War of succession
As the authority of the Zhou dynasty declined, the states' power increased (the Age of Hegemons), and whenever the Zhou royal clan was unable to solve a succession crisis by itself, leading states were expected to militarily intervene on behalf of the "legitimate" heir, which occurred frequently in the 7th and 6th centuries. However, as the states grew more powerful and dukes had to delegate control over certain areas to kinsmen as their territories enlarged, they increasingly risked internal dynastic struggles as well. The largest states in particular experienced this problem, namely Qi (e.g. the War of Qi's succession in 643–642 BCE) and Jin; in the latter case, this eventually led to the Partition of Jin in 403 BCE, which ushered in the Warring States period.
After uniting all states into his Qin dynasty, the first Chinese emperor, Qin Shi Huang, failed to establish secure succession rules before his death in 210 BCE, upon which his clan immediately lost control of the government to Li Si and Zhao Gao, and his dynasty fell soon after (207 BCE). Winning the subsequent Chu–Han Contention and founding the Han dynasty, Emperor Gaozu sought to ensure a stable succession process that would not endanger the dynasty. He strengthened the designated heir's position by creating the office of the Crown Prince, in which a group of officials educated and served the designated heir well in advance until his time to succeed would arrive. This crown prince system prevented a lot of succession disputes during the Han dynasty, and although it frequently malfunctioned in the Three Kingdoms, Jin and Northern and Southern dynasties periods, it "matured" during the Tang and Song dynasties. Nevertheless, the Han state did suffer dynastic instability several times. When a Han emperor died without officially appointing a successor, his widow, the empress dowager, had the sole right to appoint one of the late emperor's surviving sons or relatives to the position. At such times, or when an infant emperor was placed on the Han throne, a regent, often also the empress dowager or one of her male relatives, would assume the duties of the emperor until he reached his majority. Sometimes the empress dowager's faction—the consort clan—was overthrown in a coup d'état or a war of succession. For example, Empress Lü Zhi was the de facto ruler of the court during the reigns of the child emperors Qianshao (r. 188–184 BCE) and Houshao (r. 184–180 BCE), but her faction was overthrown during the Lü Clan Disturbance upon her death in 180 BCE, and Liu Heng was named emperor instead.
At the end of the Han dynasty in the 190s, the imperial Liu family lost effective control over the state; prominent members of the nobility became warlords trying to establish their own dynasties. Instead of governors being appointed by the emperor, they tried to secure the succession of their own clansmen, making it a hereditary office that led to several succession crises. The Yuan clan, once a prominent candidate to replace the imperial Liu family, descended into a fratricidal war upon Yuan Shao's death (202–205). The August 208 death of Liu Biao caused a succession dispute between his sons Liu Cong and Liu Qi, but a quick invasion by Cao Cao forced Cong to surrender without a fight while Qi fled. Cao Pi's deposition of the last Han emperor Xian and foundation of the Wei dynasty in 220 caused Liu Bei, a scion of the imperial family, to proclaim himself the legitimate emperor and found the Shu Han dynasty in 221, followed by Sun Quan's Eastern Wu in 229; this three-way claim to the imperial throne started the Three Kingdoms period.: 774  The death of Sun Quan's heir resulted in a succession struggle between Sun He and Sun Ba (241–250); Quan deposed He, forced Ba to commit suicide, and appointed 5-year-old Sun Liang as successor.: 622, 774–775  Liang became emperor aged 7 in 252, but this boy-ruler was deposed in 258.: 775

Japan: The Yamato state did not have clear rules on succession (such as primogeniture), and the death of a monarch frequently resulted in a crisis with multiple claimants from several powerful clans vying for the throne. The religion-based Soga–Mononobe conflict (552–587) between the pro-Shinto Mononobe clan and the pro-Buddhist Soga clan sometimes resulted in wars of succession, particularly in 585–587. To prevent further challenges to his power due to succession crises and to enforce the adoption of Buddhism, clan leader Soga no Umako had Emperor Sushun assassinated in 592, and instead installed Suiko as empress (the first woman on the imperial throne in Japanese history) with Prince Shōtoku as regent, while holding the reins of power behind the scenes. This configuration led to a stable reign of empress Suiko until 628, 'a remarkably long span for that period.' However, when she died and Shōtoku's son Prince Yamashiro claimed the throne, he was rejected by the Soga clan in favour of Emperor Jomei. After the latter died in 641 and was succeeded by his wife, Empress Kōgyoku, Yamashiro once again claimed the throne, but he and his family were killed (possibly by suicide) when soldiers of Soga no Iruka attacked. The latter was subsequently murdered in the 645 Isshi Incident by Prince Naka-no-Ōe, who installed puppet Emperor Kōtoku before taking the throne himself as Emperor Tenji in 654. Tenji's death in 672 caused the Jinshin War; as there were still no rules for succession, any close kin of the deceased emperor regardless of gender could claim equal rights to the crown.

Fitnas in early Islamic states: The historical Fitnas and similar conflicts in early Islam were essentially wars of succession, resulting not (primarily) from religious disputes, but from a lack of agreement in early Islamic political thought on how to politically organise the early Muslim community. In particular, there was no consensus on the exercise of power and how leaders should be appointed. This lack of constitutional theory has been attributed by Ali Abdel Raziq (1888–1966) to the idea that the prophet Muhammad had been primarily concerned with religious regulations, and had not given priority to founding a political system, never left a known successor (= caliph), nor established standard rules by which future leaders were to be appointed. After his death in 632, this compelled the Companions to find ad hoc solutions to the leadership question, causing succession disputes that resulted in the Fitnas, most notably the First Fitna (656–661), the Second Fitna (680–692), the Third Fitna (744–747), the Fourth Fitna (809–827), and the Fitna of al-Andalus (1009–1031). Eventually, the disputes led to the major schism between Sunni Muslims, who held that the leader should in some way be elected from within the Quraysh, and Shia Muslims, who held that the leader must be a direct biological descendant of Muhammad through Ali, and that each leader personally designated his own successor. The Umayyad Caliphate (661–750) followed neither school of thought, because its founder Mu'awiya I was neither a descendant of Muhammad, nor a Companion elected as caliph; instead, the Umayyad basis of power was military success and wealth acquired from conquest. Therefore, many early Muslims perceived this dynasty to lack legitimacy, and this 'arguably biggest problem' contributed to its downfall during the Third Fitna (744–747) and the closely connected Abbasid Revolution (747–750).

Islamic dynasties: Other wars of succession in later Islamic polities in Asia (mostly Perso-Arabic, Turkic, and Mongolic monarchies) that haven't been named fitnas have also occurred, such as during the Abbasid Caliphate, where a peaceful transition of power upon the caliph's death was the exception rather than the rule. According to Justin Marozzi (2015), the 775 succession of Al-Mansur by Al-Mahdi "was, by the standards of the future, blood-soaked successions of the Abbasid caliphate, a model of order and decorum." During the period of Abbasid fragmentation into autonomous dynasties (c. 850–1050), this was still a common problem according to Antony Black (2011): "Most dynasties were disabled by succession struggles; it was difficult to establish a constitutional rule for succession in the face of Islamic law and tribal custom, which divided a patrimony equally among all sons. (...) To gain the succession within a clan dynasty, you needed, once again, to demonstrate that God was on your side. This meant acquiring support through a combination of military success and good repute." Eric J. Hanne (2007) reached a similar conclusion about the Buyid dynasty in particular: "As the Buyids had traditionally divided up their lands among brothers, uncles, and cousins, the familial confederacy, a frail situation at best, only worked when one had a strong personal figure such as 'Adud al-Dawla (d. 372/983), whose suzerainty was accepted only after prolonged internecine warfare."