I did a trawl through the Internet and compiled the following list of conflicts that occurred during the Interwar period:
What I found most surprising when I compiled this list was how few but how many conflicts there had been between 1919 and 1939. It has gone some way to convincing me that the Interwar era has lots of potential for inspiring imaginary wars between imagi-nations.
- Austrian Civil War (Austrian Socialists vs. Austrian Conservatives/Fascists)
- Battle of Khalkhin Gol (Japan vs. Russia)
- Battle of Lake Khasan (Japan vs. Russia)
- Chaco War (Bolivia vs. Paraguay)
- Corfu Incident (Italy vs. Greece)
- Cristero War (Mexican Clericals vs. Mexican Anti-Clericals)
- Estonian War of Independence (Estonia vs. Russia)
- Finnish Civil War (Finnish Reds vs. Finnish Whites)
- Franco-Syrian War (France vs. Syria)
- Franco-Turkish War (France vs. Turks)
- Greco-Turkish War (Greece vs. Turkey)
- Gugsa Welle's Rebellion (Pro-Empress Zewditu faction vs. Pro-King Tafari Makonnen faction)
- Irish Civil War (Pro-Treaty Irish Republicans vs. Anti-Treaty Irish Republicans)
- Irish War of Independence (British forces vs. Irish Republicans)
- Italian invasion of Albania (Italy vs. Albania)
- Italo-Abyssinian War (Italy vs. Abyssinia)
- Latvian War of Independence (Latvia vs. Russia)
- Lithuanian Wars of Independence (Lithuania vs. Russia)
- Mukden Incident (China vs. Japan)
- Polish-Czechoslovak border conflicts (Poland vs. Czechoslovakia)
- Polish-Lithuanian War (Poland vs. Lithuania)
- Polish-Soviet War (Poland vs. Russia)
- Rif War (Spain and France vs. Moroccan Berbers)
- Russian Civil War (Russian Reds vs. Russian Whites)
- Sino-Japanese War (China vs. Japan)
- Slovak-Hungarian War (Slovakia vs. Hungary)
- Spanish Civil War (Republicans vs. Nationalists)
- Third Anglo-Afghan War (United Kingdom vs. Afghanistan)
- Turkish-Armenian War (Turkey vs. Armenia)
- Ukrainian War of Independence (Ukraine vs. Russia)
- Vlora War (Albania vs. Italy)
- War of the stray dog or Incident at Petrich (Bulgaria vs. Greece)
What I found most surprising when I compiled this list was how few but how many conflicts there had been between 1919 and 1939. It has gone some way to convincing me that the Interwar era has lots of potential for inspiring imaginary wars between imagi-nations.
Very interesting.
ReplyDeleteThis was also the era of US intervention in Latin America, mainly with the Marine Corps. Try
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_United_States_Marine_Corps#Banana_Wars
for an overview.
Ed
I agree the inter-war years were far from peaceful, and have personally designed a lot of games on these wars.
ReplyDeleteAs it happens, I just on Friday self-published a wargame on the Finnish Civil War, for free download:
http://www.islandnet.com/~ltmurnau/text/gamescen.htm (scroll down a bit)
I have also designed games on the Russo-Polish War, the Sino-Japanese War, and Spanish Civil war. For alt-hist I have done an alt-hist invasion of Germany by the USSR in 1920, and a game of the US invading Canada in the late 1930s.
Brian Train
Ed,
ReplyDeleteThanks for the link. I will check it out as soon as I have enough time.
All the best,
Bob
Itmurnau,
ReplyDeleteThat is quite some list of games!
My own interest in the interwar era started with the Chaco War and the Spanish Civil War and is now beginning to broaden out.
Thanks for the link. I will pay it a visit as soon as I have enough time.
All the best,
Bob
A very impressive list of conflicts. I always feel the Irish War of Independence isn't given credit for being the civil war in undoubtedly was.
ReplyDeleteConrad Kinch,
ReplyDeleteThe speed with which the British moved from fighting against the Irish Republicans to supporting the Pro-Treaty Irish Republicans against the Anti-Treaty Irish Republicans is quite amazing. If I had the time I would love to research this in greater detail.
To my mind, one of the great 'What Ifs?' of Irish history since 1920 is what would have happened if Michael Collins had not been killed?
Something to ponder on.
All the best,
Bob
An interesting list... I never realised how much conflict took place in the so called peaceful years between the world wars.
ReplyDeleteThe point to be made is that "the British" in that sentence (then as now) contained a not insignificant number of "Irish".
ReplyDeleteI don't know enough about Collins as a man to make any strong judgements about how his survival might have effected post Independance Irish history.
BigLee,
ReplyDeleteI must admit that I had not realised how many conflicts there had been until I began to compile the list.
All the best,
Bob
Conrad Kinch,
ReplyDeleteYour point is well made. As happened in the American War of Independence, it is sometimes forgotten that not everyone was in favour of changing the status quo.
As to Collins ... well my reading of his character is that he was far more of a pragmatist than, for example, De Valera. Had he become President of Eire instead of De Valera, subsequent history might have followed a somewhat different course.
All the best,
Bob
Not to forget the opportunities for mayhem with the o]post war miners coal strike and the GREAT STRIKE, which always seemed to me to to represent that Britishness that allowed up to work through constitutional crises,
ReplyDeletePaint it Pink,
ReplyDeleteThe General Strike of 1926 has a special place in my family history. My father was born just as it started, and his father (my grandfather) was one of the leaders of the striking tram drivers in West Ham.
All the best,
Bob