Major wars in world history, 499 BC to AD 1988
20 wars, from the Greco-Persian Wars to the Iran–Iraq War, with dates and the main sides only. Dates are the standard ones; where historians give other dates, the item's note says so. America's own wars have their own list. The list stops at wars that ended by about 2000.
A few wars show up again and again in history books, because they changed who ruled, where borders ran and how people lived afterward. Knowing their dates and sides gives the long story of the world a set of fixed points, from ancient Greece to the twentieth century.
Chunk by age: the ancient world (five wars, all BC), the Middle Ages (three), the early modern era (three), the 1800s (three) and the 1900s (six). Learn one age at a time and put the wars in order before learning the dates. For BC dates, remember that the numbers count down toward AD 1: the Greco-Persian Wars (499 BC) came before the Punic Wars (264 BC). Give each war a picture in its own room of a memory palace, and come back on day 1, 3, 7 and 21.
Encode make it vivid → Space bring it back on day 1, 3, 7, 21 → Retrieve pull it from your head. From the infographic Remember It on Purpose.
Major wars in world history, 499 BC to AD 1988
| War | Years | Main sides |
|---|---|---|
| Greco-Persian Wars | 499–449 BC | Greek city-states, led by Athens and Sparta, against the Persian Empire |
| Peloponnesian War | 431–404 BC | Athens and its Delian League against Sparta and its Peloponnesian League |
| Conquests of Alexander the Great | 334–323 BC | Macedon and its Greek allies against the Persian Empire |
| Note: Alexander became king in 336 BC, crossed into Asia in 334 BC and died in 323 BC. | ||
| Punic Wars | 264–146 BC | Rome against Carthage |
| Gallic Wars | 58–50 BC | The Roman Republic, led by Julius Caesar, against the tribes of Gaul |
| The Crusades | 1096–1291 | Armies from Christian Western Europe against Muslim states in the Near East |
| Note: Pope Urban II called for the First Crusade in 1095, and its armies set out in 1096. The usual end date is 1291, when the last crusader stronghold in the Holy Land, Acre, fell. | ||
| Hundred Years' War | 1337–1453 | England against France |
| Wars of the Roses | 1455–1487 | The House of Lancaster (the red rose) against the House of York (the white rose), for the English throne |
| Note: Some histories end it in 1485, when Henry Tudor won at Bosworth and became Henry VII. | ||
| Thirty Years' War | 1618–1648 | Protestant German states, Sweden and later Catholic France against the Habsburg Holy Roman Emperor, Spain and the Catholic League |
| English Civil War | 1642–1651 | Royalists (supporters of King Charles I) against Parliamentarians |
| Seven Years' War | 1756–1763 | Great Britain, Prussia and their allies against France, Austria, Russia and their allies |
| Note: In North America the fighting began in 1754 and is called the French and Indian War. | ||
| Napoleonic Wars | 1803–1815 | France under Napoleon against changing coalitions of Britain, Austria, Prussia, Russia and others |
| Crimean War | 1853–1856 | Russia against the Ottoman Empire, Britain, France and Sardinia |
| Franco-Prussian War | 1870–1871 | France against Prussia and the other German states |
| World War I | 1914–1918 | The Allies (France, Britain, Russia, Italy, the United States and others) against the Central Powers (Germany, Austria-Hungary, the Ottoman Empire and Bulgaria) |
| Russian Civil War | 1917–1922 | The Reds (the Bolsheviks) against the Whites (their opponents) |
| Note: It began after the Bolsheviks took power in November 1917 and ended with their victory in 1922; fighting in some outlying areas went on into 1923. | ||
| Spanish Civil War | 1936–1939 | Republicans (supporters of the Second Spanish Republic) against Nationalists (led by Francisco Franco) |
| World War II | 1939–1945 | The Allies (Britain, the Soviet Union, the United States, China, France and others) against the Axis (Germany, Italy, Japan and others) |
| Korean War | 1950–1953 | South Korea and United Nations forces led by the United States against North Korea and China |
| Note: An armistice stopped the fighting in 1953; no peace treaty was signed. | ||
| Iran–Iraq War | 1980–1988 | Iraq against Iran |
Chunk by age: the ancient world (five wars, all BC), the Middle Ages (three), the early modern era (three), the 1800s (three) and the 1900s (six). Learn one age at a time and put the wars in order before learning the dates. For BC dates, remember that the numbers count down toward AD 1: the Greco-Persian Wars (499 BC) came before the Punic Wars (264 BC). Give each war a picture in its own room of a memory palace, and come back on day 1, 3, 7 and 21. · teddyrookbook.com/memory/challenges/world-wars-history/
Sources
- Grokipedia: List of conflicts in Europe
- Grokipedia: Timeline of wars
- Grokipedia: List of wars involving France
- Grokipedia: List of wars involving Russia
- Grokipedia: Spanish Civil War
- Grokipedia: List of wars involving Iraq
Checked October 31, 2026. Progress is kept on this device only (per learner). More lists: all memory challenges · memory games.