List of military conflicts spanning multiple wars

Early histories of a war typically describe the war as it was declared by the states involved. It is not uncommon for later historians to group together a series of wars over a long period or spread over several theaters as part of a broader conflict or strategic campaign. The most familiar of these in the present day is probably the Cold War, which included the Korean War, Vietnam War, and Afghan-Soviet War, among others. These groupings provide useful context for the wars involved.

• 264 BCE-146 BCE Punic Wars
• 58 BCE-50 BCE Gallic Wars
• 1296-1363 Wars of Scottish Independence
• 1494-1559 Italian Wars
• 1562-1598 French Wars of Religion
• 1637-1890 Indian Wars (United States)
• 1637-1652 Wars of the Three Kingdoms
• 1648-1667 The Deluge
• 1689-1763 French and Indian Wars
• 1747-1793 Ten Great Campaigns
• 1754-1763 Seven Years' War
• 1754-1814 Sixty Years' War
• 1792-1815 Napoleonic Wars
• 1838-1940 The Great Game
• 1848-1866 Italian Independence wars
• 1912-1913 Balkan Wars
• 1931-1945 World War II [1], including the Second Sino-Japanese War, Winter War and Continuation War
• 1945-1991 Cold War
• 1946-1979 Indochina Wars
• 1947-present Indo-Pakistani Wars and Kashmir conflict
• 1948-present Arab-Israeli Conflict
• 1980-present Gulf Wars
• 1991-2001 Yugoslav Wars
• 1996-present Congo Wars
• 2001-present War on Terror

Some left-wing analysts refer to all military activity by Western powers in the developing world since 1492 as a continuous "Imperialist War."

[1] Russia remains technically at war with Japan.