11 Of History's Longest And Most Intense Rivalries

Major conflicts: Multiple Anglo-French Wars (1109-1337), Hundred Years' War (1337-1453), various English interventions in the Italian Wars (1494-1559), Seven Years' War  (1756-63), American Revolutionary War (1776-83), Napoleonic Wars (1802-15) 

Anglo-French wars began in the 12th century and didn’t really let up until the fall of Napoleon. The first conflicts were over the English possession of Normandy in northern France and escalated from there. France was a long-term ally of Scotland and helped maintain the kingdom’s independence from England, which in turn prevented England from concentrating its full force against either foe. 

At the height of the Hundred Years' War (which actually lasted 116 years), the English held significant portions of modern-day France. Although England enjoyed a spectacular victory at Agincourt, the French ultimately emerged on top. Only Calais remained in English hands by 1453. It would be a full century before the French took the last English stronghold on the continent.

In the many Italian wars of the 16th century, England typically got involved on whatever side opposed France, helping to thwart the long-term ambitions of the French crown. In return, the French lent a hand to the Dutch in the Second Anglo-Dutch War. In the 18th century, the two nations exchanged victories - the British kicked the French out of Canada, and 20 years later, the French helped the American colonies break away from Britain.

During the Napoleonic Wars, the British were one of the few mainstays in the ever-shifting coalitions formed against France. After the final French defeat at Waterloo, Britain and France became allies rather than enemies. They fought together in the Opium Wars, the Crimean War, and both World Wars. Although just for old times' sake, the British destroyed a French fleet docked in Algeria in 1940 to prevent it from falling into Axis hands.

Major Conflicts: The Punic Wars (264-241 BCE, 218-201 BCE, 149-146 BCE)

The Romans used to refer to the Mediterranean as Mare Nostrum (“our sea”), but it only became theirs after a trilogy of conflicts with the near-equal might of Carthage. The first of the three wars was a grinding 23-year conflict mostly fought in Sicily and at sea. At first, the Romans were fairly clueless when it came to naval combat and the expert sailors of Carthage made short work of the Roman fleets sent against them. A key innovation - the corvus - allowed the Romans to simply board and overwhelm Carthaginian ships. 

The Second Punic War saw Rome suffer a series of catastrophic losses at the hands of the Carthaginian general Hannibal. Through sheer force of will, the Romans eventually managed to overcome Carthage and the emergence of their own genius, Scipio Africanus, who allowed Rome to finally prevail.

Although neutered by a harsh peace deal, the prospect of a recovery deeply worried the Roman statesman Cato the Elder. He took to ending every public speech with "Cathrago delenda est" (“Carthage must be destroyed”). The third and final war was a far briefer affair than the first two almighty struggles. Rome provoked the final showdown through a series of increasingly outrageous demands. Even though Carthage was no match for Rome at this point, the city rallied for a brave but futile defense. 

In 146 BCE the city fell and Carthage was burned to the ground. Although it would be rebuilt a century or so later, the city would never again challenge Rome for control of the Mediterranean.

Major conflicts: Ten wars from 1568-1878, Crimean War, World War I

As expansive Eurasian empires, Russia and the Ottomans were always going to have many enemies at the edges of their vast domains. Few were as intense as their own rivalry from the 16th century to World War I. 

The empires fought 12 wars in all, with Russia the victor in all but two conflicts. The two Ottoman victories came as part of larger entanglements, one of them during the Great Northern War, when the Russians were also at war with half of Europe. The Ottomans negotiated a favorable deal and left the conflict in 1711. The second Ottoman triumph over the Russians was as an ally of Britain and France during the Crimean War. Worried by Russian expansion, the British and French put aside centuries of animosity to aid the ailing Ottomans against the Russians.

A Russian-led coalition defeated the Ottomans in 1878 in the 10th Russo-Turkish war (also called Turko-Russian) and helped the Balkan states gain independence. The final confrontation between the two powers was as part of WWI. With other more pressing priorities elsewhere, the combat between the old rivals was largely restricted to the Caucasus. Both Russia and the Ottomans managed to finish the war on the losing side. Russia dropped out in March 1918, while the Ottomans gave up on October 31 that same year, just a few weeks shy of WWI's official end.

Major conflicts: Polish-Kievan Rus’ conflicts (980-1069), Livonian War (1577-82), Polish-Muscovite War (1605-18), Russo-Polish War (1654-67), Partitions of Poland (1772-94), Polish-Soviet War (1919-20), Soviet Invasion of Poland (1939), Anti-Communist resistance (1945-53)

Depending on how you elect to define Russia, the first conflicts between Russia and Poland go all the way back to the 10 and 11th centuries and the struggles between the Duchy of Poland and Kievan Rus’. Hostilities picked back up towards the end of the 16th century when the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth participated in the Livonian War. 

As Russia endured an especially difficult time appropriately named the Time of Troubles at the turn of the 17th century, the Commonwealth backed a series of pretenders to the Russian throne who all claimed to be a slain prince named Dmitry. After the formation of the Romanov Dynasty and the end of the troubles, the tables turned and the Russians went on the offensive. 

Alongside Austria and Prussia, the burgeoning Russian Empire swallowed up the entirety of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth over the course of three partitions from 1772-1795. For well over a century, Poland ceased to exist. The Treaty of Versailles would ultimately reverse the annexations after World War One. In 1919 the Second Polish Republic found itself surrounded by hostile neighbors and had to fight for its existence. Yet another Russian incursion took place in 1920 but the overextended Red Army was beaten back by Marshall Pilsudski's (pictured) forces. Poland’s existence and borders were secured in 1921 but precariously.

Sandwiched between two hostile powers, Poland’s geopolitical position in the interwar years was one of history’s worst. When the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact was signed, Poland’s fate was sealed. After the Second World War, Poland struggled under the thumb of the Soviet Union for decades, finally breaking away from the Eastern Bloc in 1991. 

Major conflicts: Multiple skirmishes in the Mediterranean, Balkans, and Hungary (1526-1791)

The Habsburgs and the Ottomans were two of the most powerful entities in the early modern world. The Habsburgs dominated European politics with a stranglehold on the Holy Roman Empire and multiple monarchies across the continent. The Ottomans rose from one of the many small Turkish beyliks, overthrew the Byzantine Empire and expanded into Southern Europe in the 15th century. With the conquest of Hungary, the Muslim Ottomans were on the very doorstep of the Catholic Habsburgs. It would take more than 2 1/2 centuries to settle the score.

The Ottomans twice reached the very gates of Vienna, but were ultimately foiled on both occasions. Bad weather persuaded the first expedition to turn back, while the late intervention of the Polish Hussars turned the tide in 1683. The wars were also fought at sea, with a Habsburg-led coalition scoring a particularly important victory at Lepanto in 1571 (pictured). 

Generally, the first hundred or so years were inconclusive; the appropriately named Long Turkish War of 1593-1606 accomplished nothing beyond adding 90,000 bodies to the casualty list. After the second failure to take Vienna, the tide swung toward the Habsburgs thanks to the dynamic leadership of Prince Eugene of Savoy. The last major conflict ended in 1791, a largely inconclusive affair between two powers in decline.

Major conflicts: 1532-55, 1578-90, 1603-18, 1632-39, 1730-35, 1743-46, 1775-76, 1821-23

Although the Ottoman expansion into Europe tends to get more attention, the main target of the Ottomans' considerable military was actually aimed at their eastern rivals, the Safavid Persians. The Ottomans gained the upper hand against the Safavids in the first major conflict (1532-55), but a decisive victory remained elusive as the Persians adopted a scorched-earth strategy.

The two powers traded victories in the second long conflict before the Ottomans once again prevailed in 1590. The territorial gains were largely reversed by a Persian victory in 1618. The peace deal lasted a mere five years before the last major conflict of the 17th century settled the borders of Western Asia for a century. 

A new series of conflicts broke out in the 18th century, and though the Safavids collapsed in 1736, their successors were no less bellicose toward the Ottomans. The latter conflicts between the Ottomans and Persians were largely inconclusive, with a final and lasting peace agreed to in 1823.