The longest war in the history of mankind: history, interesting facts. The longest wars in history

In the history of mankind there were wars that lasted more than a century. Maps were redrawn, defended political interests, people died. We recall the most protracted military conflicts.

Punic War (118 years)

By the middle of the III century BC. the Romans almost completely subjugated Italy, swung at the entire Mediterranean and wanted Sicily first. But the mighty Carthage also claimed this rich island. Their claims unleashed 3 wars that stretched (intermittently) from 264 to 146. BC. and got the name from Latin name Phoenicians-Carthaginians (Puns).

The first (264-241) - 23 years old (began just because of Sicily). The second (218-201) - 17 years (after the capture by Hannibal Spanish city Sagunta). The last (149-146) - 3 years. It was then that the famous phrase "Carthage must be destroyed!" was born.
Pure warfare took 43 years. The conflict in total is 118 years.
Results: Besieged Carthage fell. Rome has won.

Hundred Years War (116 years)

Went in 4 stages. With pauses for truces (the longest - 10 years) and the fight against the plague (1348) from 1337 to 1453.
Opponents: England and France.
Causes: France wanted to oust England from the southwestern lands of Aquitaine and complete the unification of the country. England - to strengthen influence in the province of Guyenne and return those lost under John the Landless - Normandy, Maine, Anjou.
Complication: Flanders - formally was under the auspices of the French crown, in fact it was free, but depended on English wool in cloth making.
Reason: the claims of the English king Edward III from the Plantagenet-Anjou dynasty (the maternal grandson of the French king Philip IV the Handsome of the Capetian family) to the Gallic throne.
Allies: England - German feudal lords and Flanders. France - Scotland and the Pope.
armies: English - hired. under the command of the king. The basis is infantry (archers) and knightly units. French - knightly militia, under the leadership of royal vassals.
fracture: after the execution of Joan of Arc in 1431 and the battle for Normandy, the national liberation war of the French people began with the tactics of guerrilla raids.
Results: On October 19, 1453, the English army capitulated at Bordeaux. Having lost everything on the continent, except for the port of Calais (it remained English for another 100 years). France switched to a regular army, abandoned knightly cavalry, gave preference to infantry, and the first firearms appeared.

Greco-Persian War (50th Anniversary)

Trigger: Ionian uprising. The battle of the Spartans at Thermopylae is legendary. The battle of Salamis was a turning point. The point was put by "Kalliev Mir".
Results: Persia lost Aegean Sea, the coasts of the Hellespont and the Bosphorus. Recognized the freedom of the cities of Asia Minor. The civilization of the ancient Greeks entered the time of the highest prosperity, laying the culture, which, even after millennia, the world was equal to.

Guatemalan War (age 36)

Civil. It proceeded in outbreaks from 1960 to 1996. A provocative decision by US President Eisenhower in 1954 triggered a coup.

Cause: the fight against the "communist infection".
Opponents: Bloc "Guatemalan National Revolutionary Unity" and the military junta.
Victims: almost 6 thousand murders were committed annually, only in the 80s - 669 massacres, more than 200 thousand dead (of which 83% were Maya Indians), over 150 thousand went missing.
Results: signing of the “Treaty on a durable and lasting peace that protected the rights of 23 Native American groups.

War of the Scarlet and White Rose (aged 33)

Confrontation of the English nobility - supporters of two tribal branches of the Plantagenet dynasty - Lancaster and York. Stretched from 1455 to 1485.
Prerequisites: "bastard feudalism" - the privilege of the English nobility to pay off military service from the lord, in whose hands large funds were concentrated, with which he paid for the army of mercenaries, which became more powerful than the royal one.

Cause: the defeat of England in the Hundred Years War, the impoverishment of the feudal lords, their rejection of the political course of the wife of the feeble-minded king Henry IV, hatred of her favorites.
Opposition: Duke Richard of York - considered the right to power of the Lancasters illegitimate, became regent under an incapacitated monarch, in 1483 - king, killed at the Battle of Bosworth.
Results: It upset the balance of political forces in Europe. Led to the collapse of the Plantagenets. She placed the Welsh Tudors on the throne, who ruled England for 117 years. Cost the lives of hundreds of English aristocrats.

Thirty Years' War (30 years)

The first military conflict of a pan-European scale. Lasted from 1618 to 1648.
Opponents: two coalitions. The first is the union of the Holy Roman Empire (in fact, Austrian) with Spain and the Catholic principalities of Germany. The second - the German states, where power was in the hands of Protestant princes. They were supported by the armies of reformist Sweden and Denmark and Catholic France.

Cause: The Catholic League was afraid of the spread of the ideas of the Reformation in Europe, the Protestant Evangelical Union - they aspired to this.
Trigger: Revolt of Czech Protestants against Austrian domination.
Results: The population of Germany has decreased by a third. The French army lost 80 thousand. Austria and Spain - more than 120. After the Treaty of Münster in 1648, a new independent state, the Republic of the United Provinces of the Netherlands (Holland), was finally fixed on the map of Europe.

Peloponnesian War (age 27)

There are two of them. The first is the Little Peloponnesian (460-445 BC). The second (431-404 BC) is the largest in history Ancient Hellas after the first Persian invasion of Balkan Greece. (492-490 BC).
Opponents: Peloponnesian Union led by Sparta and the First Marine (Delosian) under the auspices of Athens.

Causes: The desire for hegemony in the Greek world of Athens and the rejection of their claims by Sparta and Corypha.
contradictions: Athens was ruled by an oligarchy. Sparta is a military aristocracy. Ethnically, the Athenians were Ionians, the Spartans were Dorians.
In the second, 2 periods are distinguished. The first is "Arkhidamov's War". The Spartans made land invasions into the territory of Attica. Athenians - sea raids on the coast of the Peloponnese. It ended in the 421st signing of the Peace of Nikiev. After 6 years, it was violated by the Athenian side, which was defeated in the battle of Syracuse. The final phase went down in history under the name Dekeley or Ionian. With the support of Persia, Sparta built a fleet and destroyed the Athenian at Aegospotami.
Results: After the conclusion in April 404 BC. Theramenian world of Athens lost the fleet, tore down the Long Walls, lost all the colonies and joined the Spartan alliance.

Vietnam War (age 18)

The Second Indochinese War between Vietnam and the United States and one of the most destructive of the second half of the 20th century. Lasted from 1957 to 1975. 3 periods: partisan South Vietnamese (1957-1964), from 1965 to 1973 - full-scale fighting USA, 1973-1975 - after the withdrawal of American troops from the territories of the Viet Cong.
Opponents: South and North Vietnam. On the side of the South - the United States and the military bloc SEATO (Southeast Asia Treaty Organization). North - China and the USSR.

Cause: when the communists came to power in China, and Ho Chi Minh became the leader of South Vietnam, the White House administration was afraid of the communist "domino effect". After Kennedy's assassination, Congress gave President Lyndon Johnson carte blanche to use military force in the Tonkin Resolution. And already in March 65, two battalions left for Vietnam fur seals US army. So the States became part of the Vietnamese Civil War. They applied the “search and destroy” strategy, burned the jungle with napalm - the Vietnamese went underground and responded with a guerrilla war.

Who benefits: American arms corporations.
US losses: 58 thousand in combat (64% under the age of 21) and about 150 thousand suicides of American veterans of the explosives.
Vietnamese casualties: over 1 million who fought and more than 2 civilians, only in South Vietnam - 83 thousand amputees, 30 thousand blind, 10 thousand deaf, after the operation "Ranch Hand" (chemical destruction of the jungle) - congenital genetic mutations.
Results: The Tribunal of May 10, 1967 qualified US actions in Vietnam as a crime against humanity (Article 6 of the Nuremberg Statute) and banned the use of CBU-type thermite bombs as weapons of mass destruction.

In the history of mankind, various wars occupy a huge place.
They redrawn maps, gave birth to empires, destroyed peoples and nations. The earth remembers wars that lasted more than a century. We recall the most protracted military conflicts in the history of mankind.

1. War without shots (335 years old)

The longest and most curious of the wars is the war between the Netherlands and the Scilly archipelago, which is part of Great Britain.

Due to the lack of a peace treaty, it formally went on for 335 years without firing a shot, which makes it one of the longest and most curious wars in history, and even the war with the least losses.

Peace was officially declared in 1986.

2. Punic War (118 years)

By the middle of the III century BC. the Romans almost completely subjugated Italy, swung at the entire Mediterranean and wanted Sicily first. But the mighty Carthage also claimed this rich island.

Their claims unleashed 3 wars that stretched (intermittently) from 264 to 146. BC. and got the name from the Latin name of the Phoenicians-Carthaginians (puns).

The first (264-241) - 23 years old (began just because of Sicily).
The second (218-201) - 17 years (after the capture of the Spanish city of Sagunta by Hannibal).
The last (149-146) - 3 years.
It was then that the famous phrase "Carthage must be destroyed!" was born. Pure warfare took 43 years. The conflict in total - 118 years.

Results: Besieged Carthage fell. Rome won.

3. Hundred Years War (116 years)

Went in 4 stages. With pauses for truces (the longest - 10 years) and the fight against the plague (1348) from 1337 to 1453.

Opponents: England and France.

Reasons: France wanted to oust England from the southwestern lands of Aquitaine and complete the unification of the country. England - to strengthen influence in the province of Guyenne and return those lost under John the Landless - Normandy, Maine, Anjou. Complication: Flanders - formally was under the auspices of the French crown, in fact it was free, but depended on English wool in cloth making.

Reason: the claims of the English king Edward III from the Plantagenet-Anjou dynasty (the maternal grandson of the French king Philip IV the Handsome of the Capetian family) to the Gallic throne. Allies: England - German feudal lords and Flanders. France - Scotland and the Pope. Army: English - mercenary. under the command of the king. The basis is infantry (archers) and knightly units. French - a knightly militia, led by royal vassals.

Turning point: after the execution of Joan of Arc in 1431 and the Battle of Normandy, the national liberation war of the French people began with the tactics of guerrilla raids.

Results: October 19, 1453 the English army capitulated in Bordeaux. Having lost everything on the continent, except for the port of Calais (it remained English for another 100 years). France switched to a regular army, abandoned knightly cavalry, gave preference to infantry, and the first firearms appeared.

4. Greco-Persian War (50 years)

Altogether, war. Stretched with lulls from 499 to 449. BC. They are divided into two (the first - 492-490, the second - 480-479) or three (the first - 492, the second - 490, the third - 480-479 (449). For the Greek policies-states - the battle for independence. For the Achaeminid Empire - captivating.

Trigger: Ionian rebellion. The battle of the Spartans at Thermopylae is legendary. The battle of Salamis was a turning point. The point was put by "Kalliev Mir".

Results: Persia lost the Aegean Sea, the coasts of the Hellespont and the Bosporus. Recognized the freedom of the cities of Asia Minor. The civilization of the ancient Greeks entered the time of the highest prosperity, laying the culture, which, even after millennia, the world was equal to.

4. Punic war. The battles lasted 43 years. They are divided into three stages of wars between Rome and Carthage. They fought for dominance in the Mediterranean. The Romans won the battle. Basetop.ru

5. Guatemalan War (age 36)

Civil. It proceeded in outbreaks from 1960 to 1996. A provocative decision by US President Eisenhower in 1954 triggered a coup.

Reason: the fight against the "communist infection".

Opponents: Bloc "Guatemalan National Revolutionary Unity" and the military junta.

Victims: almost 6 thousand murders were committed annually, only in the 80s - 669 massacres, more than 200 thousand dead (of which 83% were Maya Indians), over 150 thousand went missing. Outcomes: Signing of the "Treaty for a Lasting and Lasting Peace", which protected the rights of 23 groups of Native Americans.

Outcomes: Signing of the "Treaty for a Lasting and Lasting Peace", which protected the rights of 23 groups of Native Americans.

6. War of the Scarlet and White Roses (33 years old)

The reason: the defeat of England in the Hundred Years War, the impoverishment of the feudal lords, their rejection of the political course of the wife of the feeble-minded king Henry IV, hatred of her favorites.

Opposition: Duke Richard of York - considered the right to power of the Lancasters illegitimate, became regent under an incapacitated monarch, in 1483 - king, was killed at the Battle of Bosworth.

Results: Violated the balance of political forces in Europe. Led to the collapse of the Plantagenets. She placed the Welsh Tudors on the throne, who ruled England for 117 years. Cost the lives of hundreds of English aristocrats.

7. Thirty Years War (30 years)

The first military conflict of a pan-European scale. Lasted from 1618 to 1648. Opponents: two coalitions. The first is the union of the Holy Roman Empire (in fact, Austrian) with Spain and the Catholic principalities of Germany. The second - the German states, where power was in the hands of Protestant princes. They were supported by the armies of reformist Sweden and Denmark and Catholic France.

Reason: The Catholic League was afraid of the spread of the ideas of the Reformation in Europe, the Protestant Evangelical Union was striving for this.

Trigger: Revolt of Czech Protestants against Austrian domination.

Results: The population of Germany has decreased by a third. The French army lost 80 thousand. Austria and Spain - more than 120. After the Treaty of Münster in 1648, a new independent state, the Republic of the United Provinces of the Netherlands (Holland), was finally fixed on the map of Europe.

8. Peloponnesian War (age 27)

There are two of them. The first is the Lesser Peloponnesian (460-445 BC). The second (431-404 BC) is the largest in the history of Ancient Hellas after the first Persian invasion of the territory of Balkan Greece. (492-490 BC).

Opponents: Peloponnesian Union led by Sparta and the First Marine (Delosian) under the auspices of Athens.

Reasons: The desire for hegemony in the Greek world of Athens and the rejection of their claims by Sparta and Corypha.

Contradictions: Athens was ruled by an oligarchy. Sparta is a military aristocracy. Ethnically, the Athenians were Ionians, the Spartans were Dorians. In the second, 2 periods are distinguished.

The first is "Arkhidamov's War". The Spartans made land invasions into the territory of Attica. Athenians - sea raids on the coast of the Peloponnese. It ended in the 421st signing of the Peace of Nikiev. After 6 years, it was violated by the Athenian side, which was defeated in the battle of Syracuse. The final phase went down in history under the name Dekeley or Ionian. With the support of Persia, Sparta built a fleet and destroyed the Athenian at Aegospotami.

Results: After the conclusion in April 404 BC. Theramenian world of Athens lost the fleet, tore down the Long Walls, lost all the colonies and joined the Spartan alliance.

9. Great Northern War (age 21)

There was a northern war for 21 years. She was between the northern states and Sweden (1700-1721), the opposition of Peter I to Charles XII. Russia fought mostly on its own.

Reason: Possession of the Baltic lands, control over the Baltic.

Results: With the end of the war in Europe, a new empire- Russian, having access to the Baltic Sea and possessing a powerful army and navy. The capital of the empire was St. Petersburg, located at the confluence of the Neva River into the Baltic Sea.

Sweden lost the war.

10 Vietnam War (age 18)

The Second Indochinese War between Vietnam and the United States and one of the most destructive of the second half of the 20th century. Lasted from 1957 to 1975. 3 periods: guerrilla South Vietnamese (1957-1964), from 1965 to 1973 - full-scale US military operations, 1973-1975. - after the withdrawal of American troops from the territories of the Viet Cong. Opponents: South and North Vietnam. On the side of the South - the United States and the military bloc SEATO (Southeast Asia Treaty Organization). North - China and the USSR.

The reason: when the communists came to power in China, and Ho Chi Minh became the leader of South Vietnam, the White House administration was afraid of the communist "domino effect". After Kennedy's assassination, Congress gave President Lyndon Johnson carte blanche to use military force in the Tonkin Resolution. And already in March 65, two battalions of US Army Navy SEALs left for Vietnam. So the States became part of the Vietnamese Civil War. They applied the “search and destroy” strategy, burned the jungle with napalm - the Vietnamese went underground and responded with a guerrilla war.

Who benefits: American arms corporations. US losses: 58 thousand in combat (64% under the age of 21) and about 150 thousand suicides of American veterans of the explosives.

Vietnamese victims: over 1 million who fought and more than 2 civilians, only in South Vietnam - 83 thousand amputees, 30 thousand blind, 10 thousand deaf, after the operation "Ranch Hand" (chemical destruction of the jungle) - congenital genetic mutations.

Results: The Tribunal of May 10, 1967 qualified the US actions in Vietnam as a crime against humanity (Article 6 of the Nuremberg Statute) and banned the use of CBU-type thermite bombs as weapons of mass destruction.

(WITH) different places the Internet

Original taken from edward journal in History of Russia, the longest wars

In the history of mankind there are wars that differ in their duration. In this series, the record holder, of course, is the Hundred Years War between England and France, which lasted from 1337 to 1453, i.e., almost 116 years. But there are also long wars in the history of Russia. It is about them that I would like to talk in this article.

Caucasian War (1817-1864) - 47 years.

As a result of Russian-Iranian and Russian-Turkish wars North Caucasus was surrounded by the beginning of the 19th century Russian territory. Attempts by the tsarist administration to impose their own rules on the local peoples met with resistance, which at times turned into a fierce one. The highlanders were especially outraged by the prohibitions on raids (a traditional form of fishing for the local population, accompanied by robbery and taking prisoners), the need to participate in the construction of bridges, roads, fortresses, and new taxation. Additional difficulties were caused different level socio-economic and political development North Caucasian peoples and the religious factor.

“Muridism became the ideological support of the highlanders. The teaching of Muridism required blind obedience from every true believer. Muridism placed on its followers the obligation to conduct a "holy war", ghazawat, against the infidels until they were converted to Islam or completely destroyed. The call for ghazavat, addressed to all mountain peoples, was a powerful stimulus for resistance and at the same time contributed to overcoming the disunity of the peoples inhabiting the North Caucasus.

Initially, the highlanders did not like the actions of General Yermolov: the construction of fortresses, roads, deforestation. All this facilitated control over the North Caucasus.

The reason for the war was the actions of General A.P. Yermolov, who began active offensive operations - he built fortress settlements, laid roads between them, cut down forests, moving deep into the territories of the mountain peoples. In 1818, the Groznaya fortress arose on the Suzha River. It began the systematic advance of the Russians from the old border line along the Terek to the very foot of the mountains. Yermolov's activity evoked a response from the mountain peoples. (The name Yermolov became a household name for the highlanders, and for a long time children were scared of them in this region). In 1819, almost all the rulers of Dagestan united in an alliance to fight against the Russians, and four years later the Kabardian princes did the same. And began chain reaction. In 1824, an uprising in Chechnya was raised by a former military man B. Taymazov. Gazi-Magomed, who became the first imam of Chechnya and Dagestan in 1828, fought both with Russian troops and with the Avar khans, considering them supporters of Russia. The war began to take on a protracted character.

Russian fortress "Groznaya"

In 1827, Yermolov, suspected by Nicholas I of having connections with the Decembrists, was replaced as commander of the Separate Caucasian Corps by I.F. Paskevich. Paskevich abandoned Yermolov's methods of conquering the Caucasus and considered it sufficient to conduct separate military expeditions and build strongholds. It was Paskevich who began to lay the road along the Black Sea coast, which later turned into the Black Sea coastline. These fortifications further turned the highlanders against the Russians.

Ethnic Avar imam Shamil led the struggle of the mountain peoples against the Russian Empire

In 1834, Shamil was elected the third imam. On the territory subject to him, he created an imamat - a theocratic state, where all power belongs to one person - the imam. Sharia law was in force here, and strict discipline reigned. Shamil managed to organize the highlanders into a regular army. With the help of the British and Turks, he equipped his troops the latest weapons including artillery. For the 1840s the greatest successes of the highlanders in the struggle against Russia are accounted for - the capture of several Russian fortifications, the encirclement of the Russian expeditionary corps under the command of M. Vorontsov, the governor in the Caucasus.

Aul Vedeno for a long time was the residence of Shamil

The end of the Crimean War was marked by the intensification of hostilities against Shamil. The number of armed forces in the Caucasus was increased, some new types of weapons appeared. The new commander-in-chief in the North Caucasus, A.I. Baryatinsky, applied flexible tactics: he abandoned the practice of punitive expeditions, managed to enlist the support of both the local nobility and the common people. All this began to bear fruit, moreover, for long years Caucasian War, Russia learned to fight in the conditions highlands, so events began to develop more intensively. In April 1859, the residence of Shamil, the village of Vedeno, was taken. On August 25, 1859, Shamil, along with 400 associates, was besieged in Gunib and on August 26 surrendered to the army of Baryatinsky.

Surrender of Imam Shamil

However, the appearance of Russian settlers in the Caucasus led to the discontent of the local population and the uprising in 1862 of the peoples of Abkhazia. It was suppressed only in 1864. May 21, 1864 is considered the day of the end of the Caucasian War - the longest war in the history of Russia.

Livonian War (1558-1583) - 25 years.

Ivan IV had to solve many foreign policy tasks, and in different directions: the Baltic (northwest), Crimean (south), Lithuanian (west), Kazan and Nogai (southeast), Siberian (east). Most of these areas were inherited from foreign policy predecessors of Ivan IV - Ivan III and Basil III(respectively grandfather and father). The accession of the Kazan, Astrakhan khanates, the Siberian khanates, Bashkiria can be added to the asset of Ivan IV, to the liability - complicated relationship with the Crimean Horde, which literally terrorized Russia with its constant raids, a lawsuit over the western Russian lands with Poland and Lithuania, being drawn into a large-scale, long-term war for access to the Baltic Sea.

Territorial increments of the 16th century

fast growing Russian state(Only in the period from 1462 to 1533, the territory of the state grew 6.5 times - from 430 thousand sq. Km. to 2.8 million sq. Km.) New trade links and routes were needed. One of the main problems of Russia during this period was a difficult situation with sea routes. The lack of seaports (Arkhangelsk was built only in 1584) and access to the European seas made it difficult for Russia to enter the world economic system.

Castle of the Livonian Order. The best preserved of all the castles of that time in the region

The choice of the Baltic direction was one of the reasons for the split among the closest associates of Ivan IV - Sylvester, A. Adashev, A. Kurbsky leaned towards the Black Sea direction, believing that the threat from the south is more real, and the potential conquest of the Crimea promises great prospects. However, the king, thus breaking with his recent associates, chose the northwestern direction, believing that Livonia was weak and would not offer serious resistance.

Capture by Ivan the Terrible Livonian Fortress Kokenhausen

Indeed, initially everything went well for Russia - in about two years, Russian troops defeated the Livonian Order and occupied almost all of Livonia, including Narva, which for some time became the main Russian port in the Baltic. Such a course of events did not suit Sweden, Lithuania, Poland (in 1569 Lithuania and Poland united into one state - the Commonwealth), for which the strengthening of Russia's position in the Baltic meant the emergence of a new competitor, loss of profits. From that moment on, the Livonian War gradually develops into the largest war of the 16th century, in which several countries of Eastern and Northern Europe were drawn into.

move Livonian War

Russia turned out to be neither diplomatically nor politically prepared for such a war, which, moreover, turned out to be so protracted. Against the backdrop of the beginning of the mid-1560s. Russia's oprichnina had to face the combat-ready armies of Poland and Lithuania, and then with, perhaps, the best Swedish army at that time in Europe. Added to this were factors that, apparently, could have a positive impact on the course of the war for Russia. (Ivan IV was twice considered as a candidate for the Polish throne in the 1570s; successful negotiations with Sweden, interrupted due to a change of king; a failed military alliance with England; Crimean raids that lasted virtually the entire Livonian War).

As a result of the Livonian War, Russia lost not only the conquered territories, but also part of its lands in the Baltic states and Belarus, lost access to Baltic Sea(v late XVI century, Russia again briefly managed to gain access to the sea, but this turned out, alas, to be a short-term event).

Northern War (1700-1721) - 21 years old

Peter I initially made efforts to develop an exit strategy for south seas and only in the face of a lack of allies did he radically change the direction of Russia's foreign policy to the northwest. Here the allies were found. They turned out to be Poland, Saxony, Denmark, which formed the Northern Union, and, unfortunately, soon turned out to be insolvent as military force. It must be said that, despite the fact that best years» Sweden remained in the 17th century, Sweden, led by the young (18 years old), but talented King Charles XII, represented a serious military and sea power. This confirmed the beginning of the Northern War - Sweden quickly withdrew Denmark from the war, defeated the numerically superior Russian troops in the battle of Narva, and then left Russia alone (by 1706), defeating the Polish-Saxon troops.

Battle of Narva

Military failures stimulated Peter I to a whole series of transformations (limitation of the number of foreign officers in the troops, the introduction of recruitment, the formation of the Baltic Fleet, the construction of blast furnace and hammer factories for the needs of artillery, the creation of a network of military and naval educational institutions etc.). As a result, after a series of victories, by 1703 the entire course of the Neva was in the hands of the Russians. On May 16 (27), 1703, the future capital of Russia, St. Petersburg, was laid. In 1704, Russian troops captured Narva and Derpt, establishing themselves on the Baltic coast. After a short break, Carl XII decided to invade Russia. The victory at the Battle of Golovchin in the summer of 1708 was the last major success of the Swedish army. And then followed the epic battles at the village of Lesnaya and the battle of Poltava, which led to the defeat of the Swedish army and the flight of Karl XII to the Ottoman Empire.

Poltava

In 1709, the Northern Union was recreated (Prussia also joined it), and in 1710 Russia captured Riga, Vyborg, Revel and other Baltic cities. In 1713-1715. Russia captured Finland, and in 1714 a major victory was won in a naval battle near Cape Gangut. In May 1718, the Åland Congress opened, designed to work out the terms of a peace treaty between Russia and Sweden. However, the death of Charles XII interrupted the negotiations that had begun.

Battle of Gangut

England acted in this case as an instigator, creating anti-Russian public opinion and inciting other countries against Russia. And she partially succeeded in her plan - in 1719, Austria, Saxony and Hanover organized an anti-Russian coalition. Nevertheless, against the backdrop of such a difficult international situation for Russia, new victories were won by the Russian fleet near the islands of Ezel and Grengam.

The Order of Judas was made in a single copy in 1709 by order of Tsar Peter I to reward the traitor Hetman Mazepa

On August 30, 1721, Russia and Sweden signed the Treaty of Nystadt. As a result of the war, Ingria, Karelia, Estonia, Livonia and part of Finland were annexed to Russia. But most importantly, Russia has solved the problem of access to the Baltic Sea and for many years established itself on this section of the main waterways as a leading maritime power.
Vladimir Gizhov, Ph.D.,
Especially for the Russian Horizon magazine

The history of mankind is the history of wars. Endless conflicts constantly redrawn maps, destroyed peoples and gave rise to great empires. There were also such wars that lasted for more than a century, that is, there were generations of people who in their lifetime have seen nothing but war.

1. War without shots (335 years)

This unusual war between the Scilly archipelago and the Netherlands is unlike any other war, and indeed is a mere formality. For 335 years, the rivals have never fired at each other, but it all started not so rosy.
It was during the second English civil war when Oliver Cromwell pressed the supporters of the English king. The fleeing royalists embarked on ships and headed for the Isles of Scilly, which were owned by one of the king's followers. The Netherlands all this time vigilantly followed the development of the intra-English conflict, and when Parliament began to win, they decided to support it, sending their ships against the weakened royalist fleet, counting on an easy victory. But it was not for nothing that the British were considered the best naval commanders in the world, they were able to inflict on the Dutch crushing defeat. A few days later, the main forces of the Dutch fleet also arrived at the islands, demanding that the British reimburse the cost of sunken ships and property. They were refused, after which, at the end of March 1651, the Dutch declared war on the Isles of Scilly, with which they sailed home. After 3 months, Cromwell persuaded the supporters of the king to surrender, but the Netherlands could not conclude a peace treaty, because it was not clear with whom it should have been concluded at all, since the Isles of Scilly had already also gone under the control of the English parliament, with which Holland did not seem to be at war.
The end of the war was put in 1985 by Council Chairman Scilly R. Duncan, who discovered in the archives that the territory he ruled formally continued to fight with the Netherlands. April 17 next year the Dutch ambassador was not too lazy to sail to the island, who signed the belated peace agreement.

2. Punic Wars (118 years)

At the beginning of the formation of the Roman Republic, the Romans were able to subjugate most of the Apennine Peninsula. But the rich island of Sicily remained unconquered. The same goal was achieved by Carthage, a powerful trading power in North Africa. The Romans called the inhabitants of Carthage puns. Having landed simultaneously in Sicily, the two armies inevitably began to fight. There were three Punic Wars in total, which stretched intermittently for 118 years with long intervals of low-level conflict. At the end of the Punic Wars, Carthage was finally destroyed. It is believed that this conflict claimed up to a million lives, which at that time was an incredible number.

3. Hundred Years War (116 years)

It was a war that broke out between medieval France and England and lasted for more than a century. Throughout the war, the parties involved had to take time out during the plague. It was a time when both countries were the strongest powers in Europe with powerful armies and allies. The war was started by England, whose king set out to return the hereditary lands in Normandy, Anjou and the Isle of Man. The French, on the other hand, wanted to drive the British out of Aquitaine and unite all the lands under the French crown. If the British used hired soldiers, then the French militia fought.
During Hundred Years War the star of Joan of Arc flashed, which brought many victories to France, but was treacherously executed. After losing their leader, the militias switched to methods guerrilla war. In the end, England ran out of resources and conceded defeat, losing virtually all possessions on the continent.

Each culture has its own way of life, traditions and delicacies in particular. What seems normal to some people may be perceived as...

4. Greco-Persian War (50 years)

The war between the Hellenes and the Iranians lasted from 499 to 449 BC. e. At the beginning of the conflict, Persia was a warlike and powerful power. And Hellas as a single state did not even exist yet; instead, there were disunited city-states (policies). It seemed that they had no chance to resist the mighty Persia. But this did not stop the Greeks from starting to destroy the Persian armies. In the process of this, the Hellenes were able to agree to act jointly. After the end of the conflict, Persia recognized the independence of the policies and abandoned the previously captured lands. For Hellas, the heyday has come. Since then, it has become the basis of the culture on the basis of which modern European civilization appeared.

5. Guatemalan War (age 36)

This war began in 1960 and ended in 1996. It was civil in nature. On the one hand, Indian tribes (especially the Maya) participated in it, and on the other, the descendants of the Spaniards. In the 1950s, a coup d'état took place in Guatemala with the complicity of the United States. The opposition began to raise an army of rebels, which was constantly growing. Partisans often captured not only villages, but also big cities, creating their own governing bodies there. Neither side had the strength to win, and the war dragged on. The authorities had to admit that military measures would not be able to resolve the conflict.
The war ended in peace, in which 23 different groups indigenous people - Indians. During the conflict, about 200,000 people died, mostly Maya, and about 150,000 more are considered missing.

6. War of the Scarlet and White Roses (33 years old)

In the second half of the 15th century, a war raged in England with a poetic name - the War of the Scarlet and White Roses. In fact, it was a string of civil conflicts that stretched over 33 years. The highest aristocrats, representing two branches - Yorks and Lancasters, fought for power. After many bloody skirmishes, in the end, the Lancasters took over. However, these seas of shed blood were in vain - the Tudors ascended the English throne after a while, who ruled the country for almost 120 years.

It is not always possible for large ships to pass through traditional channels and locks. For example, in a mountainous area there can be a very large drop, where it's just...

7. Thirty Years War (30 years)

This is a prototype of the world war (1618-1648), in which almost all European countries, and the reason was the Reformation that began in Europe - the separation of Catholics and Protestants. The war began with a conflict between German Lutherans and Catholics, and then all powers gradually became involved in this local dispute.
Participated in Thirty Years' War and Russia, only the Swiss remained neutral. The war was unusually bloody, for example, it reduced the population of Germany several times. In the end, it ended with the conclusion of the Peace of Westphalia. In Europe, this war destroyed so much everything and everywhere that there was simply no winner in it.

8. Peloponnesian War (age 27)

The ancient city-states of Athens and Sparta took part in the Peloponnesian War. The beginning of the conflict was not accidental. If democracy operated in Athens, then in Sparta there was an aristocracy. Between these policies there was not only a cultural confrontation, but also other strife. In the end, these two strongest cities of Hellas had to find out which of them was more important. If the Athenians raided the Peloponnese peninsula from the sea, then the Spartans terrorized the territory of Attica. After some time, peace was concluded between them, which was soon violated by the Athenians.
After this, the war between Sparta and Athens resumed. The Spartans had the advantage, and Athens received a sensitive defeat at Syracuse. Using the assistance of Persia, the Spartans built their own navy, with the help of which they inflicted a final defeat on their rivals at Aegospotami. As a result of the war, Athens lost all its colonies, and the Athenian policy itself was forcibly included in the Spartan Union.

9. Northern War (21 years old)

The Northern War was the longest in Russian history. In 1700, young Peter's Russia clashed with Sweden, which was very powerful at that time. At first, Peter I received slaps in the face from the Swedish king, but they served as an incentive to start significant changes in the country. Therefore, by 1703, the Russian army managed to win several victories, until it established control over the entire Neva. There, the first emperor of Russia decided to build a new capital of the empire, St. Petersburg, because he could not stand Moscow. A little later, the Russians captured Narva and Dorpat. The Swedish king was eager to take revenge, so his troops in 1708 again attacked Russia. This was a fatal decision for Sweden, whose star then rolled into the sunset.
First, Peter defeated the Swedes under the forest, and then near Poltava, where the decisive battle took place. After the defeat at Poltava, Charles XII forgot not only about the local revenge on the Russian Tsar, but also about the plans to create a "great Sweden". The new king of Sweden, Fredrik I, asked Russia for peace, which was concluded in 1721 and was deplorable for Sweden, which ceased to be a great European power and lost most of its conquered possessions.

10 Vietnam War (age 18)

The US fought tiny Vietnam from 1957 to 1975, but never managed to defeat it. If for America this war is the greatest shame, then for Vietnam it is a tragic, but also a heroic time. The reason for the intervention was the coming of the Communists to power in China and North Vietnam. The American authorities did not want to get a new communist country, so they decided to get involved in an open armed conflict on the side of the forces ruling in South Vietnam. Technical superiority american army was overwhelming, but it was leveled by guerrilla methods of warfare and high morale Vietnamese soldiers. As a result, the Americans had to get out of Vietnam.

In the summer of 1864, the longest war ended Russia XIX century, which became part of the complex struggle for the possession of the Caucasus. It clashed national mentalities and geopolitical interests. " Caucasian map” was difficult to play.

Eastern war and Yermolov's strategy

The initial period of the Caucasian War is inextricably linked with the activities of Alexei Petrovich Yermolov, who concentrated in his hands all power in the troubled Caucasus.

For the first time, Russian troops in the Caucasus had to face such a new phenomenon as the Eastern War - a war where victory is achieved not only on the battlefield, and is not always associated with the number of defeated enemies. An inevitable component of such a war is the humiliation of the defeated enemy, without which victory could not be achieved in its full sense. Hence the extreme cruelty of the actions of both sides, which sometimes did not fit in the head of contemporaries.

However, pursuing a tough policy, Yermolov great attention devoted to the construction of fortresses, roads, clearings and the development of trade. From the very beginning, stakes were placed on the gradual development of new territories, where military campaigns alone could not give complete success.

Suffice it to say that troops lost at least 10 times more soldiers from disease and desertion than from direct clashes. The rigid but consistent line of Yermolov was not continued by his successors in the 30s and early 40s of the 19th century. This temporary abandonment of Yermolov's strategy dragged out the war for several long decades.

Forever on the line

After the annexation of the Black Sea coast of the Caucasus in 1829, the construction of fortifications began to suppress the slave trade and the smuggling of weapons to the highlanders from Turkey. For 9 years, 17 fortifications were built over 500 km from Anapa to Poti.

Service in the fortifications of the Black Sea Line, communication between which was carried out twice a year and only by sea, was extremely difficult both physically and morally.

In 1840, the highlanders stormed the Velyaminovskoye, Mikhailovskoye, Nikolaevskoye fortifications and Fort Lazarev, but were defeated under the walls of the Abinsk and Navaginsk fortifications. In history, the most memorable was the feat of the defenders of the Mikhailovsky fortification. It was built at the mouth of the Wulan River.

In the spring of 1840, the garrison consisted of 480 people (with 1,500 needed for defense), of which up to a third were sick. On March 22, 1840, Mikhailovskoye was taken by storm by the highlanders. Most of the defenders of the fortification died in battle, several people were captured. When the position of the garrison became hopeless, the lower rank of the 77th Tengin Infantry Regiment, Arkhip Osipov, blew up a powder magazine at the cost of his life, destroying several hundred opponents.

Subsequently, a village was built on this site, named after the hero - Arkhipo-Osipovka. According to order No. 79 of November 8, 1840, Minister of War A. I. Chernyshev: “In order to perpetuate the memory of the meritorious feat of Private Arkhip Osipov, who had no family, His Imperial Majesty deigned to keep forever his name in the lists of the 1st Grenadier company of the Tenginsky Infantry Regiment, considering him the first private, and at all roll calls, when asked for this name, the first private behind him to answer: "He died for the glory of Russian weapons in the Mikhailovsky fortification."

During the Great Patriotic War many glorious traditions of the old army were restored. On September 8, 1943, an order was issued on the first enrollment forever in the lists of the Red Army regiment. Private Alexander Matrosov was chosen as the first hero.

Ahulgo

In the 30-40s of the 19th century, the Russian command repeatedly tried to quickly end the war with one powerful blow - the occupation or destruction of the largest and fortified villages in the territory controlled by Shamil.

Akhulgo (Shamil's residence) was located on sheer cliffs and surrounded by a river on three sides. On June 12, 1839, the village was besieged by a 13,000-strong Russian detachment under the command of Lieutenant General Grabbe. About 2 thousand highlanders defended Akhulgo. After the failure of the frontal attack, the Russian troops proceeded to the successive capture of the fortifications, actively using artillery.

On August 22, 1839, Akhulgo was taken by storm after a 70-day siege. Russian troops lost 500 killed and 2,500 wounded; Highlanders about 2 thousand killed and captured. Wounded Shamil with several murids managed to escape and hide in the mountains.

The capture of Akhulgo was a significant, but temporary success of the Russian troops in the Caucasus, since the capture of individual and even powerful auls, without fixing on the occupied territory, did not give anything at all. The participants of the capture were awarded the silver medal "For the capture of the village of Akhulgo". The capture of the village, which was considered impregnable, was dedicated to the first and, unfortunately, not preserved panorama of Franz Roubaud “Storming the Aul of Akhulgo”.

Dargin expedition

In 1845, the hero of the war of 1812, Mikhail Semenovich Vorontsov, appointed to the post of governor in the Caucasus, made another major attempt to put an end to Shamil's power with one decisive blow - the capture of the village of Dargo. Overcoming the rubble and the resistance of the mountaineers, the Russian troops managed to take Dargo, near which they were surrounded by the mountaineers and forced to fight their way back with huge losses.

Since 1845, after the unsuccessful Dargin expedition, Vorontsov returned to Yermolov's strategy: the construction of fortresses, the construction of communications, the development of trade and the gradual narrowing of the territory of Shamil's imamate.

And then a game of nerves began, when Shamil, with repeated raiding operations, tried to provoke the Russian command to a new big campaign. Russian command, in turn, was limited to repelling raids, continuing to pursue its line. From that moment on, the fall of the Imamate was a matter of time. Although for several years the final conquest of Chechnya and Dagestan was delayed by the Crimean War, which was difficult for Russia.

Landing on Cape Adler

During the Caucasian War, landing tactics continued to improve. Typically, in conjunction with ground forces, the sailors were in the first echelon of the landing. As they approached the shore, they fired from falconets from boats, and then, depending on the situation, ensured the landing of the main landing forces.

In the event of a massive attack, the highlanders were repelled with bayonets in close formation, where terrible hand-to-hand combat checkers and massive daggers were ineffective. In addition, the highlanders had a superstition that a warrior stabbed with a bayonet was likened to a pig, and this was considered a shameful death.

However, in 1837, during the landing on Cape Adler, everything turned out differently. Instead of immediately attacking the rubble, landing troops sent to the forest, intending to divert the highlanders from the real landing point, or force them to split their forces.

But everything turned out the other way around. The highlanders from the fire of naval artillery hid in the forest, and the Russian troops sent there faced a numerically superior enemy. In the dense forest there were several heated fights, costing considerable losses.

Among the dead in this battle was the famous Decembrist ensign Alexander Bestuzhev-Marlinsky. Wounded by several bullets, he was hacked to death by an oncoming mob of highlanders. A few days later, the Ubykh mullah was killed, who was found to have a ring and a pistol that had previously belonged to Bestuzhev.

win or money

The final stage of the Caucasian War in Chechnya and Western Dagestan was associated with the activities of Prince Baryatinsky, who in many respects continued the line of Yermolov and Vorontsov.

After the unsuccessful Crimean War, voices were heard in the Russian leadership that it was necessary to conclude a lasting peace with Shamil, delineating the boundaries of the Imamat. In particular, the Ministry of Finance adhered to this position, pointing to the huge and economic sense unjustified expenses for the conduct of hostilities.

However, Baryatinsky, thanks to his personal influence on the tsar, not without difficulty achieved the concentration of huge forces and means in the Caucasus, which neither Yermolov nor Vorontsov could even dream of. The number of troops was increased to 200 thousand people, who received the latest weapons for those times.

Avoiding major risky operations, Baryatinsky slowly but methodically squeezed the ring around the villages that remained under Shamil's control, occupying one stronghold after another. The last stronghold of Shamil was the highland village of Gunib, taken on August 25, 1859.

The feat of St. George's post in Lipki

After the conquest of Chechnya and Dagestan, the main events unfolded in the Western Caucasus - beyond the Kuban and on Black Sea coast. Erected posts and villages often became the object of attack. So on September 3, 1862, the highlanders attacked the St. George post of the Adagum line, where they were: a Cossack centurion, a constable, one gunner and 32 Cossacks.

The highlanders initially intended to raid the village of Verkhne-Bakanskaya and the attack on the post did little for them in terms of booty. However, counting on surprise, the post was attacked. The first two attacks were repulsed by rifle fire, but during the third attack, the highlanders broke into the fortification. The 18 defenders remaining by this time took refuge in a semi-dugout and died in the fire, firing to the end. But the suddenness of the attack by the highlanders was also lost, the losses were great, and they were forced to abandon the original purpose of the raid and retreat, taking with them, according to the estimates of the scouts, about 200 killed.

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