The British Armed Forces form the military of the United Kingdom, tasked with defence of the country, its overseas territories and the Crown dependencies; as well as promoting the UK's wider interests, supporting international peacekeeping efforts, and providing humanitarian aid. They were established as the British Armed Forces upon the Acts of Union 1707, when the armed forces of the Kingdom of England and the Kingdom of Scotland were merged into the armed forces of the Kingdom of Great Britain. Since then, the British Armed Forces have seen action in a number of major wars involving the world's great powers, including the Seven Years' War, the Napoleonic Wars, the Crimean War, the First World War and Second World War. Repeatedly emerging victorious from such conflicts, allowed Britain t