war: Quick Facts

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Last updated

Nov. 11, 2026

News •

War has upended Russian-Nordic friendships forged on Arctic ice hockey rinks. Can they ever recover? • Nov. 10, 2026, 6:00 AM ET (The Guardian)

Map Shows Russia Losing Ground Amid Heaviest Casualties Since Start of War • Nov. 2, 2026, 6:47 AM ET (Newsweek)

Facts

Also Known As	warfare

Photos and Videos

Atomic bombing of Hiroshima

Painting of the Battle of Waterloo showing British infantry and cavalry, some with a Union Jack flag, resisting a French cavalry charge amid smoke and chaos on the battlefield.

World War I soldiers walk through muddy, debris-strewn ruins with the damaged Cloth Hall of Ypres, Belgium, standing in the background under a cloudy sky.

M65 atomic cannon

Carl von Clausewitz

Portrait of Benedict de Spinoza, 17th-century Dutch-Jewish philosopher, with shoulder-length dark hair, white collar, and black robe, set against a dark background.

Soviet invasion of Prague

Painting by Baron Louis Francois Lejeune showing Napoleon Bonaparte leading French troops against Mameluke forces at the Battle of the Pyramids in Egypt, with smoke, palm trees, and pyramids in the distance.

Kellogg-Briand Pact

Weird war facts in history

Learn about the social behavior of bonobos

Postwar Germany: Surviving and rebuilding after 1945

Learn about the treatment for combat fatigue (shell shock) administered to British soldiers in WWI

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Topics

tactics logistics strategy Law of war guerrilla warfare raiding nuclear warfare chemical warfare defense intervention war on terrorism diplomacy crime governance election intelligence censorship punishment arms control postcolonialism

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Key People

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Narses

Syrian theologian

Alexander the Great

king of Macedonia

Painting by Albrecht Durer of Charlemagne in ornate coronation robes and crown, holding a sword and orb, with gold embroidery and regal symbols behind him.

Charlemagne

Holy Roman emperor [747?–814]

Elizabeth I

Elizabeth I

queen of England

Genghis Khan

Genghis Khan

Mongolian warrior-ruler

Mosaic detail of Emperor Justinian I with a jeweled crown and halo, wearing ornate robes, from the Church of San Vitale in Ravenna, Italy.

Justinian I

Byzantine emperor

Philip II

Philip II

king of Macedonia

The Yongle emperor, detail of a portrait; in the National Palace Museum, Taipei.

Yongle

emperor of Ming dynasty

Kublai Khan

Kublai Khan

emperor of Yuan dynasty

Alexander I

Alexander I

emperor of Russia

Medieval manuscript miniature showing Frederick I as a crowned crusader holding an orb and scepter, with Henry of Schaftlarn kneeling and presenting a book to him.

Frederick I

Holy Roman emperor

King Philip IV

Philip IV

king of France

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Scipio Africanus the Younger

Roman general

Bronze equestrian statue of Marcus Aurelius with his right arm raised, seated on a horse, at Piazza del Campidoglio in Rome, Italy.

Marcus Aurelius

emperor of Rome

Bust of Vespasian, found at Ostia; in the Museo Nazionale Romano, Rome.

Vespasian

Roman emperor

Edward I

Edward I

king of England

Philip II.

Philip II

king of France

Portrait of Sir Francis Drake with a lace ruff collar, mustache, and short curly hair, painted in oil on panel. The background includes his name in gold lettering.

Sir Francis Drake

English admiral

Christopher Columbus

Isabella I

queen of Spain

Trajan

Trajan

Roman emperor

Louis IX of France (St. Louis), stained glass window of Louis IX during the Crusades. (Unknown location.)

World Wars

A soldier standing guard in a Washington, D.C. street with the ruins of buildings that were destroyed during the riots that followed the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr., April 8, 1968.

By All Military Meanings Necessary: Vocab Quiz

Union Soldiers. Bottom half of the memorial honoring American Civil War General and U.S. President Ulysses S. Grant at the base of Capitol Hill, Washington, DC. Photo: 2010 Memorial Day

History of Warfare

Battle of Midway. Midway Islands. (left of panorama asset 160828) USS Astoria (CA-34) steams by USS Yorktown (CV-5), shortly after the carrier had been hit by 3 Japanese bombs on June 4, 1942. Dense smoke is from fires in Yorktown's uptakes. (notes)

Match the Battle with the War

Civil War era cannon overlooks Kennesaw Mountain National Battle. (military, artillery, American history)

Pick Your Battles Quiz