 Complete the following phrase:  Although the Royal Navy is widely regarded as vital to the rise of the British Empire, the British Army played an important role in the formation of colonies, protectorates and dominions in the Americas, Africa, Asia, India and Australasia. British soldiers captured strategically important territories, and the army was involved in wars to secure the empires borders and support friendly governments. Among these actions were the Seven Years War, the American Revolutionary War, the Napoleonic Wars, the First and Second Opium Wars, the Boxer Rebellion, the New Zealand Wars, the Australian frontier wars, the Sepoy Rebellion of 1857, the first and second Boer Wars, the Fenian raids, the Irish War of Independence, interventions in Afghanistan intended to maintain a buffer state between British India and the Russian Empire and the Crimean War to keep the Russian Empire at a safe distance by aiding Turkey. Like the English Army, the British Army fought the kingdoms of Spain, France including the Empire of France and the Netherlands for supremacy in North America and the West Indies. With native and provincial assistance, the army conquered New France in the 