List of wars involving South Africa

This is a list of wars involving the Union of South Africa and its successor, the Republic of South Africa.

Conflict	South Africa and allies	Opponents	Results	Prime Minister (1912–94) President (1994–)	Losses
World War I (1914–1918 A.D.)	France United Kingdom  Canada  Australia  New Zealand  India  South Africa  Newfoundland Russia  Italy  United States  Serbia  Montenegro  Belgium  Japan  China  Romania  Portugal  Brazil Hejaz  Greece Armenia Nejd and Hasa Siam	Germany  Austria-Hungary  Ottoman Empire  Bulgaria Transvaal	Victory End of the German, Russian, Ottoman, and Austro-Hungarian empires Formation of new countries in Europe and the Middle East Establishment of the League of Nations	Louis Botha	9,726 dead[1]
Maritz Rebellion (1914–1915)	South Africa	South African Republic	Government victory Rebellion suppressed
Russian Civil War[2] (1918–1920)	White Movement United Kingdom  United States France  Japan  Italy  China  Canada  Australia  India South Africa  Czechoslovakia  Poland  Greece  Romania  Yugoslavia  Estonia	Russian SFSR  Far Eastern Republic Latvian SSR Ukrainian SSR Commune of Estonia Mongolian Communists	Defeat (limited involvement)[2] Allied withdrawal from Russia Defeat of the White Movement		Unknown
Rand Rebellion (1921–1922)	South Africa	CPSA	Government victory Rebellion suppressed	Jan Smuts	153 dead[3] (both sides)
Bondelswarts Rebellion (1922)	South Africa South West Africa	Bondelswarts	Government victory Rebellion suppressed		100 dead, 468 wounded (Bondelswarts)
World War II (1939–1945)	Soviet Union  United States  United Kingdom  China France Poland  Yugoslavia  Greece  Netherlands  Belgium  Luxembourg  Denmark  Norway  Czechoslovakia  Canada  Australia  New Zealand  India  South Africa Philippines Ethiopia Brazil  Mexico Mongolia	Germany  Japan  Italy  Romania  Hungary  Bulgaria Slovakia  Croatia  Finland  Thailand  Iraq	Victory Collapse of the German Reich Fall of Japanese and Italian Empires Creation of the United Nations Emergence of the United States and the Soviet Union as superpowers Beginning of the Cold War		6,840 dead 1,841 missing 14,589 prisoners
Greek Civil War (1944–1945)[4]	Cairo Government  United Kingdom South Africa	ELAS	Victory Treaty of Varkiza		None
Korean War (1950–1953)	South Korea  United States  United Kingdom  Canada  Turkey  Australia Ethiopia  Philippines  New Zealand Thailand Greece  France  Colombia  Belgium South Africa  Netherlands  Luxembourg	North Korea  China  Soviet Union	Stalemate The Korean Armistice Agreement North Korean invasion of South Korea repelled UN invasion of North Korea repelled Chinese invasion of South Korea repelled Korean Demilitarized Zone established Little territorial change at the 38th parallel border	D. F. Malan	34 dead[5] 9 prisoners
Rhodesian Bush War (1965–1979)	Rhodesia  South Africa	ZANU FRELIMO ZAPU ANC	Stalemate Lancaster House Agreement, internationally recognised independence for the Zimbabwe	B. J. Vorster	Unknown
Mozambican Civil War (1979–1985)[6]	RENAMO  Zimbabwe Rhodesia  South Africa	FRELIMO ANC	Stalemate (limited involvement) Non-aggression pact (Nkomati Accord)	P. W. Botha	Unknown
South African Border War (1966–1989)[7]	South Africa  Portugal UNITA FNLA	SWAPO SWANU MPLA  Cuba ANC  Zambia	Stalemate Withdrawal of foreign forces from Angola Namibian independence from South African rule		2,038 dead[8]
Natal Civil War (1987–1994)[9]	IFP	ANC	Stalemate[9] Violence subsided following 1994 elections		Unknown
Operation Boleas (1998)	South Africa  Botswana	LDF rebels	Victory Suspected coup d'état in Lesotho quelled	Nelson Mandela	11 dead[10]
Battle of Bangui (2013)	South Africa  Central African Republic	Séléka	Disputed[11] François Bozizé successfully escorted to safety,Rebel advance towards South African base repelled	Jacob Zuma	15 dead[12]
M23 Rebellion (2013)	DR Congo  South Africa  Tanzania  Malawi	M23	Victory M23 rebels surrender, disarm and demobilize		None
ADF Insurgency (2014–present)	DR Congo  Uganda  South Africa  Tanzania  Malawi	ADF	Ongoing UNF Intervention Brigade intervention from 2014		1 dead
Insurgency in Cabo Delgado (2017–present)	SADC  South Africa  Mozambique  Tanzania  Angola  Botswana  Rwanda  Malawi  Lesotho	Ansar al-Sunna Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant	Ongoing involvement of South African Special forces from July 2021	Cyril Ramaphosa	1[13]

See also

• 1981 Seychelles coup d'état attempt

Notes

References

1. Commonwealth War Graves Commission Annual Report 2013–2014 Archived 2015-11-04 at the Wayback Machine, page 48. Figures include identified burials and those commemorated by name on memorials.
2. Scientia Militaria: South African Journal of Military Studies, Vol 15, Nr 4, 1985, pp. 46-48. Accessed January 24, 2016.
3. Bendix, S. (2001) Industrial Relations in South Africa. Claremont: Juta. p. 59
4. See Air operations during the Greek Civil War#South African Air Force
5. "Casualties of Korean War" (in Korean). Ministry of National Defense of Republic of Korea. Archived from the original on 2013-01-20. Retrieved 14 February 2007.
6. South Africa agreed to withdraw its support for RENAMO in 1984. However, South Africa only withdrew from the Mozambican Civil War in 1985. For more information, see War and Society: The Militarisation of South Africa, edited by Jacklyn Cock and Laurie Nathan, pp.104-115
7. Note: South Africa was already involved in combating SWAPO insurgents in 1966, but intervention in Angola started in 1975 with Operation Savannah.
8. "SA Roll of Honour: List of Wars". Justdone.co.za. Retrieved 15 January 2013.
9. Taylor, Rupert. "Justice denied: political violence in Kwazulu‐Natal after 1994." African Affairs 101, no. 405 (2002): 473-508.
10. "'A fractious lot': Anatomy of (another) coup in Lesotho". Daily Maverick. 3 July 2015.
11. References:
    • Helmoed Römer Heitman. [1]
12. "CAR battle claims another SANDF soldier". Enca. South Africa.
13. "Remains of SA soldier killed in Mozambique handed over to family". africanews.