Wars & Conflicts

From 1861 to 1865, the United States fought the bloodiest conflict in its history, a war that killed 620,000 soldiers and ended with the abolition of slavery and the question of what kind of nation America would be.

Fought between 1914 and 1918 across three continents, the First World War killed 20 million people and dismantled four empires, replacing the 19th-century world order with one that no one had wanted or planned.

Between 1941 and 1945, the Nazi regime systematically murdered six million Jewish people alongside millions of Roma, disabled people, and others, in the most documented genocide in human history.

On 6 August 1945, the United States dropped the first atomic bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima, killing 80,000 people instantly and inaugurating the nuclear age that continues to shape our world.

Between 1096 and 1291, European Christians launched eight major military expeditions to capture and hold Jerusalem, a series of wars that left a complex legacy of religious conflict, cultural exchange, and political transformation.

On 14 October 1066, William the Conqueror defeated King Harold II at the Battle of Hastings, changing the English language, legal system, and culture forever.

In 1896 Ethiopia decisively defeated the Italian army at Adwa, becoming the only African nation to repel a European colonial invasion during the Scramble for Africa.

On 29 May 1453, Sultan Mehmed II's Ottoman army breached the walls of Constantinople after a 53-day siege, ending the Byzantine Empire and shifting the balance of world power.