ERA // 2001
Contemporary
51 wars · 327 battles
Profile
Twenty-first-century conflict — insurgencies, civil wars and the return of interstate war, from Afghanistan and Iraq to Ukraine.
Timeline
2001 – present
51 wars · span 24 years
Wars
51 catalogued
2001–2021 major U.S. war period
Afghanistan War
The longest U.S. war began after 9/11, displaced the Taliban government, evolved into counterinsurgency, and ended with Taliban return to power.
19 battles · Over 2,400 U.S. military deaths; Afghan civilian and combatant losses were much higher.
2002-2007
First Ivorian Civil War
The First Ivorian Civil War was a civil conflict in the Ivory Coast that began with a military rebellion on 19 September 2002 and ended with a peace agreement on 4 March 2007.…
0 battles
2002
Insurgency in the Maghreb
An Islamist insurgency is taking place in the Maghreb region of North Africa, followed on from the end of the Algerian Civil War in 2002. The Algerian militant group Salafist…
2 battles
2003
conflict in the Niger Delta
The current conflict in the Niger Delta first arose in the early 1990s over tensions between foreign oil corporations and a number of the Niger Delta's minority ethnic groups who…
0 battles
2003–2011 major U.S. combat/occupation period
Iraq War
An invasion to remove Saddam Hussein became a prolonged occupation and insurgency with major regional consequences.
10 battles · Over 4,400 U.S. military deaths; Iraqi casualties were far higher and widely debated.
2003-2017
Iraqi conflict
The Iraqi conflict is a series of violent events that began with the 2003 American-led invasion of Iraq and deposition of Iraqi president Saddam Hussein, followed by a series of…
0 battles
2004-2007
Central African Republic Bush War
The Central African Bush War was a civil war in the Central African Republic which lasted from 2004 to 2007 between Union of Democratic Forces for Unity (UFDR) rebels and…
0 battles
2004
drone strikes in Pakistan
Between 2004 and 2018, the United States government attacked thousands of targets in northwest Pakistan using unmanned aerial vehicles (drones) operated by the United States Air…
0 battles
2004
insurgency in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
Since 2004, an ongoing insurgency has being fought in the Pakistani province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa by Islamist militant groups such as the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP),…
6 battles
2004
Kivu conflict
The Kivu conflict is an umbrella term for a series of protracted armed conflicts in the North Kivu and South Kivu provinces in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo which…
3 battles
2005-2010
Chad–Sudan Conflict
The Chadian Civil War of 2005–2010 began on 18 December 2005. Since its independence from France in 1960, Chad has been swamped by civil wars between the Arab-Muslims of the…
6 battles
2006
2006 Lebanon War
The 2006 Lebanon War was a 34-day armed conflict in Lebanon, fought between Hezbollah and Israel. The war started on 12 July 2006, and continued until a United Nations-brokered…
3 battles
2006-2008
Iraqi Civil War of 2006–2008
The Iraqi civil war was an armed conflict from 2006 to 2008 between various sectarian Shia and Sunni armed groups, such as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Mahdi Army, in…
1 battle
2006
Mexican drug war
The Mexican drug war is an ongoing asymmetric armed conflict between the Mexican government and various drug trafficking syndicates. When the Mexican military intervened in 2006,…
2 battles
2006-2009
War in Somalia
The Ethiopian invasion of Somalia, also known as the Ethiopian occupation of Somalia was an armed conflict lasting from mid-2006 to early 2009. It began when Ethiopian military…
10 battles
2007
2007 Lebanon conflict
The 2007 Lebanon conflict began when fighting broke out between Fatah al-Islam, an Islamist militant organization, and the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) on May 20, 2007 in Nahr…
0 battles
2007-2015
Insurgency in Ingushetia
The Insurgency in Ingushetia began in 2007 as a spillover of then ongoing separatist conflict in Chechnya into neighbouring Ingushetia. The conflict has been described as a civil…
0 battles
2008
Djiboutian–Eritrean border conflict
The Djiboutian–Eritrean border conflict was a border conflict between the forces of Djibouti and Eritrea that occurred between June 10 and June 13, 2008. It was triggered by…
0 battles
2008-2009
Gaza War (2008–2009)
The Gaza War, also known as the First Gaza War, Operation Cast Lead, or the Gaza Massacre, and referred to as the Battle of al-Furqan by Hamas, was a three-week armed conflict…
0 battles
2008
Russo-Georgian War
The August 2008 Russo-Georgian War, also known as the Russian invasion of Georgia, was a war waged against Georgia by the Russian Federation and the Russian-backed separatist…
5 battles
2009
Somali Civil War (2009)
The ongoing phase of the Somali Civil War began in 2009 and is concentrated in southern and central Somalia, primarily between the forces of the Federal Government of Somalia…
8 battles
2010-2012
Arab Spring
The Arab Spring was a series of pro-democracy anti-government protests, uprisings, and armed rebellions that spread across much of the Arab world in the early 2010s. It began in…
0 battles
2010-2011
Second Ivorian Civil War
The Second Ivorian Civil War broke out in March 2011 when the crisis in Ivory Coast escalated into full-scale military conflict between forces loyal to Laurent Gbagbo, the…
0 battles
2011
Libyan Civil War (2011)
The Libyan Civil War, also known as the First Libyan Civil War and Libyan Revolution, was an armed conflict fought in 2011 in the North African country of Libya between forces…
12 battles
2011
Libyan crisis
The Libyan crisis is the current humanitarian crisis and political-military instability occurring in Libya, beginning with the Arab Spring protests of 2011, which led to two…
1 battle
2011
spillover of the Syrian Civil War
Following the outbreak of the protests of Syrian revolution during the Arab Spring in 2011 and the escalation of the ensuing conflict into a full-scale civil war by mid-2012, the…
0 battles
2011
Syrian Civil War
The Syrian civil war was an armed conflict that began with the Syrian revolution in March 2011, when popular discontent with the Ba'athist regime ruled by Bashar al-Assad…
31 battles · Side 1: 656,493
2011-2012
Syrian revolution
The Syrian revolution was a series of mass protests and civilian uprisings throughout Syria – with a subsequent violent reaction by the Ba'athist regime – lasting from 2011 to…
4 battles
2011
War in the Sahel
A war in the Sahel region of West Africa has been ongoing since the 2011 Arab Spring. In particular, the intensive conflict in the three countries of Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso…
4 battles
2012-2018
Arab Winter
The Arab Winter is a term referring to the resurgence of authoritarianism and Islamic extremism in some Arab countries in the 2010s in the aftermath of the Arab Spring. The term…
0 battles
2012-2013
Central African Republic Civil War
The Central African Republic Civil War is an ongoing civil war in the Central African Republic (CAR) involving the successive governments, rebels from the former Séléka…
2 battles
2012
Mali War
The Mali War is an ongoing conflict that began on 16 January 2012 with a Tuareg rebellion in northern Mali. The rebels included the secular-oriented National Movement for the…
27 battles
2013-2020
South Sudanese Civil War
The South Sudanese Civil War was a multi-sided civil war in South Sudan fought from 2013 to 2018 between government and opposition forces. The civil war caused rampant human…
2 battles
2014-2017
Iraqi Civil War of 2014–2017
The War in Iraq (2013–2017) was an armed conflict between Iraq and its allies and the Islamic State. Following December 2013, the insurgency escalated into a full-scale war…
14 battles
2014-2020
Libyan Civil War (2014-2020)
The Libyan civil war (2014–2020), also known as the Second Libyan Civil War, was a multilateral civil war which was fought in Libya among a number of armed groups, but mainly the…
12 battles
2014
Russo-Ukrainian War
The Russo-Ukrainian war began in February 2014 and is ongoing. Following Ukraine's Revolution of Dignity, Russia occupied Crimea and annexed it from Ukraine. It then supported…
14 battles
2014
Yemeni Civil War
The Yemeni civil war is an ongoing multilateral civil war that began in late 2014 mainly between the Rashad al-Alimi-led Presidential Leadership Council and the Mahdi…
17 battles
2015
Jihadist insurgency in Burkina Faso
The Islamist insurgency in Burkina Faso is an ongoing war and civil conflict that began in August 2015, between the Government of Burkina Faso and Jihadist African wings of…
5 battles
2015
Ngogo Chimpanzee War
The Western and Central factions of chimpanzees of the Ngogo hill region in Kibale National Park, Uganda, have been engaged in a violent conflict since 2015. The conflict has…
0 battles
2015-2021
War in Afghanistan (2015–2021)
The war in Afghanistan was a prolonged armed conflict lasting from 2001 to 2021. It began with an invasion by a United States–led coalition under the name Operation Enduring…
0 battles
2016
Insurgency in Northern Chad
In 2016, the Front for Change and Concord in Chad (FACT) and the Military Command Council for the Salvation of the Republic (CCMSR) began a rebellion against the Chadian…
1 battle
2017
2017 Iraqi–Kurdish conflict
The 2017 Iraqi–Kurdish conflict, also known as the Kirkuk crisis, was a conflict in which the Iraqi government retook disputed territories in Iraq which had been held by the…
2 battles
2018
2018 Armenian–Azerbaijani clashes
The 2018 Armenian–Azerbaijani clashes began on 20 May 2018 between the Armenian Armed Forces and Azerbaijani Armed Forces. Azerbaijan stated to have taken several villages and…
0 battles
2020
Second Nagorno-Karabakh War
The Second Nagorno-Karabakh War was an armed conflict in 2020 that took place in the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding occupied territories. It was a major…
6 battles
2021
Myanmar Civil War
The Myanmar civil war began following the military coup on 1 February 2021. The seizure of power triggered mass anti-coup demonstrations and a violent crackdown by the Tatmadaw,…
3 battles
2022
full-scale Russo-Ukrainian war
On 24 February 2022, Russia invaded Ukraine, starting the largest and deadliest war in Europe since World War II, in a major escalation of the existing war between the two…
56 battles
2023
Gaza War
The Gaza war is an armed conflict in the Gaza Strip and Israel, fought as part of the unresolved Israeli–Palestinian and Gaza–Israel conflicts. The war began on 7 October 2023,…
26 battles · Hamas: 80,744; Israel: 1,154
2023
Sudanese civil war
Since April 2023, there has been a civil war in Sudan between the two main factions of the country's military government. The conflict involves the internationally recognized…
6 battles
2024
2024 Lebanon War
A war between Israel and Hezbollah took place in Lebanon during 2024 amid the Middle Eastern crisis. The war began in September 2024 following nearly 12 months of conflict…
3 battles
2025
Operation Rising Lion
This is a list of airstrikes and bombardments during the Twelve-Day War. The war began on 13 June 2025, when Israel attacked targets at more than a dozen locations across Iran.…
0 battles
2025
Twelve-Day War
The Twelve-Day War was an armed conflict between Iran and Israel which lasted from 13 to 24 June 2025. It began when Israel bombed military and nuclear facilities in Iran in a…
4 battles
Famous commanders of the Contemporary era
12 shown
Volodymyr Zelenskyy
StrategicPresident of Ukraine1978–
Ukraine
8 battles ledΣ510 int
Vladimir Putin
Strategicreservist1952–
Russia
5 battles ledΣ325 int
Joe Biden
StrategicVice President of the United States1942–
United States
6 battles ledΣ268 int
Ashraf Ghani
Strategicsupreme commander1949–
United States
4 battles ledΣ248 int
Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi
10 battles ledΣ428 int
Aleksandr Chaiko
lieutenant general1971–
Russia
5 battles ledΣ300 int
Qasem Soleimani
lieutenant general1957–2020
Ba'athist Syria
6 battles ledΣ279 int
Abu Ali al-Anbari
Major1959–2016
Islamic State
6 battles ledΣ269 int
Khalifa Haftar
field marshal1943–
8 battles ledΣ248 int
Tommy Franks
Strategicgeneral1945–
United States
7 battles ledΣ246 int
Hibatullah Akhundzada
Strategiccommander-in-chief1967–
Taliban
4 battles ledΣ240 int
Masoud Barzani
5 battles ledΣ226 int
Ranked by Σ battle intensity across battles led in scope. Strategic leaders (chiefs of state / supreme commanders) pinned to the top.