Wars of Succession

Wars of succession are prompted by two or more individuals' claim as successor to a deceased or deposed monarch. The individuals are supported by competing factions within the royal court and foreign powers might also intervene through allying themselves with a faction.

  • Fourth Fitna, 811–827, properly a war of succession only in 811–813
  • The Anarchy (England, 1135–1154)
  • War of Succession of Champagne (1216-1222)
  • War of the Succession of Flanders and Hainault (1244-1257)
  • War of the Thuringian Succession (1247-1264)
  • Byzantine civil war of 1341–1347
  • War of the Succession of Guelders (1371-1379)
  • First War of the Portuguese Succession (1383-1385 Crisis) (1383-1385)
  • Breton War of Succession (1341-1364)
  • Lithuanian Civil War (1431–1435)
  • Stettin War of Succession (1464-1472)
  • War of the Castilian Succession (1475-1479)
  • Landshut War of Succession (1503-1505)
  • Inca Civil War/War of Inca Succession (1529-1532)
  • Second War of the Portuguese Succession (1580 Portuguese Succession Crisis) (1580-1583)
  • War of the Jülich Succession (1609–1614)
  • War of the Mantuan Succession (1628-1631)
  • War of the Spanish Succession (1701–1714)
  • War of the Polish Succession (1733–1738)
  • War of the Austrian Succession (1740–1748)
  • War of the Bavarian Succession (1778–1779)
  • Third War of the Portuguese Succession (Liberal Wars) (1828-1834)


Sometimes included in this category is the

  • War of the English Succession, which is more commonly called the War of the Grand Alliance or the War of the League of Augsburg (1688–1697).

Also, after the death of Alexander the Great, there were the Wars of the Diadochi (successors).

In fiction
  • The Succession Wars, a series of wars in the BattleTech universe
  • The Succession Wars, a wargame set in the BattleTech universe
  • The Successions, civil wars over the monarchy of Andor in The Wheel of Time

Famous quotes containing the words wars and/or succession:

    “Did all the lets and bars appear
    To every just or larger end,
    Whence should come the trust and cheer?
    Youth must its ignorant impulse lend—
    Age finds place in the rear.
    All wars are boyish, and are fought by boys,
    The champions and enthusiasts of the state:”
    —Herman Melville (1819–1891)

    “What is this world of ours? A complex entity subject to sudden changes which all indicate a tendency to destruction; a swift succession of beings which follow one another, assert themselves and disappear; a fleeting symmetry; a momentary order.”
    —Denis Diderot (1713–1784)