List of wars of independence
This is a list of wars of independence. These wars may or may not have been successful in achieving a goal of independence.
| Dates | Name | Result |
| 1830-1831 | November Uprising | Defeat of Polish insurgents. Russian retains control of Poland, introduction of the Organic Statute of the Kingdom of Poland, liquidation of Polish autonomy. |
| 1861–1865 | American Civil War | Defeat of the seceded Confederate States and reunion with the United States |
| 2012 | Tuareg rebellion | Unrecognized independence of Azawad from Mali. Azawad claimed territory controlled by Ansar Dine. |
| 1983–2005 | Second Sudanese Civil War | Independence of South Sudan from Sudan |
| 1814 | Swedish–Norwegian War | Partial independence of Norway within the later United Kingdoms of Sweden and Norway |
| 1954–1962 | Algerian War | Independence of Algeria from France |
| 1775–1783 | American Revolutionary War | Independence of the United States from Great Britain |
| 1961–1974 | Angolan War of Independence | Independence of Angola from Portugal |
| 1876 | April Uprising | Defeat of Bulgarian nationalists by the Ottoman Empire; subsequent reprisals by the Ottomans led to the Russo-Turkish War, 1877–78 and the 1878 independence of Bulgaria from the Ottoman Empire. |
| 1919–1921 | Irish War of Independence | Anglo-Irish Treaty; Partition of Ireland; secession of 26 of Ireland's 32 counties from the United Kingdom |
| 1916–1918 | Arab Revolt | Defeat of Arab aspirations for independence by post-World War I partition of Arab Ottoman Empire lands into protectorates controlled by United Kingdom and France |
| 1971 | Bangladesh Liberation War | Independence of Bangladesh from Pakistan |
| 1830–1839 | Belgian Revolution | Independence of Belgium from the Netherlands |
| 1822–1824 | Brazilian War of Independence | Independence of the Empire of Brazil from the United Kingdom of Portugal, Brazil and the Algarves |
| 1825–1828 | Cisplatine War | Disputed between the Empire of Brazil and United Provinces of Rio de la Plata. Independence of Uruguay from Brazil |
| 1991–1995 | Croatian War of Independence | Independence of Croatia from Yugoslavia |
| 1843–1849 | Dominican War of Independence | Independence of Dominican Republic from Haiti |
| 1568–1648 | Eighty Years' War | Independence of the Netherlands from Spain |
| 1961–1991 | Eritrean War of Independence | Independence of Eritrea from Ethiopia |
| 1918–1920 | Finnish War of Independence | Independence of Finland from Russian Empire/Russian SFSR |
| 1918–1920 | Estonian War of Independence | Independence of Estonia from Russian Empire/Russian SFSR |
| 1946–1954 | First Indochina War | Independence of Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia from France; partition of Vietnam |
| 1857–1858 | Indian Rebellion of 1857 | Defeat of Indian insurgents; Great Britain retains control of India |
| 1848-1849 | First Italian War of Independence | Kingdom of Sardinia defeated by the Austrian Empire; Italian unification not achieved |
| 1859 | Second Italian War of Independence | France and the Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia defeat the Austrian Empire; most of the Kingdom of Lombardy-Venetia transferred to France and then to Piedmont-Sardinia; Duchy of Parma, Duchy of Modena, Grand Duchy of Tuscany and the Papal Legations annexed by Piedmont-Sardinia |
| 1866 | Third Italian War of Independence | Austrian Empire loses Veneto to Kingdom of Italy |
| 1804–1813 | First Serbian Uprising | Defeat of insurgents; Ottoman Empire retains control of Serbia |
| 1821–1829 | Greek War of Independence | Independence of Greece from the Ottoman Empire |
| 1963–1974 | Guinea-Bissau War of Independence | Independence of Guinea-Bissau from Portugal |
| 1791–1804 | Haitian Revolution | Independence of Haiti from France |
| 1703–1711 | Rákóczi's War of Independence | Limited autonomy for Hungary within the Habsburg Monarchy |
| 1944-1948 | Jewish insurgency in Mandatory Palestine | Independence of Israel from the United Kingdom |
| 1945–1949 | Indonesian National Revolution | Independence of Indonesia from the Netherlands |
| 1947–1949 | 1948 Arab–Israeli War | Defeat of Arabs; Israel retains independence |
| 1996–1999 | Kosovo War | No legal changes to Yugoslav borders according to the Resolution 1244, but effective political and economic separation of Kosovo from the rest of Yugoslavia under United Nations temporary administration. |
| 1810s–1820s | Latin American wars of independence: Argentine War of Independence, Bolivian War of Independence, Chilean War of Independence, Foolish Fatherland, Ecuadorian War of Independence, Mexican War of Independence, Peruvian War of Independence, Venezuelan War of Independence | Independence of many Spanish-American colonies from Spain |
| 1918–1920 | Latvian War of Independence | Independence of Latvia from Russian Empire/Russian SFSR |
| 1918–1920 | Lithuanian War of Independence | Independence of Lithuania from Russian Empire/Russian SFSR and Poland |
| 1952–1960 | Kenyan Mau Mau Uprising | Defeat of insurgents; United Kingdom retains control of Kenya |
| 1964–1974 | Mozambican War of Independence | Independence of Mozambique from Portugal |
| 1966–1988 | Namibian War of Independence | Independence of Namibia from South Africa |
| 1967–1970 | Nigerian Civil War | Defeat and dissolution of the Republic of Biafra |
| 1896–1898 | Philippine Revolution | Inconclusive; Philippines independence from Spain then achieved by Spanish–American War |
| 1895–1898 | Cuban War of Independence | Independence of Cuba from Spain following four years of American occupation |
| 1899–1913 | Philippine–American War | Defeat of Philippine insurgents; United States retains control of the Philippines |
| 1640–1668 | Portuguese Restoration War | Restoration of Portuguese independence from Spain |
| 1863–1865 | January Uprising | Defeat of Polish insurgents; Russia retains control of Poland |
| 1869 | Red River Rebellion | Establishment of Provisional government of the Red River Colony |
| 1920–1926 | Rif War | Defeat of insurgents and Rif Republic; Spain retains control of Spanish Morocco |
| 1877 | Romanian War of Independence | Independence of Romania from the Ottoman Empire |
| 1808–1814 | Peninsular War | Independence of Spain from France |
| 1296–1357 | Wars of Scottish Independence | Scotland retains its status as an independent nation |
| 1815–1817 | Second Serbian Uprising | Semi-independence of Serbia within the Ottoman Empire |
| 1521–1523 | Swedish War of Liberation | Independence of Sweden from the Kalmar Union |
| 1991 | Ten-Day War | Independence of Slovenia from Yugoslavia |
| 1868–1878 | Ten Years' War | Defeat of insurgents; Spain retains control of Cuba |
| 1835–1836 | Texas Revolution | Independence of Texas from Mexico |
| 1919–1923 | Turkish War of Independence | Creation of the Republic of Turkey |
| 1917–1921 | Ukrainian War of Independence | Independence of Ukraine from Russia; partition of Ukraine by Soviet Union, Poland and Romania |
| 1185–1188 | Uprising of Asen and Peter | Independence of Bulgaria from the Byzantine Empire; creation of the Second Bulgarian Empire |
| 1863–1865 | Dominican Restoration War | Independence of Dominican Republic from 4 year occupation by the Spanish Empire; ousts Spain from Hispaniola |
| 1975-1991 | Western Sahara War | Partition of Western Sahara between Morocco and Sahrawi Republic |
| 1988-1994 | Nagorno-Karabakh War | De facto independence of the Republic of Artsakh from Azerbaijan |
| 1990-1992 | Transnistria War | De-facto independence of Transnistria from Moldova |
| 1991-1992 | South Ossetia War | De facto independence for South Ossetia from Georgia |
| 1992-1993 | War in Abkhazia | De facto independence for Abkhazia from Georgia |
| 1846 | Bear Flag Revolt | The California Republic declares independence from the Centralist Republic of Mexico. The republic is quickly annexed by the United States |
| 2014-Ongoing | War in Donbass | De facto independence for the proto-states of Donetsk People's Republic and Luhansk People's Republic from Ukraine |
| 2017-ongoing | Anglophone Crisis | Ongoing |
| 1947 | Indian independence movement | Independence of India from the United Kingdom |
| 1955-1972 | First Sudanese Civil War | Conflict between Sudan and South Sudan |