The United States took no active part in the 1853-1856 global conflict, caused by expanding empires and a delicate alliance network. Russia sought to expand influence into the Crimean region from the crumbling Ottoman Empire. Britain and France joined on the Ottoman side to keep Russians expansion in check. An early modern war, the Crimean War saw the first use of railways, photographs, telegraphs and modern nursing technique in war time.

The Opium Wars were fought between China and Britain in the middle of the nineteenth century. The First Opium War was fought from 1839 - 1842 and the Second Opium War was fought from 1856 - 1860. The wars began as a dispute between Britain and China over Britain’s trading privileges and actions in Chinese territory. The wars ended in defeat for China and the weakening of the Qing Dynasty.

All of these were results of the Sino-Japanese War except China losing control over most of Indochina. This took place in the Sino-French War a decade earlier, when France took control over Indochina from the Chinese.

The Seven Years’ War was primarily fought between the British and French empires in the middle of the eighteenth century, however it involved nearly every major European power at one point or another. Most of the European powers, including Spain, Russia, and the Holy Roman Empire were allied with the French, but Prussia was notable in its allegiance with Britain.

Napoleon, like many conquerors before him and after him, was ultimately defeated by the vastness of the Russian expanse. Napoleon conquered almost all of continental Europe in the first decade of the nineteenth century, but his 1812 campaign against Russia was one conquest too far. The Grand Army of France entered Russia with 600,000 troops, but over the course of one long winter of organized Russian resistance more than 500,000 were lost. Napoleon marched home having failed to hold any significant portion of Russian land and with his army decimated.

When news of the French royal family’s botched escape attempt, subsequent re-capture, and forcible return to Paris reached the nation’s neighbors, many European heads of state were quite alarmed. After all, if a hereditary monarch could be prevented from leaving their own country by their very own citizens, then every European ruler was potentially at risk of suffering the same fate. For Emperor Leopold II of Austria, these fears also had a personal element – his younger sister was Queen Marie Antoinette. In order to safeguard both his sister and his own monarchical position, the Emperor teamed up with King Frederick William II of Prussia (in whose nation many French emigres had taken up residence) to issue the Declaration of Pillnitz. In the document, these two rulers made a solemn vow to defend the lives and position of the French royal family, through military force if necessary. However, the Declaration had one crucial caveat: neither the Austrian Emperor nor the Prussian King would invade France unless the other major European powers first pledged their support. This condition essentially nullified the entire Declaration – perfect unanimity is always hard to achieve, especially amongst several powerful rulers, each with their own set of interests and their own host of personal grudges. The French King and Queen were no safer than before.

On September 20th, 1792, the French Revolutionary forces won their first military victory against their external foes, in the Battle of Valmy. Fought in the eastern part of France, the Battle of Valmy was waged against a combined Prussian and Austrian army (although the main fighting force was mostly Prussian). Quite naturally, this victory was enthusiastically celebrated by all of the pro-Revolutionaries across the nation. Additionally, it boosted support for the Convention’s establishment of a new national republican government, which claimed ownership of the military victory.

The Crimean War began as a direct result of the rivalry between Britain, France, and Russia to control the territory likely to be vacated by the declining Ottoman Empire. The direct cause of the Crimean War was competition over religious access between Catholics (and France) and the Eastern Orthodox Church (and Russia) to the Holy Land in Ottoman territory. The more long term cause, however, was British and French fears that the decline of the Ottoman Empire would lead to the massive expansion of the Russian Empire.

The Battle of Fort Sumter (April 12-14, 1861), which occurred near Charleston, South Carolina, was a large-scale bombardment by Confederate forces of the Union military base at Fort Sumter. It was the first armed clash of the Civil War, and while there were no casualties it launched both sides into a long conflict that would eventually claim millions of lives and rewrite American history.

The Spanish-American War was fought between Spain and the United States in the late 1800s once the USS Maine was sunk. The United States won the war and gained much land in the Pacific from Spain.