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Category

War & Conflict

31 events across all eras

War & ConflictPolitics & GovernanceScience & TechnologyExploration & DiscoveryArt & CultureReligion & PhilosophyEconomics & TradeNatural DisastersSocial MovementsMedicine & Health
c. 1184 BCEWar & Conflict

Fall of Troy

The legendary city of Troy fell after a prolonged siege by Greek forces, as recounted in Homer's Iliad.

EuropeRead more →
490 BCEWar & Conflict

Battle of Marathon

Greek forces achieved a decisive victory over the Persian army near Athens.

EuropeRead more →
480 BCEWar & Conflict

Battle of Thermopylae

A small Greek force led by King Leonidas of Sparta held the pass at Thermopylae against the massive Persian army.

EuropeRead more →
October 1, 331 BCEWar & Conflict

Alexander the Great Conquers Persian Empire

Alexander the Great defeated the Persian Empire at the Battle of Gaugamela, creating one of the largest empires in ancient history.

Middle EastRead more →
1001 CEWar & Conflict

Mahmud of Ghazni Raids India

Sultan Mahmud of Ghazni launched seventeen devastating raids into India, plundering wealthy temple cities and beginning centuries of Turko-Afghan incursions into the subcontinent.

AsiaRead more →
October 14, 1066War & Conflict

William the Conqueror — The Norman Conquest

William, Duke of Normandy, defeated King Harold at the Battle of Hastings, conquering England and establishing a Norman dynasty that permanently transformed English language, law, and society.

EuropeRead more →
1429War & Conflict

Joan of Arc Leads France

A teenage peasant girl claiming divine visions led the French army to a decisive victory at Orleans, turning the tide of the Hundred Years' War.

EuropeRead more →
May 29, 1453War & Conflict

Fall of Constantinople

The Ottoman Empire captured Constantinople, ending the Byzantine Empire and marking a turning point between the medieval and modern eras.

EuropeRead more →
January 26, 1565War & Conflict

The Vijayanagara Empire Falls

The Vijayanagara Empire — the last great Hindu empire of southern India — was destroyed at the Battle of Talikota by an alliance of Deccan sultanates.

AsiaRead more →
August 1588War & Conflict

Elizabeth I and the Defeat of the Spanish Armada

Elizabeth I presided over a golden age of English culture and power, and her navy's defeat of the Spanish Armada in 1588 established England as a major maritime and Protestant power.

EuropeRead more →
January 30, 1649War & Conflict

The English Civil War and Execution of Charles I

Parliament fought and defeated King Charles I in a civil war, then executed him publicly — the first time a European monarch was tried and killed by his own people.

EuropeRead more →
June 23, 1757War & Conflict

Battle of Plassey — British Rule Begins

Robert Clive's victory at Plassey gave the British East India Company effective control of Bengal, beginning nearly two centuries of British colonial rule over India.

AsiaRead more →
April 1767War & Conflict

The Fall of Ayutthaya and Rise of Thonburi

Burmese armies destroyed the great city of Ayutthaya after a 14-month siege, but General Taksin reunified the Thai kingdom within a single year — one of history's most remarkable comebacks.

AsiaRead more →
May 10, 1857War & Conflict

The Indian Rebellion of 1857

Indian soldiers and civilians rose against the British East India Company in a massive rebellion — the first large-scale challenge to colonial rule.

AsiaRead more →
April 12, 1861War & Conflict

The American Civil War Begins

Confederate forces attacked Fort Sumter, beginning the American Civil War — the bloodiest conflict in American history, fought over the fundamental question of slavery and the survival of the Union.

AmericasRead more →
April 9, 1865War & Conflict

American Civil War Ends

General Robert E. Lee surrendered to Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Court House, effectively ending the American Civil War.

AmericasRead more →
December 6, 1865War & Conflict

The American Civil War and Emancipation

The American Civil War ended with the defeat of the Confederacy, and the 13th Amendment abolished slavery throughout the United States — freeing four million people.

AmericasRead more →
June 28, 1914War & Conflict

World War I Begins

The assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand triggered a chain of alliances that plunged Europe into the First World War.

EuropeRead more →
April 13, 1919War & Conflict

Jallianwala Bagh Massacre

British troops under General Dyer opened fire on thousands of unarmed Indian civilians gathered in Jallianwala Bagh, killing hundreds and galvanizing the independence movement.

AsiaRead more →
September 1, 1939War & Conflict

World War II Begins

Nazi Germany invaded Poland, triggering declarations of war from Britain and France and beginning the Second World War.

EuropeRead more →
December 7, 1941War & Conflict

Pearl Harbor and America Enters World War II

Japan's surprise attack on Pearl Harbor drew the United States into World War II, transforming America from an isolationist nation into the world's dominant military and economic superpower.

AmericasRead more →
December 7, 1941War & Conflict

The Bombing of Pearl Harbor

Japan launched a surprise attack on the U.S. naval base at Pearl Harbor, bringing America into World War II and setting the stage for the Pacific War and Japan's eventual devastation.

AsiaRead more →
August 6, 1945War & Conflict

Atomic Bombing of Hiroshima

The United States dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan, ushering in the nuclear age.

AsiaRead more →
August 6, 1945War & Conflict

Atomic Bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki

The United States dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, killing over 200,000 people, ending World War II, and opening the nuclear age.

AsiaRead more →
October 1947War & Conflict

The Kashmir Conflict Begins

The princely state of Kashmir became the center of a territorial dispute between India and Pakistan that would trigger wars, insurgencies, and one of the world's longest-running conflicts.

AsiaRead more →
August 29, 1949War & Conflict

The Soviet Union Tests Its First Nuclear Bomb

The Soviet Union detonated its first atomic bomb, ending the American nuclear monopoly and launching the Cold War arms race that would define the next four decades.

AsiaRead more →
October 1962War & Conflict

The Cuban Missile Crisis

The United States and Soviet Union came to the brink of nuclear war over Soviet missiles in Cuba — the closest the world has ever come to nuclear annihilation.

AmericasRead more →
March 26, 1971War & Conflict

The Bangladesh Liberation War

East Pakistan broke away to become Bangladesh after a brutal civil war and Indian military intervention, dismembering Pakistan and creating the world's eighth most populous nation.

AsiaRead more →
September 5, 1972War & Conflict

Munich Olympics Massacre

Palestinian terrorists took Israeli athletes hostage at the Munich Olympics, killing 11 — forever changing the relationship between global sport and security.

EuropeRead more →
May 28, 1998War & Conflict

Pakistan's Nuclear Tests

Pakistan conducted five nuclear tests in response to India's tests, becoming the first Muslim-majority nuclear-armed state and fundamentally altering the security dynamics of South Asia.

AsiaRead more →
September 11, 2001War & Conflict

September 11 Attacks

Terrorist attacks on the United States killed nearly 3,000 people and fundamentally changed global security and foreign policy.

AmericasRead more →
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