Civil war

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
• Lebanese Civil War, 1975-1991

See also

• List of contemporary civil wars

There were also several major civil wars in the Roman Empire.