Most Forgotten or Over Looked Wars in History

[Serutan]

The Tanzanian attack on Uganda that toppled Idi Amin.
Agree with DexterJ about the Vietnam-Cambodia tiff.

Although it's not a separate war, it is not well remembered that
the Americans invaded Canada during the Revolution (and were
defeated on the Plains of Abraham).

 

[Aegis]

The United States of America pretty much declared war upon the Mormon Church and it was called the "Utah War" It took place in 1857, if I remember correctly. The president at that time removed Brigham Young as Governor of Utah and stuck some other jabronie in there and dispatched the army to "quell the rebellion." The mormons performed some nice guerilla warfare by decimating the army's supply line, ensuring that the US troops could not enter Utah by winter.

[Edit] I have been doing some research on this, just to make sure I had it right, and some sites are saying that the army got all the way to Salt Lake City without being harassed, but the city had been abandoned.

 

[DexterJ]

Overlooked is probably a better term than forgotten.
how about the 1962-1993 Ethiopian-Eritrean war.
or even more obscure
the 1991/92 moldovan civil war with the breakaway region of trans-dneister, which is still at a cease fire.

 

[Gladi]

The Tanzanian attack on Uganda that toppled Idi Amin.

Ah, new war! Can you guide me to more info?

 

[privatehudson]

If it's not been said before, the failed attempts of the IRA/IRB to "liberate" Canada from it's British "opressors". Well that's what some pro-IRA sites describe it as

 

[superisis]

In effort to bring some classical, medieval history into this thread (thanx Xen), here goes:

The Great war between Persia and the Roman Empire in the early 7th century, which was a sort of final showdown between the two superpowers. The Roman Empire was losing badly until the Emperor Heraclius could maneuver a sneak attack aimed at Persia's unprotected Capital. The war became a stalemate, and the two exhausted nations soon fell victims of the Arab conquerings. The Byzantines lost most of their territory (and their most prosperous territory at that) and the Persia's never recovered and where entirely conquered.

The great war between Persia and The Byzantines is mostly overlooked due to it's stalemate outcome and the fact that the Arabs appeared at the scene shortly after, but it was still one of the great wars of Roman history.

 

[Yom]

Overlooked is probably a better term than forgotten.
how about the 1962-1993 Ethiopian-Eritrean war.
or even more obscure
the 1991/92 moldovan civil war with the breakaway region of trans-dneister, which is still at a cease fire.

I'd like to think that it's not that obscure, but you're probably right. As you can tell from my avatar, I disagree with the results.

Edit: The numerous Marxist rebellions and wars that occured in Africa during that time period are also often forgotten (e.g. the Ethiopian Civil War, Angolan Civil war, Ethio-Somalian war, the First Congolese Civil war, etc.).

 

[Doc Tsiolkovski]

Considering I've heard of every single example so far, I'd say none if it can be called the most 'forgotten' .

I fully agree with TLC about the Iran/Iraq war being something anyone around in the 80ies was very well aware of. 30 years war, obviously as well. The Russo-Polish war is a good candidate, though; most people are pretty surprised when they hear about it, especially the fact it was Poland which attacked.

I'd go with the Greece-Turkey war of 1922/23. Another pretty unknown post-WW1 war in Europe, but with a major impact until now, considering the huge forced emigrations during it. Don't forget, before this war the biggest Greek city was Smyrna...
Then the Peru-Bolivian-Chilenean War of 1879-1893. Consider Bolivia had a major port on the Pacific coast before it (Antofagusta). And ended as the only S American country that is effectively cut off from any coast (Paraguay isn't coastal as well, but the Rio Paraguay somwehat makes up for it).

 

[Tank_Guy#3]

The fight at "les plaines d'abrahame" between the french and english army in Quebec city, envolving generals Montcalme for the french and Wolf for the english. If the the french had won, they could have maintained a strong grip of north america and who knows, the number 1 language in the world might have turned out to be french.

If you mean number one by being the most spoken, you are wrong. Chinese/Mandarin is the most spoken language in the world, followed by Spanish and then English.

Heres a link:

http://www.photius.com/rankings/languages2.html

 

[Tank_Guy#3]

Although it's not a separate war, it is not well remembered that the Americans invaded Canada during the Revolution (and were defeated on the Plains of Abraham).

If memory serves me correctly, that was a British assault on Canada during the Seven Years (French and Indian) War. However, the U.S. has, I believe, twice invaded Canada. During the Revolution and the War of 1812.

 

[Adso de Fimnu]

I'd go with the Greece-Turkey war of 1922/23. Another pretty unknown post-WW1 war in Europe, but with a major impact until now, considering the huge forced emigrations during it. Don't forget, before this war the biggest Greek city was Smyrna...

Oh, I didn't know about that until I read the novel Middlesex. It certainly was foolish of Greece to invade Turkey.

Then the Peru-Bolivian-Chilenean War of 1879-1893. Consider Bolivia had a major port on the Pacific coast before it (Antofagusta). And ended as the only S American country that is effectively cut off from any coast (Paraguay isn't coastal as well, but the Rio Paraguay somwehat makes up for it).

Besides the obvious advantage of a port, wasn't that war fought over nitrate deposits in the Atacama desert?
And then, if I recall correctly, Bolivia attacked Paraguay for the Gran Chaco region for use of the Paraguay River (as well as oil deposits there--which turned out not to exist anyway).

 

[Tank_Guy#3]

In effort to bring some classical, medieval history into this thread (thanx Xen), here goes:

The Great war between Persia and the Roman Empire in the early 7th century, which was a sort of final showdown between the two superpowers. The Roman Empire was losing badly until the Emperor Heraclius could maneuver a sneak attack aimed at Persia's unprotected Capital. The war became a stalemate, and the two exhausted nations soon fell victims of the Arab conquerings. The Byzantines lost most of their territory (and their most prosperous territory at that) and the Persia's never recovered and where entirely conquered.

The great war between Persia and The Byzantines is mostly overlooked due to it's stalemate outcome and the fact that the Arabs appeared at the scene shortly after, but it was still one of the great wars of Roman history.

If memory serves, wasn't the loss of Turkey due to the Seljuk Turk victory at the battle of Manzikert? I believe that was the downfall of the Byzantines, because they recruited most of their soldiers from the Turkish penninsula.

 

[Tank_Guy#3]

In effort to bring some classical, medieval history into this thread (thanx Xen), here goes:

The Great war between Persia and the Roman Empire in the early 7th century, which was a sort of final showdown between the two superpowers. The Roman Empire was losing badly until the Emperor Heraclius could maneuver a sneak attack aimed at Persia's unprotected Capital. The war became a stalemate, and the two exhausted nations soon fell victims of the Arab conquerings. The Byzantines lost most of their territory (and their most prosperous territory at that) and the Persia's never recovered and where entirely conquered.

The great war between Persia and The Byzantines is mostly overlooked due to it's stalemate outcome and the fact that the Arabs appeared at the scene shortly after, but it was still one of the great wars of Roman history.

If memory serves, wasn't the loss of Turkey due to the Seljuk Turk victory at the battle of Manzikert? I believe that was the downfall of the Byzantines, because they recruited most of their soldiers from the Turkish penninsula.
This was the major start of Islam in this area. I could be mistaken as the Battle of Manzikert took place in 1071.

Here's more info:
http://www.informationblast.com/Battle_of_Manzikert.html

 

[Doc Tsiolkovski]

Besides the obvious advantage of a port, wasn't that war fought over nitrate deposits in the Atacama desert?

Yep, that's why its called the Saltpetre War.
Did you know Bolivia still has a pretty big Marine (almost no ships, but quite some personnal), since the military still believes they will reclaim control over Antofagusta at some point ?

 

[Tank_Guy#3]

The Russo-Polish war is a good candidate, though; most people are pretty surprised when they hear about it, especially the fact it was Poland which attacked.

I'd go with the Greece-Turkey war of 1922/23. Another pretty unknown post-WW1 war in Europe, but with a major impact until now, considering the huge forced emigrations during it. Don't forget, before this war the biggest Greek city was Smyrna...

It is good to see that others are knowledgeable of Polish history. Also, I agree with you about the Greco-Turkish War of 1922-23. (Is that the one they were talking about in My Big Fat Greek Wedding, with that old grandma lady?)

 

[superisis]

If memory serves, wasn't the loss of Turkey due to the Seljuk Turk victory at the battle of Manzikert? I believe that was the downfall of the Byzantines, because they recruited most of their soldiers from the Turkish penninsula.
This was the major start of Islam in this area. I could be mistaken as the Battle of Manzikert took place in 1071.

I'm not talking about Byzantines war against the Seljuk Turks, thus not about the battle of Manzikert.

I'm talking about the war between The Roman Empire (or the Byzantine Empire, whatever you prefer) and the Sassanian Persian Empire. It was a huge war, but was overshadowed by the Arab conquests a few decades later (where the Arabs conquered the most prosperous areas of the Byzantine empire, not all of the Byzantine empire).

P.S. If you're confused the richest part of the Roman empire has always been Syria and Egypt.

If you mean number one by being the most spoken, you are wrong. Chinese/Mandarin is the most spoken language in the world, followed by Spanish and then English.

Depend if you mean spoken by the native tongue or what languages that can be understood. Because if it is about being able to speak and understand a language, English wins hands down.

 

[Huzzamaster]

We may never know, and probably never know, the most forgotten war in history!

 

[greekguy]

it's hard to say the most overlooked war overall, but in the USA the most overlooked is definitely the Barbary Wars. In fact, history is my favortie subject in school, and i have lots of books about it, but i just found out recently that this war actually existed. most americans have no idea we were involved with a war so far away so early in our countrie's history. it also makes me sad that it took america 14 years to defeat pirates.

 

[Nobody]

what about the maori wars.

 

[Adso de Fimnu]

what about the maori wars.

Do you mean wars among the Maori, or the conquest of New Zealand by the British?