A
civil war is a
war in which the parties are segments of the same country or empire. The contention is often over matters of religion, ethnicity, or politics, but is sometimes simply a struggle for power between two or more rival groups.
Examples of civil wars include:
- The Anarchy, 1135-1153
- Wars of the Roses, ~1455-1485
- English Civil War, 1642-1649
- American Civil War, 1861-1865
- Russian Civil War, 1917-1921
- Finnish Civil War, 1918
- Irish Civil War, 1922-1923
- Chinese Civil War, 1928-1937, 1945-1949
- Spanish Civil War, 1936-1939
- Nigerian Civil War[?], 1967-1970
See also
There were also several major civil wars in the Roman Empire.