Military history of Africa instance of aspect of history
The military history of Africa is one of the oldest military histories in the world. Africa is a continent of many regions with diverse populations speaking hundreds of different languages and practicing an array of cultures and religions. These differences have also been the source of much conflict since a millennia.
Like the history of Africa, military history on the continent is often divided by region. North Africa was part of the Mediterranean cultures and was integral to the military history of classical antiquity, and East Africa has historically had various states which have often warred with some the world's most powerful. The military history of modern Africa may be divided into three broad time periods: pre-colonial, colonial, and post-colonial.North Africa and Southern Europe face each other across the Mediterranean Sea. Most of the southern areas of North Africa are cut off by the vast inhospitable Sahara desert. Therefore, the coastal areas have many resources to support the needs of large armies and the moderate-to-hot climate makes the movement of forces across vast stretches of land very feasible. North Africa has been the source of both cultural and economic interactions as well as military rivalries that became famous wars in history.
Egypt is located in Africa, and the Ancient Egyptian Empire was noted for its use of massed horse-drawn chariots in warfare, as well as fighting against invading empires from Babylonia, Assyria, and the Persian Empire.
Ancient Greece and the armies of Alexander the Great (336 BC–323 BC) invaded and conquered some parts of North Africa and his generals set up the Ptolemaic dynasty in Egypt. The armies of the Roman Republic (509 BC–31 BC) and the Roman Empire (31 BC–AD 476) subsequently conquered the entire coastal areas of North Africa. The people of Carthage fought the bloody and lengthy Punic Wars (264 BC–146 BC) against Rome.
Each century has seen the invasion of North Africa by various peoples, empires, nations and religions, and each in turn yielded its wars and conflicts.Beginning in the 7th century, the military victories of the Umayyads, the Abbasids, the Fatimids, the Mamluks and the Ottomans ensured and consolidated the strength and continuity of Islam in North Africa over many centuries.
Attacks by the Barbary pirates, based in the North African areas of Algeria, prompted the building of the United States Navy, including one of America's most famous ships, the USS Philadelphia, leading to a series of wars along the North African coast, starting in 1801. It was not until 1815 that naval victories ended tribute payments by the U.S., although some European nations continued annual payments until the 1830s. The United States Marine Corps' actions in these wars led to the line, "to the shores of Tripoli" in the opening of the Marine Hymn.
The arrival of modern colonialism, World War I and World War II brought armies from afar to fight in North Africa, often against each other and not always against the native inhabitants. Battles such as the Tunisia Campaign eventually yielded the first battlefield victories of the Allies of World War II against the Axis powers of World War II. These battles were fought and won by the Allies in North Africa such as at the Battle of El Alamein in 1942, one of the most significant and pivotal battles of that war, during the North African campaign. At the Battle of the Kasserine Pass, the Germans first faced the military of the United States.
When modern Islamic countries gained their independence in North Africa, often following serious warfare (such as during the Algerian War of Independence against the French), the Arab–Israeli conflict became the main focus of significant battles. During the 1973 Yom Kippur War, the Egyptian army broke through the Bar Lev Line, invading the Israeli-held Sinai Peninsula, resulting in UN cease-fire after United Nations Security Council Resolution 338, 339 and 340, which finally led to strategic and political gains for Egypt and Israel.
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