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			Everyone! The civil war never happened just to let everyone know that.
	:''For other uses, see ]. See ] for individual examples.''


	A '''civil war''' is a ] in which parties within the same ], ] or ] fight for political power or control of an area. Some civil wars are also categorized as ]s when major societal restructuring is a possible outcome of the conflict. An ], whether successful or not, is likely to be classified as a civil war by some ]s if, and only if, organized armies fight conventional ]s. Other historians state the criteria for a civil war is that there must be prolonged violence between organized factions or defined regions of a country (conventionally fought or not).

	Ultimately the distinction between a "civil war" and a "revolution" or other name is arbitrary, and determined by usage. The successful revolution of the 1640s in England which led to the (temporary) overthrow of the monarchy became known as the ''']'''. The successful insurgency of the 1770s in British colonies in America, with organized armies fighting battles, came to be known as the ]. In the United States, and in American-dominated sources, the term 'the civil war' almost always means the ''']''', with other civil wars noted or inferred from context.

	Factors such as nationalism, religion, and ideology played little role in pre-modern civil wars. Modern nationalists have commonly read past revolts (such as ] against ] or ] against ]) as early stirrings of nationalism, the truth is that these conflicts were in fact feudal or dynastic rather than national. There are some pre-modern civil wars that can be seen as fueled by religion (the ] against ]), but these can also be seen as revolts by a servile people against their oppressors or uprisings by local notables in an attempt to gain independence.

	==Premodern Civil Wars==
	===Religious conflicts===
	Civil wars fought over religion have tended to occur more frequently in ] societies than in ] societies; one explanation is that the latter tend to be more "flexible" in terms of dogma, allowing for some latitude in belief. In ] through the ], the Christianity of the great bulk of the population was influenced by pagan tradition. With the great majority of the population ], access to the ] was limited and led to a significant amount of ] between Christian and pagan elements. With religion so loosely applied, it was rare for people to feel particularly oppressed by it. There were periodic appearances of ], such as that of the ], which led to violence, but historians tend to view these to be the product of ]s rather than themselves motivators of a civil war.

	As religions tended to become more rigidly defined and understood by their followers, inter-religious tensions generally increased. The rise of ] witnessed a rash of uprisings against non-Islamic rulers soon after its appearance. Subsequent Islamic history has been marked by repeated civil conflicts, mostly stemming out of the ]-] divide. In Europe the ] had a similar effect, sparking years of both civil and international wars of religion. Civil wars between ] and ] consumed France in the ], the Netherlands during the ], Germany during the ], and more recently, ] of ]. Religious disputes among Protestant sects also played a role in the ], while official persecution of Catholics during the ] spurred the ].

	===Revolutions===
	A ] is generally seen as a civil war fought over issues of ideology, over how power should be organized and distributed, not merely over which individuals hold it. The classic example of a revolution, and by some arguments the first is the ], which is seen to have pitted the middle class and urban poor of France against the aristocracy and monarchy. Some argue that revolutions are a modern continuation of the peasant revolts of the past. Unlike peasant revolts, however, revolutions are almost always led by members of the educated, but disaffected, middle class who then rally the large mass of the population to their cause. Others see ideology as merely replacing religion as a justification and motivation for violence that is fundamentally caused by socioeconomic factors. To be successful revolutions almost always require use of armed force and sometimes escalate to a civil war, such as in the ]. In some cases, such as the French and ]s the revolutionaries succeed in gaining power through a quick coup or localized uprising, but a civil war results from ]ary forces organizing to crush the revolution. budda budda budda

	===Separatist revolts===
	One of the most common causes of civil wars, especially in the post-] world has been separatist violence. ] can be seen as similar to both a religion and an ideology as a justification for war rather than a root cause of conflict. All modern states attempt to hold a monopoly on internal military force. For separatist civil wars to break out thus either the national army must fracture along ethnic, religious, or national lines as happened in ]; or more commonly a modern separatist conflict takes the form of ] with separatists lightly armed and disorganized, but with the support of the local population such groups can be hard to defeat. This is the route taken by most liberation groups in colonies, as well as forces in areas such as ] and ]. Regional differences may be enhanced by differing economies, as in the ]. National minorities are also often minorities and wars of religion may link closely into separatisty conflicts.

	===Coups===
	] are by definition quick blows to the top of a government that do not result in the widespread violence of a civil war. On occasion a failed coup, or one that is only half successful, can precipitate a civil war between factions. These wars often quickly try to pull in larger themes of ideology, nationalism, or religion to try to win supporters among the general population for a conflict that in essence is an intraelite competition for power.
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	==See also==
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	*] (including fictional civil wars)
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	==External links==
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	* Information about the English civil war fought between 1455 and 1487.
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Revision as of 19:51, 7 November 2006

Everyone! The civil war never happened just to let everyone know that.