List of civil wars

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The following is a list of civil wars, fought between organized groups within the same state or country. The terms "intrastate war", "internecine war" and "domestic war" are often used interchangeably with "civil war", but "internecine war" can be used in a wider meaning, referring to any conflict within a single state, regardless of the participation of civil forces. Thus, any war of succession is by definition an internecine war, but not necessarily a civil war.

In modern geopolitics since 1945, "civil war" is also used in a loose sense to refer to any large scale military conflict within a single country (i.e. used as a strict synonym of the generic term "internecine war"), creating terminological overlap with insurgencies or coups d'état.^{[citation needed]}

Terminology[]

The Latin term bellum civile was used to describe wars within a single community beginning around 60 A.D. The term is an alternative title for the work sometimes called Pharsalia by Lucan (Marcus Annaeus Lucanus) about the Roman civil wars that began in the last third of the second century BC.^[1] The term civilis here had the very specific meaning of 'Roman citizen'.

Since the 17th century, the term has also been applied retroactively to other historical conflicts where at least one side claims to represent the country's civil society (rather than a feudal dynasty or an imperial power).^[2]

Past civil wars[]

Ancient and medieval[]

This is a list of intrastate armed conflicts that fulfil the definition set by this article: civil. Note that some conflicts lack both an article or citation. Without citation, they have not been guaranteed to have happened.

• First Intermediate Period of Egypt, Second Intermediate Period of Egypt and Third Intermediate Period of Egypt are periods of political disunity in Ancient Egypt's history and series of civil wars between the governors of the nomes broke throughout the country.
• Roman civil wars (a list of numerous civil wars in the late Roman Republic and in the Roman Empire, between 100 BC and AD 400)
• First Fitna, 656–661, the first Islamic "civil war" between Ali and the Umayyads
• Second Fitna, c. 680/683 – c. 685/692, the second Islamic "civil war" between the Umayyads and Ibn al-Zubayr
• Twenty Years' Anarchy, 695–717, prolonged period of internal instability in the Byzantine Empire
• Civil War between Artabasdos and Constantine V, 741–743
• Third Fitna, 744–752, including the Umayyad civil wars of 744–748 and the Abbasid Revolution
• An Lushan Rebellion, December 16, 755 – February 17, 763^{[dubious – discuss]}
• Fourth Fitna, 809–827, including the Abbasid civil wars and other regional conflicts
• Anarchy of the 12 Warlords, 944–968
• Fitna of al-Andalus, 1009–1031
• Civil war era in Norway, 1130–1240
• Danish Civil War, 1131–1157^[3]
• The Anarchy, 1135–1153
• Revolt of 1173–74,
• Civil war in the crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem between King Baldwin III and dowager Queen Melisende (1152–1153)

• First Barons' War, 1215–1217
• Age of the Sturlungs, 1220 – 1262/64
• Second Barons' War, 1264–1267
• Civil War of Livonia between Livonian Order and the city of Riga and the Archbishopric of Riga, 1297–1330.
• Despenser War, 1321–22
• Invasion of England, 1326. Continuation of the Despenser War.
• Byzantine civil war of 1321–1328
• Byzantine civil war of 1341–1347
• Byzantine civil war of 1352–1357
• Castilian Civil War, 1366–1369
• Byzantine civil war of 1373–1379
• Glyndŵr Rising, 1400–1415
• Ottoman Interregnum, 1402–1413
• Armagnac–Burgundian Civil War, 1407–1435
• Hussite Wars, 1420–1434
• Great Feudal War in Russia, 1425–1453
• Wars of the Roses, 1455–1485
• Ōnin War, 1467–1477
• Sengoku period, 1467–1615^{[dubious – discuss]}
• War of the Castilian Succession, 1475–1479
• Popular revolts in late-medieval Europe
• German Peasants' War, 1524–1525
• Civil War in Kazakh Khanate, 1522–1538
• War of the Two Brothers, 1529–1532
• Count's Feud, 1534–1536

Early modern (1550–1800)[]

• Civil War Era in Vietnam, 1533–1789 ^[4]
  • Lê–Mạc Dynasties War, 1533–1677
  • Trịnh–Nguyễn Lords War, 1627–1772; 1774–1775
  • Tây Sơn wars, 1771–1802

• French Wars of Religion, 1562–1598
• Marian civil war, 1568–1573
• War against Sigismund, 1598–1599
• Zebrzydowski Rebellion, 1606–1609
• Shimabara Rebellion, 1637–1638
• Wars of the Three Kingdoms, 1639–1651 involved a number of civil wars:
  • Irish Confederate Wars, some parts of which were a civil war.^[5]
  • Scotland in the Wars of the Three Kingdoms, to some extent a civil war, 1644–1652
  • English Civil War, 1642–1651
    • First English Civil War, 1642–1646
    • Second English Civil War, 1648–1649
    • Third English Civil War, 1650–1651
• Acadian Civil War, 1640–1645
• The Fronde, 1648–1653
• The Ruin, 1659–1686
• Lubomirski's Rebellion, 1665–1666
• Monmouth Rebellion, May–July 1685
• Glorious Revolution, 1688–1689
• War of the Spanish Succession, 1701–1714
• Choctaw Civil War, 1747–1750
• Pugachev's Rebellion, 1773–1775^[6]
• War in the Vendée, 1793–1804; between Royalist and Republican forces, part of the French Revolutionary Wars
• , 1793–1809
• Brunei Civil War, 1660s—1673

Modern (1800–1945)[]

• Castle Hill convict rebellion, 1804
• Gutiérrez–Magee Expedition, 1812–1813
• Argentine Civil Wars, 1814–1880
• Ndwandwe–Zulu War, 1817–1819
• Long Expedition, 1819, 1821
• Greek Civil Wars, 1823–1825
• Fredonian Rebellion, 1826–1827
• Liberal Wars, 1828–1834
• Chilean Civil War, 1829–1830
• Revolutions of 1830; numerous European countries, 1830
• Egyptian–Ottoman War (1831–1833)
• Carlist Wars, 1833–1839, 1846–1849, and 1872–1876
• Texas Revolution 1835–1836
• Ragamuffin War, 1835–1845
• Chimayó Rebellion, 1837
• Córdova Rebellion, 1838
• Uruguayan Civil War, 1839–1851
• Rio Grande Rebellion, 1840
• Yucatán Rebellion, 1841–1848
• Bear Flag Revolt, 1846
• Sonderbund War, November 1847
• Revolutions of 1848; numerous European countries, 1848–1849
• Revolution of 1851
• Taiping Rebellion, 1851–1863
• Bleeding Kansas, 1854–1858
• Eureka Rebellion, 1854
• Utah War, 1857–1858
• War of Reform, 1857–1861
• Federal War, 1859–1863
• American Civil War, 1861–1865
• Afghan Civil War, 1863–1869
• Austro-Prussian War, 1866
• Klang War; also known as Selangor Civil War, 1867–1874
• Boshin War, 1868–1869
• Satsuma Rebellion, 1877
• Jementah Civil War, 1878
• , 1880–1881
• The North-West Rebellion, 1885
• Revolution of the Park, 1890
• Chilean Civil War, 1891
• Argentine Revolution of 1893, 1893
• War of Canudos, 1896–1897
• Banana Wars, 1898–1934
• Federal Revolution, 1899
• Boxer Rebellion, 1899–1901
• Thousand Days' War, 1899–1902
• Revolución Libertadora, 1901–1903
• Argentine Revolution of 1905, 1905
• Persian Constitutional Revolution, 1905–1911, Civil War considered to begin after 1908
• Mexican Revolution, 1910–1920
• Warlord Era; period of civil wars between regional, provincial, and private armies in China, 1912–1928
• Russian Civil War, 1917–1923
• Iraqi–Kurdish conflict, 1918–2003
• Finnish Civil War, 1918
• Ukrainian Civil War, 1917–1921
• German Revolution, 1918–1919
• Revolts during the Turkish War of Independence, includes conflict between the Imperial Ottoman Government and the Turkish National Movement, 1919–1922
• Irish Civil War, 1922–1923
• Paraguayan Civil War, 1922–1923
• Nicaraguan Civil War, 1926–1927
• Cristero War, 1926–1929
• Chinese Civil War, 1927–1937, 1945–1949, de facto ceasefire since 1949
• Afghan Civil War, 1928–1929
• Brazilian Civil War, 1932
• Austrian Civil War, February 1934
• Spanish Civil War, 1936–1939
• Yugoslav Civil War during World War II, 1941–1945
• Ukrainian Insurgent Army insurgency, 1943–1956
• Italian Civil War during WWII 1943–1945

Since 1945[]

• Iran crisis of 1946, 1945–1946
• Greek Civil War, 1946–1949
• Paraguayan Civil War, 1947
• Civil War in Mandatory Palestine, 1947–1948
• Costa Rican Civil War, 1948
• 1948 Arab–Israeli War, 1948
• Yeosu–Suncheon rebellion, 1948
• Jeju uprising, 1948
• La Violencia, 1948–1958
• Malayan Emergency, 1948–1960
• Internal conflict in Myanmar, ongoing since 1948
• Revolución Libertadora, 1955
• Cuban Revolution, 1953–1959
• Laotian Civil War, 1953–1975
• First Sudanese Civil War, 1955–1972
• Congo Crisis, 1960–1966
• Guatemalan Civil War, 1960–1996
• North Yemen Civil War 1962–1970
• Communist insurgency in Sarawak, 1962–1990
• Nicaraguan Civil War, 1962–1990
• Dominican Civil War, 1965
• Rhodesian Bush War, 1965–1980
• Communist insurgency in Thailand, 1965–1983
• Cambodian Civil War, 1967–1975
• Nigerian Civil War, 1967–1970
• Communist insurgency in Malaysia, 1968–1989
• Bangladesh Liberation War, 1971
• Ethiopian Civil War, 1974–1991
• Lebanese Civil War, 1975–1990
• Mozambican Civil War, 1975–1992
• Angolan Civil War, 1975–2002
• Insurgency in Aceh, 1976–2005
• Soviet–Afghan War, part of / also called War in Afghanistan (1978–present) December 24, 1979 – February 15, 1989 (Soviet–Afghan War lasted over nine years from 1979–1989 and was part of the Cold War but it was inevitable that the regime was to collapse within three to six months after the Soviet withdrawal)
• Salvadoran Civil War, 1979–1992
• Peru's War on Terror 1980–1993
• Second Sudanese Civil War, 1983–2005
• Sri Lankan Civil War, 1983–2009
• South Yemen Civil War, 1986
• Afghan Civil War (1989–1992), February 15, 1989 – April 30, 1992 The continuing part of the civil war where the Soviet Union withdrew from Afghanistan, leaving the Afghan communist government to fend for itself against the Mujahideen months later part of / also called War in Afghanistan (1978–present)
• First Liberian Civil War, 1989–1996
• Rwandan Civil War, 1990–1994
• Casamance conflict, 1990–2006
• Georgian Civil War, 1991–1993
• Uprisings in Iraq, 1991
• Sierra Leone Civil War, 1991–2002
• Yugoslav Wars, 1991–1999^{[7][8][9][10][11]}
• Algerian Civil War, 1991–2002, conflicts persist
• Civil war in Tajikistan, 1992–1997
• Afghan Civil War (1992–1996), April 30, 1992 – September 27, 1996 When the Afghan communist government falls to the Mujahideen there was a rise in different kinds of ideology, power-sharing, Belligerents and violent fighting continue to escalate part of / also called War in Afghanistan (1978–present)
• Burundi Civil War, 1993–2005
• First Yemeni Civil War, 1994
• Iraqi Kurdish Civil War, 1994–1997
• Afghan Civil War (1996–2001), September 27, 1996 – October 7, 2001 In 1996 the Taliban captured the Afghan capital Kabul and established the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan part of / also called War in Afghanistan (1978–present)
• First Congo War, 1996–1997
• Clashes in Cambodia, 1997
• Nepalese Civil War, 1996–2006
• Albanian Civil War, 1997
• Republic of the Congo Civil War, 1997–1999
• Guinea-Bissau Civil War, 1998–1999
• Second Congo War, 1998–2003
• Second Liberian Civil War, 1999–2003
• First Ivorian Civil War, 2002–2007
• Iraqi Civil War, 2006–2009
• First Libyan Civil War, 2011
• Second Ivorian Civil War, 2011
• Second Libyan Civil War, 2014–2020
• War in Donbass, 2014–

Ongoing civil wars[]

The following civil wars are ongoing as of April 2020. Only ongoing conflicts meeting the definition of a civil war are listed. See list of ongoing military conflicts and lists of active separatist movements for lists with a wider scope.

•  Myanmar, Internal conflict in Myanmar, since 2 April 1948
•  Israel/ Palestine, Israeli–Palestinian conflict, since mid-20th century (c. 1948)
•  Indonesia, Papua conflict, since 1963
•  Colombia, Colombian conflict, since 1964
•  Philippines, Civil conflict in the Philippines, since 1969
•  Angola, Cabinda War, since 1975
•  Afghanistan, War in Afghanistan, since 1978
•  Somalia, Somali Civil War, since 1989
•  DR Congo, Ituri conflict, since 1999
•  Sudan, War in Darfur, since 26 February 2003
  • Sudanese conflict in South Kordofan and Blue Nile, since 5 June 2011
•  Thailand, South Thailand insurgency, since 2004
•  Paraguay, Paraguayan People's Army insurgency, since 2005
•  Syria, Syrian Civil War, since 15 March 2011, also see List of armed groups in the Syrian Civil War
•  Mali, Mali War, since 16 January 2012
•  Central African Republic, Central African Republic conflict, since 10 December 2012
•  Ukraine, War in Donbas, since 6 April 2014
•  Yemen, Second Yemeni Civil War, since 19 March 2015
•  Cameroon, Anglophone Crisis, since 2017
•  Mozambique, Insurgency in Cabo Delgado, since 2017
•  Iraq, ISIL insurgency, since 9 December 2017
•  Ethiopia, Tigray War, since 2020
•  Nigeria, Insurgency in Southeastern Nigeria, since 2021

See also[]

• List of coups d'état and coup attempts
• List of revolutions and rebellions
• List of wars of independence (national liberation)
• List of Roman civil wars
• List of English civil wars
• Ongoing wars
• Exclusive mandate

References[]