For specific wars and other uses, see Civil War (disambiguation) and List of civil wars.
"Civil conflict" redirects here. For the college football game, see Civil Conflict.
The examples and perspective in this article may not represent a full view of the subject. Please improve this article and discuss the issue on the talk page.(May 2019)
Part of a series on
War
History
Prehistoric
Ancient
Post-classical
Early modern
Pike and shot
napoleonic
Late modern
industrial
fourth-gen
Military
Organization
Command and control
Defense ministry
Army
Navy
Air force
Marines
Coast guard
Space force
Reserves
Regular / Irregular
Ranks
Specialties:
Staff
Engineers
Intelligence
Reconnaissance
Medical
Military police
Land units:
Infantry
Armor
Cavalry
Artillery
Special forces
Signal corps
Naval units:
Warships
Submarines
Aircraft carriers
Landing craft
Auxiliary ship
Air units:
Fighters
Bombers
Command
Close air support
Electronic-warfare
Reconnaissance
Combat systems:
Fire-control system
Fire-control radar
Director (military)
Combat information center
Sonar
Radar
Historical:
Ship gun fire-control
Gun data computer
Torpedo data computer
Development:
Basic training
Military manoeuvrers
Combat training
Battlespace
Aerospace
Air
Airborne
Space
Land
Cold-region
Desert
Jungle
Mountain
Urban
Subterranean
Tunnel
Sea
Amphibious
Blue
Brown
Green
Surface
Underwater
Cyber
Information
Weapons
Air defence
Armor
Artillery
Barrage
Biological
Camouflage
Cavalry
Horses
Air cavalry
Chemical
Combined arms
Conventional
Cyber
Denial
Disinformation
Drone / Robot
Electronic
Infantry
Loitering
Missile
Music
Nuclear
Psychological
Radiological
Unconventional
Tactics
List of military tactics
Aerial
Airlift
Air assault
Airbridge
Airdrop
Battle
Cavalry
Charge
Counterattack
Counterinsurgency
Defeat in detail
Foxhole
Drone
Envelopment
Guerrilla
Morale
Rapid dominance
Siege
Swarm
Screen
Tactical objective
Target saturation
Trench
Withdrawal
Operational
Military operation
Operations research
Blitzkrieg
Expeditionary
Deep operation
Maneuver
Operational manoeuvre group
Raid
Strategy
List of military strategies and concepts
Military campaign
Attrition
Commerce raiding
Counter-offensive
Culminating
Defence in depth
Fabian
Empty fort
Mosaic
Deception
Defensive
Depth
Goal
Naval
Offensive
Scorched earth
Grand strategy
Asymmetric
Blockade
Broken-backed
Class
Cold war
Colonial
Conquest
Containment
Economic
Endemic
Fleet in being
Irregular
Liberation
Limited
Network-centric
New generation
Perpetual
Political
Princely
Proxy
Religious
Resource
Strategic
Succession
Technology
Theater
Total war
World war
Administrative
Branch
Policy
Staff
Training
Service
Sociology
Organization
Area of responsibility
Chain of command
Command and control
Doctrine
Principles of war
Economy of force
Medicine
Engineers
Intelligence
Ranks
Technology and equipment
Personnel
Military recruitment
Conscription
Recruit training
Military specialism
Women in the military
Children in the military
Transgender people and military service
Sexual harassment in the military
Conscientious objector
Counter-recruitment
Logistics
History
Military–industrial complex
Arms industry
Materiel
Supply-chain management
Main operating base
Forward operating base
Outpost
Science
Power projection
Loss-of-strength gradient
Law
Court-martial
Geneva Conventions
Geneva Protocol
Islamic rules
Justice
Perfidy
Jewish laws on war
Right of conquest
Rules of engagement
Martial law
War crime
Theory
Air supremacy
Command of the sea
Full-spectrum dominance
Overmatch
Unrestricted Warfare
Related
Outline of war
Just war theory
Principles of war
Philosophy of war
War film
Military science fiction
War game
Lanchester's laws
Security dilemma
Tripwire force
Mercenary
War novel
Women in war
War resister
War studies
Anti-war movement
Horses in warfare
Wartime sexual violence
Fifth column
Lists
Battles
Military occupations
Military terms
Operations
Sieges
War crimes
Wars
Weapons
Writers
v
t
e
A civil war[a] is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country).
The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies.[3]
The term is a calque of Latin bellum civile which was used to refer to the various civil wars of the Roman Republic in the 1st century BC.
Most modern civil wars involve intervention by outside powers. According to Patrick M. Regan in his book Civil Wars and Foreign Powers (2000) about two thirds of the 138 intrastate conflicts between the end of World War II and 2000 saw international intervention.[4]
A civil war is often a high-intensity conflict, often involving regular armed forces, that is sustained, organized and large-scale. Civil wars may result in large numbers of casualties and the consumption of significant resources.[5]
Civil wars since the end of World War II have lasted on average just over four years, a dramatic rise from the one-and-a-half-year average of the 1900–1944 period. While the rate of emergence of new civil wars has been relatively steady since the mid-19th century, the increasing length of those wars has resulted in increasing numbers of wars ongoing at any one time. For example, there were no more than five civil wars underway simultaneously in the first half of the 20th century while there were over 20 concurrent civil wars close to the end of the Cold War. Since 1945, civil wars have resulted in the deaths of over 25 million people, as well as the forced displacement of millions more. Civil wars have further resulted in economic collapse; Somalia, Burma (Myanmar), Uganda and Angola are examples of nations that were considered to have had promising futures before being engulfed in civil wars.[6]
^Higgins, Noelle (2019). "The Geneva Conventions and Non-International Armed Conflicts". Revisiting the Geneva Conventions: 1949-2019. Brill. pp. 168–189.
^Jackson, Richard (28 March 2014). "Towards an Understanding of Contemporary Intrastate War". Government and Opposition. 42 (1): 121–128. doi:10.1111/j.1477-7053.2007.00215_1.x. hdl:2160/1963. S2CID 56449614. Archived from the original on 5 January 2017. Retrieved 5 January 2017.
^James Fearon, "Iraq's Civil War" Archived 2007-03-17 at the Wayback Machine in Foreign Affairs, March/April 2007. For further discussion on civil war classification, see the section "Formal classification".
^Ikenberryjuly/August 2000, G. John (2009-01-28). "Civil Wars and Foreign Powers: Outside Intervention in Intrastate Conflict". Foreign Affairs (July/August 2000). Archived from the original on 2021-03-08. Retrieved 2015-11-06.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
^Hironaka, Ann (2005). Neverending Wars: The International Community, Weak States, and the Perpetuation of Civil War. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press. p. 3. ISBN 0-674-01532-0.
^Hironaka 2005, pp. 1–2, 4–5.
Cite error: There are <ref group=lower-alpha> tags or {{efn}} templates on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=lower-alpha}} template or {{notelist}} template (see the help page).
A civilwar is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region...
The American CivilWar (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civilwar in the United States between the Union ("the North")...
Look up CivilWar or civilwar in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. CivilWar may refer to: Civilwar, a war between organized groups within the same state...
The Spanish CivilWar (Spanish: Guerra Civil Española) was fought from 1936 to 1939 between the Republicans and the Nationalists. Republicans were loyal...
The English CivilWar refers to a series of civilwars and political machinations between Royalists and Parliamentarians in the Kingdom of England from...
The Nigerian CivilWar (6 July 1967 – 15 January 1970), also known as the Biafran War, was a civilwar fought between Nigeria and the Republic of Biafra...
The Russian CivilWar was a multi-party civilwar in the former Russian Empire sparked by the overthrowing of the social-democratic Russian Provisional...
Sudanese CivilWar refers to at least three separate conflicts in Sudan in Northeast Africa: First Sudanese CivilWar (1955–1972) Second Sudanese CivilWar (1983–2005)...
The Lebanese CivilWar (Arabic: الحرب الأهلية اللبنانية Al-Ḥarb al-Ahliyyah al-Libnāniyyah) was a multifaceted armed conflict that took place from 1975...
Angolan CivilWar (Portuguese: Guerra Civil Angolana) was a civilwar in Angola, beginning in 1975 and continuing, with interludes, until 2002. The war began...
The Chinese CivilWar was fought between the Kuomintang-led government of the Republic of China and the forces of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), with...
The Salvadoran CivilWar (Spanish: guerra civil de El Salvador) was a twelve-year period of civilwar in El Salvador that was fought between the government...
The CivilWars were an American musical duo composed of Joy Williams and John Paul White. Formed in 2008, The CivilWars won four Grammy Awards prior to...
Somali CivilWar (Somali: Dagaalkii Sokeeye ee Soomaaliya; Arabic: الحرب الأهلية الصومالية al-ḥarb al-’ahliyya aṣ-ṣūmāliyya) is an ongoing civilwar that...
The Greek CivilWar (Greek: Eμφύλιος Πόλεμος, romanized: Emfýlios Pólemos) took place from 1946 to 1949. The conflict, which erupted shortly after the...
The Italian CivilWar (Italian: Guerra civile italiana, pronounced [ˈɡwɛrra tʃiˈviːle itaˈljaːna]) was a civilwar in the Kingdom of Italy fought during...
The Irish CivilWar (Irish: Cogadh Cathartha na hÉireann; 28 June 1922 – 24 May 1923) was a conflict that followed the Irish War of Independence and accompanied...
The Sri Lankan CivilWar (Sinhala: ශ්රී ලංකාවේ සිවිල් යුද්ධය, romanized: śrī laṁkāvē sivil yuddhaya; Tamil: இலங்கை உள்நாட்டுப் போர், romanized: Ilaṅkai...
The Tajikistani CivilWar, also known as the Tajik CivilWar, began in May 1992 and ended in June 1997. Regional groups from the Garm and Gorno-Badakhshan...
The Cambodian CivilWar (Khmer: សង្គ្រាមស៊ីវិលកម្ពុជា, UNGEGN: Sângkréam Sivĭl Kâmpŭchéa) was a civilwar in Cambodia fought between the forces of the...
Congolese CivilWar or Congo War may refer to any of a number of armed internal conflicts in the present-day countries of the Democratic Republic of the...