Wars and Conflicts of the 19th Century Quiz

Answer: The Crimean War

The Crimean War lasted from 1853 to 1856 and was a military conflict between Russia and a coalition of Great Britain, France, the Kingdom of Sardinia, and the Ottoman Empire. It was a major turning point in the political history of post-Napoleonic Europe. The roots of the conflict lay in the "Eastern Question" resulting from the continuing decay of the Ottoman Empire, a development fraught with explosive implications for the European balance of power.

Since the late 18th century, Russia had become more eager to take advantage of this situation to increase its influence in the Balkans and to wrest from the Ottoman Empire control of the straits between the Black Sea and the Mediterranean Sea. The war was an event of major significance in European history. It marked the collapse of the arrangement whereby the victors of the Napoleonic Wars - Britain, Russia, Austria and Prussia - had cooperated to maintain peace in Europe for four decades. The myth of Russian might was laid to rest, and the breakup of the old coalition permitted Germany and Italy to free themselves from Austrian influence and emerge as nations in the decade that followed. Finally, the shock of the Crimean defeat was the catalyst for a program of sweeping internal reform in Russia under Nicholas's successor, Alexander II.

Answer: Mexican-American War

The Mexican-American War lasted from 1846 to 1848 (in the USA it's also known as the Mexican War). The war resulted in a decisive U.S. victory and forced Mexico to relinquish all claims to approximately half of its territory. Mexico had already lost control of much of its northeastern territory as a result of the Texas Revolution (1835-1836).

This land, combined with the territory Mexico ceded at the end of the war, would form the U.S. states of Arizona, California, Nevada, New Mexico, Texas, and Utah, as well as portions of the states of Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Wyoming.

Answer: War of 1812

The War of 1812 was a conflict between the United States and Britain. Britain tried to prevent the U.S. trading with France. President James Madison requested a declaration of war to protect American ships on the high seas and to stop the British from impressing or seizing U.S. sailors. U.S. ships were being stopped and searched by both Great Britain and France, who were fighting each other in Europe.

President Madison also wanted to prevent Britain from forming alliances with Native Americans on the American frontier. His decision was influenced by Americans in the West and South, who hoped to expand the United States by seizing control of both Canada and Florida. Critics called the War of 1812 "Mr. Madison's War", an opportunity for Americans to defend their freedom and honor in the face of European disrespect. Neither Britain nor the United States was particularly well prepared to fight this war. Both sides claim it as a victory.

Answer: Franco-Prussian War

The Franco-Prussian War (aka the Franco-German war) began in 1870 and ended in 1871 and was lost by France to the German states under the leadership of Prussia. The underlying causes of the conflict were the determination of the Prussian statesman Prince Otto von Bismarck to unify Germany under Prussian control and, as a step toward this goal, to eliminate French influence in Central Europe. The Treaty of Frankfurt, signed on May 10, 1871, ended the war between France and Germany. The treaty provided that most of the French province of Alsace and part of Lorraine, including Metz, were to be ceded to the German Empire, and that France was to pay a war indemnity of 5 billion gold francs ($1 billion), and submit to occupation by German troops until the amount was paid in full. This heavy obligation was discharged in September 1873, and during the same month, after an occupation of almost three years, France was at last free of German soldiers.

Answer: Civil War

The American Civil War is sometimes called the War Between the States, the War of Rebellion, or the War for Southern Independence. It began on April 12, 1861, when Confederate General P. G. T. Beauregard opened fire on Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor, South Carolina, and lasted until May 26, 1865, when the last Confederate army surrendered.

The war took more than 600,000 lives, destroyed property valued at $5 billion, brought freedom to 4 million black slaves, and opened wounds that had not healed completely even at the the end of the 20th century.

Answer: The Opium Wars

The first Opium War lasted from 1839 to 1842, the second from 1856 to 1860. The two conflicts were between Britain and China over trading rights. In the Second Opium War, also known as the Arrow War or the Anglo-French War in China, French forces joined the British.

The wars are so named because they centered on the trade of opium, which British merchants were smuggling into China in vast quantities. The Chinese lost both wars. As a result, they found themselves forced into the emerging world of global trade and diplomacy, while Western nations gained significant commercial privileges and territory in China.

However, growing rivalry between the Great Powers in the Far East did much to save China from colonization.

Answer: The Ten Years' War

The Ten Years' War was a Cuban war fought between 1868 and 1878 against Spanish rule. The rebellion, caused chiefly by the failure of the Spanish to grant various reforms to Cuba, broke out on October 10, 1868, when Carlos Manuel de Céspedes, who favored the independence of Cuba, the gradual emancipation of slaves, and universal suffrage, proclaimed a revolution against Spain.

Not all Cuban revolutionists were in favor of independence; some desired annexation to the United States, while others asked for government and social reforms but preferred to remain in the Spanish Empire.

A republican government was organized on April 20, 1869. The rebellion was characterized by guerrilla warfare, which became increasingly brutal as it progressed. Skirmishes were almost entirely limited to eastern Cuba. Anticipated intervention by the U.S. never became a reality, and in February 1878, after a loss of 200,000 lives, peace was negotiated by the signing of the Treaty of El Zanjón, which stipulated that slavery would be abolished in Cuba and that government reforms would be instituted.

The failure of Spain to honor the treaty fully helped bring about the final war for Cuban independence, fought between 1895 and 1898.

Answer: The War of the Pacific

The War of the Pacific was fought from 1878 to 1883. A treaty of 1874, while recognizing Bolivia's control over the area, exempted Chilean nitrate companies from paying new taxes for 25 years. When the Bolivian president Hilarión Daza demanded a new tax on the companies in 1878, Chile occupied (February 1879) the port of Antofagasta. Bolivia declared war and was joined by Peru, a partner in a secret alliance. The Chilean navy won a decisive victory at Point Angamos in 1879, and its army followed with the capture of Tacna and Arica in 1880.

Once Chile had occupied all of the Bolivian and Peruvian nitrate provinces, Bolivia withdrew from the war. In January 1881, Chile occupied Lima, forcing the Peruvian government into the highlands. After two years of occupation, Peru accepted Chile's peace terms in the Treaty of Ancón (October 20, 1883), ceding the province of Tarapacá to Chile along with the provinces of Tacna and Arica on condition that a plebiscite be held. Under a treaty signed in 1884, Bolivia ceded its Atacama Province to Chile and became a landlocked nation.

Answer: The Seminole Wars

The Seminole Wars were three wars (1817-1818, 1835-1842, 1855-1858) between the Seminole peoples and the United States. The Seminole occupied lands in northern Florida that were coveted by American settlers in the neighboring state of Georgia, although Florida at the beginning of the 19th century belonged to Spain.

Another cause for dissension was the Seminole practice of giving refuge to fugitive slaves. While the U.S. was fighting the War of 1812 with Britain, a series of incidents led to an increase in hostility between the U.S. and the Seminole.

In 1817 the First Seminole War began with skirmishes between American troops and native peoples along the Florida border. In 1818 the American general (later president) Andrew Jackson was sent with an army to Florida to quell the Seminole rebellion.

After destroying several Native American settlements and executing two British traders accused of encouraging Seminole resistance in the region, General Jackson captured the city of Pensacola in May 1818 and deposed the Spanish government.

When Florida became U.S. territory in 1819 and colonists began entering from the north, the Native Americans were forced to move south into regions unsuitable for their agricultural economy. In 1823 the Seminole officially ceded most of their former tribal lands to the United States; in 1832, by the treaty of Paynes Landing, the tribe was bound to move to territory west of the Mississippi River within three years. Widespread opposition to this treaty, led by the Seminole chief Osceola, resulted in the outbreak of the Second Seminole War. In 1837 Osceola was captured while under a flag of truce, but the war, which for the U.S. was extremely costly in both troops and money, continued until most of the Seminole finally surrendered in 1842. The majority of the tribe was then moved to the present-day state of Oklahoma. A few hundred, however, took refuge in the Everglades of southern Florida. After the Third Seminole War, about half of those were moved west. The rest remained in Florida; their descendants did not sign a peace treaty with the U.S. until 1935.

Answer: The Spanish- American War

The Spanish-American War was a brief war that the United States waged against Spain in 1898. Actual hostilities in the war lasted less than four months, from April 25 to August 12, 1898. Most of the fighting occurred in or near the Spanish colonial possessions of Cuba and the Philippines, nearly halfway around the world from each other.

In both theaters the decisive military event was the complete destruction of a Spanish naval squadron by a vastly superior U.S. fleet. These victories left the Spanish land forces isolated from their homeland and, after brief resistance, brought about their surrender to U.S. military forces.

The defeat marked the end of Spain's colonial empire (except in Africa) and the rise of the United States as a global military power.