5,963 articles
US withdrawal from Niger
The US withdrawal from Niger was the complete departure of American forces in 2024, ordered after Niger's junta revoked the agreement allowing about 1,000 US personnel.
US–UK airstrikes on Yemen
US–UK airstrikes on Yemen: joint air and naval campaign (Operation Poseidon Archer, from 11 January 2024) and a larger US campaign (March–May 2025) against Houthi targets in response to Red Sea shipping attacks; five joint 2024 strikes, UK's sixth strike April 2025, US cessation 6 May 2025, 153 civilians killed per Pentagon review.
Use of chemical weapons in the Syrian civil war
Use of chemical weapons in the Syrian civil war: sarin, chlorine, and sulfur mustard attacks documented from 2013 Ghouta onward; OPCW FFM, JIM, and IIT investigations attributed most attacks to Syrian government forces.
Uskoks
The Uskoks (Croatian: uskoci, meaning 'fugitives') were refugee raiders from Ottoman-ruled lands who, based at Senj from the 1530s to the 1620s, attacked Ottoman and Venetian shipping and territory.
USS Atlanta (1861)
USS Atlanta (1861), ex-Fingal, ex-CSS Atlanta: Glasgow-built blockade runner converted at Savannah into a Confederate casemate ironclad ram, captured by monitors Weehawken and Nahant at Wassaw Sound on 17 June 1863, then served in the Union Navy on the James River until 1865.
USS Cole bombing
USS Cole bombing: al-Qaeda suicide boat attack on the U.S. destroyer Cole (DDG-67) at Aden, Yemen, October 12, 2000, killing 17 sailors; followed failed USS The Sullivans attempt; led to FBI probe, Crouch-Gehman review, and al-Nashiri's Guantanamo death-penalty case.
USS Constitution vs HMS Guerriere
USS Constitution vs HMS Guerriere, also called the Guerriere action, was a War of 1812 frigate duel fought August 19, 1812 near Halifax, in which Hull's Constitution destroyed Dacres' Guerriere in about 35 minutes, earning the nickname Old Ironsides.
USS Iowa turret explosion
The USS Iowa turret explosion (19 April 1989) killed 47 sailors in Turret 2's center gun during loading. The Navy blamed sabotage by Clayton Hartwig; Sandia and GAO found a high-speed overram of powder bags a plausible accidental cause.
USS Liberty incident
The USS Liberty incident: Israeli air and torpedo-boat attack on the US Navy SIGINT ship USS Liberty (AGTR-5) on 8 June 1967 off Sinai during the Six-Day War, killing 34 and wounding 171; Israel called it mistaken identity, dispute continues.
USS Tang (SS-306)
USS Tang (SS-306), Balao-class US submarine under Richard H. O'Kane, sank 24 ships (93,824 tons credited) in five 1944 patrols, was lost to her own circular-running Mark 18 torpedo on 24 October 1944, with nine survivors; distinct from Virginia-class SSN 805.
USS Wasp (CV-18)
USS Wasp (CV-18), ninth ship of the name, was an Essex-class US Navy aircraft carrier commissioned 1943, fought at the Philippine Sea and Leyte Gulf, earned eight battle stars, recovered Gemini capsules, and was scrapped in 1973.
Utah Beach
Utah Beach, Normandy: westernmost D-Day landing beach, added to Overlord in December 1943 by Eisenhower and Montgomery to speed Cherbourg's capture; 4th Infantry Division landed 6 June 1944 with only 197 casualties.
Utah War
Utah War (1857–1858), also called Buchanan's Blunder or the Utah Expedition: armed confrontation between Latter-day Saint Utah Territory and the U.S. government over Brigham Young's replacement as governor, featuring the Mountain Meadows Massacre and about 150 violent deaths.
Uttarakhand tunnel rescue
The Uttarakhand tunnel rescue, also called the Silkyara tunnel rescue, freed 41 workers trapped by the 12 November 2023 collapse of the Silkyara-Barkot tunnel in Uttarkashi after 17 days, using auger drilling, vertical shafts, and rat-hole mining with zero fatalities.
Uyghur Conquest of the Second Turkic Khaganate
The Uyghur conquest of the Second Turkic Khaganate was the overthrow of the Türk ruling house in Mongolia between 742 and 745 by Basmyl, Uyghur, and Karluk tribes.
Uyyalawada Narasimha Reddy (ఉయ్యాలవాడ నరసింహ రెడ్డి)
Uyyalawada Narasimha Reddy (ఉయ్యాలవాడ నరసింహ రెడ్డి), Telugu poligar of Koilkuntla, led the 1846–47 Rayalaseema revolt against the East India Company, raided the Koilkuntla treasury, fought at Giddalur, and was publicly hanged.
Uzbek conquest of Transoxiana
The Shaybanid conquest of Transoxiana was the takeover of the Timurid lands between the Amu Darya and Syr Darya by Uzbek forces under Muhammad Shaybani Khan between 1500 and 1507.
Valley Forge
Valley Forge: the 1777-1778 winter encampment of Washington's Continental Army near Philadelphia, where von Steuben's training and the French alliance forged a professional army; now a 3,500-acre national historical park.
Valley of Tears
Valley of Tears (Emek HaBacha) is the northern Golan Heights site of the October 1973 Yom Kippur War tank battle where Avigdor Kahalani's 77th Battalion and fewer than 100 Centurions stopped a much larger Syrian T-55 and T-62 force.
Vardar Offensive
The Vardar Offensive (Битка на Вардар) was the Allied breakthrough on the Macedonian Front in September 1918 that shattered the Bulgarian army and triggered the first Central Power's surrender.
Vasily Blyukher
Vasily Blyukher (Василий Константинович Блюхер) was a Soviet military commander, Marshal of the Soviet Union from 1935, and victor of the 1929 Chinese Eastern Railway conflict.
Vata's rebellion
Vata's rebellion (Hungarian: Vata-féle lázadás) was a 1046 pagan uprising against the Christianizing Kingdom of Hungary, led by clan chief Vata of the Békés region.
Veerapandiya Kattabomman (வீரபாண்டிய கட்டபொம்மன்)
Veerapandiya Kattabomman (வீரபாண்டிய கட்டபொம்மன்), also Kattabomma Nayakar, was the 47th poligar king of Panchalankurichi, Tamil Nadu, hanged in 1799 for resisting colonial authority, and an ancestor figure of Tamil nationalism since the 1950s.
Vehicle-ramming attack
Vehicle-ramming attack (also vehicle-as-a-weapon, VAAW): deliberately driving a vehicle into people as a blunt-force weapon, distinct from VBIED bombings. 294 attacks worldwide 2000–2025; only 31% terrorism; deadliest was Nice 2016, 86 killed.
Velupillai Prabhakaran (வேலுப்பிள்ளை பிரபாகரன்)
Velupillai Prabhakaran (வேலுப்பிள்ளை பிரபாகரன்), born 1954, founded and led the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) until 2009, waging Sri Lanka's civil war for the separate state of Tamil Eelam, pioneering suicide bombings, ruling a de facto state, and dying in the May 2009 defeat.
Velvet Revolution
Velvet Revolution (sametová revoluce, nežná revolúcia): the peaceful November–December 1989 Czechoslovak uprising of students, Civic Forum, and mass strikes that ended 41 years of communist rule and elected Václav Havel president.
Velyka Novosilka offensive
Velyka Novosilka offensive: Ukrainian June 2023 counteroffensive axis in western Donetsk Oblast and the Russian late-2024 to January 2025 offensive that encircled and captured the town on January 26, 2025.
Venda resistance to the Transvaal
Venda resistance to the Transvaal was the armed and political opposition of the Venda chiefdoms of the Zoutpansberg mountains, which delayed their submission until 1899.
Venezuelan Federal War
The Venezuelan Federal War, also called the Guerra Federal or Long War, was a Venezuelan civil war from 1859 to 1863 between Liberals demanding federalism and Conservatives defending central rule.
Venezuelan War of Independence
Venezuelan War of Independence (1810-1823, conventionally 1811-1821), also called the Venezuelan independence process: war separating Venezuela from Spain. Declared July 5, 1811; secured at Carabobo (1821) within Gran Colombia; ended by the Maracaibo capitulations (1823).