List of civil wars

The Latin term bellum civile was first used of the Roman civil wars of the 1st century BC. The term civilis here had the very specific meaning of "Roman citizen". The English term civil war was first used in 1651 to refer to the English Civil War. 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).

The terms 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.

Ancient and medieval
Only civil wars involving popular or civil forces are listed here. Not covered are wars between clans, warlords or dynasties, wars of succession, etc. Such wars of succession are sometimes also described as "Civil Wars" in modern literature, see e.g. Ottoman Civil War or Islamic Civil War.


 * Peloponnesian War (a huge war between the superpowers of Sparta and Athens, city states of Greece), 431–404 BC
 * 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
 * Fourth Fitna, 809–827, including the Abbasid civil wars and other regional conflicts
 * Fitna of al-Andalus, 1009–1031
 * Civil war era in Norway, 1130–1240
 * Danish Civil War (Denmark), 1131–1157
 * The Anarchy (England), 1135–1153
 * Revolt of 1173–74, (England)
 * Civil war in the crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem between King Baldwin III and dowager Queen Melisende (1152–1153).
 * First Barons' War (England), 1215–1217)
 * Age of the Sturlungs (Iceland), 1220-1262/64
 * Second Barons' War (England), 1264–1267
 * Duke's War of 1264 (Holy Roman Empire), 1264–1269
 * Civil War of Livonia between Livonian Order and the city of Riga and the Archbishopric of Riga, 1297-1330.
 * Despenser War (England), 1321–22
 * 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 (England and Wales), 1400–1415
 * Ottoman Interregnum, 1402–1413
 * Armagnac–Burgundian Civil War, 1407–1435
 * Hussite Wars (Bohemia), 1420–1434
 * Great Feudal War in Russia, 1425–1453
 * Wars of the Roses (England), 1455–1485
 * Ōnin War (Japan), 1467–1477
 * Sengoku period (Japan), 1467–1615
 * 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 (Inca Empire), 1529–1532
 * Count's Feud (Denmark), 1534–1536

Early Modern (1550–1800)

 * French Wars of Religion, 1562–1598
 * Marian civil war (Scotland), 1568–1573
 * Zebrzydowski Rebellion (Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth), 1606–1609
 * Thirty Years' War, 1618–1648 between Protestants and Catholics in the Holy Roman Empire
 * Shimabara Rebellion (Japan), 1637–1638
 * Wars of the Three Kingdoms (England, Ireland, and Scotland), 1639–1651 involved a number of civil wars:
 * Irish Confederate Wars, some parts of which were a civil war.
 * 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 (New France, now Canada), 1640–1645
 * Fronde (France), 1648–1653
 * Lubomirski's Rebellion (Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth), 1665–1666
 * Monmouth Rebellion (England), May – July 1685
 * Glorious Revolution (England), 1688–1689
 * War of the Spanish Succession (Spanish Empire), 1701-1714
 * American Revolutionary War (Modern United States and Canada), 1775-1783
 * Pugachev's Rebellion (Russia), 1773–1775
 * War in the Vendée (France), 1793–1804; between Royalist and Republican forces, part of the French Revolutionary Wars

Modern (1800–1945)

 * Argentine Civil Wars, 1814–1880
 * Zulu Civil War, 1817–1819
 * Greek Civil War, 1824–1825
 * Liberal Wars (Portugal), 1828–1834.
 * Chilean Civil War, 1829–1830
 * Ragamuffin War (Brazil), 1835–1845
 * Carlist Wars (Spain), 1833–1839, 1846–1849, and 1872–1876
 * Uruguayan Civil War, 1839–1851
 * Māori War (New Zealand), 1845–1872
 * Sonderbund War (Switzerland), November 1847
 * Revolutions of 1848; numerous European countries, 1848–1849
 * Revolution of 1851 (Chile)
 * Taiping Rebellion (China), 1851–1864
 * Bleeding Kansas, 1854–1858
 * Indian Rebellion, 1857
 * War of Reform (Mexico), 1857–1861
 * American Civil War (United States), 1861–1865
 * Klang War (Malaysia); also known as Selangor Civil War, 1867–1874
 * Boshin War (Japan), 1868–1869
 * Satsuma Rebellion (Japan), 1877
 * Jementah Civil War (Malaysia), 1878
 * The North-West Rebellion (Canada), 1885
 * Chilean Civil War, 1891
 * War of Canudos (Brazil), 1896–1897
 * Banana Wars (Central America), 1898–1934
 * Boxer Rebellion (China), 1899–1901
 * Thousand Days' War (Colombia), 1899–1902
 * Mexican Revolution, 1910–1920
 * Warlord Era; period of civil wars between regional, provincial, and private armies in China, 1912–1928
 * Russian Civil War, 1917–1921
 * Iraqi–Kurdish conflict, 1918–2003
 * Finnish Civil War, 1918
 * German Revolution, 1918–1919
 * Irish Civil War, 1922–1923
 * Paraguayan Civil War, 1922–1923
 * Nicaraguan Civil War, 1926–1927
 * Cristero War (Mexico), 1926–1929
 * Chinese Civil War (China), 1927–1937, 1945–1949
 * Paulista War (Brazil), 1932
 * Austrian Civil War, February 1934
 * Spanish Civil War, 1936–1939
 * Italian Civil War, 1943–1945

1945 to 2000

 * 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
 * Yeosu–Suncheon rebellion, 1948
 * Jeju uprising, 1948
 * La Violencia (Colombia), 1948–1958
 * Malayan Emergency (Federation of Malaya), 1948–1960
 * Internal conflict in Myanmar, ongoing since 1948
 * Korean War, 1950–1953
 * Laotian Civil War 1953–1975
 * First Sudanese Civil War, 1955–1972
 * Vietnam War, 1955–1975
 * Congo Crisis, 1960–1966
 * Guatemalan Civil War, 1960–1996
 * North Yemen Civil War 1962–1970
 * Sarawak Communist Insurgency (Malaysia), 1962-1990
 * Nicaraguan Civil War, 1962–1990
 * Dominican Civil War, 1965
 * Rhodesian Bush War, 1965–1980
 * Communist insurgency in Thailand (Thailand), 1965-1983
 * Cypriot Civil War, 1963–1967
 * Nigerian Civil War, 1967–1970
 * Communist insurgency in Malaysia (1968–89)
 * The Troubles (Northern Ireland), 1969–1998, considered ongoing by extremist minority groups
 * Cambodian Civil War, 1970–1975
 * Bangladesh Liberation War (Pakistan), 1971 (However, the war is not an official civil war, only to the perspective to those who did not support the existence of the independent state of Bangladesh.)
 * Ethiopian Civil War, 1974–1991
 * Lebanese Civil War, 1975–1990
 * Mozambican Civil War, 1975–1992
 * Angolan Civil War, 1975–2002
 * Free Aceh Movement, 1976-2005
 * Soviet war in Afghanistan, part of / also called War in Afghanistan (1978–present) December 24, 1979 – February 15, 1989 (Soviet war in Afghanistan 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 (El Salvador), 1979–1992
 * Second Sudanese Civil War, 1983–2005
 * Sri Lankan Civil War, 1983–2009
 * South Yemen Civil War, 1986
 * Civil war in Afghanistan (1989–92), 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, 1990–1993
 * Casamance Conflict (Senegal), 1990–2006
 * Yugoslav Wars, 1991–1995 (Ten-Day War, Croatian War of Independence, Bosnian War)
 * Georgian Civil War, 1991–1993
 * Sierra Leone Civil War, 1991–2002
 * Algerian Civil War, 1991–2002, conflicts persist
 * Civil war in Tajikistan, 1992–1997
 * Civil war in Afghanistan (1992–96), 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
 * Civil War in Yemen, 1994
 * First Chechen War (Russia), 1994–1996
 * Iraqi Kurdish Civil War, 1994–1997
 * Civil war in Afghanistan (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
 * Rebellion in Albania, 1997
 * Republic of the Congo Civil War, 1997–1999
 * Guinea-Bissau Civil War, 1998–1999
 * Kosovo War (Yugoslavia), 1998–1999
 * Second Congo War, 1998–2003
 * Uprising in Iraq (18 February 1999 – April 1999)
 * Second Liberian Civil War, 1999–2003
 * Second Chechen War (Russia), 1999–2009

Since 2000

 * Albanian rebellion in Macedonia, 2001
 * First Ivorian Civil War, 2002–2007
 * Iraq War (20 March 2003 – 18 December 2011)
 * Houthi insurgency in Yemen, 18 June 2004 – 6 February 2015
 * Fourth Chadian Civil War, 18 December 2005 – 15 January 2010
 * First Iraqi Civil War 2006–2007, a sub-conflict within the Iraq War February 2006 – February 2007
 * Fatah–Hamas conflict (Palestine), 2006–2007, tensions ongoing
 * South Yemen insurgency 27 April 2009 – 19 March 2015
 * Second Ivorian Civil War, 2010–2011
 * Tajikistan insurgency 19 September 2010 - August 2012
 * 2010–12 Myanmar border clashes 7 November 2010 – 12 January 2012
 * Libyan Civil War, 15 February 2011 – 23 October 2011
 * Post-civil war violence in Libya, 1 November 2011 – 16 May 2014
 * Iraqi insurgency, 18 December 2011 – 31 December 2013
 * Tuareg Rebellion in Mali, 16 January 2012 – 6 April 2012
 * Northern Mali conflict, 16 January 2012 – 20 February 2015
 * M23 rebellion, 4 April 2012 – 7 November 2013

Ongoing civil wars
The following civil wars are ongoing as of 2016. 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.


 * Internal conflict in Myanmar, since 1948
 * Papua conflict, since 1962
 * Colombian conflict, since 1964
 * War in Afghanistan, since 1978
 * Peruvian conflict, since 1978
 * Kurdish–Turkish conflict since 1978
 * Somali Civil War, since 1988
 * War in Darfur, since 26 February 2003
 * War in North-West Pakistan, since 16 March 2004
 * Paraguayan People's Army insurgency, since 2005
 * Sudanese nomadic conflicts, since 26 May 2009
 * Syrian Civil War, since 15 March 2011, also see List of armed groups in the Syrian Civil War
 * Sudanese conflict in South Kordofan and Blue Nile since 5 June 2011
 * Central African Republic conflict, since 10 December 2012
 * South Sudanese Civil War, since 15 December 2013
 * Second Iraqi Civil War, since 2 January 2014
 * Second Libyan Civil War, since 16 May 2014
 * Yemeni Civil War, since 19 March 2015