IMPORTANT WARS AND BATTLES
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Battle of Salamis (480 BC): The Greek fleet defeated the Persians.
Battle of Pharsalus (48 AD): Caesar defeated Pompey.
The Crusades (11th – 13th centuries) : Military expeditions of the Christians in Western Europe to get back the Holy Lands from the Muslims; result: the Holy city remained with the Turks.
Hundred Years War (1338-1453) : Fought between France and.England; came to an end by the heroism of Joan of Arc who was burnt alive.
Anglo–Spanish War or the Defeat of Spanish Armada (1588) : The British fleet under Howard and Drake defeated the Spanish fleet Armada.
Battle of Gibralter Bay (1606-37) : The Dutch defeated the Spaniards and the Portuguese.
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 or Anglo-French War III (1756-63) : Fought by Britain and Prussia against Austria, France and later Russia; the Treaty of Paris brought an end to it.
Battle of Bunker Hill (1775) : The First battle of the War of American Independence; fought at Charlestown, Boston.
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 the Pyramids (July 1798) : Napolean emerged victorious over the Mameluke rulers of Egypt.
Battle of Nile (August 1798) : The British fleet under Lord Nelson defeated the French fleet and established their supremacy over the Mediterranean Sea.
Battle of Austerlitz (1805) : Napolean defeated Austria and Russia.
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; Napolean’s scheme of invading England foiled.
Battle of Leipzig or Battle of Nations (1813): Napolean was defeated by the English and the Allies; he abdicated in the following year.
Battle of Waterloo (1815): The British under Duke of Wellington (Sir Arthur Wellesley) defeated the French under Napolean; Napolean was captured and exiled to St. Helena where he died.
Opium War (1839-42): Fought between Britain and China; immediate cause: 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; 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.
Spanish-American War (1898) : The war fought by the USA and Cuban revolutionaries against Spain to free Cuba from Spanish rule; result: Cuba came under the US forces.
Battle of the Omdurman (1898) : The British and Egyptian forces defeated the forces of Khalifa (Mehdists).
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.
Balkan Wars I and II (1912-13): In the Balkan War I, the Balkan countries defeated Turkey, while in Balkan War II, Romania defeated Bulgaria.
World War I (1914-18) : Root causes: Austria-Serbia rivalry and Franco-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 (1936-39) : 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 victoriously; 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) : Israel 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.
Falklands War (1982): The war was fought between the British and Argentine forces over the claim, on the Falklands Islands in the South Atlantic Ocean; British regained control of the Islands.
Gulf War (1991): Followed the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait; a coalition of about 40 countries, including the UK and the USA, defeated Iraq.