Democratic Republic of the Congo (orthographic projection)

This is a list of conflicts in Democratic Republic of the Congo arranged chronologically from the early modern period to present day. This list includes nationwide and international wars, including:

wars of independence This is a list of wars of independence (also called liberation wars Wars of national liberation or national liberation revolutions are conflicts fought by nations to gain independence. The term is used in conjunction with wars against for ...

liberation wars Wars of national liberation or national liberation revolutions are conflicts fought by nations to gain independence. The term is used in conjunction with wars against foreign powers (or at least those perceived as foreign) to establish separat ...

colonial wars Colonial war (in some contexts referred to as small war) is a blanket term relating to the various conflicts that arose as the result of overseas territories being settled by foreign powers creating a colony. The term especially refers to wars ...

undeclared war An undeclared war is a military conflict between two or more nations without either side issuing a formal declaration of war. The term is sometimes used to include any disagreement or conflict fought about without an official declaration. Since ...

proxy wars A proxy war is an armed conflict between two states or non-state actors, one or both of which act at the instigation or on behalf of other parties that are not directly involved in the hostilities. In order for a conflict to be considered a pr ...

territorial disputes A territorial dispute or boundary dispute is a disagreement over the possession or control of land between two or more political entities. Context and definitions Territorial disputes are often related to the possession of natural resources s ...

, and

world wars A world war is an international conflict which involves all or most of the world's major powers. Conventionally, the term is reserved for two major international conflicts that occurred during the first half of the 20th century, World WarI (1914 ...

. Also listed might be any

battle A battle is an occurrence of combat in warfare between opposing military units of any number or size. A war usually consists of multiple battles. In general, a battle is a military engagement that is well defined in duration, area, and force ...

that occurred within the territory of what is today known as the, "

Democratic Republic of the Congo The Democratic Republic of the Congo (french: République démocratique du Congo (RDC), colloquially "La RDC" ), informally Congo-Kinshasa, DR Congo, the DRC, the DROC, or the Congo, and formerly and also colloquially Zaire, is a country in ...

" but was itself only part of an operation of a

campaign Campaign or The Campaign may refer to: Types of campaigns * Campaign, in agriculture, the period during which sugar beets are harvested and processed *Advertising campaign, a series of advertisement messages that share a single idea and theme * Bl ...

of a

theater Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors or actresses, to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a stage. The perform ...

of a

war War is an intense armed conflict between states, governments, societies, or paramilitary groups such as mercenaries, insurgents, and militias. It is generally characterized by extreme violence, destruction, and mortality, using regular o ...

. There may also be periods of violent civil unrest listed, such as: riots,

shootout A shootout, also called a firefight or gunfight, is a fight between armed combatants using firearms. The term can be used to describe any such fight, though it is typically used to describe those that do not involve military forces or only invo ...

s, spree killings,

massacres A massacre is the killing of a large number of people or animals, especially those who are not involved in any fighting or have no way of defending themselves. A massacre is generally considered to be morally unacceptable, especially when per ...

, terrorist attacks, and

civil wars A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government polici ...

. The list might also contain episodes of:

human sacrifice Human sacrifice is the act of killing one or more humans as part of a ritual, which is usually intended to please or appease gods, a human ruler, an authoritative/priestly figure or spirits of dead ancestors or as a retainer sacrifice, wherein ...

mass suicide Mass suicide is a form of suicide, occurring when a group of people simultaneously kill themselves. Overview Mass suicide sometimes occurs in religious settings. In war, defeated groups may resort to mass suicide rather than being captured. Su ...

, and

genocides Genocide is the intentional destruction of a people—usually defined as an ethnic, national, racial, or religious group—in whole or in part. Raphael Lemkin coined the term in 1944, combining the Greek word (, "race, people") with the Lati ...

Early modern period

Kingdom of Kongo

*1622 Kongo-Portuguese War *1665 — 1709

Kongo Civil War The Kongo Civil War (1665–1709) was a war of succession between rival houses of the Kingdom of Kongo. The war waged throughout the middle of the 17th and 18th centuries pitting partisans of the House of Kinlaza against the House of Kimpanzu. N ...

Late modern period

Congo Free State

*1892 — 1894 Congo Arab war *1895 — 1908

Batetela Rebellions The Batetela rebellion (french: Révolte des Batetela) was a series of three military mutinies and a subsequent low-level insurgency which was attributed to members of the Tetela ethnic group in the Congo Free State between 1895 and 1908. Beginni ...

Contemporary history

Republic of the Congo

*30 June 1960 — 25 November 1966

Congo Crisis The Congo Crisis (french: Crise congolaise, link=no) was a period of political upheaval and conflict between 1960 and 1965 in the Republic of the Congo (today the Democratic Republic of the Congo). The crisis began almost immediately after ...

**January 1964 — November 1964

Simba Rebellion The Simba rebellion, also known as the Orientale revolt, was a regional uprising which took place in the Republic of the Congo (Léopoldville), Democratic Republic of the Congo between 1963 and 1965 in the wider context of the Congo Crisis and the ...

**8 November 1960 Niemba Ambush **17 January 1961 Assassination of Patrice Lumumba **September 1961

Siege of Jadotville In the Siege of Jadotville in September 1961, a small contingent of the Irish Army's 35th Battalion, designated "A" Company, serving as part of the United Nations Operation in the Congo (''Opération des Nations Unies au Congo'', ONUC) were b ...

**11 November 1961 — 12 November 1961

Kindu atrocity The Kindu Massacre, or Kindu Atrocity, took place on the 11th or 12th of November 1961 in Kindu Port-Émpain, in the Congo-Léopoldville (the former Belgian Congo). Thirteen Italian airmen who were members of the United Nations Operation in th ...

**July 1966 Kisangani Mutinies

Republic of Zaire

*8 March 1977 — 26 May 1977 Shaba I *11 May 1978 — June 1978

Shaba II Shaba II was a brief conflict fought in the Zairean province of Shaba (now Katanga) in 1978. The conflict broke out on 11 May 1978 after 6,500 rebels from the Congolese National Liberation Front (FNLC), a Katangese separatist militia, crossed t ...

*1987 — ''ongoing''

Lord's Resistance Army insurgency The Lord's Resistance Army insurgency is an ongoing guerrilla campaign waged by the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) insurgent group since 1987. Currently, there is low-level LRA activity in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo and the Ce ...

*24 October 1996 — 16 May 1997 First Congo War

Democratic Republic of the Congo

*2 August 1998 — 18 July 2003 Second Congo War **1999 — 2007

Ituri Conflict The Ituri conflict (french: Guerre d'Ituri) is an ongoing conflict between the agriculturalist Lendu and pastoralist Hema ethnic groups in the Ituri region of the north-eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). While the two groups had ...

***24 February 2003

Bogoro massacre The assault on Bogoro, which occurred on February 24, 2003, was an attack on the village of Bogoro in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) by the Nationalist and Integrationist Front (FNI) and the Front for Patriotic Resistance of Ituri (F ...

***12 June 2003

Operation Artemis Operation Artemis, formally European Union Force Democratic Republic of the Congo (EUFOR), was a short-term European Union-led UN-authorised military mission to the Democratic Republic of the Congo during the Ituri conflict. ARTEMIS is consider ...

***December 2005 Operation North Night Final **2002 — 2003 Effacer le tableau **2004 — 2013 Kivu Conflict ***26 October 2008 — 23 March 2009 Nord-Kivu campaign ***20 January 2009 — 27 February 2009 Eastern Congo offensive ***4 April 2012 — 7 November 2013

M23 rebellion The M23 rebellion was an armed conflict in North Kivu, Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), that occurred between the March 23 Movement and government forces. The rebellion was part of continued fighting in the region after the formal end ...

*2007 — ''ongoing'' ADF insurgency *2009 Dongo conflict *27 February 2011 Democratic Republic of the Congo coup d'état attempt *30 December 2013 Kinshasa attacks * 2020 Congo attacks * 2021 Congo attacks