Wars of succession

Wars of succession are prompted by two or more individuals' claim as successor to a deceased or deposed monarch. The individuals are supported by competing factions within the royal court and foreign powers might also intervene through allying themselves with a faction.

• The Anarchy (England, 1135–1154)
• War of Succession of Champagne (1216-1222)
• War of the Succession of Flanders and Hainault (1244-1257)
• War of the Succession of Guelders (1371-1379)
• First War of the Portuguese Succession (1383-1385 Crisis) (1383-1385)
• Breton War of Succession (1341-1364)
• Lithuanian Civil War (1431–1435)
• War of the Castilian Succession (1475-1479)
• Landshut War of Succession (1503-1505)
• Inca Civil War/War of Inca Succession (1529-1532)
• Second War of the Portuguese Succession (1580 Portuguese Succession Crisis) (1580-1583)
• War of the Jülich Succession (1609–1614)
• War of the Mantuan Succession (1628-1631)
• War of the Spanish Succession (1701–1713)
• War of the Polish Succession (1733–1738)
• War of the Austrian Succession (1740–1748)
• War of the Bavarian Succession (1778–1779)
• Third War of the Portuguese Succession (Liberal Wars) (1828-1834)

Sometimes included in this category is the

• War of the English Succession, which is more commonly called the War of the Grand Alliance or the War of the League of Augsburg (1688–1697).

Also, after the death of Alexander the Great, there were the Wars of the Successors (Diadochi).

In fiction

• The Succession Wars, a series of wars in the BattleTech universe
• The Succession Wars, a wargame set in the BattleTech universe
• The Successions, civil wars over the monarchy of Andor in The Wheel of Time