"America Has Been at War 93% of the Time –..." Topic

… 222 out of 239 Years – Since 1776.

"The U.S. Has Only Been At Peace For 21 Years Total Since Its Birth

Below, I have reproduced a year-by-year timeline of America's wars, which reveals something quite interesting: since the United States was founded in 1776, she has been at war during 214 out of her 235 calendar years of existence. In other words, there were only 21 calendar years in which the U.S. did not wage any wars…"
Main page

link

Amicalement
Armand

1946 – Cold War (U.S. occupies the Philippines and South Korea)

I think we were in the Philippines prior to 1946. This doesn't count as war…

Another far-left site with a globalist agenda.

Agree, Stone Mtn. America is bad and has never done anything good.

Nothing like a 'far-left' agenda, their main concern is the spread of globalisation and the inability of local decision makers to affect their own regions.

Targets for criticism and scrutiny are as often commercial as governmental but the larger economies do, rather obviously, get hammered most often.

I'd agree the definitions are a bit twisted but the same argument has been used for a long time to 'prove' that a certain nation is more 'aggressive' than another. German propaganda used the same I idea against Britain during WW1 (and they didn't have to distort the facts much for the claim).

Nothing to get you knickers in a knot about.

Worse then left wing nut jobs:

The Centre for Research on Globalization promotes a variety of conspiracy theories and falsehoods.[26] It has reported that the 11 September attacks were a false flag attack planned by the CIA,[2] that the United States and its allies fund al-Qaeda and the Islamic State, and that sarin gas was not used in the Khan Shaykhun chemical attack, which globalresearch.ca articles characterized as a false flag operation orchestrated by terrorists opposed to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.[6][21] Other articles published on the site have asserted that the 7 July 2005 London bombings were perpetrated by the United States, Israel, and United Kingdom.[13] Chossudovsky has himself posted articles on the site which suggested that Osama bin Laden was a CIA asset, and accusing the United States, Israel and Britain of plotting to conquer the world.[13] The Centre has also promoted the Irish slavery myth, prompting a letter by more than 80 scholars debunking the myth.[25]

See more:

link

Glup!….

Amicalement
Armand

Ignoring the political agenda of the site, how accurate is the timeline?

The myriad 'Banana wars' sound like filler..

Considering the past 19 years have been nothing but war… the P'shawist's seem to be out in force over this one.

Quite simply name a year when there was NO military conflict going on involving US Armed forces, whether internal or external, irregardless of the LENGTH of said action; and then add them up.

I think the longest time we had no military embroilments was from 1935-40…five years.

The above mentioned site is but one to make such a statement, there are plenty of others.

Manifest Destiny requires gathering fruit.

I am not sure we have been at peace for 21 years. I would like to see those years. I am sure that I can find a zone of conflict for them.
I agree with this being a skewed list so I did not read it.
Also the length of peace time is a lot longer if you go by the constitution and war years are based on Congressional declared conflicts.
Most conflicts are retribution actions. Only war that affect the people in that area.
A true war is based on those conditions where a majority of Americans or congressional wars.

By the way we were in the Philippines since we got them in the 1890s. Also had a Moro conflict there too.

I have to admit I have a weakness for foolishness like this. It's quite fascinating how some can twist history to fit into an agenda whether they come from the left or the right.

And there is some serious padding to this particular effort. I particularly like the inclusion of "Skirmish between 1st Cavalry and Indians" in 1849, 1854, 1869, 1870, 1871, 1877 and 1890; "John Brown's Raid" in 1859; and the 12 years of the "Anti-piracy war" from 1814 to 1825. I suppose suppressing piracy could be seen as advancing the globalist agenda…

But just to be sure all "Major Wars" are covered we also get the "Missouri-Iowa Border War" of 1836. As per Wikipedia, "Before the issue was settled, militias from both sides faced each other at the border, a Missouri sheriff collecting taxes in Iowa was incarcerated, and three trees containing beehives were cut down." Thankfully the mayhem came to an end with a Supreme Court ruling delineating the border between the two states.

Also included is the "Buckshot War", two years of misery and suffering in 1837 and 1838 according to the list. In fact the "war" consisted of a dispute over the November 1838 election results in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives which led to a riot in which no one was hurt. Nevertheless this prompted the Governor of Pennsylvania to ask for the intervention of Federal troops. This was declined as unnecessary, so he called out the State Militia and ordered them to be issued 13 rounds of buckshot apiece. Oh the humanity, the humanity… Four Representatives ended up switching parties and by the end of the year the complete lack of carnage came to an end.

On the positive side I have a list of potential new gaming periods… LOL

Ryan

+1 Ryan
I appreciate your clarifications of certain "wars".

some can twist history to fit into an agenda whether they come from the left or the right.

Right Wing Nut Jobs, Left Wing Nut Jobs: both extremes provide amusement for we Centrists. Both make things up & get very defensive if challenged. Could we send the site from the OP a link to this thread?

At the end… how many years…? (smile)

Amicalement
Armand

There's no doubt, the US has a warlike history. The number of years is a bit of an academic question & I don't see much use in it.

It would be more useful to look at conflicts that were necessary & some that weren't.

Can anyone criticise the US for its involvement in WW1 & WW2?….I couldn't.

The Cold War? As I'm not a fan of totalitarian communist states, I'm fairly certain it was needed & I'm certainly glad the US won.

Korea, arguably yes, Vietnam, arguably no. The AWI was obviously necessary, 1812 probably not. The Philippines…..well, every Colonial power was doing something similar but not something to be proud of.

Iraq & the Gulf Wars have been such strategic disasters, its hard not to see them as mistakes even if overwhelming military victories. Afghanistan…. A morass for any invading country & best avoided?

The US's history is the history of any country: errors & triumphs, albeit writ large.

"The savage wars of peace" This topic badly needs a definition.

So was Britain at war during the 99 years of Pax Brittanica? 1815-1914. Distinguo!

Like I always say, "Go with your strengths."

He's counting the "Cold War"?!

Lets streeeeeetch the truth a little more here shall we

Why pick on the US, has anyone ever read the "Encyclopedia of War"? I may have the title a bit skewed but there is or at least was a rather large encyclopedia, well over 1,000 pages, of all known wars and conflicts from around 2,000BC or so to the 1970s, when the book was published. Rather dry reading granted I waded through about 1/3 to 1/2 before becoming too bored to continue and relegating the volume to refence only. The world as a whole has only had a couple hundred years of "peace", why just pick on the US, everyone has done their fair share to keep the record going? Glass houses and bricks you know.