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Languages & Literature
Pakistan
World & History
Short histories of the wars and revolutions that changed the world, from the French Revolution to the Cold War.
22 of 22 wars & revolutions
1096–1291
A series of religious wars launched by Christian Europe to capture Jerusalem. Crusaders took the city in 1099; Salahuddin Ayyubi (Saladin) recaptured it in 1187 after the Battle of Hattin, and the last Crusader stronghold, Acre, fell in 1291.
c. 1760–1840
Began in Britain with steam power, textile machines and factories, moving work from farms and homes to cities. It brought rapid growth and new social problems such as child labour and slums.
1775–1783
Thirteen British colonies rebelled over taxes without representation ('No taxation without representation'), declared independence on 4 July 1776 and, with French help, won at Yorktown (1781). The Treaty of Paris (1783) recognized the USA.
1789–1799
Began with the storming of the Bastille on 14 July 1789 amid debt, hunger and anger at privilege. The monarchy was abolished, Louis XVI was executed (1793), and the Reign of Terror followed, before Napoleon seized power in 1799. Its slogan was 'Liberty, Equality, Fraternity'.
1803–1815
Napoleon Bonaparte's France conquered much of Europe until a disastrous invasion of Russia (1812). He was finally defeated by Britain's Duke of Wellington and Prussia at Waterloo (1815) and exiled to St Helena.
1839–1842 and 1856–1860
Britain (joined by France in the second war) fought China to force open the opium trade. China lost, ceded Hong Kong and opened ports to foreign trade under 'unequal treaties'.
1861–1865
Southern states that wanted to keep slavery broke away as the Confederacy. The Union (North), led by Abraham Lincoln, won; slavery was abolished by the 13th Amendment (1865) and Lincoln was assassinated.
1914–1918
Triggered by the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo on 28 June 1914. The Allies (Britain, France, Russia, later the USA) fought the Central Powers (Germany, Austria-Hungary, the Ottoman Empire). About 17 million died. It ended with the Armistice of 11 November 1918 and the Treaty of Versailles; the Ottoman Empire collapsed.
1917
The February Revolution ended the rule of Tsar Nicholas II; in the October Revolution the Bolsheviks under Lenin took power, leading to civil war and the creation of the Soviet Union (1922).
1939–1945
Began when Germany invaded Poland on 1 September 1939. The Allies (Britain, the USSR, the USA, China and others) defeated the Axis (Germany, Italy, Japan). The Holocaust killed six million Jews. It ended after the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki; about 70–85 million people died, and the United Nations was created.
1947–1991
A rivalry between the USA and its allies (NATO) and the Soviet Union and its allies (Warsaw Pact), fought through arms races, the space race and proxy wars, but never directly. Key moments include the Berlin Wall (1961–89) and the Cuban Missile Crisis (1962). It ended with the collapse of the USSR in December 1991.
1947–48, 1965, 1971, 1999
Pakistan and India have fought over Kashmir (1947–48 and 1965), over East Pakistan (1971, which became Bangladesh) and at Kargil (1999), and clashed again in 2019 and May 2025.
1949
After a long civil war, Mao Zedong's Communist Party defeated Chiang Kai-shek's Nationalists, who retreated to Taiwan. Mao proclaimed the People's Republic of China on 1 October 1949.
1950–1953
North Korea, backed by China and the USSR, invaded the South, which was defended by UN forces led by the USA. It ended in an armistice, not a peace treaty, leaving Korea divided near the 38th parallel.
1955–1975
Communist North Vietnam fought US-backed South Vietnam. US troops withdrew after the 1973 Paris Peace Accords, and the North captured Saigon in 1975, reunifying the country.
1979
Mass protests overthrew Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi; Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini returned from exile and Iran became an Islamic Republic.
1979–1989
The USSR invaded Afghanistan in December 1979. Afghan mujahideen, supported by Pakistan, the USA and Saudi Arabia, resisted; millions of refugees fled to Pakistan. Soviet troops withdrew under the Geneva Accords by February 1989.
1980–1988
Iraq under Saddam Hussein invaded Iran. The war cost hundreds of thousands of lives, including through chemical weapons, and ended in a UN-brokered ceasefire with no clear winner.
1990–1991
Iraq invaded Kuwait in August 1990. A US-led coalition of about 35 countries, including Pakistan, drove Iraqi forces out in Operation Desert Storm (January–February 1991).
2010–2012
A wave of protests that began in Tunisia in December 2010 and spread across the Arab world, toppling rulers in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya and Yemen and leading to civil war in Syria.
2022–
Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine on 24 February 2022, following its annexation of Crimea in 2014. It is the largest war in Europe since 1945.
2023–2025
Began after the Hamas-led attack on Israel on 7 October 2023, which killed about 1,200 people. Israel's military campaign in Gaza killed tens of thousands of Palestinians and caused a severe humanitarian crisis; a ceasefire took effect in October 2025.
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