10 Biggest Religious Wars Ever Fought

Religion is the most sensitive issue and although every religion encourages the idea of peace and tolerance, almost no one remains in peace or tolerates anything when it comes to their religion. History is full of religious wars and some of them have continued for years and killed many. Here is the list of 10 biggest wars that were fought over religious conflicts and differences.

10. Second War of Kappel


This religious war was also a result of religious conflicts between Catholic cantons and Protestants. Second War Of Keppel was fought in 1531 in the land of Switzerland and when the fight was over, the victory was declared on the Catholic side and it was a rough estimate at that time that 7,000 Protestants and 2,000 Catholics fought this war and in the end, more than 700 people died including a majority of civilians.
9. Lebanese Civil War


This war is very particular and different from others as it was fought between Sunnis and Shiites  at the land of Lebanon. Both sides belong to different ethnic groups of Islam and they both wanted the government control of Lebanon. Lebanese Civil War started in 1975 and ended and the end of 1990 and it was estimated that more than 150,000 people were killed in these inter-country conflicts.
8. Crusades

Crusades is just a title for the multiple religious wars and fights that were fought between the Muslims and Christians due to the religious disputes and controls over land in the Jerusalem. The first war started in 1095 and lasted in 1096 where as the second war was started in 1097 and continued till 1127. Along with many other wars, it all stopped in 1303 when both war soldiers shed blood of more than half a million civilians in the fight and the control of that land was given to the Christians.
7. Second Sudanese Civil war

Although the first war was stopped years ago but there were some conflictions left on both sides and those differences once again forced the same two groups to fight for their rights in the Sudanese land. Second Sudanese Civil War was started in 1983 and it lasted up to 2005 and during this time, more than 2 million people were died in the war and most of them were civilians.
6. First Sudanese Civil War

This religious war is also referred to as the Anyana I because of the rebels who participated in the war. It was fought on the Sudan borders in between the military of Sudan and the Anyana guerrilla forces. It’s a rough estimate that about 10,000 soldiers participated from both sides in it that lasted more than 16 years, starting from 1955 and ending at 1972. It was only fought because ethnic and religious difference between the Muslims and Christians. The worst thing about First Sudanese Civil War is that by the time it was over, there were already more than half a million deaths of soldiers and civilians.

5. German Peasants’ War

This was is also known as the Great Peasants’ Revolt was fought in German majority areas of Europe between the Peasant army and Swabian League. German Peasants’ war started in 1524 when King of France implemented different taxes on the Dutch churches as compared to the French churches and the rules for Dutch Catholics were also different. This fight resulted into the killing of more than 200,000 poor farmers and untrained soldiers and at the end, in 1525, the war was stopped and all the participants were hanged till death.
4. Nigerian Civil War

Biafran war is also a most lethal war in the history that was fought because of religious and ethnic disputes and conflicts in the land of Nigeria. This war was fought between Igbo of Southern and Hausas of Northern Nigeria for more than 2 years in between July 6, 1967 and January 15, 1970. More than 100,000 soldiers participated from the Igbo provinces and about 30,000 soldiers were from Biafran areas and in the end, it left more than 1 million deaths including the soldiers and the civilians. There were many other religions involved in this war but mainly it was between the Muslims and Christians.
3. French Wars Of Religion

French Wars Of Religion is not a single fight; there were many short period wars in between the 1562 and 1598. These wars were fought by Protestants and French Catholics. The fighting period ended in 1598 when the Huguenots or Protestants were granted the freedom and civil rights. There is no authentication to verify exactly how many wars were fought in this period and the real number of deaths in each war and historians are still researching on these perspectives as of this time.
2. Thirty Years’ War

Thirty Years’ War is a series of religious wars that were fought in between 1618 to 1648 in Europe and at that time, most of the European countries participated in these wars. This period of wars is the longest and most demolishing period of fighting in the history of the world that left more than 800,000 deaths including soldiers and civilians. These short period wars were also fought between the religious conflicts in between the Holy Roman Empire and France, Sweden and Spain.
1. Eighty Years’ War

Eighty Years’ War is also known as independent war of Dutch and it was fought from 1568 to 1648 and it was fought in The Low Countries in between the Dutch and Spanish people. This was a victory for the Dutch as they got their own Republic of Dutch. The key reason behind this 80 years long war was that Spain emperors implemented different religious rules in the entire Spanish dynasty including the provinces where Dutch were in majority.