Editing Defence of Iceland (section)

== History ==
{{Main|Military history of Iceland}}

[[Image:HakonTheOldAndSkule-Flateyjarbok.jpg|thumb|220px|An illustration of [[Haakon IV of Norway|Hákon Hákonarson, King of Norway]], and [[Skule Bårdsson|Skúli Bárðarson]] from [[Flateyjarbók]]]]

In the period from the settlement of Iceland, in the 870s, until it became part of the realm of the Norwegian King, military defences of Iceland consisted of multiple chieftains (''Goðar'') and their free followers (''þingmenn'', ''bændur'' or ''liðsmenn'') organised according to the  standard Nordic military doctrine of the time in expeditionary armies such as the [[Leidang|''leiðangr'']]. These armies were divided into units according to the quality of the warriors and by birth. At the end of this period, the number of chieftains had diminished and their power had grown, to the detriment of their followers. This resulted in a long and bloody civil war known as [[Age of the Sturlungs]]. A typical battle involved fewer than 1000 men.

[[Amphibious warfare|Amphibious]] operations were an important part of warfare in Iceland in this period, especially in the [[Westfjords]], but large [[naval engagement]]s were rare. The largest such engagement, known as [[Flóabardagi]], involved a few dozen ships in [[Húnaflói]] (bay).

In the decades before the [[Napoleonic Wars]], the few hundred militiamen in the southwest of Iceland were mainly equipped with rusty and mostly obsolete medieval weaponry, including 16th-century [[halberd]]s. When British privateers arrived in 1808, after most of the [[Royal Dano-Norwegian Navy]] had been captured or destroyed in the [[Battle of Copenhagen (1807)|battle of Copenhagen]] in 1807, the amount of [[gunpowder]] in Iceland was so small that the governor of Iceland, [[Frederich Christopher Trampe, Count of Trampe]], could not offer any resistance.

In 1855, the Icelandic Army was re-established by Andreas August von Kohl, the sheriff in [[Vestmannaeyjar]]. In 1856, the king provided 180 [[Danish rigsdaler|rixdollars]] to buy guns, and a further 200 rixdollars the following year. The sheriff became the Captain of the new army, which become known as ''Herfylkingin'', "The Battalion". In 1860 von Kohl died, and Pétur Bjarnasen took over command. Nine years later Bjarnasen died without appointing a successor, and the army fell into disarray.{{cn|date=August 2024}}

[[Image:Icelandic Army 1940-2.png|thumb|Officers of the [[Military of Iceland#Independent Iceland|defence force]] in a trench on Vaðlaheiði in 1940]]
[[Image:Icelandic Army 1940.png|thumb|Agnar Kofoed Hansen training his officers in the arts of war in 1940]] 
In 1918, Iceland regained sovereignty as a [[Kingdom of Iceland|separate kingdom under the Danish king]]. Iceland established a Coast Guard shortly afterwards, but it was financially impossible to establish a standing army. The government hoped that a permanent neutrality would shield the country from invasion. But at the onset of [[Second World War]], the government was concerned about a possible invasion, and decided to expand the Icelandic National Police (''Ríkislögreglan'') and its reserves into a military unit. Chief Commissioner of Police Agnar Kofoed Hansen had been trained in the Danish Army and he moved to train his officers. Weapons and uniforms were acquired, and they practised rifleshooting and military tactics near [[Laugarvatn]]. Hansen barely managed to train his 60 officers before the [[United Kingdom]]'s [[invasion of Iceland]] on 10 May 1940. Agnar wanted to expand the forces, but the Icelandic Minister of Justice rejected his proposal.<ref>{{cite web |title=Efling lögreglunnar |url=https://timarit.is/page/1241611 |publisher=Morgunblaðið |access-date=12 February 2022 |language=is |date=20 July 1940}}</ref>

In mid-1941 while still neutral the [[United States]] took over the [[Allied occupation of Iceland#United States occupation|occupation of Iceland]] from the British but not with Iceland's approval. The stationing of US forces in Iceland continued well after the war, eventually codified in the [[Agreed Minute]]. In 1949 Iceland was a founding member of [[NATO]] and was the sole member that did not have a standing army, joining NATO on the condition that it would not be expected to establish one. However, its strategic geographic position in the Atlantic made it an invaluable member. Expansion of forces by Iceland was therefore concentrated primarily in the Icelandic Coast Guard, which saw action in a series of confrontations with British fishing vessels and [[Royal Navy]] warships known as the [[Cod Wars]]. None of the Cod Wars meet any of the common thresholds for a conventional war and they may more accurately be described as [[militarised interstate dispute]]s.<ref name="Steinsson2016">{{Cite journal |last=Steinsson |first=Sverrir |date=2016-03-22 |title=The Cod Wars: a re-analysis |journal=European Security |volume=25 |issue=2 |pages=256–275 |doi=10.1080/09662839.2016.1160376 |issn=0966-2839 |s2cid=155242560}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Hellmann |first1=Gunther |last2=Herborth |first2=Benjamin |date=2008-07-01 |title=Fishing in the mild West: democratic peace and militarised interstate disputes in the transatlantic community |journal=Review of International Studies |volume=34 |issue=3 |pages=481–506 |doi=10.1017/S0260210508008139 |issn=1469-9044 |s2cid=144997884}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Ireland |first1=Michael J. |last2=Gartner |first2=Scott Sigmund |date=2001-10-01 |title=Time to Fight: Government Type and Conflict Initiation in Parliamentary Systems |journal=The Journal of Conflict Resolution |volume=45 |issue=5 |pages=547–568 |doi=10.1177/0022002701045005001 |jstor=3176313 |s2cid=154973439}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Prins |first1=Brandon C. |last2=Sprecher |first2=Christopher |date=1999-05-01 |title=Institutional Constraints, Political Opposition, And Interstate Dispute Escalation: Evidence from Parliamentary Systems, 1946–89 |journal=Journal of Peace Research |volume=36 |issue=3 |pages=271–287 |doi=10.1177/0022343399036003002 |issn=0022-3433 |s2cid=110394899}}</ref>

The [[Iceland Defense Force|Iceland Defense Force (IDF)]] was a [[military]] [[command (military formation)|command]] of the [[United States Armed Forces]] from 1951 to 2006. The IDF, created at the request of NATO, came into existence when the United States signed an agreement to provide for the defense of Iceland. The IDF also consisted of civilian Icelanders and military members of other NATO nations. The IDF was downsized after the end of the [[Cold War]] and the [[U.S. Air Force]] maintained four to six [[interceptor aircraft]] at the [[Naval Air Station Keflavik]], until they were withdrawn on 30 September 2006. Since May 2008, NATO nations have periodically deployed fighters to patrol Icelandic airspace under the [[Icelandic Air Policing]] mission.<ref name = "French_Air_Force_in_Iceland">{{cite web|title = French Air Force in Iceland|url = http://www.mfa.is/speeches-and-articles/nr/4240|publisher = Ministry for Foreign Affairs|access-date = 2 October 2010|date = 5 May 2008|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110511081438/http://www.mfa.is/speeches-and-articles/nr/4240|archive-date = 11 May 2011|url-status = dead}}</ref><ref name = "NATO_ACO">{{cite web|title = Air Policing|url = http://www.aco.nato.int/page142085426.aspx|publisher = NATO Air Command Operations|access-date = 2 October 2010|archive-date = 24 January 2010|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20100124134809/http://www.aco.nato.int/page142085426.aspx|url-status = dead}}</ref>
During the [[Icesave dispute]] with the British and Dutch governments, Iceland made it clear that UK patrols in its airspace were not appropriate given the state of affairs and subsequently on 14 November 2008 the UK had to cancel its patrols and defense of the Icelandic airspace, which before the dispute had been scheduled to start in December 2008.<ref name="USAToday">{{cite news | url = http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/world/2008-11-14-727094515_x.htm | title = British air force mission to Iceland scrapped |work=USA Today| date = 14 November 2008| access-date = 15 November 2008}}</ref>

After withdrawal of US forces in 2006, Iceland reorganized some military infrastructure in the form of the [[Icelandic Defence Agency]] (''Varnarmálastofnun Íslands'') founded in 2008.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.varnarmalastofnun.is/grein.php?id_grein=87 |title=Varnarmálastofnun |access-date=2014-10-21 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090203121341/http://varnarmalastofnun.is/grein.php?id_grein=87 |archive-date=2009-02-03 }}</ref> under the Minister for Foreign Affairs. The Agency took over operations at [[Naval Air Station Keflavik]], but was closed in 2011 in the wake of the economic crisis, with functions distributed to the existing organizations.
<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/europe/is-ida.htm|title=Iceland|author=John Pike|access-date=23 October 2014}}</ref> The Icelandic Coast Guard now handles the military infrastructure in the country.

{{See also|History of Iceland}}