List of wars involving Sri Lanka

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

Early Sri Lanka[]

Conflict	Sri Lanka and allies	Opponents	Results	Sri Lankan commanders		Sri Lankan losses
Conflict	Sri Lanka and allies	Opponents	Results	King	General	SL forces	Civilians
Anuradhapura Kingdom
Battle of Vijithapura (162 or 161 BC)	Anuradhapura Kingdom	Chola dynasty	Victory	Dutugamunu		Unknown	Unknown
(120)	Anuradhapura Kingdom	Chola dynasty	Victory	Gajabahu I		Unknown	Unknown
Anuradhapura invasion of Pandya (862)	Anuradhapura Kingdom	Pandya dynasty	Victory	Sena II Sena II		Unknown	Unknown
(917)	Anuradhapura Kingdom	Pandyan Dynasty		Kassapa IV		Unknown	Unknown
(946)	Anuradhapura Kingdom			Dappula V		Unknown	Unknown
Chola rule in Sri Lanka (993)	Anuradhapura Kingdom	Chola dynasty	Defeat	Mahinda V		Unknown	Unknown
Polonnaruwa Kingdom
(1165–1181)	Polonnaruwa Kingdom Angkor	Pagan Kingdom Chola dynasty (in Pegu)	Victory Chola stronghold in Pegu lost Pathein and Pegu occupied by Polonnaruwa Angkor occupies certain parts of Burma Grant of land to commanders	Parakramabahu I		Unknown	Unknown
Polonnaru-Chola proxy war (1169–1177)	Polonnaruwa Kingdom Pandyan Dynasty of Vira Pandya	Chola dynasty	Victory Vira Pandya installed to the throne as a client Rameshvaram occupied by Sinhalese forces	Parakramabahu I	Lankapura Dandanatha	Unknown	Unknown
Kingdom of Kotte
Ming–Kotte War (1410 or 1411)	Ming Dynasty Kingdom of Kotte	Alagakkonara dynasty	Victory	Parakramabahu VI	Zheng He
(1456)	Kingdom of Kotte	Vijayanagar Empire	Victory	Various	Various	?	?
Kingdom of Sitawaka
Sinhalese–Portuguese War (1538-1640)	Kingdom of Sitawaka Kingdom of Kandy Dutch East India Company	Portuguese Empire Lascarins Kingdom of Kotte	Victory Sinhalese and Dutch divide territories of the island	Various	Various	?	?
Jaffna Kingdom
Portuguese conquest of the Jaffna kingdom (1619)	Jaffna Kingdom Kingdom of Kandy Supported by: Thanjavur Nayak kingdom	Portuguese Empire	Defeat Cankili II imprisoned and executed by Portuguese 11 February 1621: Tamils sovereignty ended	Cankili II		Unknown	Unknown
Chiefdom of Vanni (Vanni Bandara)
(1782)	Chiefdom of Vanni Kingdom of Kandy	Dutch Republic	Victory Vanni region liberated from Dutch rule	Pandara Vanniyan		Unknown	Unknown
British Expedition to Ceylon (1803)	Chiefdom of Vanni Kingdom of Kandy	Dutch Republic British Empire	Defeat Vanni region lost to the British The last Tamil resistance against colonial rule was crushed.	Pandara Vanniyan		Unknown	Unknown
Kingdom of Kandy
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	?	?	?
British Expedition to Ceylon (1803-1804)	Kingdom of Kandy	British Empire	Victory	?	?	?	?
Kandyan Wars (1796–1815)	Kingdom of Kandy	British Empire	Defeat Treaty signed between two forces to abolish the Kandyan monarchy Effectively ending the 2357 years old independence of the Sinhalese	Sri Vikrama Rajasinha	?	?	?

British Ceylon[]

Conflict	British Ceylon and allies	Opponents	Results	Governor(s)	British Ceylon losses
Conflict	British Ceylon and allies	Opponents	Results	Governor(s)	British Ceylon forces	Civilians
Matale Rebellion (1848)	British Ceylon	Kandyan Opposition	Victory	The Viscount Torrington	?	?
Second Boer War (1899–1902)	British Ceylon British Empire United Kingdom British Cape Colony Natal Colony Rhodesia India Australia Before federation Canada New Zealand	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 Ceylon India Dominion of Canada Australia New Zealand South Africa Newfoundland Belgium France Greece Portugal Romania Russia Italy Japan United States Serbia Montenegro	Central Powers and Allies Austria-Hungary Germany German Empire Ottoman Empire 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 Ceylon France Poland Belgium Netherlands Luxembourg Czechoslovakia Norway Greece Yugoslavia Soviet Union United States Canada Australia New Zealand India Nepal South Africa Brazil China	Axis Powers Germany Italy Hungary Japan Bulgaria Croatia 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	?	?

Dominion of Ceylon[]

Conflict	Ceylon and allies	Opponents	Results	Ceylon commanders		Ceylon losses
Conflict	Ceylon and allies	Opponents	Results	Head(s) of Government	Defence Minister(s)	Ceylonese forces	Civilians
1971 JVP Insurrection (1971)	Ceylon United Front (since May 15) SLFP CCP (Pro-Soviet) LSSP Australia Egypt India Pakistan Singapore Soviet Union United Kingdom United States Yugoslavia China	Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna Supported by: North Korea (alleged) ASBPI CCP (Maoist) (alleged)	Victory Rebel forces surrender Ceylonese government reestablishes control over entire 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
Conflict	Sri Lanka and allies	Opponents	Results	Head(s) of Government	Defense Minister(s)	SL forces	Civilians
1987–1989 JVP insurrection (1987-1989)	Sri Lanka India United States United Kingdom Military support: Japan South Korea France Israel South Africa Pakistan Egypt	JVP Deshapremi Janatha Viyaparaya IUSF Supported by: Soviet Union North Korea Cuba ASBPI PLOTE (until 1988) SLFP	Victory Emergency conditions in South-western and Central provinces lifted Insurgency declined following the fall of the Eastern bloc	J. R. Jayewardene		?	?
Sri Lankan Civil War (1983–2009)	Sri Lanka India (1987-1990)	Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam India (1983-1987)	Victory Sri Lankan government decisive victory 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

Sri Lankan peacekeeping[]

Conflict	Sri Lanka and allies	Country	Results	Sri Lankan commanders		Sri Lankan losses
Conflict	Sri Lanka and allies	Country	Results	Head(s) of Government	Defense Minister(s)	Sri Lankan losses
United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (1978–Present)	Sri Lanka	Lebanon	Ongoing	J. R. Jayewardene		0
United Nations Stabilisation Mission in Haiti (2004–Present)	Sri Lanka	Haiti	Ongoing	Chandrika Kumaratunga		?
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	Maithripala Sirisena		3^[1]^[2]

References[]

[1] "Three Sri Lankan soldiers die in Mali attack | Daily FT".

[2] ttp://www.sundayobserver.lk/2019/02/03/news-features/sri-lanka%E2%80%99s-first-combat-deaths-2009-families-mourn-fallen-un-peacekeepers

[1]

[2]

v t Major armed conflicts involving the Armed Forces of Sri Lanka
Domestic	1971 JVP Insurrection 1987–1989 JVP Insurrection Sri Lankan Civil War
Foreign	Battle of Vijithapura Pandyan Civil War (1169-1177) Ming–Kotte War Kotte conquest of the Jaffna Kingdom Sinhalese–Portuguese War Portuguese conquest of the Jaffna kingdom Dutch–Portuguese War Kandyan Wars (Great Rebellion of 1817–1818) Matale Rebellion Second Boer War World War I World War II
Peacekeeping	United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti United Nations Mission in the Central African Republic and Chad United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon
Related articles	Military history Ceylon in World War II

v t Lists of wars involving Asian countries
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States with limited recognition	Abkhazia Artsakh Palestine South Ossetia Taiwan
Dependencies and other territories
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