American military service is honored through a broad account of major conflicts involving the United States, from the Revolutionary War through the Global War on Terror. It includes the American Revolution, in which thirteen colonies struggled against Great Britain and formed the United States of America; the American-Indian Wars, a series of conflicts between Native Americans and American settlers mainly over land control; the War of 1812, which ended with no gain for either side after failed American attempts to conquer Canada, a British blockade, the Treaty of Ghent, and Major General Andrew Jackson's victory at New Orleans; the Mexican-American War, which ended with Mexico ceding California, Utah, Nevada, and parts of New Mexico, Colorado, Arizona, and Wyoming; the American Civil War, fought between the Confederacy and the Union after southern secession over the expansion of slavery and ending with Confederate surrender; the Spanish-American War, after which the United States gained the Philippines, Puerto Rico, and Guam; World War I, which ended with Allied victory and the formation of new nations in Europe and the Middle East; World War II, which ended with the surrender of Germany and Japan and the beginning of the Cold War; the Korean War, which ended with establishment of the Korea Demilitarized Zone; the Vietnam War, won by North Vietnam and followed by communist rule in Laos, Cambodia, and South Vietnam; the Gulf War, in which a United Nations-authorized coalition liberated Kuwait; and Operation Enduring Freedom, a U.S.-led effort in Afghanistan within the ongoing Global War on Terror.