Gates (2005). Africana: The Encyclopedia of the African and African American Experience, Volume 3. Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 656. ISBN 9780195170559. Retrieved 5 August 2020.