Is it reasonable to distinguish between civil wars of the Russian type on one side, and American type on the other in that in the former case all warring parties fought to rule over the entire country, while in the latter one side also sought this, but the other only wanted independence? So the Chinese civil war would be binned together with the Russian as both Mao and Chiang wanted the same thing, but Serbian-Kosovo war would belong to the American as while Serbs wanted to rule Serbia and Kosovo, the Kosovars didn't desire dominion over Serbia and only sought independence.
Seems so to me. As far as I know, there's no formal term for "failed war of independence" distinct from a war between two factions for control of an area they both share. Maybe we should make one up.
I've never heard it before, but that seems more due to 'war of independence' having inherited positive connotations which people don't want to grant to an unpopular loser rather than it being an incoherent label.
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Notes -
Is it reasonable to distinguish between civil wars of the Russian type on one side, and American type on the other in that in the former case all warring parties fought to rule over the entire country, while in the latter one side also sought this, but the other only wanted independence? So the Chinese civil war would be binned together with the Russian as both Mao and Chiang wanted the same thing, but Serbian-Kosovo war would belong to the American as while Serbs wanted to rule Serbia and Kosovo, the Kosovars didn't desire dominion over Serbia and only sought independence.
Seems so to me. As far as I know, there's no formal term for "failed war of independence" distinct from a war between two factions for control of an area they both share. Maybe we should make one up.
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That is a standard distinction. See discussion of typology here
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Isn't that the space 'war of independence' covers?
How often does the American Civil War get called a war of independence?
I've never heard it before, but that seems more due to 'war of independence' having inherited positive connotations which people don't want to grant to an unpopular loser rather than it being an incoherent label.
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