Guinea-Bissau War of Independence was an armed conflict and national liberation struggle in Portuguese Guinea (modern Guinea-Bissau) between 1963 and 1974.

Guinea-Bissau (as well as the nearby Cape Verde archipelago) had been claimed by Portugal since 1446 and was a major trading post for commodities and African slaves during the 18th century, before the former had been outlawed by the Portuguese authorities. The interior was however not fully controlled by the Portuguese until the latter half of 19th century. Sporadic fighting continued during the early 20th century and the Bijagós Islands were not pacified under Portuguese rule until 1936. In 1952 by a constitutional amendment Guinea-Bissau became an overseas province.

While there had always been local resistance it was not until 1956 the first liberation movement was founded by Amílcar Cabral and Rafael Barbosa, the African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde (PAIGC).

The first major actitive of the PAIGC was a strike by dock-workers in Bissau on August 3, 1959. The colonial police violently repressed the strike and more than 50 people died, the incident became known as the Pijiguiti Massacre. The massacre led to a major upswing of popular support for the PAIGC.

A war of independence is a conflict occurring over a territory that has declared independence. Once the state that previously held the territory sends in military forces to assert its sovereignty or the native population clashes with the former occupier, a separatist rebellion has begun. If a new state is successfully established, the conflict is subsequently known as a war of independence.

Use of the term largely originates from the American War of Independence but prior conflicts sometimes got the name retroactively—such as the Dutch War of Independence, originally known as the "Eighty Years' War" and still often called by that name in the Netherlands themselves.

War of independence were followed by the decolonization period Wars of national liberation.

Examples of war of independence include:

Father Walter Hadye Lini (1942 - February 21, 1999) was an Anglican priest and the founding Prime Minister of Vanuatu. He was born on Pentecost Island. During the era when Vanuatu was a condominium ruled by the United Kingdom and France, Lini formed the Vanua'aku Pati, which was principally backed by English-speakers. He became the colony's Chief Minister in 1979 and ascended to the position of Prime Minister upon Vanuatu's independence in 1980.

Lini's administration was very controversial in the West because of its ties with the Communist bloc, Libya, and other socialist countries viewed with disdain by the United States and Europe, and its staunch opposition to nuclear testing in the region. He was the primary advocate of Melanesian socialism. Vanuatu provided support to the Kanak indigenous liberation movement in New Caledonia, and was the only country in the region to support the right of East Timor, then under Indonesian occupation, to self-determination. His term ended in 1991, due to factionalism within his party. He joined the National United Party of which he was leader at the time of his death. He died of an illness in Vanuatu's capital Port Vila. His sister, Hilda Lini, and brother, Ham Lini, are also politicians in Vanuatu.

Wilhelm Richard Wagner ( /ˈvɑːɡnər/; German pronunciation: [ˈʁiçaʁt ˈvaːɡnɐ]; 22 May 1813 – 13 February 1883) was a German composer, conductor, theatre director and polemicist primarily known for his operas (or "music dramas", as he later called them). Wagner's compositions, particularly those of his later period, are notable for their complex texture, rich harmonies and orchestration, and the elaborate use of leitmotifs: musical themes associated with individual characters, places, ideas or plot elements. Unlike most other opera composers, Wagner wrote both the music and libretto for every one of his stage works. Perhaps the two best-known extracts from his works are the Ride of the Valkyries from the opera Die Walküre, and the Wedding March (Bridal Chorus) from the opera Lohengrin.

Initially establishing his reputation as a composer of works such as The Flying Dutchman and Tannhäuser which were broadly in the romantic vein of Weber and Meyerbeer, Wagner transformed operatic thought through his concept of the Gesamtkunstwerk ("total work of art"). This would achieve the synthesis of all the poetic, visual, musical and dramatic arts and was announced in a series of essays between 1849 and 1852. Wagner realized this concept most fully in the first half of the monumental four-opera cycle Der Ring des Nibelungen. However, his thoughts on the relative importance of music and drama were to change again, and he reintroduced some traditional operatic forms into his last few stage works, including Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg.