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The War Portal

Introduction

The Battle of Austerlitz by François Gérard.

War is a state of conflict between relatively large groups of people (such as nations, states, organizations, social groups), which is characterized by lethal armed violence between combatants or upon civilians. Other terms for war, which often serve as euphemisms, include armed conflict, hostilities, and police action.

A common look on war is a series of military campaigns between at least two or more opposing sides involving a dispute over sovereignty, territory, resources, ideology, or a host of other issues. A war to liberate an occupied country is sometimes characterized as a "war of liberation", while a war between internal elements of the same state is called a civil war.

Aside from humans and other primates, ants are the only other animals known to exhibit such behavior on a large scale.

A battle is a single engagement fought between two or more parties, wherein each party or aligned group will seek to defeat their opponent. Battles are most often fought during military campaigns and can usually be well defined in time, space and action. Wars are generally the continuum of a related series of battles and are guided by strategy, whereas individual battles are the stage on which tactics are employed.

Military history is the recording and analysis of those events in the history of humanity that fall within the category of organized armed conflict and that relates to the institutions and organizations that prosecute such conflict.

“

If you want peace, prepare for war.(Si vis pacem, para bellum)

”

— Publius Flavius Vegetius Renatus

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The Battle of the Bulge was the last major German offensive on the Western Front in World War II. It was intended that the German army would split the Allied line in half, capture Antwerp, sweep north and encircle and destroy four Allied armies, thus forcing them to negotiate for peace. Although unsuccessful, it nevertheless tied down huge amounts of Allied resources, and a slow response to the resulting gap in their lines erased months from their timetable. An alternative analysis is that the offensive allowed the Allies to severely deplete the cream of German army outside the defenses of the West Wall and in poor supply state, greatly easing the assault on Germany afterward. In numerical terms, it is the largest battle the United States Army has ever fought.

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The Korean War (also known by other names) was fought between North Korea and South Korea from 1950 to 1953. The war began on 25 June 1950 when North Korea invaded South Korea following clashes along the border and rebellions in South Korea. North Korea was supported by China and the Soviet Union while South Korea was supported by the United States and allied countries. The fighting ended with an armistice on 27 July 1953.

In 1910, Imperial Japan annexed Korea, where it ruled for 35 years until its surrender at the end of World War II on 15 August 1945. The United States and the Soviet Union divided Korea along the 38th parallel into two zones of occupation. The Soviets administered the northern zone and the Americans administered the southern zone. In 1948, as a result of Cold War tensions, the occupation zones became two sovereign states. A socialist state, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, was established in the north under the totalitarian communist leadership of Kim Il-sung, while a capitalist state, the Republic of Korea, was established in the south under the authoritarian, autocratic leadership of Syngman Rhee. Both governments of the two new Korean states claimed to be the sole legitimate government of all of Korea, and neither accepted the border as permanent. (Full article...)

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Major topics and categories

Did you know? - show different entries

... that one witness claimed that not even God could have prevented the Battle of Omagh?
... that the story of a lone German artillery officer disabling up to 16 British tanks on the first day of the 1917 Battle of Cambrai was encouraged by the German Nazi Party?
... that despite losing almost one thousand men capturing Malacca in 1641, the Dutch East India Company did not invest much time or energy into it afterward?
... that the tomb of Muhammad Ahmad in Sudan was desecrated by British forces after the Battle of Omdurman in 1898?
... that a Chinese ex-slave named Quintín Quintana became a successful merchant and pro-Chile leader in the War of the Pacific?
... that the ǃUriǁʼaekua used their cattle to defeat the Portuguese Empire decisively at the Battle of Salt River?
... that James Fulton Zimmerman was the first historian to examine U.S. State Department records on the controversial impressment that occurred just before the War of 1812 was declared?
... that the flag of the French Army's 92nd Infantry Regiment was lost when the destroyer Siroco sank off Dunkirk in 1940?

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A Supermarine Spitfire Mark XVI. The Spitfire was an iconic British single-seat fighter used by the RAF and many Allied countries in the Second World War.
Photo credit: Chowells

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Selected anniversaries

February 19

197 – Roman Emperor Septimius Severus defeats usurper Clodius Albinus in the Battle of Lugdunum, the bloodiest battle between Roman armies.
1674 - England and the Netherlands sign the Peace of Westminster, ending the Third Anglo-Dutch War. A provision of the agreement transfers the Dutch colony of New Amsterdam to England, which renamed it New York.
1915 - World War I: The Battle of Gallipoli began.
1941 - World War II: The Afrika Korps, the corps-level headquarters controlling the German Panzer divisions in North Africa, was formed.
1942 - World War II: nearly 250 Japanese warplanes attack Darwin, Australia.
1943 - World War II: Battle of the Kasserine Pass in Tunisia begins.
1945 - World War II: Battle of Iwo Jima - about 30,000 United States Marines land on Iwo Jima.

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General images

The following are images from various war-related articles on Wikipedia.

Image 1Selection of weapons collected by security officers at an airport (from Weapon)
Image 2Infantry were the first military forces in history. This warrior statuette demonstrates that military culture was an important part of historical societies, c.480 BC, Staatliche Antikensammlungen. (from Military history)
Image 3A ballswheeled ballista drawn by armored cataphract horses, c. 400 (from Weapon)
Image 4Ancient Chinese cannon displayed in the Tower of London (from Weapon)
Image 5Illustration of an "eruptor," a proto-cannon, capable of firing cast-iron bombs filled with gunpowder, from the 14th century Ming Dynasty book Huolongjing (from Military history)
Image 6The victory of the Polish-Lithuanian forces over the Muscovites at the Battle of Orsha in 1514 (from Military history)
Image 7An array of Neolithic artifacts, including bracelets, axe heads, chisels, and polishing tools (from Weapon)
Image 8Ordnance being produced at Pantex in Amarillo, Texas, United States during World War II (from Weapon)
Image 9A Greek trireme (from Military history)
Image 10A sample scene of the Taiping Rebellion. (from Religious war)
Image 11A fatally wounded Israeli school boy in a Hamas attack, 2011 (from Religious war)
Image 12A variety of firearms from the World War II and postwar eras on a firearm rack (from Weapon)
Image 13A battle of the Reconquista from the Cantigas de Santa Maria (from Religious war)
Image 14A small English Civil War-era cannon (from Military history)
Image 15Eighty Years' War, or Dutch Revolt against Spain, painting by Sebastiaen Vrancx (from Military history)
Image 16The St. Bartholomew's Day massacre of French Protestants, 1572 (from Religious war)
Image 17The 3rd-century Great Ludovisi sarcophagus depicts a battle between Romans and Goths. (from Military history)
Image 18Fulani jihad states of Africa, c. 1830 (from Religious war)
Image 19Medieval Indian weapons (from Weapon)
Image 20War-damaged buildings in Beirut (from Religious war)
Image 21Relief of Ramses II located in Abu Simbel fighting at the Battle of Kadesh on a chariot. (from Military history)
Image 22Horn of Africa circa 1540 during the Ethiopian–Adal War, at the peak of al-Ghazi's expansion.
Adal Sultanate
Ethiopian Empire (Abyssinian/Habesha Kingdom)
(from Religious war)
Image 23Franco-Prussian War (from Military history)
Image 24The Vickers was the successor to the Maxim gun and remained in British military service for 79 consecutive years. (from Weapon)
Image 25A 155 mm M198 howitzer firing a shell (from Military history)
Image 26Battle of Crécy (1346) between the English and French in the Hundred Years' War. (from Military history)
Image 27Japanese samurai boarding Mongol ships in 1281 (from Military history)
Image 28Saladin and Guy of Lusignan after the Battle of Hattin of 1187 (from Religious war)
Image 29The bayonet is used as both a knife and, when attached to the front of a rifle, a polearm. (from Weapon)
Image 30Midianite women, children and livestock taken captive by Israelite soldiers after all Midianite men had been killed and their towns burnt. Watercolour by James Tissot (c. 1900) illustrating the War against the Midianites as narrated in Numbers 31. (from Religious war)
Image 31The Canadian War Museum. (from Military history)

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