The editors at Best Liberal Arts Colleges decided to research the topic of:
WAR AND PEACE
For nearly half of its relatively brief existence, the United States has been actively involved in armed conflict, whether at home or abroad. Here is a closer look at wars involving the U.S. military.
When we've fought and who we've fought
Timeline of U.S. history with length and time period of wars plotted, so people can see clearly what decades have actually been peaceful.
- War - Length - Years - Fought against
- American Revolution - 8 - 1775-1783 - Great Britain
- First Barbary War - 4 - 1801-1805 - Tripoli, Algiers, Morocco
- War of 1812 - 3 - 1812-1815 - Great Britain/Canada
- Second Barbary War - .5 - 1815 - Tripoli, Tunis, Algeria
- War with Mexico - 2 - 1846-48 - Mexico
- American Civil War - 4 - 1861-1865 - Union vs. Confederacy
- Indian Wars - 26 - 1865-1891 - Cavalry forces fought Native American tribes in several skirmishes, the final major one coming in 1891
- Spanish-American War - 1 - 1898 - Spain
- Philippine-American War - 3 - 1899-1902 - Filipino revolutionaries
- Border War - 9 - 1910-1919 - U.S. forces engaged rebels during Mexican Revolution
- World War I - 1 - 1917-1918 - Germany, Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria, Ottoman Empire
- World War II - 4 - 1941-1945 - Japan, Germany, Italy
- Korean War - 3 - 1950-1953 - North Korea, China, Soviet Union
- Vietnam War - 10 - 1964-1975 - Communist forces, including Viet Cong and North Vietnam
- Persian Gulf War - 1 - 1990-1991 - Iraq
- Afghanistan - 11 - 2001-present Taliban, Al-Qaida
- Iraq War - 8 - 2003-2011 - Iraq, insurgent groups
Afghanistan really our longest war?
The longest continuous war in U.S. history, depending on whom you ask, is the current war in Afghanistan. However, it can be argued that the Vietnam War was far longer. Why the confusion? The U.S. never officially declared war on North Vietnam, Laos or Cambodia, and heavy U.S. fighting didn't start until the '60s.
- Afghanistan
- October 7, 2001-present - 11+ years
- Vietnam, if it started with troop training in 1955
- Nov. 1, 1955-April 30, 1975 - 19 years
- Vietnam, if it started with the Gulf of Tonkin incident in 1964
- Aug. 4, 1964-April 30, 1975 - 10+ years
Paying for it: Our most expensive wars
Perhaps not surprisingly, the Iraq and Afghanistan wars are the most expensive in U.S. history. Here is a look at what major U.S. wars have cost, in 2011 dollars:
- Revolutionary War - $2.4 billion
- War of 1812 - $1.6 billion
- Mexican War - $2.4 billion
- Civil War - $79.7 billion
- Spanish-American War - $9 billion
- World War I - $334 billion
- World War II - $4.1 trillion
- Korea - $341 billion
- Vietnam - $738 billion
- Persian Gulf - $102 billion
- Iraq - $810 billion
- Afghanistan - $600 billion
- Total post-9/11 - $1.4 trillion
Paying the ultimate price: Our deadliest wars
Not including armed interventions, such as action in Libya, here are the deadliest military actions in U.S. history:
- Civil War 750000
- World War II 405399
- World War I 116516
- Vietnam 58220
- Korea 36574
- Mexican War 13283
- Iraq 4486
- Revolutionary War 4435
- Spanish-American War 2446
- War of 1812 2260
- Afghanistan 2174
- Persian Gulf War 383
- SOURCES
- Federation of American Scientists
- Congressional Research Service
- iCasualties.org
- costofwar.com
