List of wars involving Iceland

The following is a list of wars involving Iceland. Although modern Iceland does not maintain a standing army, navy nor air force, but it maintains a militarised coast guard which is in charge of defending the country. The country has deployed a small peacekeeping force internationally on a few occasions. It has never participated in a full-scale war or invasion, and the constitution of Iceland has no mechanism to declare war.[1]

None of the Cod Wars meet any of the common thresholds for a conventional war, and they may more accurately be described as militarised interstate disputes between Iceland and the United Kingdom.[2][3][4][5]

Before 1500

Conflict	Combatant 1	Combatant 2	Result
Viking battle: Battle of Vinland (1003)	Icelandic and Norwegian Vikings	Native warriors	Victory Viking victory and withdrawal 22 vikings dead 8+ natives dead
Viking battle: Battle of Vinland (1010)	Icelandic and Norwegian Vikings	Native warriors	Victory Native attack repelled Viking withdrawal 2 vikings dead 14 natives dead
Internal conflict: Age of the Sturlungs (1220–1264)	Icelandic Gothis	Commonwealth Gothis	Old Covenant Termination of the Icelandic Commonwealth Iceland is integrated into the Kingdom of Norway 74 Icelanders dead

1500–2000

Date	Conflict / Event	Allies	Enemies	Result
1538–1550	Icelandic Reformation	Catholics	Denmark-Norway Protestants	Icelandic/Catholic victory Continuation of the Protestant church in Iceland 127 dead
1627	Turkish Abductions	Denmark-Norway Iceland	Ottoman Empire Algeria	Abduction of 400–800 Icelanders 53 dead
1797	Action of 16 May 1797	Denmark-Norway Iceland	Ottoman Empire Tripolitania	Victory
1803–1815	Iceland in the Napoleonic Wars	France Denmark-Norway Iceland	Coalition Forces Netherlands	Dano-French defeat Dissolution of Denmark-Norway Iceland remains within Denmark as a dependency
1809	Jørgen Jørgensen's Revolution	Jørgen Jørgensen Icelandic revolutionaries	Denmark-Norway Icelandic loyalists United Kingdom	Danish government restored Jørgen Jørgensen arrested by the British navy
1940	Invasion of Iceland		United Kingdom	British victory Occupation of Iceland
1958–1976	The Cod Wars		United Kingdom West Germany Belgium	Victory Iceland secures its territorial water claims

After 2000

Peacekeeping

Mission	Date	Location	Troops deployed
MNF-I	2004–2007	Iraq	2
ISAF	2002–2014	Afghanistan	2–32

See also

• Defence of Iceland
• Iceland in World War II (invasion)
• List of countries without armed forces
• Military history of Iceland
• Turkish Abductions

References

1. "From Iceland — Ask A Historian: Has Iceland Ever Been Involved In Any Wars Or Conflicts". The Reykjavik Grapevine. 2017-07-14. Retrieved 2020-10-17.
2. Steinsson, Sverrir (2016-03-22). "The Cod Wars: a re-analysis". European Security. 25 (2): 256–275. doi:10.1080/09662839.2016.1160376. ISSN 0966-2839. S2CID 155242560.
3. Hellmann, Gunther; Herborth, Benjamin (2008-07-01). "Fishing in the mild West: democratic peace and militarised interstate disputes in the transatlantic community". Review of International Studies. 34 (3): 481–506. doi:10.1017/S0260210508008139. ISSN 1469-9044. S2CID 144997884.
4. Ireland, Michael J.; Gartner, Scott Sigmund (2001-10-01). "Time to Fight: Government Type and Conflict Initiation in Parliamentary Systems". The Journal of Conflict Resolution. 45 (5): 547–568. doi:10.1177/0022002701045005001. JSTOR 3176313. S2CID 154973439.
5. Prins, Brandon C.; Sprecher, Christopher (1999-05-01). "Institutional Constraints, Political Opposition, And Interstate Dispute Escalation: Evidence from Parliamentary Systems, 1946–89". Journal of Peace Research. 36 (3): 271–287. doi:10.1177/0022343399036003002. ISSN 0022-3433. S2CID 110394899.