New Zealand

Through the ages

Rivals in history

The kingdoms, empires and states New Zealand fought or stood against, from the first to today.

1. 🇫🇷 France1838 to 1840

   A French company plans a colony at Akaroa on Banks Peninsula. Britain proclaims sovereignty over the South Island in May 1840, and when French settlers arrive that August they find British officials already there.

2. 🇬🇧 British and colonial forces1845 to 1872

   From 1845 British troops and colonial forces fight Maori iwi over land and sovereignty, first in the north, then in Taranaki from 1860 and Waikato from 1863. The Crown confiscates vast areas of Maori land, and the wars die out by 1872.

3. 🇩🇪 German Empire1914 to 1918

   New Zealand troops occupy German Samoa without a fight in August 1914. On the Western Front they fight the German army at the Somme and Passchendaele, where 12 October 1917 is the deadliest day in New Zealand's history.

4. 🇹🇷 Ottoman Empire1915 to 1918

   New Zealand troops land at Gallipoli on 25 April 1915 and fight the Ottoman army until the evacuation that December. Mounted riflemen then fight in Sinai and Palestine until the Ottoman armistice of 1918.

5. 🇩🇪 Nazi Germany1939 to 1945

   New Zealand declares war on Germany on 3 September 1939. Its 2nd Division fights German forces in Greece and Crete in 1941, in North Africa, and in Italy, including at Cassino in 1944.

6. 🇯🇵 Empire of Japan1941 to 1945

   When Japan enters the war in December 1941, New Zealand fears invasion. Its 3rd Division fights in the Solomon Islands in 1943, and its air force and navy serve alongside American forces across the Pacific.

7. 🇰🇵 North Korea and China1950 to 1953

   New Zealand sends Kayforce, an artillery regiment, to the Korean War. It fights Chinese and North Korean forces from early 1951 until the armistice of 1953.

8. 🇫🇷 France1985 to 1995

   French agents sink the Rainbow Warrior in Auckland in 1985, and two of them are convicted in New Zealand. Anger returns in 1995, when France resumes nuclear tests at Moruroa and New Zealand challenges them at the International Court of Justice.

Today

New Zealand now

Polynesians settled New Zealand between the late 1200s and the mid-1300s. They called the land Aotearoa, which legend holds is the name of the canoe that Kupe, the first Polynesian in New Zealand, used to sail to the country; the name Aotearoa is now in widespread use as the local Maori name for the country. By the 1500s, competition for land and resources led to intermittent fighting between different Maori tribes as large game became extinct.

Capital

Wellington

Government

parliamentary democracy under a constitutional monarchy; a Commonwealth realm

Head of government

Christopher Luxon

Head of state

Charles III

Languages

New Zealand Sign Language, Māori, English

Area

267,710 km²

Through time

Then and now

• Population5.2 million2023 · 1.9 million in 1950
• Life expectancy82.1 years2023 · 69.3 years in 1950
• GDP per person$38,2502022 · $13,479 in 1950
• Living in cities84%2025 · 55% in 1950
• Literacy99%1950
• Political regimeLiberal democracy2025 · Liberal democracy in 1950
• Military alliancesNone of these2024 · None of these in 1950
• Military spending1.1% of GDP2025
• War deathsNone2025

Population: HYDE 3.3, Gapminder and UN WPP. GDP per capita: Maddison Project Database 2023. Urban share: UN WPP. Life expectancy: Riley, HMD, UN WPP. Literacy: OWID historical estimates, World Bank, UNESCO. Military spending: SIPRI. War deaths: UCDP. Political regime: V-Dem, Regimes of the World. All via Our World in Data (CC BY 4.0). Alliances and organization memberships: compiled by Atlas. Satellites in orbit: CelesTrak SATCAT. Modern borders, backcast.

Relations

Close partners and tensions

Summarised from World Bank and Wikipedia data, updated 23 October 2026.