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List of interstate wars since 1945

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This is a list of interstate wars since 1945. Interstate warfare has been defined as military conflict between separate states over a territory,[1] including irregular military forces legitimized by the laws of war applicable to interstate wars due to the invasion or annexation being unlawful. This does not include civil wars and wars of independence, or smaller clashes with limited casualties (fewer than 100 combat deaths). The largest interstate war in history, World War II, involved most of the world's countries, after which the United Nations (UN) was established in 1945 to foster international co-operation and prevent future conflicts.[2] The post-WWII era has, in general, been characterized by the absence of direct, major wars between great powers, such as the United States and (until 1991) the Soviet Union.[3][4][5][6][7]

1945–1989

[edit]

  Denotes war with more than 10,000 combat deaths at minimum

Start Finish Name of conflict States in conflict Combat deaths
Min estimate Max estimate
November 1945 December 15, 1946 Iran crisis of 1946  Iran Azerbaijan People's Government

 Republic of Mahabad

2,000+
22 October 1947 5 January 1949 Indo-Pakistani War of 1947  India  Pakistan 2,604 7,500
14 May 1948 10 March 1949 1948 Arab–Israeli War  Israel  Egypt
 Iraq
 Transjordan
Syria
 Lebanon
 Saudi Arabia
 Yemen
13,073 26,373
13 September 1948 18 September 1948 Operation Polo  India Hyderabad 32,190 202,190
25 June 1950 27 July 1953[8] Korean War[9] UN Command
 South Korea
 United States
 United Kingdom
 Australia
 Belgium
 Canada
France
Philippines
 Colombia
Ethiopia
Greece
 Luxembourg
Netherlands
 New Zealand
 South Africa
 Thailand
 Turkey
2,568,927 4,096,927
6 October 1950 24 October 1950 Battle of Chamdo  China  Tibet 294 5,814
3 September 1954 1 May 1955 First Taiwan Strait Crisis  China  Republic of China
 United States
914 1,054
1 November 1955 15 May 1975 Vietnam War North Vietnam
FNL
Khmer Rouge
Khmer Issarak
Pathet Lao
 China
 North Korea
 Soviet Union
 South Vietnam
 United States[a]
 South Korea[b]
 Thailand
 Australia[c]
 New Zealand[d]
 Laos
 Khmer Republic
 Philippines
1,326,494 3,447,494
29 October 1956 7 November 1956 Suez Crisis  Israel[10][11]

 United Kingdom
France

Egypt[12] 2,848 4,198
1 November 1956 4 November 1956 Soviet invasion of Hungary
Part of the Hungarian Revolution of 1956
 Soviet Union Hungary 3,222
23 October 1957 30 June 1958 Ifni War  Spain

 France

 Morocco 1,197
23 August 1958 2 December 1958 Second Taiwan Strait Crisis  Taiwan
 United States
 China 1,054
17 April 1961 20 April 1961 Bay of Pigs Invasion  Cuba  United States 2,298
19 July 1961 23 July 1961 Bizerte crisis  France  Tunisia 654 657
19 December 1961 15 August 1962 Operation Trikora  Indonesia  Netherlands 223
20 October 1962 21 November 1962 Sino-Indian War  China  India 2,105 6,197
20 January 1963 11 August 1966 Indonesia–Malaysia confrontation  Malaysia
 Singapore
 United Kingdom
 Australia
 New Zealand
 Indonesia 874
25 September 1963 20 February 1964 Sand War  Morocco  Algeria 69 500
6 February 1964 6 April 1964 1964 Ethiopian–Somali Border War Ethiopia  Somalia 1,000 2,000
5 August 1965 23 September 1965 Indo-Pakistani War of 1965  India  Pakistan 6,800 13,459
5 October 1966 3 December 1969 Korean DMZ Conflict South Korea
 United States
 North Korea 739
5 June 1967 10 June 1967 Six-Day War  Israel[13]  Egypt
 Syria
 Jordan
Arab Expeditionary Forces:
12,336 19,264
1 July 1967 7 August 1970 War of Attrition  Israel  Egypt
 Soviet Union
 Cuba
 Jordan
 Syria
6,442 14,290
11 September 1967 1 October 1967 Nathu La and Cho La clashes  India  China 120 441
20 August 1968 21 August 1968 Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia  Soviet Union
Bulgaria
 East Germany
Hungary
Poland
 Czechoslovakia 254
14 July 1969 18 July 1969 Football War  El Salvador  Honduras 3,000
2 March 1969 11 September 1969 Sino-Soviet border conflict  China  Soviet Union 132 860
3 December 1971 16 December 1971 Indo-Pakistani War of 1971  India[14][15][16]  Pakistan 11,500 12,843
6 October 1973 25 October 1973 Yom Kippur War  Israel  Egypt
 Syria
Combat support:
10,521 21,300
20 July 1974 18 August 1974 Turkish invasion of Cyprus  Turkey  Cyprus
 Greece
6,009 9,509
April 1974 March 1975 1974–75 Shatt al-Arab conflict Iran Iraq 1,000+
30 October 1975 6 September 1991 Western Sahara War  Morocco

 Mauritania  France

 Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic

 Algeria

10,000 20,000
7 December 1975 17 July 1976 Indonesian invasion of East Timor  Indonesia East Timor 51,000+


13 July 1977 23 March 1978 Ogaden War Ethiopia
 Cuba
South Yemen
 Soviet Union
 Somalia 39,836
21 July 1977 24 July 1977 Egyptian–Libyan War  Egypt  Libya 500
29 January 1978 11 September 1987 Chadian–Libyan War  Chad
 France
 Libya 8,500+
9 October 1978 3 June 1979 Uganda–Tanzania War  Tanzania
 Mozambique
 Uganda
 Libya
4,135 4,323
21 December 1978 26 September 1989 Cambodian–Vietnamese War  Vietnam
People's Republic of Kampuchea
Democratic Kampuchea
 Thailand
270,000 297,000
17 February 1979 16 March 1979 Sino-Vietnamese War  Vietnam  China 36,945 175,000
24 February 1979 19 March 1979 Yemenite War of 1979  North Yemen  South Yemen 1,084
16 March 1979 1 November 1991 Sino-Vietnamese conflicts (1979–1991)  Vietnam  China 6,000
24 December 1979 15 February 1989 Soviet–Afghan War  Soviet Union
 Afghanistan
Afghan Mujahideen[21]
Afghan Interim Government (from 1988)
600,000 2,000,000
22 September 1980 20 August 1988 Iran–Iraq War  Iran[22]  Iraq
 United States[e]
405,000 1,200,000
2 April 1982 14 June 1982 Falklands War  United Kingdom  Argentina 907
June 1982 August 1982 1982 Ethiopian–Somali Border War  Somalia Ethiopia
18 April 1983 April 1983 Chadian–Nigerian War  Nigeria  Chad 100+
25 October 1983 29 October 1983 Invasion of Grenada  United States
 Antigua and Barbuda
 Barbados
 Dominica
 Jamaica
 Saint Lucia
 Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
 Grenada
 Cuba
102
25 December 1985 30 December 1985 Agacher Strip War  Mali  Burkina Faso 142
20 February 1988 12 May 1994 First Nagorno-Karabakh War  Nagorno-Karabakh Republic
 Armenia
 Azerbaijan 37,413 56,000
9 April 1989 18 July 1991 Mauritania–Senegal Border War  Mauritania  Senegal 200+
20 December 1989 31 January 1990 United States invasion of Panama  United States  Panama 540 3,338

1990–present

[edit]

  Denotes war with more than 10,000 combat deaths at minimum

Start Finish Name of conflict States in conflict Combat deaths
Min. estimate Max. estimate
2 August 1990 28 February 1991 Persian Gulf War  Kuwait
 United States
 United Kingdom
 Saudi Arabia
 France
 Italy
 Canada
 Australia
 Egypt
 Syria
 Qatar
 Iraq 29,231 59,231
2 November 1990 21 July 1992 Transnistria War  Moldova  Transnistria

 Russia

316 637
5 January 1991 24 June 1992 South Ossetia war (1991–1992)  Georgia  South Ossetia

 Russia

1,000+
27 June 1991 7 July 1991 Ten-Day War  Slovenia  Yugoslavia 76
20 September 1991 3 January 1992 Croatian War of Independence  Croatia  Yugoslavia 5,040 7,279
6 April 1992 19 May 1992 Bosnian War[23]  Bosnia and Herzegovina  Yugoslavia[f]
 Serbia and Montenegro[g]
14 August 1992 27 September 1993 War in Abkhazia (1992–1993)  Abkhazia

 Russia

 Georgia 25,000 30,000
19 September 1994 31 March 1995 Operation Uphold Democracy  United States  Haiti 302
26 January 1995 28 February 1995 Cenepa War  Peru  Ecuador 84 410
24 October 1996 16 May 1997 First Congo War AFDL
 Rwanda
 Uganda
 Burundi
 Angola
SPLA
 Eritrea
 Zaire
 Sudan
 Chad
Ex-FAR/ALiR
Interahamwe
CNDD-FDD
UNITA
ADF
FLNC
235,000 250,000
28 February 1998 10 June 1999 Kosovo War  Kosova
 NATO[h]
 Yugoslavia 16,056 16,879
3 May 1998 18 June 2000 Eritrean–Ethiopian War  Ethiopia  Eritrea 53,000 300,000
3 May 1999 26 July 1999 Kargil War  India  Pakistan 884 5,600
7 August 1999 30 April 2000 Second Chechen War  Russia  Ichkeria 20,000
5 June 2000 10 June 2000 African Six-Day War
Part of the Second Congo War
 Rwanda  Uganda 4,051+
7 October 2001 17 December 2001 United States invasion of Afghanistan
Part of the Afghan conflict
 United States
 United Kingdom
 Canada
 Australia
 Afghanistan
 Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan 9,550 14,388
19 March 2003 1 May 2003 2003 invasion of Iraq  United States
 United Kingdom
 Australia
 Poland
 Iraq 10,996 53,016
28 June 2006 Ongoing Gaza–Israel conflict  Israel Gaza Strip 42,783
10 June 2008 13 June 2008 Djiboutian–Eritrean border conflict  Eritrea  Djibouti 144
10 June 2008 4 July 2012 Pakistani-U.S. skrmishes
Part of the War in Afghanistan
 United States
 Afghanistan
 Pakistan 55
1 August 2008 12 August 2008 Russo-Georgian War  Russia  Georgia 730 737
19 March 2011 31 October 2011 2011 military intervention in Libya
Part of the First Libyan Civil War
 NATO
 Qatar
 Sweden
 United Arab Emirates
Libya 72 403+
26 March 2012 26 September 2012 Heglig Crisis  Sudan  South Sudan 316 1,485
30 January 2013 Ongoing Iran–Israel conflict during the Syrian civil war
Part of the Syrian Civil War
 Israel  Iran
 Syria
645 671
20 February 2014 Ongoing Russo-Ukrainian War (outline)  Ukraine  Russia 198,813
22 September 2014 Ongoing American intervention in the Syrian civil war
Part of the Syrian Civil War
 United States  Syria
 Russia
 Iran
 Islamic State
192+
1 April 2016 5 April 2016 2016 Nagorno-Karabakh conflict  Azerbaijan  Artsakh
 Armenia
137 2,060
24 August 2016 Ongoing Turkish occupation of northern Syria
Part of the Syrian Civil War
 Turkey 5,702+ 10,705+
27 February 2020 6 March 2020 Operation Spring Shield
Part of the Syrian Civil War
 Turkey  Syria
 Iran
238 446
27 September 2020 10 November 2020 Second Nagorno-Karabakh War  Azerbaijan  Armenia 7,726
15 December 2020 1 December 2022 Al-Fashaga conflict  Sudan  Ethiopia

 Eritrea

97 108+
27 January 2022 20 September 2022 2022 Kyrgyzstan–Tajikistan clashes  Tajikistan  Kyrgyzstan 146 263+

See also

[edit]

Notes

[edit]
  1. ^ After 8 March 1965.
  2. ^ From 11 September 1964 to 23 March 1973.
  3. ^ From June 1965 to 12 March 1972.
  4. ^ From July 1965 to 9 December 1971.
  5. ^ From 19 October 1987 to 18 April 1988.
  6. ^ Until 27 April 1992.
  7. ^ After 27 April 1992.
  8. ^ After 24 March 1999.
  9. ^ Until 30 September 2022.
  10. ^ Until 30 September 2022.

References

[edit]
  1. ^ Ray, James Lee (2002). "Does Interstate War Have A Future?". Conflict Management and Peace Science. 19 (1): 53–80. doi:10.1177/073889420201900105. ISSN 0738-8942. JSTOR 26273613. S2CID 220780771.
  2. ^ "History of the UN | United Nations Seventieth Anniversary". www.un.org. Retrieved 2022-03-09.
  3. ^ Gaddis, John Lewis (1989). The Long Peace: Inquiries Into the History of the Cold War. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-504335-9.
  4. ^ Saperstein, Alvin M. (March 1991). "The "Long Peace"— Result of a Bipolar Competitive World?". The Journal of Conflict Resolution. 35 (1): 68–79. doi:10.1177/0022002791035001004. S2CID 153738298.
  5. ^ Duffield, John S. (2009). "Explaining the Long Peace in Europe: the contributions of regional security regimes". Review of International Studies. 20 (4): 369–388. doi:10.1017/S0260210500118170. ISSN 0260-2105. S2CID 145698353.
  6. ^ Fettweis, Christopher J. (2017). "Unipolarity, Hegemony, and the New Peace". Security Studies. 26 (3): 423–451. doi:10.1080/09636412.2017.1306394. ISSN 0963-6412. S2CID 148993870.
  7. ^ Human Security Research Group, Simon Fraser University (2013). "Human Security Report 2013: The Decline in Global Violence" (PDF). Retrieved 11 November 2018.
  8. ^ US State Department statement regarding "Korea: Neutral Nations Supervisory Commission" and the Armistice Agreement "which ended the Korean War."
  9. ^ "The Korean War (article) | 1950s America". Khan Academy. Retrieved 2022-03-18.
  10. ^ "Israel Routs Egypt"
  11. ^ "Israel invades Egypt; Suez Crisis begins"
  12. ^ "Nasser lost the war in military terms"
  13. ^ "Six-Day War". Encyclopedia Britannica.
  14. ^ Lyon, Peter (2008). Conflict between India and Pakistan: An Encyclopedia. ABC-CLIO. p. 166. ISBN 978-1-57607-712-2. India's decisive victory over Pakistan in the 1971 war and emergence of independent Bangladesh dramatically transformed the power balance of South Asia
  15. ^ Kemp, Geoffrey (2010). The East Moves West India, China, and Asia's Growing Presence in the Middle East. Brookings Institution Press. p. 52. ISBN 978-0-8157-0388-4. However, India's decisive victory over Pakistan in 1971 led the Shah to pursue closer relations with India
  16. ^ Byman, Daniel (2005). Deadly connections: States that Sponsor Terrorism. Cambridge University Press. p. 159. ISBN 978-0-521-83973-0. India's decisive victory in 1971 led to the signing of the Simla Agreement in 1972
  17. ^ Shazly, p. 278.
  18. ^ Perez, Louis A. (2014). Cuba Between Reform And Revolution (Paperback ed.). Oxford University Press. p. 300. ISBN 978-0199301447. Cuba also dispatched combat troops to Syria in 1973 during the Yom Kipur War
  19. ^ Gott, Cuba, A New History, p. 280.
  20. ^ Tobji, Mahjoub (2006). Les officiers de Sa Majesté: Les dérives des généraux marocains 1956–2006. 107: Fayard. ISBN 978-2213630151.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location (link)
  21. ^ W. Michael Reisman, James Silk (1988). "WHICH LAW APPLIES TO THE AFGHAN CONFLICT?" (PDF). American Journal of International Law. 82: 485-486.
  22. ^ "Iran 'won' the war with Iraq but at a heavy price". Atlantic Council. 2021-09-22. Retrieved 2022-02-27.
  23. ^ "Genocide, War Crimes and Crimes Against Humanity: Topical Digests of the Case Law of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda and the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia". Human Rights Watch. February 2004. Archived from the original on 31 December 2021. Retrieved 29 November 2017. [F]or the period material to this case (1992), the armed forces of the Republika Srpska were to be regarded as acting under the overall control of and on behalf of the FRY (the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia). Hence, even after 19 May 1992 the armed conflict in Bosnia and Herzegovina between the Bosnian Serbs and the central authorities of Bosnia and Herzegovina must be classified as an international armed conflict.