It is unlikely that the sixteen-year-old Winston Churchill, the thirty-two-year-old ruling Russian emperor Nicholas II, the eighteen-year-old Franklin Roosevelt, the eleven-year-old Adolf Hitler or the twenty-two-year-old Joseph Stalin (at that time still Dzhugashvili) knew at the time the world entered a new century that it would be . But not only these personalities became the main personalities featured in the most large-scale military conflicts.
We list the main wars and military conflicts of the 20th century. During the First World War, nine to fifteen million people died, and one of the consequences was the “Spanish woman” epidemic, which began in 1918. It was the deadliest pandemic in history. It is estimated that twenty to fifty million people died from the disease. World War II claimed the lives of almost sixty million. Conflicts of a smaller scale also brought death.
In total, in the twentieth century, sixteen conflicts were recorded, during which more than one million people died, six conflicts with the number of victims from half a million to one million, fourteen military clashes in which from 250 thousand to half a million people died. So, from 160 to 200 million died as a result of organized violence. In fact, military conflicts of the 20th century destroyed one of every 22 inhabitants of the planet.
World War I
World War I began on July 28, 1914, and ended on November 11, 1918. Thirty-eight states participated in this military conflict of the 20th century. The main cause of the war was serious economic contradictions between the superpowers, and the formal reason for the start of full-scale action was the assassination of the heir to the Austrian throne, Franz Ferdinand, by the Serbian terrorist Gavrila Principle. This caused a conflict between Austria and Serbia. Entered the war and Germany, supporting Austria.
The military conflict had a significant impact on the history of the twentieth century. It was this war that determined the end of the old world order established after the Napoleonic campaign. It is especially important that the outcome of the conflict became an important factor for the start of the next world war. Many countries were dissatisfied with the new rules of the world order and had territorial claims against their neighbors.
Civil war in Russia
The end of the monarchy was the civil war in Russia of 1917-1922. The military conflict of the 20th century arose against the backdrop of the struggle for the fullness of power between representatives of various classes, groups and social strata of the former Russian Empire. The intransigence of the positions of various political unions in matters of power, the country's further economic and political course led to the conflict.
The civil war ended with the victory of the Bolsheviks, but brought great damage to the country. Production fell by one fifth of the level of 1913, half the agricultural production. All state formations that arose after the collapse of the empire were liquidated. The Bolshevik Party established the dictatorship of the proletariat.
The Second World War
The most bloody war in history, the first in the course of which hostilities were fought on land, in air, and at sea, began on September 1, 1939 . In this military conflict of the 20th century, the armies of 61 states participated, that is 1700 million people, and this is already 80% of the world's population. The battles were fought in forty countries. In addition, for the first time in history, the number of dead civilians exceeded the number of dead soldiers and officers, and almost twice.
After the Second World War - the main military-political conflict of the 20th century - the contradictions between the allies only worsened. The cold war began, in which the social. the camp was actually defeated. One of the most important consequences of the war was the Nuremberg trials, during which the actions of war criminals were condemned.
Korean war
This military conflict of the 20th century lasted from 1950-1953 between South and North Korea. The battles were fought with the military contingent of China, the USA and the USSR. The prerequisites for this conflict were laid back in 1945, when Soviet and American military units appeared on the territory of the country occupied by Japan. This confrontation created a local warfare model in which superpowers fight on the territory of a third state without using nuclear weapons. As a result, 80% of the transport and industrial infrastructure of both parts of the peninsula was destroyed, and Korea was divided into two zones of influence.
War in vietnam
The most important event of the Cold War was the military conflict of the second half of the 20th century in Vietnam. U.S. Air Force bombing began on March 2, 1964. The armed struggle lasted more than fourteen years, eight of which the United States intervened in Vietnam. The successful completion of the conflict allowed in 1976 to create a single state on this territory.
Soviet-Chinese conflicts
Several military conflicts of Russia of the 20th century were associated with relations with China. In the late fifties, the Soviet-Chinese split began, and the peak of confrontation occurred in 1969. Then there was a conflict on Damansky Island. The reason was the internal events in the USSR, namely the criticism of Stalin’s personality and the new course towards “peaceful coexistence” with capitalist states.
War in Afghanistan
The reason for the Afghan war was the coming to power of a leadership not pleasing to the party elite of the USSR. The Soviet Union could not lose Afghanistan, which threatened to leave the zone of influence. Real data on losses in the conflict (1979-1989) became available to the general public only in 1989. The newspaper Pravda published that the losses amounted to almost 14 thousand people, and by the end of the twentieth century this figure reached 15 thousand.
Gulf war
The war was fought between multinational forces (USA) and Iraq for the restoration of Kuwait's independence in 1990-1991. The conflict is known for the widespread use of aviation (for influencing the outcome of hostilities), high-precision (“smart”) weapons, as well as the widest media coverage (for this conflict was called the “television war”). In this war, the Soviet Union first supported the United States.
Chechen wars
The Chechen war cannot be called completed so far. Dual power was established in Chechnya in 1991. Such a situation could not exist for long, so the revolution, as expected, began. The situation was aggravated by the collapse of a huge country, which until recently seemed to Soviet citizens a bulwark of calm and confidence in the future. Now the whole system was falling apart before our eyes. The first Chechen war lasted from 1994 to 1996, the second takes the period from 1999 to 2009. So this is a military conflict of the 20-21st century.