Military history of Iceland

[1] 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 as per standard Nordic military doctrine of the time in expeditionary armies such as the leiðangr.

This low casualty rate has been attributed to the blood-feud mentality that permeated Icelandic society, which meant that the defeated army could not be slaughtered honourably to a man.

As well as the requirements of Christianity to get a pardon from a cleric for each fiend smitten, which resulted in only people of low class taking care of executions.

Amphibious operations were important parts of warfare in Iceland in this time, especially in the Westfjords, while large naval engagements were not common.

At first the chieftains relied primarily on peasant levies but as the war progressed and Norwegian military influences became more pronounced, their personal retinues expanded and became more professional.

The two bishops became de facto Ecclesiastical Counts or Kirkjugreifar, responsible for law enforcement and overall command of military defences.

During the 15th century, when English traders and fishermen started to come to Iceland, it became a common practice among chieftains to buy cannons for defence against foreign ships and for internal conflicts.

In a bid to isolate Skálholt, Iceland's last Catholic bishop, Jón Arason of Hólar, attempted to cut its lines of communication to the Westfjords by invading the lands of Daði Guðmundsson.

Although no open warfare continued, the Danish king was still wary of an insurrection and ordered the destruction of all Icelandic arms and armor.

In 1627 Icelanders were shocked at the inability of the Danish forces to protect them against Barbary corsairs who murdered and kidnapped a large number of people.

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 halberds.

The militia would meet once or twice a week for 2-4 hour exercises, where they would practice shooting, swordplay, tactics, and occasionally mock battles.

But at the onset of the Second World War, the government, becoming justifiably nervous, decided to expand the capabilities of the National Police (Ríkislögreglan) and its reserves into a military unit.

The First Cod War saw a total of 37 Royal Navy ships and 7,000 sailors protecting the fishing fleet from six Icelandic gunboats and their 100 coast guards.

In 1972, Iceland unilaterally declared an exclusive economic zone (EEZ) extending beyond its territorial waters, before announcing plans to reduce overfishing.

It policed its quota system with the Icelandic Coast Guard, leading to a series of net-cutting incidents with British trawlers that fished the areas.

[10] Iceland's main contribution to the NATO defence effort, during the Cold War was the rent-free provision of the "agreed areas"—sites for military facilities.

By far the largest and most important of these was the NATO Naval Air Station Keflavík, manned by American, Canadian, Danish, Norwegian and Dutch personnel.

Iceland and the United States regarded the U.S. military presence since World War II as a cornerstone to bilateral foreign/security policy.

Talks about the American presence were restarted as of 2005, since the U.S. government was keen on deploying its troops and equipment to parts of the world with more pressing need for them.

The Agency was to consolidate functions previously served by NATO forces at Naval Air Station Keflavik, such as maintaining defense installations, intelligence gathering and military exercises.

[16] On 30 March 2010, the Icelandic government announced it would legislate to disband the Agency and put its services under the command of the Coast Guard or National Police.

[17] To save money and to restore the primary role of the Icelandic Coast Guard in defense, the Defence Agency was shut down on January 1, 2011.