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)	Allied Powers:  France  United Kingdom  and Empire: Australia Canada  Ceylon  Egypt Newfoundland New Zealand  India  South Africa Russia[a]  Italy (from 1915)  United States (from 1917)  Japan and others ...	Central Powers:  Germany Austria-Hungary Ottoman Empire  Bulgaria (from 1915) and others ...	Victory Partition of the Ottoman Empire, dissolution of Austria-Hungary, transfer of German colonies and territories to other countries Formation of new countries in Europe and the Middle East, such as Poland, Yugoslavia, Weimar Germany, Soviet Russia and Soviet Union, Lithuania, Estonia, Latvia, Austria, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Turkey, Hejaz, and Yemen	Louis Botha	9,726 dead[1]
Maritz Rebellion (1914–1915)	{ British Empire Union of South Africa	South African Republic Supported by: German Empire	Government victory Rebellion suppressed South Africa occupies German South West Africa Rise of the National Party
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)	Union of South AfricaSouth Africa	South African Communist Party	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 (1964–1979) Zimbabwe Rhodesia (1979)  Portugal (1964–1974)[b] South Africa (from 1967)[6]	ZANU (ZANLA)[7] ZAPU (ZIPRA) Mozambique[8] ANC (MK)[8]  Zambia[9]	Stalemate Lancaster House Agreement End to armed hostilities Free elections with ZANU and ZAPU participation Formation of Zimbabwe Rhodesia disestablished; Zimbabwe gains internationally recognised independence in its place.	B. J. Vorster	Unknown
Mozambican Civil War (1978–1985)[10]	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)[11]	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[12]
Natal Civil War (1987–1994)[13]	IFP	ANC	Stalemate[13] 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[14]
Battle of Bangui (2013)	South Africa Central African Republic	Séléka	Disputed[15] François Bozizé successfully escorted to safety,Rebel advance towards South African base repelled	Jacob Zuma	15 dead[16]
M23 Rebellion (2012-2013)	Democratic Republic of the Congo MONUSCO Force Intervention Brigade South Africa[17] Tanzania[18] Malawi[19]	March 23 Movement Alleged support: Uganda[20] Rwanda[20]	Victory M23 disarms and demobilises[21]		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[22]

See also

• 1981 Seychelles coup attempt

Notes

1. The Russian Empire during 1914–1917, the Russian Republic during 1917. The Bolshevik government signed a separate peace with the Central Powers shortly after their armed seizure of power, resulting in a Central Powers victory on the Eastern Front of the war, and the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic's defeat. However, this peace treaty was nullified by an Allied Powers victory on the Western Front, and the end of the war.
2. Portuguese forces assisted the Rhodesians in cross-border operations into Portuguese Mozambique. See Operation Flotilla and Operation Birch.