New Zealand Military History
I had been studying Luso-Spanish military history for many years when a friend asked me: "What do you know about your own history? New Zealand History?" Frankly, at that time I had to admit I knew virtually nothing. I have tried to overcome that ignorance, although I've never quite managed to write up very much.
| Year | War | Description |
| 1806-45 | Musket Wars | Inter-Iwi (tribe) conflict was a feature of early NZ history (Crosby,1999). These conflicts intensified with the introduction of the musket in the years after 1800. The unprecedented slaughter which resulted left large areas of NZ depopulated and changed the tribal boundaries completely. The revised tribal boundaries subsequently found a basis in law in the form of the Treaty of Waitangi of 1840. |
| 1845-72 | New Zealand Colonial (Maori) Wars | The New Zealand Colonial, or Maori, Wars were a series a related conflicts between the Maori tribes of the North Island and the British authorities - initially represented by Imperial British forces then by local the Colonial Defence Force (Belich, 1986). The wars featured small numbers of Maori more or less fending off considerably larger numbers of British (some 18,000 Imperial troops were fielded in the largest of the campaigns). |
| 1841 | Chinese War | A large number of British Imperial troops fought in wars outside NZ, then came to NZ as soldiers and/or settlers (King, 1981). By 1900 there were over 6,000 such veterans resident in NZ. |
| 1843 | India | |
| 1845 | 1st Sikh War | |
| 1848 | 2nd Sikh War | |
| 1851 | 2nd Burmese War | |
| 1853 | Kaffir War | |
| 1854 | Crimea | |
| 1857 | Indian Mutiny | |
| 1859-60 | 3rd Chinese War | |
| 1868 | Abyssinian War | |
| 1873 | Ashantee Expedition | |
| 1878 | Afghan War | |
| 1878-79 | Zulu War | |
| 1882-84 | Egypt | |
| 1899-1902 | South African War | The South African War gave NZ several firsts. It was the first war where a force was raised in NZ for service overseas (King, 1981). NZ was the first colony to volunteer to send a force - the offer was made two weeks before the war broke out. The Kiwis were the first Colonial contingent to set out - nine days after war was declared. Finally, NZ provided 6,400 men over the 3 years of the war, a larger force per head of population than any of the other colonies. |
| 1914-18 | World War One (WW1) | When Britain declared war on German (4 Aug 1914) the whole Empire, including NZ, was consequently at war (King, 1981). On 5 Aug NZ offered Britain a voluntary force, and on 29 Aug the first 1,400 of these troops captured German Samoa - the first German territory to be captured in the war. Kiwis subsequently fought in the Middle East, Turkey and France. By the end of the war 100,000 New Zealanders had served overseas, 17,000 had been killed and 41,000 wounded. These casualty rates were, per head of population, the highest in the Empire. |
| 1939-45 | World War Two (WW2) | |
| 1950-53 | Korea | 'Kayforce' was New Zealand's contribution to the UN land effort in Korea (King, 1981). 'Kayforce' was 16 Field (Artillery) Regiment and its associated support services - 1,550 men in total. The Royal New Zealand Navy also contributed six frigates and 1,350 men. |
| 1956-60 | Malaya | New Zealand sent troops to Malaya to serve in the Commonwealth Brigade (King, 1981). For two years a Special Air Service (SAS) Squadron fought the communist guerrillas in the jungle. They were then replaced by an infantry battalion. NZ also contributed a Bomber Squadron, Transport Squadron, and a frigate or cruiser at Singapore. |
| 1962 | Thailand | The SAS deployed in Thailand for seven weeks (King, 1981). |
| 1964-66 | Malaysia | An SAS detachment, then 1st Battalion, Royal NZ Regiment, fought Indonesian infiltrators for a year. |
| 1965-72 | Vietnam | An Engineer detachment was the first NZ force in Vietnam (King, 1981). They were replaced in 1965 by 161 Battery, Royal New Zealand Artillery. Infantry rifle companies followed in 1967, the SAS in 1968, then a medical team. 3,890 Kiwis served in Vietnam during 1965-72. |
References
Belich, J. (1986). The New Zealand Wars. Auckland, NZ: Auckland University Press.
Crosby, R. D. (1999). Musket Wars: A history of inter-Iwi conflict 1806-45. Auckland, NZ: Reed.
King, M. (1981). New Zealanders at War. Heinemann.