Civil wars have been waged across the world throughout human history. The term “civil war” comes from the Latin phrase bellum civile, which translates to “war of or pertaining to civilians,” and was first used to describe the Roman civil wars of the 1st century BCE.
CivilWar.org offers articles that answer some basic questions on what defines a civil war outside of the American context.
Find out more about the history of American civil war history, including videos, interesting articles, pictures, historical features and more on History.com.
For an easy-to-use American civil war timeline with many original photographs and interesting quotes, go to HistoryPlace.com.