List of wars involving Sri Lanka

This is a dynamic list and may never be able to satisfy particular standards for completeness. You can help by adding missing items with reliable sources.

This is a list of wars involving the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka and its predecessor states.

Legend

  Victory

  Defeat

  Other result

  Ongoing conflict

Anuradhapura Kingdom

Conflict	Sri Lanka and allies	Opponents	Results	Sri Lankan commanders		Sri Lankan losses
				King	General	SL forces	Civilians
Battle of Vijithapura (162/161 BCE)	Anuradhapura Kingdom	Chola dynasty	Victory	Dutugamunu		Unknown	Unknown
Anuradhapura invasion of Chola (120)	Anuradhapura Kingdom	Chola dynasty	Victory	Gajabahu I		Unknown	Unknown
Anuradhapura invasion of Pandya (862)	Anuradhapura Kingdom	Pandya dynasty	Victory	Sena II Sena II	General Kuttaka	Unknown	Unknown
Anuradhapura invasion of Pandya (917)	Anuradhapura Kingdom	Pandya Dynasty		Kassapa IV		Unknown	Unknown
(946)	Anuradhapura Kingdom	Pandya dynasty		Dappula V	General Viduragga	Unknown	Unknown
Chola invasion of Anuradhapura kingdom	Anuradhapura Kingdom	Chola dynasty	Victory The whole Chola force with the generals retreated.	Mahinda IV	General Sena	Unknown	Unknown
Invasion of Anuradhapura by Rastrakuta empire	Anuradhapura Kingdom	Rashtrakuta dynasty	Victory Rashtrakuta forces were defeated in kayts General sena and Rashtrakutas have an alliance after the defeat	Mahinda IV	General Sena	Unknown	Unknown
Chola conquest of Anuradhapura (992–1017)	Anuradhapura Kingdom	Chola dynasty	Defeat Anuradhapura Kingdom destroyed by the Chola dynasty Rajarata annexed as a Chola province Polonnaruwa made as the administrative capital of the Chola in Sri Lanka	Mahinda V		Unknown	Unknown

Polonnaruwa kingdom

Conflict	Sri Lanka and allies	Opponents	Results	Sri Lankan commanders		Sri Lankan losses
				King	General	SL forces	Civilians
Polonnaruwa–Pagan War (1165–1181)	Polonnaruwa kingdom Angkorian Empire	Pagan Kingdom Chola dynasty (in Pegu)	Victory Chola stronghold in Pegu lost to Polonnaruwa Pathein and Pegu occupied by the Kingdom of Polonnaruwa Angkorian Empire occupies certain parts of Pagan Kingdom Grant of land to Sinhalese commanders	Parakramabahu I		Unknown	Unknown
Pandyan Civil War (1169–1177)	Polonnaruwa kingdom Pandya dynasty (Parakrama Pandyan I)	Chola dynasty Pandya dynasty (Kulasekhara Pandyan)	Victory Parakramabahu I and Vira Pandyan conquer the Pandya dynasty Rameshwaram occupied by Sinhalese and Pandyan forces	Parakramabahu I	Lankapura Dandanatha	Unknown	Unknown
1173 Polonnaruwa invasion of Chola (1173)	Polonnaruwa kingdom	Pandya dynasty Chola dynasty	Victory Pandyan empire conquered by Parakramabahu I and Vira Pandyan of the Pandya dynasty	Parakramabahu I	Lankapura Dandanatha	Unknown	Unknown

Transitional period

Conflict	Sri Lanka and allies	Opponents	Results	Sri Lankan commanders		Sri Lankan losses
				King	General	SL forces	Civilians
Ming–Kotte War (1410 or 1411)	Kingdom of Kotte Ming Dynasty	Alagakkonara dynasty	Victory	Parakramabahu VI	Zheng He	Unknown	Unknown
Kotte conquest of the Jaffna kingdom (1449–1454)	Kingdom of Kotte	Kingdom of Jaffna Vanni chieftaincies Supported by: Vijayanagar Empire	Victory Kotte captures the Jaffna kingdom Parakramabahu VI appoints Prince Sapumal as a representative of Kotte in Jaffna	Parakramabahu VI	Prince Sapumal	Unknown	Unknown
Kotte invasion of Vijayanagar (1456)	Kingdom of Kotte	Vijayanagar Empire	Victory	Various	Various	Unknown	Unknown
Sinhalese–Portuguese War (1518–1658)	Kingdom of Sitawaka  Kingdom of Kandy  Kingdom of Jaffna Principality of Raigama  Dutch East India Company	Portuguese Empire Lascarins  Kingdom of Kotte	Victory End of the kingdoms of Kotte, Sitawaka, Jaffna and Raigama Establishment then destruction of Portuguese Ceylon Sinhalese and Dutch divide territories of the island Establishment of Dutch Ceylon	Various	Various	Unknown	Unknown
Portuguese conquest of the Jaffna kingdom (1560–1619)	Kingdom of Jaffna  Kingdom of Kandy Supported by: Thanjavur Nayak kingdom	Portuguese Empire	Defeat Cankili II imprisoned and executed by the Portuguese Fall of the Jaffna kingdom	Cankili I Puviraja Pandaram Periyapillai Puviraja Pandaram X Ethirimana Cinkam Cankili II		Unknown	Unknown
Dutch–Portuguese War (1602–1663)	Kingdom of Kandy  Dutch Republic  Kingdom of England (until 1640) Johor Sultanate Kingdom of Kongo Kingdom of Ndongo Rio Grande Tupis Nhandui Tarairiu Tribe	Kingdom of Portugal Supported by:  Crown of Castile (until 1640) Kingdom of Cochin Potiguara Tupis	Treaty of Hague Formation of the Dutch Empire Portuguese Restoration War Portuguese victory in South America and Africa Dutch victory in the East	Senarat Rajasinghe II		Unknown	Unknown
First Kandyan–Dutch War (1670–1675)	Kingdom of Kandy  France	Dutch Republic  Dutch East India Company	Defeat French expelled from all occupied territories Expansion of Dutch Ceylon, offensives of Rajasinha II repelled	Rajasinha II		Unknown	Unknown
Second Kandyan–Dutch War (1764–1766)	Kingdom of Kandy	Dutch Republic  Dutch East India Company	Defeat Treaty of Batticaloa Dutch occupation of Kandy until the Treaty of Batticaloa All coastal regions ceded to the Dutch	Kirti Sri Rajasinha		Unknown	Unknown
Vanniyar Rebellion (1782)	Vanni chieftaincies  Kingdom of Kandy	Dutch Republic	Victory Vanni region liberated from Dutch rule	Pandara Vanniyan		Unknown	Unknown
Kandyan Wars (1796–1818)	Kingdom of Kandy Vanni chieftaincies	British Empire Kandyan Opposition	Defeat Kandyan convention signed between the British and the Kandyan chiefs, abolishing the Kandyan monarchy Vanni region lost to the British End of 2357 years of Sinhalese independence	Sri Vikrama Rajasinha		Unknown	Unknown

British Ceylon

Conflict	British Ceylon and allies	Opponents	Results	Governor(s)	British Ceylon losses
					British Ceylon forces	Civilians
Matale Rebellion (1848)	British Empire  British Ceylon	Kandyan rebels	Victory	The Viscount Torrington
Second Boer War (1899–1902)	British Empire  British Ceylon	Orange Free State  South African Republic Foreign volunteers from:  Netherlands  German Empire  Belgium France  United States Italy  Russian Empire Russian Poland Sweden  Denmark	Victory Treaty of Vereeniging: All Boers to surrender arms and swear allegiance to the Crown Dutch language permitted in education Promise to grant Boer republics self-government £3,000,000 compensation "reconstruction aid" to Afrikaners	West Ridgeway
World War I (1914–1918)	The Allies  British Empire  British Ceylon  Belgium  France  Kingdom of Greece  Portugal  Kingdom of Romania  Russian Empire  Kingdom of Italy  Japan United States  Kingdom of Serbia  Kingdom of Montenegro	Central Powers and Allies  Austria-Hungary  German Empire German Empire  Ottoman Empire  Kingdom of Bulgaria	Victory Treaty of Versailles: German demobilization Treaties of Saint-Germain-en-Laye and Trianon: Demise of Austria-Hungary Russia pulls out in 1917 Russian Civil War Creation of the Soviet Union Joseph Stalin Rises to power Creation of League of Nations: Mesopotamia ceded from the Ottoman Empire Palestine and Jordan ceded from the Ottoman Empire Tanganyika ceded from Germany Part of Kamerun ceded from Germany Part of Togoland ceded from Germany German New Guinea ceded to Australia German Samoa ceded to New Zealand German South-West Africa ceded to South Africa	Robert Chalmers Reginald Edward Stubbs John Anderson Reginald Edward Stubbs William Manning
World War II (1931–1945)	The Allies  British Empire  British Ceylon  France  Poland  Belgium  Netherlands  Luxembourg  Czechoslovakia  Norway  Kingdom of Greece  Kingdom of Yugoslavia  Soviet Union  United States  Nepal  Union of South Africa  Brazil  China	Axis Powers  Nazi Germany  Kingdom of Italy  Hungary  Empire of Japan  Kingdom of Bulgaria  Croatia  Kingdom of Romania  Manchukuo  Mengjiang  Finland  Thailand  Vichy France	Victory Fall of Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy and Imperial Japan Allied military occupations of Germany, Japan, Austria and foundation of the Italian Republic in place of the Kingdom of Italy Beginning of the Nuclear Age Dissolution of the League of Nations and creation of the United Nations Emergence of the United States and the Soviet Union as rival superpowers and beginning of the Cold War	Graeme Thomson Francis Graeme Tyrrell Reginald Edward Stubbs Maxwell MacLagan Wedderburn Andrew Caldecott Henry Monck-Mason Moore
Easter Sunday Raid (1942)	British Empire  British Ceylon	Empire of Japan	Defeat	Andrew Caldecott
Cocos Islands mutiny (1942)	British Empire  British Ceylon	Ceylonese mutineers	Victory	Andrew Caldecott

Dominion of Ceylon

Conflict	Ceylon and allies	Opponents	Results	Ceylon commanders		Ceylon losses
				Head(s) of Government	Defence Minister(s)	Ceylonese forces	Civilians
1971 JVP insurrection (1971)	Ceylon United Front SLFP CCP (Pro-Soviet) LSSP Military support:  India  Pakistan  Soviet Union	Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna Supported by:  North Korea (alleged)	Victory Rebel forces surrender Ceylonese government reestablishes control over the island	Sirimavo Bandaranaike		53	1,200

Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka

Conflict	Sri Lanka and allies	Opponents	Results	Sri Lankan commanders		Sri Lankan losses
				Head(s) of Government	Defense Minister(s)	SL forces	Civilians
Sri Lankan Civil War (1983–2009)	Sri Lanka  India (1987–1990)	Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam Supported by:  India (until 1987)	Victory Decisive victory by the Sri Lankan government Rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam organisation is wiped out Sri Lankan government reestablishes control over entire island Tamil National Alliance drops the demand for a separate state	J. R. Jayewardene Ranasinghe Premadasa X Dingiri Banda Wijetunga Chandrika Kumaratunga Mahinda Rajapaksa	Ranasinghe Premadasa Ranjan Wijeratne Dingiri Banda Wijetunga Tilak Marapana Mahinda Rajapaksa	28,708	60,000–100,000
1987–1989 JVP insurrection (1987–1989)	Sri Lanka  India Pro-government paramilitaries: Eagles of the Central Hills Black Cats	JVP Deshapremi Janatha Viyaparaya IUSF Supported by:  North Korea PLOTE (until 1988)	Victory Emergency conditions in South, Western and Central provinces lifted Insurgency fails following the fall of the Eastern bloc	J. R. Jayewardene Ranasinghe Premadasa
Operation Prosperity Guardian (2023–present)	Sri Lanka  United States  United Kingdom  Australia  New Zealand  Canada  Denmark  Greece  Netherlands  Norway  Bahrain  Singapore Supported by:  Seychelles	Supreme Political Council  Houthi movement	Ongoing SLNS Gajabahu completes its maiden patrol of the Bab el-Mandeb Strait and is set to return to the island.[1][2] Government of Sri Lanka confirms that future patrols would take place.[3]	Ranil Wickremesinghe

Sri Lankan peacekeeping

Conflict	Sri Lanka and allies	Country	Results	Sri Lankan commanders		Sri Lankan losses
				Head(s) of Government	Defense Minister(s)
United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (1978–present)	Sri Lanka	Lebanon	Ongoing	Various
United Nations Stabilisation Mission in Haiti (2004–present)	Sri Lanka	Haiti	Ongoing	Various
United Nations Mission in the Central African Republic and Chad (2007–2010)	Sri Lanka	Central African Republic  Chad	Ended	Mahinda Rajapaksa
United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (2013–present)	Sri Lanka	Mali	Ongoing	Mahinda Rajapaksa Maithripala Sirisena Gotabaya Rajapaksa Ranil Wickremesinghe		3[4][5]

References

1. "Red Sea crisis: Navy OPV heads home after maiden patrol". The Morning. 24 February 2024. Retrieved 25 February 2024.
2. "SLNS Gajabahu returns from Red Sea". Ceylon Today. 28 February 2024. Retrieved 5 March 2024.
3. "Red Sea crisis: SLN prepped to continue patrols". The Morning. 3 March 2024. Retrieved 5 March 2024.
4. "Three Sri Lankan soldiers die in Mali attack | Daily FT".
5. "Sri Lanka's first combat deaths since 2009: Families mourn fallen UN peacekeepers". www.sundayobserver.lk. 2019-02-03.