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List of wars of succession in Europe

This is a list of wars of succession in Europe.

Note: Wars of succession in transcontinental states are mentioned under the continents where their capital city was located. That means that wars of succession in the Byzantine Empire and Ottoman Empire are found here whenever their capital city was located at Constantinople/Kostantiniyye/Istanbul in East Thrace; for Ottoman wars of succession before 1453, see List of wars of succession § Medieval Asia. Names of wars that have been given names by historians are capitalised; the others, whose existence has been proven but not yet given a specific name, are provisionally written in lowercase letters (except for the first word, geographical and personal names).

Ancient Europe

Medieval Europe

6th–8th century

9th century

10th century

  • War of the Leonese succession (951–956), after the death of king Ramiro II of León
  • (historicity contested) (945–947), after the Kievan Rus' Drevlian vassals assassinated Igor of Kiev. Initially, the Drevlian prince Mal offered to marry Igor's widow Olga of Kiev and thus succeed him, but Olga appointed herself as regent over her young son Svyatoslav, made war on the Drevlians and destroyed their realm. The historicity of the events as described in the main document on the conflict, the Primary Chronicle, is contested, and the war is described as 'legendary' with a mix of fact and fiction.
  • Gwynedd war of succession (950), after the death of king Hywel Dda of Gwynedd and Deheubarth
  • Feud of the Sviatoslavichi or Kievan Rus' Dynastic War ( 972–980), after the death of king Sviatoslav I of Kiev
  • War of the Hamaland succession ( 973 – 996), after the death of count Wichman II of Hamaland, between sisters Adela of Hamaland and (supported by Balderic, Count of Upladium)
  • War of the Leonese succession (982–984), continuation of the last Leonese war of succession
  • Stephen–Koppány war, also known as 'Koppány's rebellion' or contemporaneously 'the war between the Germans and the Hungarians' (997–998), after the death Géza, Grand Prince of the Hungarians. Stephen (pagan birth name: Vajk) was Géza's oldest son and claimed the throne by primogeniture; his army was described as 'the Germans'. Koppány was the brother of Géza's widow Sarolt and claimed the throne by agnatic seniority; his army was described as 'the Hungarians'. Later Christian sources emphasise Stephen's Christianity as an argument for his legitimacy, claim that Koppány was a pagan and that agnatic seniority was a 'pagan' custom as opposed to the 'Christian' custom of primogeniture, and that therefore Koppány 'rebelled' against the legitimate Christian king Stephen, but the reliability and impartiality of these sources is disputed.

11th century

12th century

13th century

14th century

15th century

Early modern Europe

16th century

17th century

18th century

Modern Europe

19th century

Timeline

See also

Notes

References

Bibliography