The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 13 plus 3 letter word PELOPONNESIAN WAR
I've seen this crossword clue in The Times
P
E
L
O
P
O
N
N
E
S
I
A
N
W
A
R
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "historical conflict" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case historical conflict = peloponnesian war.The cryptic/wordplay part
In cryptic crossword there's often an wordplay/cryptic part as well.This part involves a more complex hint, such as an anagram, homophone, hidden word, etc.
Sadly, We don't have an explanation for this specific crossword clue yet.