In retaliation to the British changing laws to make the American Colonists buy a higher percentage of their goods from Britain by restricting foreign ships from colonial ports, the Sons of Liberty staged the Boston Tea Party. The Seven Years’ War was a European conflict that took place from 1754-1763; the major combatants were France and Britain. The Battle of Waterloo was a major battle that occurred in 1815.

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.

In accordance with the treaty that ended the War of the Sixth Coalition, Napoleon was sent to the small island of Elba. In hopes of keeping him occupied on the island, Napoleon was allowed to keep the title of Emperor despite his abdication from the throne of France, and he was installed as the sovereign of the island. While there he ruled over the island, creating a small army and navy, updated farms, and started iron mines.

The Treaty of Shimonoseku was signed in 1895 and brought to an end the hostilities of the Sino-Japanese War. It was an unequal treaty designed by the victorious Japanese to be in their best interests. Amongst other things it led to Japanese control over Korea and Taiwan.

The long and costly war meant the British treasury was severely depleted by wars end. This meant that the British needed to raise taxes, and, since most of the expense of the war was spent sending troops and supplies to defend their various colonies, the British felt that the colonies should bear the brunt of the taxes. The colonists disagreed and felt that the taxes should be shared by all British citizens.

As part of his successful campaign to gain independence for Uruguay, Artigas would fight to gain independence for Paraguay. Paraguay declared independence at the same time as Uruguay and due to its remote inland position, it faced much less in the way of Spanish attacks. However, it needed to ally itself with Uruguay and Artigas due to the access the Spanish could have to the nation via the Rio Uruguay.

Artigas was a Uruguayan revolutionary who helped launch the Uruguayan Revolution in 1810. The war against Spain would last for years and end in 1818 with Uruguayan independence. in the wake of the war Artigas would help found the Free State of Uruguay.

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.

The Seven Years' War (often called the French-Indian War in America) was fought between Britain and France from 1756-1763. It led to the emergence of Britain as the most powerful empire in the world, as British took French and Spanish territories in the New World and in India.

The American Revolution (1775-1783) officially ended with the agreement of the Treaty of Paris in 1783.