Proxy wars

The Vietnam War was an armed conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia fought between North Vietnam and South Vietnam and their allies. North Vietnam was supported by the Soviet Union and China, while South Vietnam was supported by the United States and other anti-communist nations. The conflict was the second of the Indochina wars and a proxy war of the Cold War between the Soviet Union and US. The Vietnam War was one of the postcolonial wars of national liberation, a theater in the Cold War, and a civil war, with civil warfare a defining feature from the outset. Direct US military involvement escalated from 1965 until US forces were withdrawn in 1973. The fighting spilled into the Laotian and Cambodian civil wars, which ended with all three countries becoming communist in 1975.

war between North and South Korea, 1950–1953

war between the Republicans and the Nationalists in Spain from 1936 to 1939

The Syrian Civil War was an armed conflict that began with the Syrian revolution in March 2011, when popular discontent with the Ba'athist regime ruled by Bashar al-Assad triggered large-scale protests and pro-democracy rallies across Syria, as part of the wider Arab Spring. The Assad regime responded to the protests with lethal force, which led to a series of defections, the emergence of armed opposition groups, and the civilian uprising descending into a civil war. The war lasted almost 14 years and culminated in the fall of the Assad regime in December 2024. Many sources regard this as the end of the civil war even though clashes have continued into 2026.

The Gulf War was an armed conflict between Iraq and a 42-country coalition led by the United States. The coalition's efforts were in two phases: Operation Desert Shield, which marked the military buildup from August 1990 to January 1991; and Operation Desert Storm, from the bombing campaign against Iraq on 17 January until the American-led liberation of Kuwait on 28 February.

The Iraq War, also referred to as the Second Gulf War, was a protracted armed conflict in Iraq from 2003 to 2011. It began with the invasion by a United States–led coalition, which resulted in the overthrow of the Ba'athist government of Saddam Hussein. During the US occupation of Iraq, the conflict persisted as an insurgency that arose against coalition forces and the newly established Iraqi government. US forces were officially withdrawn in 2011. In 2014, the US became re-engaged in Iraq, leading a new coalition under Combined Joint Task Force – Operation Inherent Resolve, as the conflict evolved into the ongoing Islamic State insurgency.

1979–1989 war between the Soviet Union and Afghan insurgents

2011 armed conflict in the North African country of Libya

revolution in Cuba culminating in 1959

1927–1949 civil war between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party in China

war between France and the Algerian independence movement from 1954 to 1962

war fought between the Turkish National Movement and the Entente and their proxies

1946–1954 French colonial war in Vietnam

nationwide armed struggle in Mexico (1910–1920)

1975–1990 Civil War in Lebanon

1991–2001 series of wars and ethnic conflicts that took place on the lands of the former Yugoslavia

1918 civil war in Finland

conflict between two actors in which neither directly engages the other

major armed conflict in the Darfur region of Sudan that began in February 2003

failed landing operation of Cuba in 1961

armed conflict in Sri Lanka (1983–2009) between the government and the separatist organization Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam

1946–1949 civil war in Greece

violent conflict within Nigeria

war between the People's Republic of China and Socialist Republic of Vietnam in 1979

ethnic and territorial conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan

armed conflict in Angola between 1975 and 2002

war in Africa

1990–1992 conflict between Moldova and Russian-backed self-proclaimed Transnistria

armed conflict and diplomatic struggle between Indonesia and the Dutch Empire

1977-78 Somali military offensive over the disputed Ogaden region of Ethiopia

series of anti-communist, anti-dissent campaigns in South America

1977-1991 interstate war

1960–1965 war fought in the Congo

1992–1997 civil war in Tajikistan

August 1968 unrest in Czechoslovakia

1996–1997 war in central Africa

1959–1975 civil war in Laos

1983 conflict in Grenada involving US and Cuban led forces

anti- colonial Insurgency in Kenya from 1952 to 1960

low-intensity asymmetric war, beginning in 1964, between Colombian governments, paramilitary groups, crime syndicates and far-left guerrillas (FARC, ELN, etc.)

armed conflict involving Pakistan and armed militant groups

1961–1991 conflict within Ethiopia

civil war in Ethiopia between 1974 and 1991

conflict among rival groups seeking to control of the territory of Libya

1961–1974 armed conflicts in Africa between Portugal and independence movements

civil war between Commonwealth-backed government and rebel factions

1960–1996 civil war in Guatemala

1978–1979 armed conflict in East Africa

1992–2002 civil war in Algeria between the army and Islamic rebels

20th century armed conflict in Nicaragua

conflict in northwestern Iran

civil conflict in Southern Africa from 1964 to 1979

invasion of Mexico, launched in late 1861, by the Second French Empire

uprising in Lhasa, Tibet against China

1962–1970 civil war in North Yemen

war on the border of South West Africa/Namibia and Angola

military conflict in Sudan (1955–1972)

1977–1992 civil war in Mozambique

13 year 1979-1992 civil war in El Salvador

indirect conflict between Iran and Saudi Arabia