During the first year of the war , the RUF took Conquering control of large swathes of territory in eastern and southern Sierra Leone , which were rich in alluvial diamonds .

The Islamist group Ansar Dine , too , began Process_start fighting Hostile_encounter the government in later stages of the conflict Hostile_encounter , claiming Statement control Control of vast swathes of territory , albeit disputed Quarreling by the MNLA .

Shattering religious and cultural taboos , devastating vast swathes of countryside , and destroying whole cities , the Peloponnesian War marked Recording the dramatic end to the fifth century BC and the golden age of Greece .