1066-1774

War	Dates	History
Norman Conquest of England	1066	France (William the Conqueror) - England (Harold II) Battle of Hastings (14 Oct 1066). Most decisive battle on English soil which led to the successful conquest by the Normans. Harold II died in battle. Began rule of a dynasty of Norman Kings and almost complete replacement of English nobility by Normans, Bretons and Flemings.
The Crusades	1095 - 1272	Christians - Turks Holy Wars authorized by the Pope, fought against infidels in the East, heretics who threatened Catholic unity, and against Christian lay powers who opposed the Papacy.
Conquests of Genghis Khan	1190 - 1227	Mongols - N China, Kara - Chitai Empire Subjugation of hostile tribes - Naimans, Tanguts, and Turkish Uigurs.
War of the Sicilian Vespers	1282 - 1302	Sicily - France Massacre of the French in Sicily maked the beginning of revolt of Sicilians against Charles of Anjou. War of Sicilian Vespers ensued. Angevins supported by papacy, Italian Guelphs and Philip II of France, while Aragonese helped by Italian Ghilbellines. James II ascended to throne, made peace with papacy, France, and Angevins (to whom he renounced Sicily) by Treaty of Anagni.
Hundred Years' War	1337 - 1453	England - France Edward III claimed French throne in 1340 and styled himself 'King of England and France'. Traditional rivalries exploded into a dynastic struggle. 1415 Battle of Agincourt - Henry V led overwhelming victory over French. 1417 English then began systematic conquest of Normandy, a task beyond their resources. Evicted from Guyenne (1453) which reduced England's French territories to Calais (lost in 1558) and the Channel Islands. However, the title of King of France was not relinquished until 1801.
Fall of Constantinople	1453	Turks - Byzantine Empire Collapse of the Byzantine Empire. Since 1261, when Constantinople has been retaken from Latin rule by Michael VII Paleologus, the Byzantine Empire had been threatened by growing power of Ottoman Turks in Asia Minor. 1422 Ottoman Sultan of Turkey Murad II laid siege to the city. This failed but attempt thirty years later by Mehmed II succeeded. Constantinople fell 1453. Last Byzantine emperor Constantine XI Paleologus died in battle.
Wars of the Roses	1455 - 1485	Civil wars in England. Between two rival factions of the House of Plantagenet - York (white rose) and Lancaster (red rose). Began when Richard, Duke of York, claimed protectorship of crown after King Henry VI's mental breakdown and ended with Henry Tudor's defeat of Richard III in Battle of Bosworth. Wars escalated by gentry and by aristocratic feuds.
French Wars of Religion	1562 - 1598	Catholics - Huguenots. Caused by growth of Calvinism, noble factionalism, and weak royal government. From 1550's Calvinist or Huguenot numbers increased, fostered by missionary activities of Geneva. Noble factions of Bourbons, Guise, and Montmorency were split by religion as well as by family interests. Civil wars were encouraged by Philip II's support of Catholic Guise faction and by Elizabeth I's aid to Huguenots. They ended when Henry of Navarre returned to Catholicism and crushed the Guise Catholic League.
Thirty Year's War	1618 - 1648	France - Habsburg rulers. Power struggles between Kings of France and Habsburg rulers of Holy Roman Empire and Spain. War fuelled by conflict between Calvinism and Catholicism, and also by the underlying constitutional conflict between Holy Roman Emperor and the German Princes. With Frederick V's defeat (1620) and intervention by other powers (such as Sweden, Denmark, and France) the conflict intensified and spread. Spain collapsed and left the emperor isolated. Peace negotiations opened and ended German war at the Peace of Westphalia.
Bishop's Wars	1639 - 1640	Scotland - England. Two wars between Charles I and Scotland caused by Charles I's unpopular policies towards the Scottish kirk. Resulted in English defeats and bankruptcy for Charles who was then forced to call the Short and Long Parliaments in 1640, bringing to an end his personal rule.
English Civil Wars	1642 - 1651	Charles I - Parliamentarians. Parliamentary opposition to Royal policies. First battle at Edgehill (Oct 1642) but neither side victorious. Royalists then threatened London, the Parliamentarians stronghold. By Autumn then North and West were in their hands. Crucial event was 1643 alliance of Parliament with the Scots. This increased military strength helped the parliamentarians, led by Oliver Cromwell, defeat the Royalists at Marston Moor. 1646 saw end of first civil war with Charles' surrender to the Scots at Newark in May. 1646-48 negotiations between parliament and King began. Aug 1647 army presented King with Head of Proposals asking for religious tolerance and parliamentary control of the armed forces. Charles made secret pact with the Scots, promising to establish Presbytarianism in England. Scots invaded England and were only repulsed in Battle of Preston. Around 100,000 men died in the two wars (10% of the adult male population). Charles brought to trial by Cromwell (who was also signatory of his death warrant) and executed Jan 1649.
War of League of Augsburg	1688 - 1697	Louis XIV - European Alliance. The third major war of Louis XIV of France in which his expansionist plans were blocked by the alliance led by England, United Provinces (of the Netherlands) and Austrian Habsburgs. Issue underlying war was the balance of power between Bourbon and Habsburg dynasties. War began when French marched into the Palatinate while Austria was defeating the Turks in the East. Grand Alliance of United Provinces, England, Saxony, Bavaria, and Spain, all fearful of French annexations, joined together against France. The war was costly and lengthy. Louis XIV opened negotiations for peace 1696 and in 1697 Treaty of Rijswijk drawn up. Did not resolve conflict between Habsburgs and Bourbons, nor English and French, both of which erupted again only four years later in the Spanish Succession.
War of Spanish Succession	1701 - 1714	Alliance - Louis XIV. Alliance of British, Dutch, and Habsburg Emperor against French. supported by Spanish. War arose out of conflict as to succession to throne of Spain following death of childless Charles II. Claimants were England, Dutch Republic and France. When alliance collapsed the war was concluded by Treaties of Utrecht which divided inheritance among the powers, Britain's imperial power grew at the expense of France and Spain.
War of Jenkin's Ear	1739 - 1743	Britain - Spain. Began in 1739 but then merged into War of the Austrian Succession. Anti-Spanish feeling in Britain provoked war as Captain Robert Jenkins claimed Spanish coastguards in the Caribbean cut off his ear.
War of Austrian Succession	1740 - 1748	Prussia - Austria. Struggle for mastery of German states. Hostilities prompted by Frederick II of Prussia's seizure of Habsburg province of Silesia. French allied with Bavaria and Spain and later Saxony and Prussia. Austria supported by Britain who feared France's hegemony in Europe which would threaten Britain's colonial and commercial empire. After 1744 this developed into a colonial conflict between Britain and the Franco-Spanish bloc. Peace concluded only by Treaty of Aiz-la-Chapelle (1748) which preserved Austrian inheritance but also confirmed Prussian inheritance of Silesia.
Seven Years' War	1756 - 1763	European. A major European conflict rooted in the rivalry between Austria and Prussia and the imminent colonial struggle between Britain and France in the New World and the Far East. Hostilities in N America (1754) predate the Diplomatic Revolution in Europe (1756) which created two opposing power blocs: Austria, France, Russia, Sweden and Saxony against Prussia, Britain, and Portugal. British maritime superiority countered Franco-Spanish naval power and prevented an invasion by the French. The European war, precipitated by Prussia's seizure of Saxony, was marked by many notable pitched land battles. Saved from total defeat when Russia switched sides, Frederick II of Prussia retained Silesia in 1763.

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Last updated: 2005-01-17