Wars by Era
8 major conflicts, 119 battles, and an estimated 1,881,283 dead.
After the September 11 attacks, United States and allied forces joined Afghan opponents of the Taliban to destroy al-Qaeda’s base and remove the Taliban government. The mission expanded into counterinsurgency and state-building amid Afghan factional politics, corruption, civilian harm, insurgent sanctuary in Pakistan, and shifting international aims. The Taliban survived, regained territory, and took Kabul in August 2021 as foreign forces withdrew; estimates of direct deaths depend heavily on geographic and status definitions.
12 battles · 164,000 dead
A United States-led coalition invaded Iraq in March 2003 without a new Security Council authorization, after intelligence claims about active Iraqi weapons programs that were not borne out. Saddam Hussein’s government fell quickly, but occupation policy, state collapse, insurgencies, foreign jihadists, sectarian violence, coalition and Iraqi government operations, and militia politics produced a prolonged war. The 2011 U.S. withdrawal did not end Iraqi violence; casualty totals vary sharply by method and scope.
10 battles · 255,000 dead
The 2011 uprising, state repression, and NATO intervention under a United Nations civilian-protection mandate ended Muammar Gaddafi’s rule but left rival armed groups and weak institutions. A second war from 2014 drew intervention from regional powers, Turkey, Russia-linked forces, and others. The October 2020 ceasefire ended large-scale combat, leaving Libya in a frozen political division between rival governments in Tripoli and the east, with foreign forces still present and national elections indefinitely postponed.
14 battles · 40,020 dead
Peaceful protests that began in Deraa in March 2011 escalated after state repression into a civil war, a regional proxy conflict, and the territorial rise of ISIS. Russia and Iran intervened for Bashar al-Assad, while Turkey, Gulf states, the United States, and others supported different armed opponents. Hundreds of thousands were killed and more than half the prewar population was displaced. A rebel offensive launched in November 2024 captured Aleppo, Hama, Homs, and Damascus in eleven days; Assad fled to Russia on December 8, ending fifty-four years of his family’s rule and the civil war itself. The post-war transition under Ahmed al-Sharaa’s transitional government has been marked by sectarian violence, the formal dissolution of the Kurdish-led SDF, US delisting of Syria from state sponsors of terrorism, and the convening of an interim parliament to draft a new constitution.
19 battles · 504,118 dead
The Russia-Ukraine war began in 2014 with Russia’s occupation and attempted annexation of Crimea and fighting in the Donbas; this entry’s event set focuses on the full-scale phase launched on February 24, 2022. Russia failed to seize Kyiv and withdrew from northern Ukraine, but it captured Kherson and other cities before Ukraine’s 2022 counteroffensives recovered large areas around Kharkiv and the west bank of Kherson. The war then became a prolonged contest of artillery, drones, fortifications, and industrial capacity. Ukraine’s Kursk incursion began in August 2024 and its principal salient contracted in March 2025. Russia claimed Pokrovsk in late 2025; independent assessments placed its capture in early 2026. In February 2026 Ukraine launched its first significant counteroffensive since 2023, recovering over 400 km2 in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast and nearly liberating the entire region. In May 2026, for the first time since autumn 2023, Russia lost more territory than it gained in a single month. Western intelligence estimated total Russian casualties at approximately one million killed and wounded by February 2026, with combined casualties for both sides potentially reaching two million. US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner shuttled between Moscow and Kyiv in September 2026 pushing for trilateral talks, but no agreement was reached. The war continued into its fifth year with no resolution in sight as of September 7, 2026.
21 battles · 570,000 dead
Hamas-led armed groups attacked southern Israel on October 7, 2023, killing about 1,200 people and abducting 251. Israel’s ensuing air and ground campaign devastated Gaza, displaced most of its population, and produced a reported Palestinian death toll exceeding 73,000 by June 2026; the Gaza Health Ministry total does not itself provide a reliable combatant–civilian split. Hostage releases and ceasefires repeatedly interrupted but did not immediately end the conflict. The IPC confirmed famine with reasonable evidence in Gaza Governorate in August 2025. A ceasefire framework took effect on October 10, 2025 and was later endorsed by Security Council Resolution 2803, but strikes and reported deaths continued. By mid-2026 all hostages had reportedly been returned and an international force had completed predeployment assessment rather than deployment. Hamas accepted a mediators’ disarmament roadmap at the end of July 2026, while Israel raised serious concerns; implementation and a durable political settlement remained unresolved as of August 2026.
17 battles · 75,300 dead
War between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) began on April 15, 2023 after the breakdown of an uneasy power-sharing arrangement. Fighting devastated Khartoum before the SAF recovered the capital in March 2025. In Darfur, the RSF and allied militias carried out ethnically targeted attacks; the United States determined in January 2025 that RSF members and allied militias had committed genocide, a government determination rather than a judgment by an international court. The RSF captured El Fasher on October 27, 2025 after a long siege. The UN Human Rights Office later documented more than 6,000 killings during the first three days of the offensive and found reasonable grounds to believe war crimes and possible crimes against humanity had occurred. Fighting shifted toward Kordofan. Sudan remained the world’s largest displacement crisis, with more than 11.3 million forcibly displaced by August 2026. IPC findings confirmed famine with reasonable evidence in El Fasher and Kadugli for a defined 2025–26 analysis period; famine status should always be dated rather than treated as timeless.
13 battles · 265,000 dead
The United States entered the June 2025 Israel-Iran war with Operation Midnight Hammer, striking Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan on June 21-22. Seven B-2 bombers flew from Whiteman Air Force Base and dropped fourteen GBU-57 Massive Ordnance Penetrators on Fordow and Natanz, while a guided-missile submarine launched Tomahawk missiles against Isfahan. Iran retaliated against Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar without reported casualties, and a ceasefire began June 24. A much larger United States-Israeli campaign, Operation Epic Fury, began February 28, 2026. It killed Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, triggered Iranian attacks on Israel and Gulf states, and was followed by Iran’s March 4 closure of the Strait of Hormuz. Civilian harm was extensive: the UN reported Iranian government figures of more than 2,100 civilians killed and 27,900 injured in Iran by March 30. Iran announced the strait fully open on April 17 during a ceasefire. A June 15 agreement and June 17 Islamabad memorandum created a negotiating framework, but renewed strikes in late June and July endangered it. After a month-long lull, fighting flared again in September 2026 when the IRGC launched ballistic missiles at US warships. CENTCOM retaliated by destroying three Iranian oil tankers under a new tanker-for-tanker economic warfare doctrine. The conflict was on Day 191 with no resolution in sight as of September 7, 2026.
13 battles · 7,845 dead