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Social War

(Encyclopedia)Social War or Marsic War [Lat. socii=allies], 91b.c.–88 b.c., struggle brought on by demands of the Italian allies for the privileges of Roman citizenship. The allies had fought on the side of Rome ...

Peasants' War

(Encyclopedia)Peasants' War, 1524–26, rising of the German peasants and the poorer classes of the towns, particularly in Franconia, Swabia, and Thuringia. It was the climax of a series of local revolts that dated...

Peloponnesian War

(Encyclopedia)Peloponnesian War pĕlˈəpənēˈzhən [key], 431–404 b.c., decisive struggle in ancient Greece between Athens and Sparta. It ruined Athens, at least for a time. The rivalry between Athens' maritim...

Peninsular War

(Encyclopedia)Peninsular War, 1808–14, fought by France against Great Britain, Portugal, Spanish regulars, and Spanish guerrillas in the Iberian Peninsula. The Peninsular War immeasurably raised Britain's mi...

Tripolitan War

(Encyclopedia)Tripolitan War trĭpŏlˈĭtən [key], 1800–1815, conflict between the United States and the Barbary States. Piracy had become a normal source of income in the N African Barbary States long before t...

Trojan War

(Encyclopedia)Trojan War, in Greek mythology, war between the Greeks and the people of Troy. The strife began after the Trojan prince Paris abducted Helen, wife of Menelaus of Sparta. When Menelaus demanded her ret...

Northern War

(Encyclopedia)Northern War, 1700–1721, general European conflict, fought in N and E Europe at the same time that the War of the Spanish Succession was fought in the west and the south. It arose chiefly from the d...

Vietnam War

(Encyclopedia)Vietnam War, conflict in Southeast Asia, primarily fought in South Vietnam between government forces aided by the United States and guerrilla forces aided by North Vietnam. The war began soon after th...

Afghanistan War

(Encyclopedia)Afghanistan War, 1978–92, conflict between anti-Communist Muslim Afghan guerrillas (mujahidin) and Afghan government and Soviet forces. The conflict had its origins in the 1978 coup that overthrew A...

Boer War

(Encyclopedia)Boer War: see South African War.