WORLD’S FAMOUS WARS AND BATTLES
- The Crusades : (11th to 13th centuries) Military expeditions of Christians in Western Europe to get back the Holy Lands from the Muslims. Result: the Holy city remained with the Turks.
- Hundred Year War : (1338 to 1453) Fought between France and England, came to an end by heroism of Joan of Arc who was burnt alive.
- Anglo-Spanish War : Also called the Defeat of Spanish Armada (1588) The British fleet under Howard and Drake defeated the Spanish fleet Armada.
- Thirty Years War : (1618-48) A politico-religious struggle, included Bohemian War, Danish War and Swedish War, Result: Calvinism was finally granted recognition.
- Seven Years War : Also called Anglo-French War III (1756-63) Fought by Britain and Prussia against Austria, French and later Russia, the Treaty of Paris brought an end to it.
- American War of Independence : (1776-83) George Washington defeated the British forces, America became independent, independence of British Colonies recognised at the Peace of Paris (1783).
- Battle of Trafalgar : (October 1805) The British fleet under Lord Nelson defeated the combined French and Spanish fleet under Villeneuve, Britain won but Nelson was killed, Napoleon’s scheme of invading England foiled.
- Battle of Waterloo :(1815) The British under Duke of Wellington, Sir Arthur Wellesley, defeated the French under Napoleon, Napoleon was captured and exiled to St. Helena where he died.
- Opium War : (1839-42) Fought between Britain and China, caused due to Chinese protest over opium import into China by the British.
- Crimean War : (1853-56) War declared against Russia by Turkey in 1853, Britain and France in 1854 and Sardina in 1855, Result Russia defeated.
- American Civil War : (1861-65) Northern states of America under Abraham Lincoln defeated the southern states and established a Federal State, cause antagonism between the agricultural, slave-owning South and the industrial North.
- Russo-Japanese War :( 1904-05) Russia defeated; Treaty of Portsmouth (1905) brought an end to the war, also known as the Battle of the Sea of Japan.
- World War I : (1914-18) Causes: Austria-Serbia rivalry and French-German rivalry. Immediate cause : assassination of the heir to the Austrian throne by a Serb, the warring sides were: Austria, Bulgaria, Germany, Hungary and turkey (Central Powers) against Belgium, England and France, and later Italy, Russia and USA ( Allied Powers). Result: Central or Axis Powers were defeated; the Treaty of Versailles (1919) brought an end to the War.
- Spanish Civil War : (1936-45) Fought between Fascist and republican forces; rebels were helped by Germany and Italy, while the government was aided by Russia and Mexico.
- World War II : (1939-45) Resulted due to the unjust Treaty of Versailles as both Germany and Italy were dissatisfied with it, rise of fascist forces, such as Nazis in Germany; imperialism of England and France; and Japan’s expansionist ambitions; warring factions: Germany, Italy and Japan (Axis Powers) against Britain, France, Russia, USA, Poland, etc. (Allied Powers); Result : Allied Powers emerged victorious; Germany divided, emergence of Russia as a big power.
- Algerian War of Independence : (1947-62) The war was fought against the French with which Algeria had been politically unified.
- Six-Day War : (1967) Isreal defeated the combined powers of Egypt; Syria and Jordan and occupied Gaza Strip, Syria’s Golan Heights and the West Bank.
- Iran-Iraq War : (1980-88) Occurred due to boundary disputes between the two countries; heavy losses on both sides; a ceasefire in August 1988.
- Gulf War (1991) : Followed the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait; a coalition of about 40 countries, including the UK and the USA, defeated Iraq.