I would have to say the American Revolutionary War. I mean the Civil War did have a huge impact but still, A.R.W. was fought for independence from another nation. Civil War was to keep a nation together. If the South had won the Civil War there still would of been a CSA, just different name and yes several large differences. But if the British had won the A.R.W. the USA would not be here today.

NZ had our 'land wars' in the mid 1800's on till late 1800's. This was between the European colonists and the native Maori people, who are ferocious warriors. The Maori had many great successes based on strategy and sheer courage. In an unfinished fort (Pa) a couple of hundred of them held off and over 2000 of the Queens best troops who had artillery support, and eventually withdrew suffering very heavy casualties and not having depleted the Maori numbers much at all.

NZ has been in most of the modern wars, WW1, WW2, VietNam, Korea, Afghanistan (SAS), and post war Iraq (re-building). and some others some here may not have heard of, like the recent conflict in East Timor vs. Indonesia (who were shown the door).

However WW2 would have to be the most important war for NZ. In this war we gained recognition and respect from our allies, and formed alliances that are still actively enjoyed to this day. Back then people had a stronger sense of duty and loyalty, everyone wanted to go, and a huge percentage of the population did. NZ was in all the main allied theatres, and at one stage when Japan was close, so few men were left here that US troops came over to offer a homeguard as all our men were so far away.

Here again our Maori battalion showed their courage, earning the respect of their allies and the fear of the Germans. Their heroics are written about here...
http://www.nzetc.org/etexts/WH2Maor/c1.html

However time has eroded our armed forces which have slowly diminished, and the emphasis has shifted to fewer but better.

Lazza.

8) Adding to Bush Musketeers comments.

Australia's efforts in WW1 are very important historically and to the countries psyche. Gallipolli has had a mythical feel about it to me since I was a child. The soldiers who fought there seem like gods.

Our fighting qualities in WW1 1918 under General Monash were nothing short of sensational. It is hard to find stuff in books published outside of Aussie that give the ANZACs much credit. They are nearly always referred to as "British forces". Yes I know that we had only 5 divisions but we were nearly always in the hot sectors. Australian casualties rates were the highest amongst all the allies.

Some of the first American units were put alongside the Aussies in 1918 to gain experience.

Australia's war in New Guinea was probably more important to the country as we believed that we were going to be invaded by Nippon. The American's helped save our bacon particularly at the Battle of the Coral Sea which halted a Japanese sea invasion of Port Moresby.

Me, as a Spanish. agrees that the Peninsular War was the most important in my country's history, for we became the first European country to ride out Napoleonic Troops, creating and using the "guerrillas" for the first time. Though on my country's books the British always have a minor part, I'd like to pay here homage to them, for they helped us to ban out Napoleonic troops (that they took us Gibraltar a century before and that instead of Napoleon's brother the Spanish king Fernando VII came back, being a much worse monarch, is another question ), and I want to assure them we've never forgot the heroic leadership of Wellington, and the sad death of Moore on La Coruña.

P.S: A note for the Aussies. I have an encyclopaedia about World War II, edited in Italy on the late 70's, and I testify that, on every theater the Australians fought, they are reported and widely admired as some of the bravest and thoughest fighter of all nations.

hmmm....there's a few important wars for Canada. World War I at Vimy Ridge showed Canada as a strong fighting force, and at the end of WWII, Canada was regocnmized as a middle power. There was also the war of 1812, where the U.S. tried to invad Canada, and Canada won.

Originally Posted by Trevor

hmmm....there's a few important wars for Canada. World War I at Vimy Ridge showed Canada as a strong fighting force, and at the end of WWII, Canada was regocnmized as a middle power. There was also the war of 1812, where the U.S. tried to invad Canada, and Canada won.

The Canadians were a fantastic fighting force at Ypres (3rd Battle). It was great that they stood up to the English and did not allow their divisions be spread out all over the Western Front like the Aussies prior to 1918.

The Revolutionary War may have been the war that gave birth to the United States, but the War of 1812 proved we were here to stay. Militarily, the Revolutionary War was horrible. Washington spent most of this time running from the British. His only major victory came at Yorktown with the aid of French fleet and the French Army. After the war ended, the military was reduced to a meager size.
The War of 1812 did not start well for the Americans. Although the Americans won a few single ship engagements, the entire east coast was blockaded. The first invasion into Canada failed in 1812. We invaded and burned York, but the British did the same to Washington DC. Captain Perry won a decisive battle on Lake Erie by rowing to another ship in the middle of battle, saving the day. The invasion of Canada in July 1814 proved that American regulars could stand muzzle to muzzle with British regulars. The American Regulars were dressed in cadet uniforms since the US government had no other uniforms available. The British first thought these soldiers were militia. They quickly changed their minds after seeing the soldiers perform under fire. The British were routed at Chippewa, but they were able to hold the Americans at Lundy Lane. The official outcome is a draw. This engagement may seem small, but it proved that Americans could hold their ground on even terms. The American military was here to stay.

This thread is really good. I've never even heard of the 1812 war. :P

OK in my country (Slovenia) it was definetly the independence war of 1991. This is when we gained our independence from Yugoslavia, wich was at that time fast becoming a Greater Serbia. Altough the war lasted for only 10 days it asssured our soverieignty.

For a 10 day war it was quite intense - Slovenia only has about 20.000 square kilometers. And there were 19 dead and 182 wuonded on our side, the JLA (Jugoslovanska ljudska armija or Yugoslavian Peoples Army) had 44 dead and 146 wounded. Furthermore there were 4693 POW from the JLA and 252 POW from the Federal Police. We captcured or destroyed 31 tanks 22 armored veichles 6 helicopters 6787 infantry weapons 87 pices of artilery and 124 AAA pices.

And this is also more or less the only national war we had besides a few peasant rebelions in the Middle Ages and fighting the Germans guerilla style during WW2.

I say the American Revolutionary War for my country. I picked that over the Civil War because if the south did win the Civil War there would either A) Be another war to unite the two countries again; or B) The north and the south (whatever they would be called) would most likely be very good allies so it would almost seem like it's one country anyways.

I think the only war that was importent to Australia was the war against Japan.
Stopping them from invading and the carnage that would have followed was vital.