Military history of the peoples of the British Islands

British military history is a long and varied topic, extending from the prehistoric and ancient historic period, through the Roman invasions of Julius Caesar and Claudius and subsequent Roman occupation; warfare in the Mediaeval period, including the invasions of the Saxons and the Vikings in the Early Middle Ages, the Norman Conquest, and wars against France; through the Early Modern period, wars against Spain and France, and the English Civil War, and the beginnings of the colonial British Empire in India and North America; and into the Modern period with the wars of Duke of Marlborough and against Napoleon, the Crimean War and into the 20th century with the Boer War, World War I and World War II, the Cold War the Korean War; and, most recently, Northern Ireland, the Falklands War and military operations in the Balkans and the Middle East.