SOIC Conflict Studies

Study of Internal Conflict – SOIC Conflict Studies

This page captures research and analysis by SSI professors, USAWC faculty and students, and research assistants into the causes and outcomes of internal conflicts since 1945 as part of the ongoing Study of Internal Conflict (SOIC). Research and analysis will also include topics in Unconventional and Irregular Warfare.

SOIC Conflict Studies

The Study of Internal Conflict (SOIC) began in 2014 as a research project at the Strategic Studies Institute to determine the actual causes of government failure in internal conflict. The study has analyzed more than 40 military, political, economic and geographical factors in 53 wars since 1945 to determine which conflict parameters correlate with government failure in at least 90 percent of all insurgencies and civil wars. Five factors have been identified which are present in virtually every government defeat: (1) Less than 85 percent of the total population expressing a national identity, (2) Less than 85 percent government legitimacy, (3) less than 85 percent of population being fully isolated from contact with the rebel group, (4) the existence of persistent external sanctuary for the rebel group, and (5) the lack of sustainable, pre-existing security forces under the control of the government at the outset of the conflict. Furthermore, it was found that in no case since 1945 have counterinsurgency methods such as “reconstruction,” “pacification” and “clear, hold and build” ever increased popular support for the government or increased legitimacy in any quantifiable degree anywhere in the world. The article “COIN Doctrine is Wrong” in the summer 2021 issue of Parameters describes the research study, the definitions, the conflicts, the factors and the analytical methodology in more detail.

Central America

Costa Rica 1948
In 1948, José Figueres Ferrer led an armed uprising against the government of President Teodoro Picado that left 2,000 dead and fundamentally shaped modern Costa Rica. The conflict stemmed primarily from factional disputes and a highly contested election. During the 1940s, Costa Rican politics was dominated by Rafael Ángel Calderón Guardia. Although Calderón received backing from business interests and the Roman Catholic Church, he also allied himself with the Communist Popular Vanguard Party and developed ... | Researcher: Owen Dyer | Image: https://micostaricadeantano.com/2019/05/15/la-guerra-civil-del-48/
Cuban Revolution 1956–59
The Cuban Revolution resulted from rising opposition to the government of Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista. Batista assumed power in 1952 when he led a coup against President Carlos Prío Socarrás.1 Once Batista forced his way into power, he voided the constitution and paved the way for an era of government corruption. This gave rise to a revolution that harnessed significant support from the Cuban population. Batista’s dictatorship was a stark contrast from his ... | Researcher: Courtney Rhodes | Image Source: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Cuban_rebel_soldiers_in_the_Habana_Hilton_foyer,_January,_1959.jpg
Guatemalan Civil War 1960–96
In 1954, the fairly elected Guatemalan president, Jacobo Arbenz, was ousted by Guatemalan rebels with assistance from the CIA. Arbenz intended to nationalize the United Fruit Company, and the United States feared he would try to implement other socialist policies that could promote Soviet influence and jeopardize economic interests in the region. | Researcher: Ryan Oster | Image Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Exhumation_in_the_ixil_triangle_in_Guatemala.jpg
Nicaragua (Contras) 1978–90
The Sandinista Front for National Liberation, a Marxist guerrilla group inspired by the Cuban Revolution, was formed in the early 1960s to promote Nicaraguan sovereignty in foreign affairs and oppose the US-backed Somoza dictatorship.1 Following numerous attempts to topple the Somoza regime, popular support for the revolutionary movement grew. This growth led to the seizure of power by a coalition of Sandinistas and ideologically different anti-Somoza allies on July 19, 1979, two days after President Anastasio Somoza Debayle resigned and fled the country. ... | Researcher: Maria Luiza Takahashi | Image source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contras

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South America

Colombia 1964–2016
Colombia 1964–2016 The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) is a guerrilla organization born in 1964 from an ongoing internal conflict known as La Violencia (the violence), which originated from economic grievances in the 1920s. Initially, armed peasants demanded better social and economic conditions for farm workers. These ideological roots were influenced by communist ... | Researcher: Colonel Yassir G. Chaves | Image source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:FARC_guerrillas_during_the_Caguan_peace_talks_(1998-2002).jpg
El Salvador 1979–92
The Salvadoran Civil War began in 1979 when a leftist guerilla movement sprang up in El Salvador following leftist victories in neighboring Central American states of Guatemala and Nicaragua. The United States viewed this war as a central front in the Cold War and supplied the Salvadoran Army. El Salvador’s government fought a guerrilla army called the Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front | Researcher: Seth Cain | Image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Camouflaged_soldiers_of_the_Salvadoran_army_gather_in_a_staging_area_during_Exercise_GRANADERO_I_-_DPLA_-_9bf12e00c36034f2f55c1c1d2170d52b.jpeg
Paraguay 1947
Paraguay experienced an internal conflict, known as the Barefoot Revolution from March 7 to August 20, 1947.1 Although the Paraguayan Civil War lasted less than six months, it profoundly impacted the country’s politics and governance. The conflict was between the Paraguayan government under the Colorado Party against the Liberal Party and Febreista Party. Researchers: LTC Richard Giarusso, US Army, Justin Guico, and Ali Sina Sharifi | Image source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paraguayan_Civil_War_(1947)#/media/File:Morinigo_py.jpg and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rafael_Franco
Peru 1980–2003
Peru experienced an internal conflict between the government and the Communist Party Sendero Luminoso, or Shining Path, which was established by Abimael Guzman in Ayacucho, in the wake of democratization after more than a decade of military government. Peru’s economic struggles at the time provoked rural and peasant groups to rebel against the government. The key figure in this conflict was Abimael Guzman, a former university professor, who concentrated on spreading a doctrine based on the teachings of Marx ... | Researcher: Ali Sina Sharifi | Image Source: https://www.flickr.com/photos/latinofilmfestival/274842978

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Europe

Chechnya 1991–2000
During the final weeks of the Soviet Union’s existence, on November 1, 1991, the Chechen-born former Soviet general Dzhokhar Dudayev carried out a successful coup d’état against the local Soviet government and declared the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria. The republic was not recognized but existed as a de facto government during the years of the conflict and gained popular support within Chechnya by promoting Chechen nationalism and independence. On December 25, 1991, the Soviet Union ceased to exist when its leader, Mikhail Gorbachev, stepped down, and Boris Yeltsin replaced him as the first president of the Russian Federation. ... | Researcher: Samantha Jennings | Image source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Chechen_War#/media
Georgia (Abkhazia) 1992–94
Conflict within Georgia began in the late 1980s as Georgians began to push for independence from the Soviet Union. The Abkhazians within the country of Georgia wished to remain under Soviet control. Abkhazia was placed under Georgia’s rule by the USSR during the Soviet era, but their autonomy was debated throughout. Abkhazia is Georgia’s westernmost region bordering the Black Sea and Russia. | Researcher: Kyra Welliver | Image source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Georgian_sniper_during_South_Ossetia_war.jpg
Greek Civil War 1944–49
The Greek Civil War (1944–49) involved the Communist-led National Liberation Front (EAM) and its military arm, the Greek People’s Liberation Army (ELAS), against the British-supported Greek government and anti-Communist groups. The war unfolded in three phases, starting with the power struggle during Nazi occupation followed by intense battles in December 1944. Despite the Varkiza Peace Agreement in 1945, hostilities resumed in 1946. | Researcher: Lieutenant Colonel Fredrik Andersson | Image source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Elas_vo_Ksanti.jpg
Kosovo 1998–99
The conflict was fought between the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA). The population of Kosovo is majority ethnic Albanian. In 1998, it was about 83 percent Albanian, 10 percent Serbian, and 7 percent other groups. As Yugoslavia began to break apart in 1991, Kosovar Albanians voted overwhelmingly for independence, but the Yugoslav government refused ... | Researcher: Erik Shutvet | Image source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Kosovo_Battle_Group_Deploys._05-09-2000._MOD_45137687.jpg
Northern Ireland 1968–98
The Northern Ireland conflict, or the Troubles, was a national-religious conflict between the unionist forces consisting primarily of the Royal Ulster Constabulary and the British armed forces against the nationalist republicans of the Provisional Irish Republican Army (Provos). During the partition of Northern Ireland in the 1920s, the Protestant-dominated Stormont government heavily favored unionist ideologies. This preference institutionalized discrimination polices against Irish Catholics who supported uniting British-held Northern Ireland with the independent republic of Ireland to the south. | Researchers: Bradley Johnston and Analiese Keller | Image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Coldstream_Guardsmen,_Donaghadee_1970_(3366595302).jpg

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The Middle East

Chad 1965–79
The first phase of the Chadian civil war was fought between 1965–79. The central government led by President N’Garta (François) Tombalbaye engaged in hostilities with multiple rebel factions. The Front for the National Liberation Chad (Frolinat) acted as the primary insurgent group. France, Egypt, and Israel supported the government, while Algeria and Libya supported Frolinat. France and Libya conducted combat operations in Chad during the war. | Researcher: Seth Cain | Image Source: https://www.flickr.com/photos/davidstanleytravel/23882983293/
Oman Dhofar 1962–79
In 1962, a separatist rebellion broke out in the southwestern region of Dhofar against Oman’s Sultan Saʿīd ibn Taymūr that lasted for 17 years. The rebellion began as a result of Saʿīd’s regressive regime (he banned, among other things, modern medicine, radios, and eyeglasses), his unwillingness to consider Dhofar’s grievances, and a sense of isolation in Dhofar from the rest of Oman.1 An influential tribal leader named Musallam bin Nufl, from the southwest of Dhofar ... | Researcher: Shoaib Mehryar | Image Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Oman._Dhofar_1971_(8680740488).jpg

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Sub-Saharan Africa

Angola 1975–2002
The Angola conflict began shortly before Angola’s independence from Portugal in 1975. Two former anti-colonial guerilla movements fought for control of the country, the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA) and the People’s Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA). The MPLA seized control of the capital of Luanda and most major cities and functioned as the de facto government of Angola, with UNITA controlling the southeast part of the country. UNITA and the MPLA drew support from different tribal groups... | Researcher: Erik Shutvet | Image Source: https://www.buala.org/sites/default/files/imagecache/full/2013/02/247-mpla-panfleto.jpg
Burundi 1993–2005
Burundi gained independence from Belgium in July 1962.1 The ethnic structure of Burundi is sharply divided, with a “class ranked ethnic system” creating a foundation for inequality and dissent that devolves rapidly into violent conflict.2 The Tutsi ethnic minority held most political office positions in the decades following independence. A constant power struggle between the Tutsi and Hutu ... | Researcher: Samantha Jennings | Image source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burundian_Civil_War#/media/File:Burundi_peacekeepers_prepare_for_next_rotation_to_Somalia,_Bjumbura,_Burundi_012210_(4324781393).jpg
Cameroon Bamileke War (1960–70)
Cameroon, originally colonized by Portugal, came under German control in 1884. Following Germany’s defeat in World War II, the territory was split under international mandate between Britain and France. Both British and French Cameroon were considered “trusteeships” and not official colonies. After World War II, the UN mandated that both territories were to be granted independence. In 1948, a group of trade unionists from the Bassa and Bamileke tribal ... | Researchers: Lauren Goldman, John Miller, and Bradley Johnston | Image source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:COLLECTIE_TROPENMUSEUM_Bamum_leiders_en_hoogwaardigheidsbekleders_uit_het_sultanaat_Foumban_bij_de_herkozen_president_Ahidjo_TMnr_20012974.jpg
Congo 1996–2003
This conflict may be viewed as either an international conflict or as a hybrid conflict in contrast to a purely civil war or insurgency. It is sometimes referred to as the “First African World War,” and conflict took place between the military forces of several countries, and fighting took place in Congo (initially Zaire), Rwanda and Uganda. It could alternatively be viewed as a civil war with extensive military engagement of neighboring countries. The origin of the conflict was the ethnic slaughter ... | Researcher: John Crisafulli | Image source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Nations_Security_Council_Resolution_1533
Eritrea 1960–94
Eritrea is a country in the Horn of Africa bordered by Sudan in the north and west, Ethiopia in the south, Djibouti in the southeast, and the Red Sea in the east. The country’s east has an extensive coastline (approximately 1,000 kilometers) on the Red Sea, directly across from Saudi Arabia and Yemen. A series of colonial occupations mark Eritrea’s history. Situated in the Horn of Africa, Eritrea’s strategic position along the Red Sea has made it a focal point for various powers throughout history. | Researcher: Abdelhakim Chelli | Image source: https://www.voanews.com/a/eritrea-says-more-than-200-ethiopians-killed-in-border-clash/3379175.html
Liberian Civil War 1989–96
The First Liberian Civil War (1989–96) was fought over government power and wealth. In 1980, Samuel K. Doe ousted the one-party True Whig government but carried on their oppression, corruption, and violence. He controlled elections, survived an attempted coup d’état, and carried out ethnic cleansing. | Researcher: Justin Eng | Image source: https://www.history.navy.mil/content/history/museums/nmusn/explore/photography/humanitarian/20th-century/1990-1999/1990-liberia-operation-sharp-edge.html
Mozambique 1979–1992
The Mozambican Civil War began in 1979 and lasted until a negotiated settlement was signed by both parties in 1992. The conflict was fought in the Republic of Mozambique between the Frelimo government and Renamo insurgents. The governing party at the start of the civil war was the Frente de Libertacao de Mozambique (Frelimo). The national government consistently had approximately 30,000 soldiers throughout the conflict. Frelimo was Marxist in orientation and aligned its foreign ... | Researcher: Isabella Sullivan | Image: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Afonso_Dhlakama,_1993_in_Maringue.jpg
Nigerian Civil War (Biafra) 1967–70
Nigeria is a coastal country in West Africa. In 1960, it became independent from the United Kingdom. The country is home to three main ethnicities, the Hausa in the north, the Yoruba in the west, and the Igbo in the southeast. There are also more than 300 ethnic minorities present. It was the southeastern Igbo part of the country that declared independence in 1967 as the Republic of Biafra. Under colonial rule, ethnic tensions were always present, and the relative peace seemed unstable. In 1966, the predominately Igbo ... | Researcher: John Miller | Image: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nigerian_Civil_War#/media/File:Godwin_Alabi-Isama1.jpg
North Yemen 1962–70
The North Yemeni civil war was fought from 1962 to 1970 between the royalists of the Mutawakkilite Kingdom and the insurgents of the Yemen Arab Republic (YAR). This conflict began with a coup d’état carried out by republicans led by Abdullah al-Sallal, who later declared North Yemen a republic under his presidency. Israel, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia backed the royalists. The United Arab Republic (UAR), a political union of Egypt... | Researcher: Lauren Kiesel | Image source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Egyptian_instructing.jpg
Rhodesian Bush War 1965–1980
In 1965, the colony of Rhodesia declared independence from the United Kingdom in an attempt to avoid decolonization and the inevitable elimination of white minority rule. Approximately 230,000 people, or about 5 percent of a total population of approximately 4.2 million at the time of the Unilateral Declaration of Independence (UDI), were white. The majority black population was divided between the Shona (approximately 90 percent of the indigenous population) and the Ndebele, the majority of whom ... | Researcher: Lauren Kiesel | Image source: https://www.flickr.com/photos/mcnasty09/2616920731/
Rwanda 1994
The Rwandan Genocide was one of the most horrific atrocities in modern history. The conflict was primarily between the two main ethnic groups in Rwanda, the Hutu and the Tutsi. These two ethnic groups have had a tumultuous history, the modern chapter of which was opened by the colonization of Rwanda by Belgium after World War 1. The Belgians elevated the Tutsis as collaborators in colonial rule by making them higher-ranking members of society than the Hutus via identity cards ... | Researcher: Skyler Wilkey | Image source: https://www.reddit.com/media?url=https%3A%2F%2Fi.redd.it%2Ffcxehtny3at11.jpg
Second Sudanese Civil War 1983–2005
The civil war in Sudan resulted from British colonialism and the rise of Islamic fundamentalism. When the Ottoman Empire governed Sudan, social fault lines emerged between the predominantly Arab northern population and the predominantly Black African southern population. After pushing the Ottomans out and establishing the Anglo-Egyptian Condominium in 1899, British colonial politics further divided the country internally and stoked the division behind the violence that emerged in Sudan after the British withdrawal in 1956. | Researcher: Seth Cain | Image source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:SPLA_Second_Sudan_Civil_War_01.png
Senegal Casamance 1982–2022
Casamance is a region in southwestern Senegal separated, except on its eastern flank, from the rest of Senegal by the Gambia. Ecologically different from most of Senegal, economic and political development in the region differed as well. While the remainder of Senegal is predominantly Muslim, the population of the Casamance region is largely Christian and animistic. The population of the Casamance region in 2024 is approximately 1.5 million people, comprising between 8 and 9 percent of the overall population of Senegal of approximately 17.32 million. | Researcher: Patrick Schmidt | Image souce: https://www.flickr.com/photos/genevacall/15348344727
Sierra Leone 1991–2002
In the wake of its independence from the British Empire, Sierra Leone became a one-party state engulfed by corruption under Joseph Saidu Momoh’s All People’s Congress (APC). Self-interest in the All People’s Congress ensured “mass abject poverty.” In 1991, Foday Sankoh formed and led the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) under the guise of seeking democracy but sought to seize the nation’s diamond mines instead. Aided by Liberian warlords, the Revolutionary United Front launched attacks beginning the Sierra Leonean civil war. | Researcher: Jackson Grefe | Image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:MacKenzieSlcu.jpg
Uganda 1980–1986
In 1979 former Ugandan President Idi Amin was ousted from power in a coup lead by the Tanzania People‟s Defense Forces. Following this coup, the Ugandan government was comprised of multiple political groups, eventually leading to a military commission which was then put in charge of the 1980 elections. Four parties ran for election; the Ugandan People‟s Congress (UPC), the Democratic Party, the Uganda Patriotic Movement, and the Conservative Party. The UPC‟s candidate was Dr. Milton Obote ... | Researcher: Annika R. Brady | Image source: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Idi_Amin_and_Mobutu.jpeg

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South & Central Asia

Afghanistan 1973–89
The Soviet Union’s invasion of Afghanistan in 1979 began a decade-long insurgency between the Soviet Union and Afghan People’s Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA) forces and a disparate group of mujahideen Muslim–nationalist guerrillas. The war resulted in approximately 515,000 Soviet casualties (KIA and WIA) and an estimated one million Afghans killed during the conflict.1 | Researcher: Bradley Johnston | Image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:October_87_-_Khalis-loyal_Muja.jpg
Afghanistan 2001–21
Afghanistan 2001–21 The Soviet occupation from 1979 to 1989 and six years of internal conflict between competing resistance groups after the Soviet departure left Afghanistan devastated. A Pakistani-backed group known as the Taliban ended the lawlessness and chaos of the post-Soviet period and consolidated its control over most of the country by 1996. The Taliban’s sheltering of the transnational terrorist group al-Qaeda ... | Researcher: Wasim Arif Raja | Image source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Afghan_National_Army_(4265695244).jpg
Darul Islam 1949–62
Researcher: Owen Dyer Study Sequence No. 49 Darul Islam 1949–62 In 1948, toward the end of the Indonesian National Revolution, radical Islamic politician Sekarmadji Maridjan Kartosoewirjo established the state of Darul Islam and initiated a revolution against the newly formed Republic of Indonesia. Darul Islam emerged from pro-independence Islamic militias that had fought against Dutch occupation alongside other nationalist factions. Such militias broke ties with the Republic of Indonesia following the Renville Agreement of January 1948. ... Photo source unknown
Indonesia (Aceh 1976–2005)
Indonesia, a former Dutch colony, experienced three decades of conflict from 1976 to 2005 between the government and separatists in Aceh province on the northern tip of Sumatra island. The ethnic Acehnese comprise 1.4 percent of the Indonesian population.1 Historically, Aceh was an independent Muslim sultanate before it was defeated by the Dutch in 1903, and it is still largely Muslim-dominated. | Researcher: Ali Sina Sharifi | Image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Free_Aceh_Movement_women_soldiers.jpg
Indonesia Permesta 1957–61
On March 2, 1957, civil and military leaders in East Indonesia formed a rebel movement in response to Republic of Indonesia policies they felt were stifling local economies and disproportionately benefiting the majority Javanese ethnic group.1 The movement initially took root in Makassar, the capital of South Sulawesi. Throughout 1957, leaders from Makassar traveled to Jakarta to meet with the officials in the Indonesian Army and the Republic of Indonesia. In January, Lieutenant ... Researcher: Owen Dyer | Image: https://www.harapanrakyat.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Sejarah-Pemberontakan-Permesta.jpg
Iraq 2003–11
After the Persian Gulf War ended in 1991, international attention focused on Iraq and the possibility of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) production there. Iraq’s noncompliance with UN-sanctioned inspectors and the September 11 attacks led President George W. Bush to issue an ultimatum to Saddam Hussein to leave the country. Despite mixed international support, the United States, Britain, and other countries (such as Australia and Poland) sent troops into Iraq from Kuwait and launched an invasion with the goal of toppling Hussein’s government, creating what became known as “the coalition.” | Researcher: Emma Ko | Image: https://www.dvidshub.net/image/84028/sunni-shia-march-unity-through-mahmudiyah
Iraq Kurds 1961–91
In 1958, Kurdish leader Mustafa al-Barzani returned to Iraq from exile in the Soviet Union, where he had been since leading a failed Kurdish nationalist uprising in 1943.1 Upon his return, al-Barzani assumed leadership of the Kurdish Democratic Party (KDP).2 In 1961, another Kurdish uprising was sparked by Iraqi Prime Minister ʿAbd al-Karīm Qāsim’s refusal to honor pledges to grant Iraq’s Kurds political rights and recognize them as one of two nations in Iraq. Fighting broke out between Iraqi government forces and Kurdish fighters known as the peshmerga. | Researchers: Shoaib Mehryar and Rebecca Stamm | Image: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Iraqi%E2%80%93Kurdish_War#/media/File:Barzani_&_Qasim.jpg
Kurdish Insurgency (PKK Ocalan Phase) 1984–99
Kurdish nationalism has been a source of insurgency and brutal political repression in Asia Minor since the early days of the modern state of Türkiye. The Öcalan phase of the Kurdish insurgency began in 1978 when Kurdish leader Abdullah Öcalan established the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (Partiya Karkaren Kurdistan, PKK), a new Marxist-Leninist separatist group. The Kurdistan Workers’ Party launched its phase of the insurgency in southeastern Türkiye in August 1984 in the provinces of Diyarbakır, Hakkâri, Siirt, Şırnak, Tunceli, and Van. | Researcher: Ahmad Saleem | Image: https://www.flickr.com/photos/kurdishstruggle/21400399983
Lebanese Civil War 1975–90
The Lebanese Civil War was an exceptionally complex internal conflict that fractured Lebanon’s diverse ethnic and religious blocs along fault lines present in Lebanese society for centuries. The Ottoman Empire ruled over the territories that comprise modern-day Syria and Lebanon for centuries, but after World War I and the empire’s subsequent collapse, a League of Nations mandate gave control of both to France. Lebanon’s Christian Maronite communities advocated for a separate and distinct country from Syria. Meanwhile, many of the Muslim communities desired to be incorporated into a new Syrian state. | Researchers: Alex Gainer, Jerome Snesil, and Chris Mason | Image: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lebanese_Civil_War#/media/File:FatehMilitia.jpg
Nepal 1996–2006
The Nepalese civil war started in 1996 when the (Maoist) Communist Party of Nepal launched a “people’s war” adhering closely to Maoist doctrine.1 The insurgency aimed to establish a Maoist Republic and abolish the monarchy. In the first few years, the government of Nepal conducted a counterinsurgency campaign primarily through the police forces, not the Royal Army, and the conflict war was initially limited to small-scale strikes and operations. | Researcher: Ahmad Saleem | Image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Nepalese_Civil_War.jpg
Sikh Punjab 1984–93
Since the partition of the Indian subcontinent in 1947, there have been numerous campaigns to create a Sikh independent state. In 1966, Punjab’s borders were reorganized to create the Punjabi Suba, a Sikh-majority Punjabi-speaking state, but this concession by the Hindu ruling political party proved unsuccessful in containing growing popular support for an autonomous Sikh state. Shortly afterward, the Anandpur Sahib Resolution (ASR) laid out Sikh Shiromani Akali Dal’s political demands, including autonomy from the central government and the integration of additional Punjabi-speaking regions that were not integrated in the 1966 reorganization. | Researcher: Maria Luiza Takahashi | Image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Operation_Blue_Star.jpg
Sri Lanka 1993–2005
Since gaining independence from the United Kingdom in 1948, the island nation of Sri Lanka has experienced episodic violence between its majority Sinhalese population and minority Tamils. Ethnic conflict and violence spread in the 1970s and 1980s. An array of Tamil groups consolidated under the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) organization against a Sinhalese government known for brutality against the Tamil minority. In the aftermath of ethnic riots in 1983, thousands of Tamil refugees fled Sri Lanka, creating a transnational support network for the LTTE insurgency. | Researcher: Anne K. Hansen | Image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Women_of_the_LTTE_2.jpg
Tajikistan 1992–1997
Tajikistan, a former Soviet republic, gained independence in 1991. The ensuing political struggle for power escalated into a civil war following the first elections to form a government. The Tajik Communist Party (CPT) won the presidential election, prompting opposition parties to denounce the elections as illegitimate. The two largest opposition parties, the Islamic Renaissance Party (IRP) and the nationalist Democratic Party of Tajikistan (DPT) united with other opposition ... | Researcher: Isabella Sullivan | Image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Spetsnaz_troopers_during_the_1992_Tajik_war.jpg
Tibet Uprising 1956–59
China invaded and occupied Tibet in 1951. At the time of the rebellion, Lhasa, the capital of Tibet, had been under the control of the People’s Republic of China since the Seventeen Point Agreement imposed in 1951. This was an agreement that was signed by a Tibetan delegation in Beijing under duress, which ceded control of Tibet to China.1 The main instigator of the uprising was a rumor that Chinese authorities planned to kidnap the Dalai Lama.2 At first, the uprising mostly consisted of peaceful ... | Researcher: Lauren Kiesel | Image: https://img.theweek.in/content/dam/week/leisure/society/images/2022/5/17/shadow.jpg

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East Asia

Bougainville 1988–1998
Bougainville is an island province in PNG and the site of one of the world's largest gold and copper mines. From 1988 to 1998, the Bougainville Revolutionary Army (BRA) waged a civil war in Papua New Guinea (PNG), resulting in an estimated 10,000 to 15,000 military and civilian deaths. The Bougainville mine, operated by Bougainville Copper Ltd., accounts for around 40 percent of PNG's exports. Papua New Guinea achieved independence in 1975, and though the government has remained democratic, it has been ... | Researcher: Peter Mayer | Image: https://www.dvidshub.net/image/2688346/koa-moana-162
Cambodia 1967–75
In 1967, the Communist Party of Kampuchea initiated an eight-year armed conflict with the Kingdom of Cambodia that left between 275,000 and 310,000 dead. The conflict emerged from period of immense instability both within Cambodia and in the wider Indochina peninsula. During the late 1960s, Prince Norodom Sihanouk lost support from Cambodia’s conservatives due to economic woes and ... | Researcher: Owen Dyer | Image: https://cdn.historycollection.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/Khmer-Rouge-soldiers-drive-through-the-capital.-Phnom-Penh.-1975.-SJOBERGAFPGetty-Images-1.jpg
China 1945–49
The Chinese Civil War was a military conflict fought between the Kuomintang (KMT or the Nationalist government), and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Following the Japanese defeat in the Second Sino-Japanese War, during which mainland China was divided by the KMT and CCP, the two parties sought complete control of China. Initially following the Japanese surrender, the two sides agreed upon peace talks and a ceasefire, but armed conflict ensued shortly after. | Researcher: Tyler Lissy | Image https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/06/Long_march_Mao.jpg
Laos 1959–75
The Laotian civil war was fought during the years 1959–75, mainly between the Royal Lao government (RLG) and the Communist Pathet Lao, along with non-state actors such as the Hmong guerillas and external actors like the United States and North Vietnam (DRV). While Laos gained independence from France in 1953 and had a declaration of neutrality from the Geneva Conference, the presence of Pathet Lao grew in the north, thus leading to an invitation for a coalition government in 1957. | Researcher: Tyler Lissy | Image: https://www.flickr.com/photos/13476480@N07/35213355896
Malaya 1947–60
The Malayan Emergency was an internal conflict within the British colony of Malaya (and later in the independent state of Malaysia) between the government(s) and the Malayan Communist Party (MCP) and its military wings from 1947 to 1960The conflict stemmed from ethnic segregation and unequal treatment of the Chinese migrants brought to Malaya during the nineteenth century to work on the rubber plantations. Prior to the insurgency, ethnic Malays and Chinese served in the Malayan People’s Anti-Japanese Army (MPAJA) to resist their World War II occupiers. . . | Researcher: Bradley Johnston | Image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_Malayan_Emergency_1948-1960_MAL35.jpg
South Vietnam 1955–75
The Vietnam War was a 20 year–long conflict that pitted South Vietnam, an initially temporary political construct created in 1955, against the Communist Party of North Vietnam and its agents and supporters in the South. From 1955 to 1965, after the proclaimed Republic of South Vietnam rejected the terms of the 1954 Geneva Accords, it received support from the United States in the form of military equipment, financial assistance, and military advisers. ... | Researcher: Seth Cain | Image: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vietnam_War#/media/File:U.S._Army_UH-1H_Hueys_insert_ARVN_troops_at_Kh%C3%A2m_%C4%90%E1%BB%A9c,_Vietnam,_12_July_1970_(79431435).jpg
Thailand 1965–83
Researcher: Tyler Lissy The internal conflict of Thailand from 1965–83, also known as the Communist insurgency in Thailand, was fought between the government of Thailand and the Communist Party of Thailand (CPT). Following the Sino-Soviet split in the early 1960s, the CPT began to align with Maoism and signaled this alignment in 1964 through congratulating the People’s Republic of China on its 15th anniversary of independence, demanding the removal of US military forces from Thailand and expressing a desire for a regime change. Photo from https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Operation-samchai.jpg

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