Why are some conflicts described as "external"?
they are minor problems in a story.
they pit a character against an outside force.
they relate to events that happened in a character's past.
they refer to political struggles taking place in a character's world.

They pit a character against an outside force.

There are 2 categories of conflict: internal and external. An internal conflict is the narrator's internal struggle to make a decision. Usually this is because there are negative consequences on both sides that make choosing very difficult. External conflicts involve an outside force. The most common external conflicts are character vs. character, character vs. society, and character vs. nature. Some will include character vs. supernatural as a type of external conflict as well.