ERA // 1945 – 1989
Cold War
99 wars · 228 battles
Timeline
1945 – 2014
99 wars · span 69 years
Wars
99 catalogued
1946-1954
First Indochina War
The First Indochina War, known alternatively internationally as the French Indochina War, was fought in French Indochina between France and the Viet Minh and their respective…
14 battles
1946-1949
Greek Civil War
The Greek Civil War took place from 1946 to 1949. The conflict, which erupted shortly after the end of World War II, consisted of a Communist-led uprising against the established…
1 battle
1946-1989
Indochina Wars
During the aftermath of World War II and the Cold War, the Indochina wars were a series of wars which were waged in Indochina from 1945 to 1991, by communist forces against the…
0 battles
1947-1948
1947–1948 Civil War in Mandatory Palestine
The 1947–1948 civil war in Mandatory Palestine was the first phase of the 1948 Palestine war. It broke out after the General Assembly of the United Nations adopted a resolution…
3 battles
1947-1949
1948 Palestine war
The 1948 Palestine war was fought in the territory of what had been, at the start of the war, British-ruled Mandatory Palestine. It began as a civil war between the Arab and…
1 battle
1947-1953
Cold War (1947–1953)
The Cold War (1948–1953) is the period within the Cold War from the incapacitation of the Allied Control Council in 1948 to the conclusion of the Korean War in 1953.
0 battles
1947-1949
Indo-Pakistani War of 1947–1948
The India–Pakistan war of 1947–1948, also known as the first Kashmir war, was a war fought between India and Pakistan over the princely state of Jammu and Kashmir from 1947 to…
0 battles
1947
Kashmir conflict
The Kashmir conflict is a territorial conflict over the Kashmir region, primarily between India and Pakistan, and also between China and India in the northeastern portion of the…
3 battles
1947
Myanmar conflict
Myanmar has been in armed conflict since 1948, when the country, then known as Burma, gained independence from the United Kingdom. The conflict has largely been ethnic-based,…
0 battles
1947
Paraguayan Civil War of 1947
0 battles
1948-1949
1948 Arab–Israeli War
The 1948 Arab–Israeli War, also known as the First Arab–Israeli War, followed the civil war in Mandatory Palestine as the second and final stage of the 1948 Palestine war. The…
23 battles
1948
Costa Rican Civil War
The Costa Rican Civil War, domestically referred to as the War of '48 or the Revolution of '48, took place from 12 March to 24 April 1948. The conflict followed the presidential…
0 battles
1948-1960
Malayan Emergency
The Malayan Emergency, also known as the Anti–British National Liberation War, (1948–1960) was a guerrilla war fought in Malaya between communist pro-independence fighters of the…
1 battle
1949-1958
La Violencia
La Violencia was a ten-year civil war in Colombia from 1948 to 1958, between the Colombian Conservative Party and the Colombian Liberal Party, mainly fought in the countryside.
0 battles
1950–1953 fighting; armistice unresolved
Korean War
A rapid invasion, counteroffensive, Chinese intervention, and armistice created an unresolved divided peninsula.
13 battles · Over 36,000 U.S. military deaths; Korean and Chinese losses were much higher.
1953-1962
Cold War (1953–1962)
The Cold War (1953–1962) refers to the period in the Cold War between the end of the Korean War in 1953 and the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962. It was marked by tensions and…
0 battles
1954-1962
Algerian War
The Algerian War, also known as the Algerian Revolution, the Franco-Algerian War, or the Algerian War of Independence, was an armed conflict between France and the Algerian…
9 battles
1954-2000
Dirty War
The Mexican Dirty War was the Mexican theater of the Cold War, an internal conflict from the 1960s to the 1980s between the Mexican Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI)-ruled…
0 battles
1954-1959
Jebel Akhdar War
The Jebel Akhdar War, also known as the Jebel Akhdar Rebellion or the Oman War, broke out in 1954 and again in 1957 in Oman, as an effort by the local Omanis in the interior of…
0 battles
1955-1972
First Sudanese Civil War
The First Sudanese Civil War was fought from 1955 to 1972 between the northern part of Sudan and the southern Sudan region which demanded representation and more regional…
0 battles
1955–1975 broad period; major U.S. combat 1965–1973
Vietnam War
A protracted conflict where military operations, political legitimacy, public opinion, and regional revolution intertwined.
21 battles · Over 58,000 U.S. military deaths; Vietnamese losses reached into the millions.
1956
Suez Crisis
The Suez Crisis, also known as the second Arab–Israeli war, the Tripartite Aggression in the Arab world and the Sinai War in Israel, was a British–French–Israeli invasion of…
1 battle
1957-1958
Ifni War
The Ifni War, sometimes called the Forgotten War in Spain, was a series of armed incursions into Spanish West Africa by Moroccan insurgents that began in November 1957 and…
1 battle
1958
1958 Lebanon crisis
The 1958 Lebanon crisis was a political crisis in Lebanon caused by political and religious tensions in the country that included an American military intervention, which lasted…
0 battles
1959-1975
Laotian Civil War
The Laotian Civil War was waged between the Communist Pathet Lao and the Royal Lao Government from 23 May 1959 to 2 December 1975. The Kingdom of Laos was a covert theater during…
1 battle
1961-1974
Angolan War of Independence
The Angolan War of Independence, known as the Armed Struggle of National Liberation in Angola, was a war of independence fought by the Angolan nationalist forces of the MPLA,…
0 battles
1961-1991
Eritrean War of Independence
The Eritrean War of Independence was an armed conflict and insurgency aimed at achieving self-determination and independence for Eritrea from Ethiopian rule. Starting in 1961,…
3 battles
1961-1970
First Kurdish–Iraqi War
The First Iraqi–Kurdish War, also known as the September Revolution, was an armed conflict and major event of the Iraqi–Kurdish conflict, lasting from 1961 until 1970. The…
1 battle
1961
Kachin conflict
The Kachin conflict or the Kachin War is one of the multiple conflicts which are collectively referred to as the internal conflict in Myanmar. Kachin insurgents have been…
0 battles
1961-1974
Portuguese Colonial War
The Portuguese Colonial War, also known in Portugal as the Overseas War or in the former colonies as the War of Liberation, and also known as the Angolan, Guinea-Bissau and…
1 battle
1962-1970
North Yemen civil war
The North Yemen civil war, also known in Yemen as the 26 September Revolution, was a civil war fought in North Yemen from 1962 to 1970 between partisans of the Mutawakkilite…
0 battles
1962
Sino-Indian War
The Sino-Indian War, also known as the China–India War or the Indo-China War, was an armed conflict between China and India that took place from October to November 1962. It was…
1 battle
1963-1974
Guinea-Bissau War of Independence
The Guinea-Bissau War of Independence, also known as the Bissau-Guinean War of Independence, was an armed independence conflict that took place in Portuguese Guinea from 1963 to…
1 battle
1963-1966
Indonesia–Malaysia confrontation
The Indonesia–Malaysia confrontation or Borneo confrontation was an armed conflict from 1963 to 1966 that stemmed from Indonesia's opposition to the creation of the state of…
6 battles
1963-1964
Sand War
The Sand War was a border conflict between Algeria and Morocco fought from September 25 to October 30, 1963, although a formal peace treaty was not signed until February 20,…
0 battles
1963-1967
Shifta War
The Shifta War or Gaf Daba (1963–1967) was a secessionist conflict in which ethnic Somalis, Muslim Borana, Sakuye, Gabbra and Rendille in the then Northern Frontier District…
0 battles
1964
1964 Ethiopian-Somali Border War
The 1964 Ethiopian–Somali Border War, also known as the First Ogaden War marked the first military conflict between the newly established Somali Republic and the Ethiopian…
0 battles
1964-1974
Mozambican War of Independence
The Mozambican War of Independence was an armed conflict between the guerrilla forces of the Mozambique Liberation Front (FRELIMO) and Portugal. The war officially started on 25…
0 battles
1964-1979
Rhodesian Bush War
The Rhodesian Bush War, also known as the Rhodesian Civil War, Second Chimurenga and the Zimbabwe War of Independence, was a civil conflict from July 1964 to December 1979 in the…
1 battle
1965-1979
Chadian Civil War of 1965–1979
The Chadian Civil War of 1965–1979 was waged by several rebel factions against two Chadian governments. The initial rebellion erupted in opposition to Chadian President François…
1 battle
1965
Dominican Civil War
The Dominican Civil War, also known as the April Revolution, took place between April 24, 1965, and September 3, 1965, in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. It started when…
0 battles
1965-1996
Guatemalan Civil War
The Guatemalan Civil War was fought from 1960 to 1996 between the government of Guatemala and various leftist rebel groups. The Guatemalan government forces committed genocide…
0 battles
1965
Indo-Pakistani War of 1965
The India–Pakistan war of 1965, also known as the second India–Pakistan war, was an armed conflict between Pakistan and India that took place from August 1965 to September 1965.
4 battles
1966-1990
South African Border War
The South African Border War, also known as the Namibian War of Independence, and sometimes denoted in South Africa as the Angolan Bush War, was a largely asymmetric conflict…
1 battle
1967-1975
Cambodian Civil War
The Cambodian Civil War was a civil war in Cambodia fought between the Khmer Rouge, supported by North Vietnam and China, against the government of the Kingdom of Cambodia and,…
1 battle
1967
Naxalite–Maoist insurgency
The Naxalite–Maoist insurgency is an ongoing conflict between the Indian government and left-wing extremist groups. The Naxalites are a group of communist groups following Maoist…
3 battles
1967-1970
Nigerian Civil War
The Nigerian Civil War, also known as the Biafran War, Nigeria-Biafra War, or Biafra War, was an armed conflict fought between Nigeria and the Republic of Biafra, a secessionist…
0 battles
1967
Six-Day War (1967)
The Six-Day War, or the 1967 Arab–Israeli war, was fought between Israel and a coalition of Arab states, primarily Egypt, Syria, and Jordan, in the context of the Arab–Israeli…
3 battles · Israel: 4,517; Egypt: 9,800–15,000
1967-1970
War of Attrition
The War of Attrition involved fighting between Israel and Egypt, Jordan, the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) and their allies from 1967 to 1970.
2 battles
1969
Al-Wadiah War
Al-Wadiah War was a military conflict which broke out on 27 November 1969 between Saudi Arabia and the People's Republic of Southern Yemen after disputes over the towns of…
0 battles
1969
Hundred Hour War
The Football War, also known as the Soccer War or the 100 Hour War, was a brief military conflict fought between El Salvador and Honduras in 1969. Existing tensions between the…
0 battles
1969
Sino-Soviet border conflict
The Sino-Soviet border conflict, also known as the Sino-Soviet crisis, was a seven-month undeclared military conflict between the Soviet Union and China in 1969, following the…
0 battles
1969-1982
Years of Lead
The Years of Lead were a period of social and political turmoil in Italy that lasted from the late 1960s to the late 1980s, marked by a wave of both far-left and far-right…
0 battles
1970-1971
Black September
Black September, also known as the Jordanian Civil War, was an armed conflict between Jordan, led by King Hussein, and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), led by…
1 battle
1971
Bangladesh Liberation War
The Bangladesh Liberation War, also known as the Bangladesh War of Independence, was an armed conflict sparked by the rise of the Bengali nationalist and self-determination…
3 battles
1971
Indo-Pakistani War of 1971
The India–Pakistan war of 1971, also known as the third Indo-Pakistani war, was a military confrontation between India and Pakistan that occurred during the Bangladesh Liberation…
3 battles
1972
First Yemenite War
The First Yemenite War was a short military conflict between the Yemen Arab Republic and the People's Democratic Republic of Yemen.
0 battles
1973
Yom Kippur War
The Yom Kippur War, also known as the 1973 Arab–Israeli War, the fourth Arab–Israeli War, the October War, or the Ramadan War, was fought between Israel and a coalition of Arab…
5 battles · Egypt: 5,000–15,000; Israel: 2,521–2,800
1974-1991
Ethiopian Civil War
The Ethiopian Civil War was a civil war in Ethiopia and present-day Eritrea, fought between the Ethiopian military junta known as the Derg and Ethiopian-Eritrean anti-government…
1 battle
1974-1975
Second Kurdish–Iraqi War
The Second Iraqi–Kurdish War was the second chapter of the Barzani rebellion, initiated by the collapse of the Kurdish autonomy talks and the consequent Iraqi offensive against…
0 battles
1975-2002
Angolan Civil War
The Angolan Civil War was a civil war in Angola, beginning in 1975 and continuing, with interludes, until 2002. The war began immediately after Angola became independent from…
0 battles
1975-1990
Lebanese Civil War
The Lebanese Civil War was a multifaceted armed conflict that took place from 1975 to 1990. It resulted in an estimated 150,000 fatalities and led to the exodus of almost one…
4 battles
1975-1991
Third Indochina War
The Third Indochina War was a series of interconnected military conflicts among the various communist factions over strategic influence in mainland Southeast Asia after communist…
0 battles
1975-1991
Western Sahara War
The Western Sahara War was an armed conflict between the Sahrawi Indigenous Polisario Front and Morocco from 1975 to 1991, being the most significant phase of the Western Sahara…
14 battles
1977-1991
Cambodian–Vietnamese War
The Cambodian–Vietnamese War was an armed conflict from 1978 to 1989 between the Khmer Rouge and Vietnam, and their respective allies. It began in December 1978, with a…
1 battle
1977
Libyan–Egyptian War
The Egyptian–Libyan War, also known as the Four Day War, was a short border war fought between Libya and Egypt that lasted from 21 to 24 July 1977. The conflict stemmed from a…
0 battles
1977-1992
Mozambican Civil War
The Mozambican Civil War was a civil war fought in Mozambique from 1977 to 1992 due to a combination of local strife and the polarizing effects of Cold War politics. The fighting…
0 battles
1977-1978
Ogaden War
The Ogaden War, also known as the Ethio-Somali War, was a military conflict between Somalia and Ethiopia fought from July 1977 to March 1978 over control of the sovereignty of…
2 battles
1978
Afghan Conflict
The Afghan conflict is the series of events that have kept Afghanistan in a near-continuous state of armed conflict since the 1970s. Early instability followed the collapse of…
2 battles
1978-1987
Chadian–Libyan War
The Chadian–Libyan War was a series of military campaigns in Chad between 1978 and 1987, fought between Libya and its Chadian allies, and anti-Libyan Chadian groups supported by…
2 battles
1978-1979
Uganda–Tanzania War
The Uganda–Tanzania War, known in Tanzania as the Kagera War and in Uganda as the 1979 Liberation War, was fought between Uganda and Tanzania from October 1978 until June 1979…
2 battles
1979-1992
Salvadoran Civil War
The Salvadoran Civil War was a twelve-year civil war in El Salvador that was fought between the government of El Salvador, backed by the United States, and the Farabundo Martí…
0 battles
1979
Second Yemenite War
The Second Yemenite War was a short military conflict between the Yemen Arab Republic and the People's Democratic Republic of Yemen. The war developed out of a breakdown in…
0 battles
1979
Sino-Vietnamese War
The Sino-Vietnamese War was a war which occurred in early 1979 between China and Vietnam. China launched an offensive ostensibly in response to Vietnam's invasion and occupation…
3 battles
1979-1989
Soviet-Afghan War
The Soviet–Afghan War took place in Afghanistan from December 1979 to February 1989. Marking the beginning of the 47-year-long Afghan conflict, it saw the Soviet Union and the…
6 battles · Soviet Union: 658,402–669,949; Afghan Mujahideen: 162,579–192,579
1980-1988
Iran–Iraq War
The Iran–Iraq War began with the Iraqi invasion of Iran in September 1980. After eight years of conflict, both countries accepted a ceasefire deal brokered by the United Nations,…
23 battles · Iran: 200,000–600,000; Iraq: 105,000–500,000
1981
Paquisha War
The Paquisha War, Fake Paquisha War or Paquisha incident was a military clash that took place between January and February 1981 between Ecuador and Peru over the control of three…
0 battles
1981-1984
Second Mafia War
The Second Mafia War was a period of conflict involving the Sicilian Mafia from 1981 to 1983. Sometimes referred to as the Great Mafia War or the Mattanza, it involved the entire…
0 battles
1981-1991
Somaliland War of Independence
The Somaliland War of Independence also known as the Great Isaaq Uprising or the Isaaq Rebellion was a rebellion waged by the Somali National Movement (SNM) against the ruling…
0 battles
1981-1986
Ugandan Bush War
The Ugandan Bush War was a civil war fought in Uganda by the official Ugandan government and its armed wing, the Uganda National Liberation Army (UNLA), against a number of rebel…
0 battles
1982
1982 Ethiopian–Somali Border War
The Ethiopian–Somali Border War took place from June 1982 to August 1983, when Ethiopia launched a large-scale invasion of central Somalia. Backed by warplanes and armored units,…
0 battles
1982-1985
1982 Lebanon War
The 1982 Lebanon War, also called the Second Israeli invasion of Lebanon, began on 6 June 1982, when Israel invaded southern Lebanon. The invasion followed a series of attacks…
5 battles
1982-2014
Casamance conflict
The Casamance conflict is an ongoing low-level conflict that has been waged between the Government of Senegal and the Movement of Democratic Forces of Casamance (MFDC) since…
0 battles
1982
Falklands War
The Falklands War was a ten-week undeclared war between Argentina and the United Kingdom in 1982 over two British Overseas Territories in the South Atlantic: the Falkland Islands…
4 battles · Argentina: 1,657
1983-2005
Second Sudanese Civil War
The Second Sudanese Civil War was a conflict from 1983 to 2005 between the central Sudanese government and the Sudan People's Liberation Army. It was largely a continuation of…
0 battles
1983-2009
Sri Lankan civil war
The Sri Lankan civil war was fought in Sri Lanka from 1983 to 2009. Beginning on 23 July 1983, it was an intermittent insurgency against the government by the Liberation Tigers…
11 battles
1985
Agacher Strip War
The Agacher Strip War, also known as the Christmas War, was a brief conflict fought by Burkina Faso and Mali over a 160-kilometre-long (100 mi) strip of land along the border in…
0 battles
1985-1991
Cold War (1985–1991)
The time period of around 1985–1991 marked the final period of the Cold War. It was characterized by systemic reform within the Soviet Union, the easing of geopolitical tensions…
1 battle
1985
Iran–Israel proxy conflict
Iran and Israel have been engaged in a proxy conflict since 1985. In the Israeli–Lebanese conflict, Iran has supported Lebanese Shia militias, most notably Hezbollah. In the…
1 battle
1985-2000
South Lebanon conflict
The South Lebanon conflict was an armed conflict that took place in Israeli-occupied southern Lebanon from 1982 or 1985 until Israel's withdrawal in 2000. Hezbollah, along with…
2 battles
1986
South Yemen crisis
The South Yemeni crisis, colloquially referred to in Yemen as the events of '86, was a failed coup d'etat and brief civil war which took place on January 13, 1986, in South…
0 battles
1986-1992
Surinamese Interior War
The Surinamese Civil War, also known as Surinamese Interior War, was a civil war fought in eastern Suriname between 1986 and 1992. The conflict primarily involved the Jungle…
0 battles
1986-1987
Toyota War
The Toyota War, also known as the Great Toyota War, was the last phase of the Chadian–Libyan War which took place in 1987 in Northern Chad and on the Chad–Libya border. It takes…
2 battles
1987
Lord's Resistance Army insurgency
The Lord's Resistance Army insurgency is an ongoing conflict between the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), a Ugandan militant religious extremist group, against the government of…
0 battles
1988-1998
Bougainville conflict
The Bougainville conflict, also known as the Bougainvillean Civil War, the Solomon Civil War or the Civil War of the North Solomons was a multi-layered armed conflict fought from…
0 battles
1988-1994
First Nagorno-Karabakh War
The First Nagorno-Karabakh War was an ethnic and territorial conflict that took place from February 1988 to May 1994 in the enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh in southwestern Azerbaijan…
7 battles
1989-1992
Afghan Civil War (1989-1992)
The Afghan Civil War of 1989–1992, also known as the First Afghan Civil War, took place between the Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan on 15 February 1989 which ended the…
1 battle
1989-1997
First Liberian Civil War
The First Liberian Civil War was the first of two civil wars within the West African nation of Liberia which lasted between 1989 and 1997. President Samuel Doe's regime of…
0 battles
1989
Georgian–Ossetian conflict
The Georgian–Ossetian conflict is an ethno-political conflict over Georgia's former autonomous region of South Ossetia, which evolved in 1989 and developed into a war in…
1 battle
Famous commanders of the Cold War era
12 shown
Trần Văn Trà
Strategicgénéral de corps d'armée1918–1996
North Vietnam
4 battles ledΣ299 int
Saddam Hussein
Strategicmushir1937–2006
Iraq
6 battles ledΣ290 int
Douglas MacArthur
StrategicGeneral of the Army1880–1964
South Korea
6 battles ledΣ280 int
Lê Duẩn
Strategicmember of the National Assembly of Vietnam1907–1986
North Vietnam
4 battles ledΣ277 int
Võ Nguyên Giáp
four-star rank1911–2013
Vietnam
12 battles ledΣ558 int
Mohsen Rezaee
major general1954–
Iran
7 battles ledΣ374 int
Hoàng Văn Thái
army general1915–1986
North Vietnam
7 battles ledΣ346 int
Lê Trọng Tấn
6 battles ledΣ336 int
Ali Sayad Shirazi
lieutenant general1944–1999
Iran
6 battles ledΣ307 int
Nguyễn Văn Toàn
4 battles ledΣ270 int
Văn Tiến Dũng
general of the army1917–2002
North Vietnam
4 battles ledΣ235 int
Lê Đức Anh
army general1920–2019
North Vietnam
3 battles ledΣ221 int
Ranked by Σ battle intensity across battles led in scope. Strategic leaders (chiefs of state / supreme commanders) pinned to the top.