Military history of Europe
Encyclopedia
The military history of Europe has been one of advanced technologies in proportion to the times during the past few centuries and well known to the Western world as it is the western continent with the oldest known kept records. Europe's military technology were ahead of the world in the fifteenth century and sky rocketed after the Industrial Revolution
. Starting from the fifteenth century, Europe has used its military to conquer or subjugated almost every nation in the world, as nations in the Americas, Africa, and Asia had less advanced military technology. It spans from the Mediterranean region of ancient times to the present day. In contrast to other continents such as Asia, Europe is the second smallest continent and has the most fractured division of its numerous nations and as such there are varied alliances and conflicts throughout history.
's fall, different nations have had a power struggle. The island of the United Kingdom was more protected against land invasion from mainland Europe and as such has felt less damage from mainland Europe's struggles. In contrast, the area of Germany
and its surrounding territories were at the center of many revolving conflicts. The area of Russia
has been known as the 'sleeping giant' or 'great bear' due to it comparatively remaining passive militarily toward the rest of Europe prior to the 19th century and out of Western and Central Europe's affairs. The Roman Empire
growing out of mainland Italy
has been called 'the first super power'. France having the natural barriers of the Rhine to the east, the Pyrenees to the south, and the English channel to the north has tried to maintain these throughout its history with rivalry with Britain for centuries and then with Germany. Britain and France were the most successful in establishing a broad colonial empire spanning from Africa to Asia, with a majority of that success attributed to them being almost sealocked.
and Ancient Rome
. Ancient Greece warred with its rival the Persian Empire which was the greatest danger to Europe in the Greco-Persian Wars
. Ancient Rome
continued the conflict with Persia in the Roman-Persian Wars
. The north African city of Carthage
fought three wars
against Rome and lost allowing Rome to finally be master of the Mediterranean. Julius Caesar
made the first Roman incursions into Britannia
. Numerous civil wars plagued Ancient Rome for many centuries, but it was the eventual Barbarian incursion from Central and Eastern Europe which contributed the most to Rome's decline. Great migrations from Asia, caused a ripple effect of Eastern Europeans migrating west from barbarians, most well known of these the Huns
. The Western Roman Empire
fell to these barbarians helped with the fact of economic inflation and internal strife. The Eastern Roman Empire still remained untouched until the late Middle Ages.
and against the Muslim conquests
shortly after. In the Medieval period, feudalism was firmly implanted, and there existed many landlords in Europe with armored cavalry being the dominant on the battlefield. Landlords often owned castles to protect their territory. The Ottoman Empire
was formed with considerable projection into the Balkan region after finally defeating the Eastern Roman Capital of Constantinople
. The Holy Roman Empire
was formed by Charlemagne
and campaigned against Denmark
and the Muslims in Spain
. The Crusades
were a series of military campaigns waged in the name of Christianity, the aim was to recapture Jerusalem and the Holy Land from the Muslims including crusades in Northern Europe and against Russia. The Mongolian Empire stretched into Eastern Europe with many eastern European armies falling under the horde. The Russian region known as Kievan Rus'
was dominated by the Mongols with centuries of warfare. Military action died down in the early to mid 14th century considering the black death
was wreaking havoc through much of Europe. The medieval ages ended with the Western European conflict of the Hundred Years' War
(1337 to 1453) that was primarily between England
and France
ending in French victory.
dominated the early part of this period. It originally started as a dynastic dispute but eventually involved all the European powers as a struggle for power and territory. The 30 Years' War from 1618 to 1648 dominated Central Europe from participation of all the major European powers resulting in German areas virtual economic disintegration.
(1700 to 1721) was fought between Russia, Denmark-Norway, Saxony
-Poland
and between Sweden and the Ottoman Empire ending in Russian victory with the end of the Swedish empire
and the use of Sweden as a power satellite in the region. The Seven Years' War
(1754 and 1756–1763] that enveloped both European and colonial theaters involved all the major European powers. France was at the center of attention with the Napoleonic Wars
starting from the French Revolution
, the combined conflicts lasting from 1792 and ending in 1815 with the defeat of Napoleon. The German states, headed by Prussia
, taking a century of recovery from the devastation of the 30 Years' War, started a series of victorious wars first starting with the Danish-Prussian War (1864), Austro-Prussian War
(1866), and ending in the Franco-Prussian War
(1870–71) that resulted in the reunification of Germany forming the German Empire
.
fought chiefly in Europe
from 1914 to 1918.
. Most notably, the Russian Civil War
that lasted from 1917 to 1922 and the Polish-Soviet War
that lasted from 1919 to 1921. The Russian Civil War was won by the Bolsheviks causing the formation of the USSR. This also saw the end of the Russian House of the Romanovs. They were all killed (shot) by the Bolsheviks including: Tsar Nicholas II; his wife Tsarina Alexandra, their four daughters and one son, their doctor, four servants, Eugene Botkin (The Tsar's Personal physician), Anna Demidova (Alexandra's Personal Maid), Ivan Kharitonov (the Family Chef) and Alexei Trupp (their Footman). The Polish-Soviet War started from ancient territory disputes that ended in a Soviet loss, with Ukraine and Belarus paritioned between the Polish and Russian powers.France also got in some battles too, most famous was helping the American patriots defeat the british in the American Revoluantrity war.
, including all of the great power
s, organised into two opposing military alliances: the Allies
and the Axis
. The war involved the mobilisation of over 100 million military personnel, making it the most widespread war in history. In a state of "total war
", the major participants placed their complete economic, industrial, and scientific capabilities at the service of the war effort, erasing the distinction between civilian and military resources. Over 70 million people
, the majority of them civilians, were killed, 6 million Jews were murdered systematically, making it the deadliest conflict in human history
.
and the Soviet Union
and their respective allies from the mid-1940s to the early 1990s. Throughout this period, rivalry between the two superpower
s was expressed through military coalitions, propaganda
, espionage
, weapons development
, industrial advances, and competitive technological development
, which included the space race
. Both superpowers engaged in costly defence spending, a massive conventional
and nuclear arms race
, and numerous proxy war
s.
, Slovenia
, and Macedonia
split from the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
. In 1992, they were followed by Bosnia-Herzegovina. In 2006, Montenegro
and Serbia
split resulting in the dissolution of the State Union of Serbia and Montenegro (former Federal Republic of Yugoslavia). The current conflict in the area of northern Macedonia and Serbian province Kosovo, where Albanian paramilitaries started guerilla war against the government forces. Kosovar Albanians
want complete independence from Serbia. Serbia is only offering autonomy of its sovereign territory.
In comparison to the breakup of Yugoslavia, the breakup of the Soviet Union
and the creation of the Commonwealth of Independent States
was peaceful.
European armies still participate in wars outside of the European continent, including conflicts involving NATO members. European soldiers currently are based in Africa
, the Americas
(Haiti
) and Asia
(Afghanistan
, Iraq
, Lebanon
).
European military spending is roughly half that of the United States
and about a quarter of the global total.
Industrial Revolution
The Industrial Revolution was a period from the 18th to the 19th century where major changes in agriculture, manufacturing, mining, transportation, and technology had a profound effect on the social, economic and cultural conditions of the times...
. Starting from the fifteenth century, Europe has used its military to conquer or subjugated almost every nation in the world, as nations in the Americas, Africa, and Asia had less advanced military technology. It spans from the Mediterranean region of ancient times to the present day. In contrast to other continents such as Asia, Europe is the second smallest continent and has the most fractured division of its numerous nations and as such there are varied alliances and conflicts throughout history.
Characteristics of regions
Due to the numerous countries that grew out of Medieval feudalism and de-centralization from the Western Roman EmpireWestern Roman Empire
The Western Roman Empire was the western half of the Roman Empire after its division by Diocletian in 285; the other half of the Roman Empire was the Eastern Roman Empire, commonly referred to today as the Byzantine Empire....
's fall, different nations have had a power struggle. The island of the United Kingdom was more protected against land invasion from mainland Europe and as such has felt less damage from mainland Europe's struggles. In contrast, the area of Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
and its surrounding territories were at the center of many revolving conflicts. The area of Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
has been known as the 'sleeping giant' or 'great bear' due to it comparatively remaining passive militarily toward the rest of Europe prior to the 19th century and out of Western and Central Europe's affairs. The Roman Empire
Roman Empire
The Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....
growing out of mainland Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
has been called 'the first super power'. France having the natural barriers of the Rhine to the east, the Pyrenees to the south, and the English channel to the north has tried to maintain these throughout its history with rivalry with Britain for centuries and then with Germany. Britain and France were the most successful in establishing a broad colonial empire spanning from Africa to Asia, with a majority of that success attributed to them being almost sealocked.
Ancient times
The era was dominated by the Mediterranean nations, most notably Ancient GreeceAncient Greece
Ancient Greece is a civilization belonging to a period of Greek history that lasted from the Archaic period of the 8th to 6th centuries BC to the end of antiquity. Immediately following this period was the beginning of the Early Middle Ages and the Byzantine era. Included in Ancient Greece is the...
and Ancient Rome
Ancient Rome
Ancient Rome was a thriving civilization that grew on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 8th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea and centered on the city of Rome, it expanded to one of the largest empires in the ancient world....
. Ancient Greece warred with its rival the Persian Empire which was the greatest danger to Europe in the Greco-Persian Wars
Greco-Persian Wars
The Greco-Persian Wars were a series of conflicts between the Achaemenid Empire of Persia and city-states of the Hellenic world that started in 499 BC and lasted until 449 BC. The collision between the fractious political world of the Greeks and the enormous empire of the Persians began when Cyrus...
. Ancient Rome
Ancient Rome
Ancient Rome was a thriving civilization that grew on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 8th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea and centered on the city of Rome, it expanded to one of the largest empires in the ancient world....
continued the conflict with Persia in the Roman-Persian Wars
Roman-Persian Wars
The Roman–Persian Wars were a series of conflicts between states of the Greco-Roman world and two successive Iranic empires: the Parthian and the Sassanid. Contact between the Parthian Empire and the Roman Republic began in 92 BC; wars began under the late Republic, and continued...
. The north African city of Carthage
Carthage
Carthage , implying it was a 'new Tyre') is a major urban centre that has existed for nearly 3,000 years on the Gulf of Tunis, developing from a Phoenician colony of the 1st millennium BC...
fought three wars
Punic Wars
The Punic Wars were a series of three wars fought between Rome and Carthage from 264 B.C.E. to 146 B.C.E. At the time, they were probably the largest wars that had ever taken place...
against Rome and lost allowing Rome to finally be master of the Mediterranean. Julius Caesar
Julius Caesar
Gaius Julius Caesar was a Roman general and statesman and a distinguished writer of Latin prose. He played a critical role in the gradual transformation of the Roman Republic into the Roman Empire....
made the first Roman incursions into Britannia
Britannia
Britannia is an ancient term for Great Britain, and also a female personification of the island. The name is Latin, and derives from the Greek form Prettanike or Brettaniai, which originally designated a collection of islands with individual names, including Albion or Great Britain. However, by the...
. Numerous civil wars plagued Ancient Rome for many centuries, but it was the eventual Barbarian incursion from Central and Eastern Europe which contributed the most to Rome's decline. Great migrations from Asia, caused a ripple effect of Eastern Europeans migrating west from barbarians, most well known of these the Huns
Huns
The Huns were a group of nomadic people who, appearing from east of the Volga River, migrated into Europe c. AD 370 and established the vast Hunnic Empire there. Since de Guignes linked them with the Xiongnu, who had been northern neighbours of China 300 years prior to the emergence of the Huns,...
. The Western Roman Empire
Western Roman Empire
The Western Roman Empire was the western half of the Roman Empire after its division by Diocletian in 285; the other half of the Roman Empire was the Eastern Roman Empire, commonly referred to today as the Byzantine Empire....
fell to these barbarians helped with the fact of economic inflation and internal strife. The Eastern Roman Empire still remained untouched until the late Middle Ages.
Medieval period
The early parts of the medieval period known as the Dark Ages saw the first conflicts with the Eastern Roman Empire which continued to fight the Persians in the Roman-Persian WarsRoman-Persian Wars
The Roman–Persian Wars were a series of conflicts between states of the Greco-Roman world and two successive Iranic empires: the Parthian and the Sassanid. Contact between the Parthian Empire and the Roman Republic began in 92 BC; wars began under the late Republic, and continued...
and against the Muslim conquests
Muslim conquests
Muslim conquests also referred to as the Islamic conquests or Arab conquests, began with the Islamic prophet Muhammad. He established a new unified polity in the Arabian Peninsula which under the subsequent Rashidun and Umayyad Caliphates saw a century of rapid expansion of Muslim power.They...
shortly after. In the Medieval period, feudalism was firmly implanted, and there existed many landlords in Europe with armored cavalry being the dominant on the battlefield. Landlords often owned castles to protect their territory. The Ottoman Empire
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
was formed with considerable projection into the Balkan region after finally defeating the Eastern Roman Capital of Constantinople
Constantinople
Constantinople was the capital of the Roman, Eastern Roman, Byzantine, Latin, and Ottoman Empires. Throughout most of the Middle Ages, Constantinople was Europe's largest and wealthiest city.-Names:...
. The Holy Roman Empire
Holy Roman Empire
The Holy Roman Empire was a realm that existed from 962 to 1806 in Central Europe.It was ruled by the Holy Roman Emperor. Its character changed during the Middle Ages and the Early Modern period, when the power of the emperor gradually weakened in favour of the princes...
was formed by Charlemagne
Charlemagne
Charlemagne was King of the Franks from 768 and Emperor of the Romans from 800 to his death in 814. He expanded the Frankish kingdom into an empire that incorporated much of Western and Central Europe. During his reign, he conquered Italy and was crowned by Pope Leo III on 25 December 800...
and campaigned against Denmark
Denmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
and the Muslims in Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
. The Crusades
Crusades
The Crusades were a series of religious wars, blessed by the Pope and the Catholic Church with the main goal of restoring Christian access to the holy places in and near Jerusalem...
were a series of military campaigns waged in the name of Christianity, the aim was to recapture Jerusalem and the Holy Land from the Muslims including crusades in Northern Europe and against Russia. The Mongolian Empire stretched into Eastern Europe with many eastern European armies falling under the horde. The Russian region known as Kievan Rus'
Kievan Rus'
Kievan Rus was a medieval polity in Eastern Europe, from the late 9th to the mid 13th century, when it disintegrated under the pressure of the Mongol invasion of 1237–1240....
was dominated by the Mongols with centuries of warfare. Military action died down in the early to mid 14th century considering the black death
Black Death
The Black Death was one of the most devastating pandemics in human history, peaking in Europe between 1348 and 1350. Of several competing theories, the dominant explanation for the Black Death is the plague theory, which attributes the outbreak to the bacterium Yersinia pestis. Thought to have...
was wreaking havoc through much of Europe. The medieval ages ended with the Western European conflict of the Hundred Years' War
Hundred Years' War
The Hundred Years' War was a series of separate wars waged from 1337 to 1453 by the House of Valois and the House of Plantagenet, also known as the House of Anjou, for the French throne, which had become vacant upon the extinction of the senior Capetian line of French kings...
(1337 to 1453) that was primarily between England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
and France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
ending in French victory.
The Renaissance
Gunpowder small-arms ended cavalry superiority. The Italian WarsItalian Wars
The Italian Wars, often referred to as the Great Italian Wars or the Great Wars of Italy and sometimes as the Habsburg–Valois Wars, were a series of conflicts from 1494 to 1559 that involved, at various times, most of the city-states of Italy, the Papal States, most of the major states of Western...
dominated the early part of this period. It originally started as a dynastic dispute but eventually involved all the European powers as a struggle for power and territory. The 30 Years' War from 1618 to 1648 dominated Central Europe from participation of all the major European powers resulting in German areas virtual economic disintegration.
Gunpowder age
The Great Northern WarGreat Northern War
The Great Northern War was a conflict in which a coalition led by the Tsardom of Russia successfully contested the supremacy of the Swedish Empire in northern Central Europe and Eastern Europe. The initial leaders of the anti-Swedish alliance were Peter I the Great of Russia, Frederick IV of...
(1700 to 1721) was fought between Russia, Denmark-Norway, Saxony
Saxony
The Free State of Saxony is a landlocked state of Germany, contingent with Brandenburg, Saxony Anhalt, Thuringia, Bavaria, the Czech Republic and Poland. It is the tenth-largest German state in area, with of Germany's sixteen states....
-Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
and between Sweden and the Ottoman Empire ending in Russian victory with the end of the Swedish empire
Swedish Empire
The Swedish Empire refers to the Kingdom of Sweden between 1561 and 1721 . During this time, Sweden was one of the great European powers. In Swedish, the period is called Stormaktstiden, literally meaning "the Great Power Era"...
and the use of Sweden as a power satellite in the region. The Seven Years' War
Seven Years' War
The Seven Years' War was a global military war between 1756 and 1763, involving most of the great powers of the time and affecting Europe, North America, Central America, the West African coast, India, and the Philippines...
(1754 and 1756–1763] that enveloped both European and colonial theaters involved all the major European powers. France was at the center of attention with the Napoleonic Wars
Napoleonic Wars
The Napoleonic Wars were a series of wars declared against Napoleon's French Empire by opposing coalitions that ran from 1803 to 1815. As a continuation of the wars sparked by the French Revolution of 1789, they revolutionised European armies and played out on an unprecedented scale, mainly due to...
starting from the French Revolution
French Revolution
The French Revolution , sometimes distinguished as the 'Great French Revolution' , was a period of radical social and political upheaval in France and Europe. The absolute monarchy that had ruled France for centuries collapsed in three years...
, the combined conflicts lasting from 1792 and ending in 1815 with the defeat of Napoleon. The German states, headed by Prussia
Prussia
Prussia was a German kingdom and historic state originating out of the Duchy of Prussia and the Margraviate of Brandenburg. For centuries, the House of Hohenzollern ruled Prussia, successfully expanding its size by way of an unusually well-organized and effective army. Prussia shaped the history...
, taking a century of recovery from the devastation of the 30 Years' War, started a series of victorious wars first starting with the Danish-Prussian War (1864), Austro-Prussian War
Austro-Prussian War
The Austro-Prussian War was a war fought in 1866 between the German Confederation under the leadership of the Austrian Empire and its German allies on one side and the Kingdom of Prussia with its German allies and Italy on the...
(1866), and ending in the Franco-Prussian War
Franco-Prussian War
The Franco-Prussian War or Franco-German War, often referred to in France as the 1870 War was a conflict between the Second French Empire and the Kingdom of Prussia. Prussia was aided by the North German Confederation, of which it was a member, and the South German states of Baden, Württemberg and...
(1870–71) that resulted in the reunification of Germany forming the German Empire
German Empire
The German Empire refers to Germany during the "Second Reich" period from the unification of Germany and proclamation of Wilhelm I as German Emperor on 18 January 1871, to 1918, when it became a federal republic after defeat in World War I and the abdication of the Emperor, Wilhelm II.The German...
.
World War I
World War I was a global warWorld war
A world war is a war affecting the majority of the world's most powerful and populous nations. World wars span multiple countries on multiple continents, with battles fought in multiple theaters....
fought chiefly in Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
from 1914 to 1918.
Interwar era
After World War I, Europe remained militarily quiet except for a few conflicts in Eastern EuropeEastern Europe
Eastern Europe is the eastern part of Europe. The term has widely disparate geopolitical, geographical, cultural and socioeconomic readings, which makes it highly context-dependent and even volatile, and there are "almost as many definitions of Eastern Europe as there are scholars of the region"...
. Most notably, the Russian Civil War
Russian Civil War
The Russian Civil War was a multi-party war that occurred within the former Russian Empire after the Russian provisional government collapsed to the Soviets, under the domination of the Bolshevik party. Soviet forces first assumed power in Petrograd The Russian Civil War (1917–1923) was a...
that lasted from 1917 to 1922 and the Polish-Soviet War
Polish-Soviet War
The Polish–Soviet War was an armed conflict between Soviet Russia and Soviet Ukraine and the Second Polish Republic and the Ukrainian People's Republic—four states in post–World War I Europe...
that lasted from 1919 to 1921. The Russian Civil War was won by the Bolsheviks causing the formation of the USSR. This also saw the end of the Russian House of the Romanovs. They were all killed (shot) by the Bolsheviks including: Tsar Nicholas II; his wife Tsarina Alexandra, their four daughters and one son, their doctor, four servants, Eugene Botkin (The Tsar's Personal physician), Anna Demidova (Alexandra's Personal Maid), Ivan Kharitonov (the Family Chef) and Alexei Trupp (their Footman). The Polish-Soviet War started from ancient territory disputes that ended in a Soviet loss, with Ukraine and Belarus paritioned between the Polish and Russian powers.France also got in some battles too, most famous was helping the American patriots defeat the british in the American Revoluantrity war.
World War II
World War II was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nationsParticipants in World War II
The participants in World War II were those nations who either participated directly in or were affected by any of the theaters or events of World War II....
, including all of the great power
Great power
A great power is a nation or state that has the ability to exert its influence on a global scale. Great powers characteristically possess military and economic strength and diplomatic and cultural influence which may cause small powers to consider the opinions of great powers before taking actions...
s, organised into two opposing military alliances: the Allies
Allies of World War II
The Allies of World War II were the countries that opposed the Axis powers during the Second World War . Former Axis states contributing to the Allied victory are not considered Allied states...
and the Axis
Axis Powers
The Axis powers , also known as the Axis alliance, Axis nations, Axis countries, or just the Axis, was an alignment of great powers during the mid-20th century that fought World War II against the Allies. It began in 1936 with treaties of friendship between Germany and Italy and between Germany and...
. The war involved the mobilisation of over 100 million military personnel, making it the most widespread war in history. In a state of "total war
Total war
Total war is a war in which a belligerent engages in the complete mobilization of fully available resources and population.In the mid-19th century, "total war" was identified by scholars as a separate class of warfare...
", the major participants placed their complete economic, industrial, and scientific capabilities at the service of the war effort, erasing the distinction between civilian and military resources. Over 70 million people
World War II casualties
World War II was the deadliest military conflict in history. Over 60 million people were killed, which was over 2.5% of the world population. The tables below give a detailed country-by-country count of human losses.-Total dead:...
, the majority of them civilians, were killed, 6 million Jews were murdered systematically, making it the deadliest conflict in human history
History of the world
The history of the world or human history is the history of humanity from the earliest times to the present, in all places on Earth, beginning with the Paleolithic Era. It excludes non-human natural history and geological history, except insofar as the natural world substantially affects human lives...
.
The Cold War
The Cold War was the state of conflict, tension and competition that existed between the United StatesUnited States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
and the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
and their respective allies from the mid-1940s to the early 1990s. Throughout this period, rivalry between the two superpower
Superpower
A superpower is a state with a dominant position in the international system which has the ability to influence events and its own interests and project power on a worldwide scale to protect those interests...
s was expressed through military coalitions, propaganda
Propaganda
Propaganda is a form of communication that is aimed at influencing the attitude of a community toward some cause or position so as to benefit oneself or one's group....
, espionage
Espionage
Espionage or spying involves an individual obtaining information that is considered secret or confidential without the permission of the holder of the information. Espionage is inherently clandestine, lest the legitimate holder of the information change plans or take other countermeasures once it...
, weapons development
Weapon
A weapon, arm, or armament is a tool or instrument used with the aim of causing damage or harm to living beings or artificial structures or systems...
, industrial advances, and competitive technological development
Technological change
Technological change is a term that is used to describe the overall process of invention, innovation and diffusion of technology or processes. The term is synonymous with technological development, technological achievement, and technological progress...
, which included the space race
Space Race
The Space Race was a mid-to-late 20th century competition between the Soviet Union and the United States for supremacy in space exploration. Between 1957 and 1975, Cold War rivalry between the two nations focused on attaining firsts in space exploration, which were seen as necessary for national...
. Both superpowers engaged in costly defence spending, a massive conventional
Conventional weapon
The terms conventional weapons or conventional arms generally refer to weapons that are in relatively wide use that are not weapons of mass destruction, such as nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons. Conventional weapons include small arms and light weapons, sea and land mines, as well as ...
and nuclear arms race
Nuclear arms race
The nuclear arms race was a competition for supremacy in nuclear warfare between the United States, the Soviet Union, and their respective allies during the Cold War...
, and numerous proxy war
Proxy war
A proxy war or proxy warfare is a war that results when opposing powers use third parties as substitutes for fighting each other directly. While powers have sometimes used governments as proxies, violent non-state actors, mercenaries, or other third parties are more often employed...
s.
Present
After the Cold War ended, wars have only taken place in Europe during the breakup of Yugoslavia. These wars involved separatist states and the combat of terrorism in southern Yugoslavia. In 1991, separatist CroatiaCroatia
Croatia , officially the Republic of Croatia , is a unitary democratic parliamentary republic in Europe at the crossroads of the Mitteleuropa, the Balkans, and the Mediterranean. Its capital and largest city is Zagreb. The country is divided into 20 counties and the city of Zagreb. Croatia covers ...
, Slovenia
Slovenia
Slovenia , officially the Republic of Slovenia , is a country in Central and Southeastern Europe touching the Alps and bordering the Mediterranean. Slovenia borders Italy to the west, Croatia to the south and east, Hungary to the northeast, and Austria to the north, and also has a small portion of...
, and Macedonia
Republic of Macedonia
Macedonia , officially the Republic of Macedonia , is a country located in the central Balkan peninsula in Southeast Europe. It is one of the successor states of the former Yugoslavia, from which it declared independence in 1991...
split from the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was the Yugoslav state that existed from the abolition of the Yugoslav monarchy until it was dissolved in 1992 amid the Yugoslav Wars. It was a socialist state and a federation made up of six socialist republics: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia,...
. In 1992, they were followed by Bosnia-Herzegovina. In 2006, Montenegro
Montenegro
Montenegro Montenegrin: Crna Gora Црна Гора , meaning "Black Mountain") is a country located in Southeastern Europe. It has a coast on the Adriatic Sea to the south-west and is bordered by Croatia to the west, Bosnia and Herzegovina to the northwest, Serbia to the northeast and Albania to the...
and Serbia
Serbia
Serbia , officially the Republic of Serbia , is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeast Europe, covering the southern part of the Carpathian basin and the central part of the Balkans...
split resulting in the dissolution of the State Union of Serbia and Montenegro (former Federal Republic of Yugoslavia). The current conflict in the area of northern Macedonia and Serbian province Kosovo, where Albanian paramilitaries started guerilla war against the government forces. Kosovar Albanians
Kosovo
Kosovo is a region in southeastern Europe. Part of the Ottoman Empire for more than five centuries, later the Autonomous Province of Kosovo and Metohija within Serbia...
want complete independence from Serbia. Serbia is only offering autonomy of its sovereign territory.
In comparison to the breakup of Yugoslavia, the breakup of the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
and the creation of the Commonwealth of Independent States
Commonwealth of Independent States
The Commonwealth of Independent States is a regional organization whose participating countries are former Soviet Republics, formed during the breakup of the Soviet Union....
was peaceful.
European armies still participate in wars outside of the European continent, including conflicts involving NATO members. European soldiers currently are based in Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
, the Americas
Americas
The Americas, or America , are lands in the Western hemisphere, also known as the New World. In English, the plural form the Americas is often used to refer to the landmasses of North America and South America with their associated islands and regions, while the singular form America is primarily...
(Haiti
Haiti
Haiti , officially the Republic of Haiti , is a Caribbean country. It occupies the western, smaller portion of the island of Hispaniola, in the Greater Antillean archipelago, which it shares with the Dominican Republic. Ayiti was the indigenous Taíno or Amerindian name for the island...
) and Asia
Asia
Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...
(Afghanistan
Afghanistan
Afghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...
, Iraq
Iraq
Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....
, Lebanon
Lebanon
Lebanon , officially the Republic of LebanonRepublic of Lebanon is the most common term used by Lebanese government agencies. The term Lebanese Republic, a literal translation of the official Arabic and French names that is not used in today's world. Arabic is the most common language spoken among...
).
European military spending is roughly half that of the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
and about a quarter of the global total.
See also
- Military historyMilitary historyMilitary history is a humanities discipline within the scope of general historical recording of armed conflict in the history of humanity, and its impact on the societies, their cultures, economies and changing intra and international relationships....
- Gunpowder warfareGunpowder warfareEarly modern warfare is associated with the start of the widespread use of gunpowder and the development of suitable weapons to use the explosive, including artillery and handguns such as the arquebus and later the musket, and for this reason the era is also summarized as the age of gunpowder...
- KabinettskriegeKabinettskriegeKabinettskriege is the German expression referring to the type of wars which affected Europe during the period of absolute monarchies, from the 1648 Peace of Westphalia to the 1789 French Revolution...
(Princes' wars) - Industrial warfareIndustrial warfareIndustrial warfare is a period in the history of warfare ranging roughly from the early nineteenth century and the start of the Industrial Revolution to the beginning of the Atomic Age, which saw the rise of nation-states, capable of creating and equipping large armies and navies through the...
- Total warfare
- World War IWorld War IWorld War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
- World War IIWorld War IIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
- Cold WarCold WarThe Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...