1947
The India-Pakistan war of 1947-48 was the first of the four wars India fought with its arch rival. Fought over the princely state of Jammu and Kashmir, it is also known as the First Kashmir War. Pakistan precipitated the war by launching tribal militia from Waziristan to take control over Kashmir.
1961
India’s Operation Vijay led to the capture of Goa, Daman and Diu and Anjediva Islands from the Portuguese colonial holding in 1961.
1962
The Indo-China war in 1962 was the result of a disputed Himalayan border, apart from India giving asylum to Tibeten leader Dalai Lama, to which the Chinese objected.
1965
India’s second war with Pakistan in 1965 began with skirmishes. The conflict escalated when Pakistan launched Operation Gibraltar to infiltrate forces into Jammu and Kashmir to precipitate an insurgency. India retaliated by launching a full-scale war.
1971
The third India-Pakistan war in 1971 led to the liberation of East Pakistan, now Bangladesh. It lasted just 13 days, and is one of the shortest wars in history. Among the 93,000 Pakistani PoWs were 81,000 uniformed personnel of Pakistani armed forces.
1999
In the 1999 Kargil conflict, the Indian Army ousted Pakistan-backed infiltrators and soldiers. Kargil was targeted by Pakistan because the terrain was conducive to the preemptive seizure of several unoccupied military positions. India lost 500 soldiers.
2016
A pre-dawn surgical strike by the Indian Army in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir on September 29, 2016, was carried out in retaliation to the killing of 19 soildiers in J&K’s Uri. Indian soldiers killed 38 terrorists who
had amassed across the LoC.