jjares reviewed America?s Forgotten Wars: The History and Legacy of the Nation?s Forgotten Conflicts on the Way to Becoming a Global Power on + 3278 more book reviews
This book describes some of the lesser-known battles that the United States has been involved in over the years. Some of these conflicts were internal and some were with other countries. This is probably too long a summary but I was afraid that the wars would just run together if I didn't put something to paper. These were the conflicts that I wanted to remember; thus, my notes.
SHAY'S REBELLION -- was a series of violent attacks on courthouses and other government properties in Massachusetts that began in 1786 and led to a full-blown military confrontation in 1787. Shay and 4000 men took up arms in opposition to high taxes and stringent economic conditions.
WHISKEY REBELLION -- was a 1794 uprising of farmers and distillers in western Pennsylvania in protest of a whiskey tax enacted by the federal government. This was the first tax imposed on a domestic product by the newly formed federal government.
US QUASI-WAR WITH FRANCE -- An undeclared war between the United States and France (from 1798 to 1800), the Quasi-War was the result of disagreements over treaties and America's status as a neutral in the Wars of the French Revolution. Most of the fighting took place in the Caribbean and off the Atlantic coast.
FIRST BARBARY WAR -- also called Tripolitan War, (1801-05), was a conflict between the United States and Tripoli (now in Libya), incited by American refusal to continue payment of tribute to the piratical rulers of the North African Barbary States of Algiers, Tunis, Morocco, and Tripoli. Part of this was over white slavery.
SECOND BARBARY WAR -- (1815), also known as the Algerine or Algerian War, was the second of two wars fought between the United States and the Ottoman Empire's North African regencies of Tripoli, Tunis, and Algeria, known collectively as the Barbary states. This was a continuation of the issue of white slavery. Commodore Stephen Decatur's fleet positioned itself off the coast of Algiers in June 1815 after capturing two Algerine ships. Officials from Algiers met with Decatur at sea, and peace terms were negotiated between the United States and Algiers.
THE SUMATRAN EXPEDITION OF 1832 -- was a punitive expedition by the United States Navy against the village of Kuala Batee, presently a subdistrict in Southwest Aceh Regency. The reprisal was in response to the massacre of the crew of the merchantman 'Friendship' a year earlier.
SECOND SUMATRAN EXPEDITION OF 1838 -- was a punitive expedition by the United States Navy against inhabitants of the island of Sumatra. After Malay warriors or pirates had massacred the crew of the American merchant ship 'Eclipse,' an expedition of two American warships landed a force that defeated the Malays in two short engagements.
OPENING JAPAN AND CHINA -- This recounts the difficulties Commodore Perry and others experienced while trying to open China and Japan to Western trade and civilization. Perry was successful by being difficult and insisting on various concessions before he would meet with his adversaries.
OPENING KOREA -- Even after Japan and China opened, Korea remained closed. The SHERMAN was an armed U.S. Merchant Marine side-wheel steamer in Korea in 1866. All onboard were slaughtered by the Koreans. It was an important catalyst to the end of Korean isolationism in the 19th century.
THE CORTINA WARS -- This is the generic name for the First Cortina War from 1859 to 1860, and the Second Cortina War, in 1861, in which paramilitary forces, led by the Mexican rancher and local leader Juan Nepomuceno Cortina, confronted elements of the United States Army, the Confederate States Army, the Texas Rangers, and the local militias of Brownsville, Texas, and Matamoros, Tamaulipas.
THE SAMOAN WARS -- In 1898, Germany, the United Kingdom, and the United States were locked in a dispute over who should have control over the Samoan island chain, located in the South Pacific Ocean. It was a way of proxy, but the major countries involved were willing to join at a moment's notice. Eventually, the US, Germany, and Britain decided on the division of the islands.
PHILIPPINE-AMERICAN WAR -- The sinking of the USS Maine in Cuba (on February 15, 1898), precipitated the Spanish-American War and also popularized the phrase "Remember the Maine!" The cause of the explosion that sank the ship is still a mystery that remains unsolved.
The US decided to attack the Philippines, owned by Spain because they wanted a Pacific naval port for refueling. The Philippine-American War was an armed conflict fought from February 4, 1899, to July 2, 1902, between forces of the United States and Filipino revolutionaries led by President Emilio Aguinaldo.
SHAY'S REBELLION -- was a series of violent attacks on courthouses and other government properties in Massachusetts that began in 1786 and led to a full-blown military confrontation in 1787. Shay and 4000 men took up arms in opposition to high taxes and stringent economic conditions.
WHISKEY REBELLION -- was a 1794 uprising of farmers and distillers in western Pennsylvania in protest of a whiskey tax enacted by the federal government. This was the first tax imposed on a domestic product by the newly formed federal government.
US QUASI-WAR WITH FRANCE -- An undeclared war between the United States and France (from 1798 to 1800), the Quasi-War was the result of disagreements over treaties and America's status as a neutral in the Wars of the French Revolution. Most of the fighting took place in the Caribbean and off the Atlantic coast.
FIRST BARBARY WAR -- also called Tripolitan War, (1801-05), was a conflict between the United States and Tripoli (now in Libya), incited by American refusal to continue payment of tribute to the piratical rulers of the North African Barbary States of Algiers, Tunis, Morocco, and Tripoli. Part of this was over white slavery.
SECOND BARBARY WAR -- (1815), also known as the Algerine or Algerian War, was the second of two wars fought between the United States and the Ottoman Empire's North African regencies of Tripoli, Tunis, and Algeria, known collectively as the Barbary states. This was a continuation of the issue of white slavery. Commodore Stephen Decatur's fleet positioned itself off the coast of Algiers in June 1815 after capturing two Algerine ships. Officials from Algiers met with Decatur at sea, and peace terms were negotiated between the United States and Algiers.
THE SUMATRAN EXPEDITION OF 1832 -- was a punitive expedition by the United States Navy against the village of Kuala Batee, presently a subdistrict in Southwest Aceh Regency. The reprisal was in response to the massacre of the crew of the merchantman 'Friendship' a year earlier.
SECOND SUMATRAN EXPEDITION OF 1838 -- was a punitive expedition by the United States Navy against inhabitants of the island of Sumatra. After Malay warriors or pirates had massacred the crew of the American merchant ship 'Eclipse,' an expedition of two American warships landed a force that defeated the Malays in two short engagements.
OPENING JAPAN AND CHINA -- This recounts the difficulties Commodore Perry and others experienced while trying to open China and Japan to Western trade and civilization. Perry was successful by being difficult and insisting on various concessions before he would meet with his adversaries.
OPENING KOREA -- Even after Japan and China opened, Korea remained closed. The SHERMAN was an armed U.S. Merchant Marine side-wheel steamer in Korea in 1866. All onboard were slaughtered by the Koreans. It was an important catalyst to the end of Korean isolationism in the 19th century.
THE CORTINA WARS -- This is the generic name for the First Cortina War from 1859 to 1860, and the Second Cortina War, in 1861, in which paramilitary forces, led by the Mexican rancher and local leader Juan Nepomuceno Cortina, confronted elements of the United States Army, the Confederate States Army, the Texas Rangers, and the local militias of Brownsville, Texas, and Matamoros, Tamaulipas.
THE SAMOAN WARS -- In 1898, Germany, the United Kingdom, and the United States were locked in a dispute over who should have control over the Samoan island chain, located in the South Pacific Ocean. It was a way of proxy, but the major countries involved were willing to join at a moment's notice. Eventually, the US, Germany, and Britain decided on the division of the islands.
PHILIPPINE-AMERICAN WAR -- The sinking of the USS Maine in Cuba (on February 15, 1898), precipitated the Spanish-American War and also popularized the phrase "Remember the Maine!" The cause of the explosion that sank the ship is still a mystery that remains unsolved.
The US decided to attack the Philippines, owned by Spain because they wanted a Pacific naval port for refueling. The Philippine-American War was an armed conflict fought from February 4, 1899, to July 2, 1902, between forces of the United States and Filipino revolutionaries led by President Emilio Aguinaldo.
