Did the Trojan War really happen?

The question, whether the Trojan War mentioned in the Iliad really happened or not, is disputed since ancient times. Some claimed that it is a fiction, and some others that the story has indeed a "historical background".

Schliemann (1870-1890) believed that the burned city (Troy II) was the city of the epic; Dörpfeld (1893-94) believed that the Trojan War happened during Troy VI. Carl Blegen (1932-38) concluded that Troy VI was destroyed by an earthquake, and therefore the city of the Trojan War must be his Troy VIIa. On the other hand, Korfmann's excavations (1988-2005) showed that the city from 1180's B.C.E, which seemed to be destroyed by a war was Troy VIIa (or VIi). Korfmann argued that as an archeologist, they do not search for the Trojan War itself, but the city from 1180's B.C.E indeed had signs of a destruction by war. According to J. Latacz, who is one of the most important living Homer experts, considering the informations in the Iliad, the Trojan War is only understandable when the Mycenaean culture and power was at its hight. The archeological findings we have until today and the written sources support this claim. Latacz claims that the historical essence of these epics can not be 100% determined, but it must be also accepted that they are not merely fantasy stories about Mycenaean kingdoms and a far away city of Wilios/Wilusa. Hittite and Egypt sources show that there happened an intense political and diplomatic power struggle between these two rival regions in the late Bronze Age. It is almost clear that Troy, as a place between two great powers such as the Mycenaean and Hittite Empire, witnessed many wars.