victoria cross - time line

The Crimean War - 1854 - 1856

The Crimean War

Warring Factions Imperial Russia on one side and an alliance of the United Kingdom, France, the Kingdom of Sardinia, and the Ottoman Empire on the other.

VC's Awarded 111

Origins Of The Battle The causes of the Crimean War can be traced back to Louis Bonaparte, the president of France initiating his ambassador to the Ottoman Empire, Marquis de Lavalette, to force the Ottomans to recognize France as the "sovereign authority" in the Holy Land.

At the time the Russians were the protecting force of the Christian faith in the Ottoman Empire. When France came in to enforce their rule the Sultan Abd-ul-Mejid I was impressed by them and swapped allegiance to the French.

Persian War - 1856 - 1857

Persian War

Warring Factions The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Persia

Number Of VC's Awarded 3

Origins Of The War The British wished for the city of Herat (which had been part of Persia under Safavid dynasty) to be incorporated into Afghanistan. On 25 October 1856 Persian forces re-occupied the city, and in response Britain declared war on the 1 November 1856.

Indian Rebellion - 1857 - 1859

Indian Rebellion

Warring Factions India and The United Kingdom of Great Britain

Number Of VC's Awarded 182

Origins Of The War The Indian Rebellion was a prolonged period of armed uprisings as well as rebellions in Northern and Central India against British occupation. A large-scale rebellion broke out and turned into a full-fledged war in the affected regions. This war brought about the end of the British East India Company's rule in India, and led to direct rule by the British government (British Raj) of much of the Indian subcontinent for the next 90 years.

Taranaki Maori War, New Zealand - 1860 - 1861

Taranaki Maori War, New Zealand

Warring Factions An alliance of The United Kingdom of Great Britain and the Maoris against the Pakeha tribe.

Number Of VC's Awarded 2

Origins Of The War The immediate cause of the war was the sale of some 600 acres (2.4 km²), of land at Waitara. A minor chief of the Te Atiawa iwi offered to sell the land to the British. However the sale was vetoed by the chief of the tribe, Wiremu Kingi. Despite knowing this the Governor of the Colony, Thomas Gore Browne, accepted the purchase and tried to occupy the land.

The Third China War - 1860 - 1862

The Third China War

Warring Factions The United Kingdom of Great Britain and France against China

Number Of VC's Awarded 7

Origins Of The War An Anglo-French force gathered at Hong Kong and then carried out a landing at Pei Tang in August 1960, followed by a successful assault on the Taku Forts on August 21. This then led to the Anglo-French force capturing Beijing in October that year.

Umbeyla Campaign - 1863

Umbeyla Campaign

Warring Factions The United Kingdom of Great Britain and India

Number Of VC's Awarded 2

Origins Of The Battle In North-West India, The 4th Punjab Inafantry went to recapture the Crag Picquet after its garrison had been driven in by the enemy and 60 of them killed.

The Bombardment of Shimonoseki, Japan - 1864

The Bombardment of Shimonoseki, Japan

Warring Factions An alliance of the United Kingdom of Great Britain, the Netherlands, France and the U.S. against The Choshu Clan of Japan.

Number Of VC's Awarded 3

Origins Of The Battle In reprisal for attacks by the Choshu clan on foreign ships passing through the Kanmon Straits the alliance of nations attacked forts in Choshu. The Choshu clan was following an 1863 Imperial Edict to expel the foreign 'barbarians'.The objective of the attack by the four allied powers was to ensure that the straits remained open to foreign ships.

T'ai P'ing Rebellion - 1851 - 1864

T'ai P'ing Rebellion

Warring Factions An Alliance of the Qing dynasty of China, the U.S. and the United Kingdom of Great Britain against the Taiping forces

Number Of VC's Awarded 1

Origins Of The War A large-scale rebellion against the Qing dynasty by the peasants of China under the leadership of Hong Xiuquan as the Taiping forces. The VC was awarded during 1860 when an attempt to take Shanghai by the Taiping forces was repelled by U.S.- and British-led forces.

Bhutan War - 1864 - 1865

Bhutan War

Warring Factions British India and Bhutan

Number Of VC's Awarded 2

Origins Of The War Britain sent a peace mission to Bhutan in early 1864, in the wake of the recent conclusion of a civil war there. The British mission dealt alternately with the rival ponlop of Paro and the ponlop of Tongsa (the victors of the civil war), but Bhutan rejected the peace and friendship treaty it offered. Britain declared war in November 1864.

Waikato-Hauhau Maori War, New Zealand - 1863 – 1866

Waikato-Hauhau Maori War, New Zealand

Warring Factions The colonial government of New Zealand and The Maori tribes

Number Of VC's Awarded 13

Origins Of The War The New Zealand Wars were a series of conflicts that took place in New Zealand between 1845 and 1872. The wars were fought over a number of issues, although mostly over Maori land being sold to the settler population.

Frederick Augustus Smith was 37 years old, and a captain in the 43rd Regiment, British Army during the Waikato-Hauhau Maori War when he was awarded the VC for the following act of bravery.

"On 21 June 1864 at Tauranga, New Zealand, Captain Smith led an attack on the enemy's position and although wounded before reaching the rifle-pits, he jumped down and began a hand-to-hand encounter with the enemy, setting a fine example to his men".

Andaman Islands Expedition - 1867

Andaman Islands Expedition

Warring Factions N/A

Number Of VC's Awarded 5

Why The VC's Were Won David Bell who was 22 years old and a private in the 2nd Battalion, 24th Regiment of Foot when he performed the following act of bravery and was awarded the VC.

On 7 May 1867 at the island of Little Andaman, eastern India, Private Bell was one of a party of five (the others being James Cooper, Campbell Mellis Douglas, William Griffiths and Thomas Murphy), who risked their lives in manning a boat and proceeding through dangerous surf to rescue some of their comrades who had been sent to the island to find out the fate of the commander and seven of the crew, who had landed from the ship Assam Valley and were feared murdered by the cannibalistic islanders.

Abyssinia Expedition - 1867 - 1868

Abyssinia Expedition

Warring Factions N/A

Number Of VC's Awarded 2

Origins Of The Expedition In 1862, King Theodore II of Abyssinia made a request to Queen Victoria for munitions and military experts. He was a Christian who was engaged in warfare with his Moslem neighbours. When the British Foreign Office ignored his request King Theodore took the British Consul, Captain Charles Cameron, and others, as hostages until he received a reply to his request.

After a delay of 4 years, caused by government issues, 13,000 troops, 8,000 labourers, thousands of horses, hundreds of camels and elephants were despatched from British India as a rescue expedition.

First Ashanti Expedition - 1873 - 1874

First Ashanti Expedition

Warring Factions N/A

Number Of VC's Awarded 4

Origins Of The Expedition In Ghana the most feared tribe in the region were the Ashanti, who rebelled violently against a British poll-tax that was imposed on the tribes.

Another cause for the hostilities was when the British refused to honour previous agreements between the Dutch and Ashanti regarding taxes in the port at Elmina. Because of these issues the Ashanti chief, Kofi Karikari, waged hostilities against neighbouring tribes who supported the British.

Zulu War - 1879

Zulu War

Warring Factions The United Kingdom Of Great Britain and the Zulus

Number Of VC's Awarded 23

Origins Of The War The piece of occupied territory which in 1854 was made the republic of Utrecht, and the Boers who had settled there, who had that year obtained a deed of cession from the Zulus.

In 1861, Umtonga, a brother of Cetshwayo, son of Zulu king Mpande, fled to the Utrecht district, and Cetshwayo assembled an army on that frontier. According to evidence later brought forward by the Boers, Cetshwayo offered the farmers a strip of land along the border if they would surrender his brother. The Boers complied on the condition that Umtonga's life was spared, and in 1861 Mpande signed a deed transferring this land to the Boers. The southern boundary of the land added to Utrecht ran from Rorke's Drift on the Buffalo to a point on the Pongola River.

A commission was appointed by the lieutenant-governor of Natal to report on the boundary question. The commission found almost entirely in favour of the contention of the Zulu and the then High Commissioner, Sir Henry Bartle Frere stipulated that, on the land being given to the Zulu, the Boers living on it should be compensated if they left, or protected if they remained on the land.

THen in 1878, Frere used a border incursion — two warriors had fetched two eloped girls from Natal — as a pretext to demand 500 head of cattle from the Zulu. Cetshwayo only sent £50 worth of gold. Following other boundary disputes and unpaid reperations Frere issued an impossible ultimatum to Zulu deputies on December 11th 1878, a definite reply being required by the 31st of that month, without notifying the British government.

Cetshwayo rejected the demands, by not responding by the deadline. A concession was granted by the British until January 11, 1879, after which a state of war was deemed to exist.

Second Afghan War - 1878 - 1880

Second Afghan War

Warring Factions The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Afghanistan

Number Of VC's Awarded 16

Origins Of The War Russia sent an uninvited diplomatic mission to Kabul. Sher Ali of Afghanistan failed, to keep them out. The British demanded that Sher Ali accept a British mission too.

Sher Ali refused to receive a British mission and also threatened to stop it if it were dispatched. Lord Lytton, the viceroy, called Sher Ali's bluff and ordered a diplomatic mission to set out for Kabul in September 1878.The mission was turned back as it approached the eastern entrance of the Khyber Pass, thus triggering the Second Anglo-Afghan War.

First Boer War - 1880 - 1881

First Boer War

Warring Factions The United Kingdom Of Great Britain and The Transvaal Republic

Number Of VC's Awarded 6

Origins Of The Expedition It was primarily caused by Sir Theophilus Shepstone who annexed the South African Republic (Transvaal Republic) for the British in 1877. The British consolidated their power over most of the colonies of South Africa in 1879 after the Anglo-Zulu War. The Boers protested and in December 1880 they revolted.

Boer War, South Africa - 1899 - 1902

Boer War, South Africa

Warring Factions The British Empire and the two independent Boer republics of the Orange Free State and the Transvaal Republic.

Number Of VC's Awarded 78

Origins Of The War

The war was fought between the British Empire and the two independent Boer republics of the Orange Free State and the South African Republic (Transvaal Republic). After a protracted hard-fought war, the two independent republics lost and were absorbed into the British Empire.

Uitlander immigrants outnumbered the Boers on the Rand, but remained a minority in the Transvaal as a whole. The Afrikaners, nervous and resentful of the uitlanders' presence, denied them voting rights. In response, there was pressure from the uitlanders and the British mine owners to overthrow the Boer government.

The failure to gain improved rights for Britons was used to justify a major military buildup in the Cape, since several key British colonial leaders favoured annexation of the Boer republics. Confident that the Boers would be quickly defeated, they attempted to precipitate a war.

President Martinus Steyn of the Orange Free State invited Milner and Kruger (President of the Transvaal) to attend a conference in Bloemfontein which started on 30 May 1899, but negotiations quickly broke down. In September 1899, Chamberlain sent an ultimatum demanding full equality for British citizens resident in Transvaal.

Kruger (President of the Transvaal) in alliance with President Steyn of the Orange Free State, seeing that war was inevitable, issued their own ultimatum prior to receiving Chamberlain's. This gave the British 48 hours to withdraw all their troops from the border of Transvaal; otherwise the allies would declare war.

Alfred Atkinson was 26 years old, and a sergeant in the 1st Battalion, The Yorkshire Regiment, British Army during the Boer War when the following deed took place for which he was awarded the VC.

On 18 February 1900 during the Battle of Paardeberg, South Africa, Sergeant Atkinson went out seven times under heavy and close fire to obtain water for the wounded. At the seventh attempt he was wounded in the head and died a few days afterwards.

First World War - 1914 – 1918

First World War

Warring Factions The Allied Powers, led by France, Russia, the United Kingdom, and later Italy and the United States, defeated the Central Powers: Austria-Hungary, Germany, Bulgaria and the Ottoman Empire.

Number Of VC's Awarded 626

Origins Of The War On June 28, 1914, Gavrilo Princip shot and killed Archduke Franz Ferdinand, the heir to the Austrian throne, and his wife, in Sarajevo. Princip was a member of Young Bosnia, a group whose aims included the unification of the South Slavs and independence from Austria-Hungary. The assassination in Sarajevo set into motion a series of fast-moving events that escalated into a full-scale war. However, the distal causes of the conflict were multiple and complex.

Second World War - 1939 - 1945

Second World War

Warring Factions Allied powers: United Kingdom, Soviet Union, United States and Republic of China and Axis powers: Germany, Italy and Japan

Number Of VC's Awarded 181

Origins Of The Expedition On September 1, 1939, Germany, led by Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party, invaded Poland according to a secret agreement with the Soviet Union. The United Kingdom and France responded by declaring war on Germany on September 3. Germany overwhelmed Poland, then Norway, the Netherlands, Belgium and France in 1940, and Yugoslavia and Greece in 1941. Italian, and later German, troops attacked British forces in North Africa. By summer 1941, Germany had conquered France and most of Western Europe, but it had failed to subdue the United Kingdom.

Hitler then turned on the Soviet Union, opening a surprise attack on June 22, 1941. Despite enormous gains, the invasion bogged down outside of Moscow in late 1941. The Red Army then pursued the retreating Wehrmacht all the way to Berlin, and won the street-by-street Battle of Berlin, as Hitler committed suicide in his underground bunker on 30 April 1945.

Korean War - 1950 – 1953

Korean War

Warring Factions North Korea (communist) and South Korea

Number Of VC's Awarded 4

Origins Of The War The Korean War, which occurred between June 25, 1950 and a cease-fire on July 27, 1953, was a war between North Korea and South Korea. As no peace treaty has been signed, the two Koreas remain technically at war to this day.

Vietnam War - 1959 - 1975

Vietnam War

Warring Factions The Democratic Republic of (north) Vietnam and National Front for the Liberation of South Vietnam fought the anti-communist forces of the Republic of Vietnam and its allies - the United States

Number Of VC's Awarded 4

Origins Of The War The chief cause of the war was the failure of Vietnamese nationalists, in the form of the Viet Minh, to gain control of southern Vietnam both during and after their struggle for independence from France in the First Indochina War of 1946-1954.

Allies of the Vietnamese communists included the Soviet Union and the People's Republic of China. South Vietnam's main anti-communist allies were the United States, South Korea, Australia, Thailand, the Philippines, and New Zealand.

Falklands War - 1982

Falklands War

Warring Factions The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Argentina

Number Of VC's Awarded 2

Origins Of The War The Falklands War was fought over the Falkland Islands and South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands. The Falklands consist of two large and many small islands in the South Atlantic Ocean east of Argentina, whose ownership had long been disputed.

The war was triggered by the occupation of South Georgia by Argentina on 19 March 1982 followed by the occupation of the Falklands, and ended with Argentine surrender on 14 June 1982. War was not declared by either side. The initial invasion was considered by Argentina as reoccupation of its own territory, and by Britain as an invasion of a British dependency.

Operation Telic (Iraq) - 2003 - 2005

Operation Telic (Iraq)

Warring Factions The United Kingdom of Great Britain, United States of America and Iraq

Number Of VC's Awarded 1

Origins Of The War As part of the "War on Terror", it was believed Iraq was in possesion of a weapon of mass destruction.