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; it maintains a militarised coast guard which is in charge of defending the country and has deployed a small peacekeeping force internationally on a few occasions. Iceland 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 the 15th century

Viking battles

Conflict	Combatant 1	Combatant 2	Result	Total losses
Battle of Vinland (1003)	Icelandic Vikings	Native warriors	Victory Viking victory and withdrawal.	22 vikings dead 8+ natives dead
Battle of Vinland (1010)	Icelandic Vikings	Native warriors	Victory Native attack repelled; Viking withdrawal.	2 vikings dead 14 natives dead

Internal strifes

Conflict	Combatant 1	Combatant 2	Result	Icelandic losses
Age of the Sturlungs (1220–1264)	Icelandic Gothis	Commonwealth Gothis	Old Covenant Termination of the Icelandic Commonwealth.	74 dead

15th to 19th century

Date	Conflict / Event	Allies	Enemies	Result	total loses
1538–1550	Icelandic Reformation	Catholics	Denmark 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
1700, 1709–20	Iceland in the Great Northern War	Denmark-Norway Iceland	Swedish Empire	Coalition victory Trade obstructed Increase in exports
1797	Action of 16 May 1797	Denmark-Norway Iceland	Ottoman Empire Tripolitania	Victory
1803-1815	Iceland in the Napoleonic Wars	France Denmark-Norway	Netherlands Iceland	Coalition Forces	Dano-French defeat Dissolution of Denmark-Norway Iceland remains within Denmark as a dependency
1809	Jørgen Jørgensen's Revolution	Iceland	Denmark-Norway Iceland

21st century

Peacekeeping

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

References

^ "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.
^ 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.
^ 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.
^ 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.
^ 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.