Military History

From the Family Tree Forum Reference Library






World War One World War Two The Army The Royal Navy
The Royal Air Force British Army Regiments




BRITISH WARS through the Centuries

Roman Invasion (43)

Manduessedum (61)

Battle of Mons Graupius (83)

Norman Conquest ' War (1337 to 1453)

Battle of Agincourt (1415)

Wars of the Roses (1455 - 1485)

Battle of Bosworth Field - last British king to die in combat (1485)

Italian Wars (1494 ? 1559)

Eighty Years' War (1598 - 1648)

Spanish Armada (1588)

Bishops' Wars (1639 - 1640)

British Civil War (1642 - 1649)

First Anglo-Dutch War (1652 - 1654)

Anglo-Spanish War (1654 - 1660)

Second Anglo-Dutch War (1665 - 1667)

War of Devolution (1667 - 1668)

Third Anglo-Dutch War (1672 - 1674)

King Philip's War (1675 - 1676)

Monmouth Rebellion (1685)

Battle of Sedgemoor (1685) - last battle on English soil

War of the Grand Alliance (or King William's War) (1688 - 1697)

Jacobite Rebellions (1689 - 1746)

Battle of Culloden (1746) - last battle on the British mainland

War of the Spanish Succession (1702 - 1713)

Queen Anne's War (1702 - 1713)

War of Jenkins' Ear (1739 - 1742)

War of the Austrian Succession (1740 - 1748)

Seven Years War (1756-1763)

Fourth Anglo-Dutch War (1780-1784)

American War of Independence (1775 to 1783)

Napoleonic Wars (1803 - 1815)

Battle of Trafalgar (1805)

British-American War (1812)

First Anglo-Afghan War (1839 - 1842)

First Opium War (1839 - 1842)

Crimean War (1854 - 1856) Charge of the Light Brigade

Second Opium War (or The Arrow War) (1856 - 1860)

Anglo-Zulu War (1879)

Boer War ( 1880 - 1881 and 1899 - 1902)

Anglo-Irish War (1919 - 1921)

World War I (1914 - 1918)

World War II (1939 - 1945)

Cold War (1945 - 1991)

Malayan Emergency (1948 - 1960)

Korean War (1950 - 1953)

Mau Mau Uprising (1952 - 1960)

Cyprus Emergency (1955 - 1959)

Suez Crisis (1956)

Brunei Uprising (1962)

Konfrontasi (1962-1966)

Aden Emergency (1963 - 1967)

Icelandic Cod War (1975 - 1976)

Falklands War (1982)

Gulf War (1990 - 1991)

Kosovo War (1999)

Sierra Leone (2000)

2001 Afghanistan War (2001-2002)

2003 invasion of Iraq (2003)



General Military Information

British Military Records through the ages

When you are searching for Military Service Records there are a few important pieces of information that you need to have. These are:

  • Full name of the individual. If you have as full a name as possible as this will make tracking your individual easier. E.g. John Brown. There must be hundreds of John Browns. If you have a middle name it will make things a bit easier. E.g. John W Brown.
  • The Service in which he served. Army, Royal Navy or Air Force.
  • Rank and Regiment or Naval Ship or Squadron. Having the service number can be particularly helpful.
  • Find out when the person served; pre First World War, First World War and after 1920.
  • The more details you have the better. Even the Enlistment date and Demob dates are helpful as well.


Researching Prisoners of War

The International Committee of the Red Cross in Geneva keeps lists of all known POWs and internees of all nationalities for the Second World War. Enquiries concerning these lists should be directed to:

Archives Division and Research Service
International Committee of the Red Cross
19 Avenue de la Paix,
Geneva CH-1202,
Switzerland

email: archives.gva@icrc.org


POW Links


Book! Prisoners of War, British Army, 1939 - 1945

That lists alphabetically over 107,000 British Army POWs of all ranks held in Germany or in German occupied territories in World War Two. It gives each POW's camp, POW number, surname, initials, rank, army number and regiment/corps.

It was re-published in 1990, by J B Hayward and Sons of Polstead, Suffolk (cost £38) ISBN 0-903754-61-


Shop-The Queens Shilling and it specalises in military books and items

Commercial Road,
Parkstone,
Poole
Dorset
Tel 01202 723335


Useful Links

A-Z List of Ex-Military Service Organisations

A-Z List of Ex-Military Service


Medals and Decorations


World War One and Two Dual Links


Women in the Military



Canadian Soldiers