In the present paper the dynamic stability of circular cylindrical shells subjected to static and dynamic axial loads is investigated. Both Donnell´s nonlinear shallow shell and Sanders-Koiter shell theories have been applied to model finite-amplitude static and dynamic deformations. Results are compared in order to evaluate the accuracy of these theories in predicting instability onset and post-critical nonlinear response. The effect of a contained fluid on the stability and the post-critical behaviour is analyzed in detail. Geometric imperfections are considered and their influence on the dynamic instability and post-critical behaviour is investigated. Chaotic dynamics of pre-compressed shells is investigated by means of nonlinear time-series techniques, extracting correlation dimension and Lyapunov exponents.