Ancient Warfare - Important Ancient Wars

Important Ancient Wars

• Ionian Revolt

The Ionian Revolt was a series of conflicts between the Ionia and the Persian Empire that began 499 BC and lasted until 493 BC. The revolt begins because of Athens offensive attack to city of Sardis and massacring the Persian citizens by burning down the city. This revolt had a major role in starting the Greco-Persian wars.

• Greco-Persian Wars

The Greco-Persian Wars were a series of conflicts between the Greek City-States and the Persian Empire that began around 500 BC and lasted until 448 BC.

• Peloponnesian War

The Peloponnesian War was begun in 431 BC between the Athenian Empire and the Peloponnesian League which included Sparta and Corinth. The war was documented by Thucydides, an Athenian general, in his work The History of The Peloponnesian War. The war lasted 27 years, with a brief truce in the middle.

• Punic Wars

The Punic Wars were a series of three wars fought between Rome and the city of Carthage (a Phoenician descendant). They are known as the "Punic" Wars because Rome's name for Carthaginians was Punici (older Poeni, due to their Phoenician ancestry).

1. The First Punic War was primarily a naval war fought between 264 BC and 241 BC.
2. The Second Punic War is famous for Hannibal's crossing of the Alps and was fought between 218 BC and 202 BC.
3. The Third Punic War resulted in the destruction of Carthage and was fought between 149 BC and 146 BC.

• Kalinga War (265-264 BC) was a war fought between the Mauryan Empire under Ashoka the Great and the state of Kalinga, a feudal republic located on the coast of the present-day Indian state of Orissa. Ashoka's response to the Kalinga War is recorded in the Edicts of Ashoka. According to some of these (Rock Edict XIII and Minor Rock Edict I), the Kalinga War prompted Ashoka, already a non-engaged Buddhist, to devote the rest of his life to Ahimsa (non-violence) and to Dhamma-Vijaya (victory through Dhamma).

• Roman-Persian Wars

The Roman-Persian Wars were a series of conflicts between the Roman Empire and Persian Empire that began between the Roman Republic and Parthia in 92 BC and lasted until the Eastern Roman Empire and Sassanid Empire in 627 AD. This series of conflicts became the longest war between two entities in all of history, until it eventually came to an end with the Arab Muslim conquests of the 7th century.