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
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
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
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, 1927–1937, 1945–1949
Paulista War (Brazil), 1932
Austrian Civil War, February 1934
Spanish Civil War, 1936–1939
Italian Civil War, 1943–1945
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 Burma since 1949, restarted on 7 November 2010 to 12 January 2012
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
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
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
