List of the lengths of United States participation in wars

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Lengths of U.S. combat forces' participation in wars[edit]

War in the context of this list broadly construed to be armed conflict between organized U.S. military forces and organized forces of (a) belligerent(s).

War Dates Duration Duration (graphical representation)
1. Vietnam War 1955/11 – 1973/04[1][2][3][4] 17.4 years
(17 years, 4 months)
2. War in Afghanistan 2001/10 – present[5][6] 17 years
(17 years)
3. Moro Rebellion 1899 – 1913 14 years
4. Northwest Indian War 1785 – 1795 10 years
5. Iraq War 2003/03 – 2011/12[7][8][9][10][11][12][13] 8.8 years
(8 years, 9 months)
6. American Revolutionary War 1775/04 – 1783/09 8.4 years
(8 years, 5 months)
7. Second Seminole War 1835/12 – 1842/08 6.7 years
(6 years, 7 months)
8. War on ISIS 2014/06 – present 4.3 years
(4 years, 3 months)
9. First Barbary War 1801/05 – 1805/06 4.1 years
(4 years, 1 month)
10. American Civil War 1861/04 – 1865/04 4 years
11. World War II 1941/12 – 1945/08 3.7 years
(3 years, 8 months)
12. Korean War 1950/06 – 1953/07 3.1 years
(3 years, 1 month)
13. War of 1812 1812/06 – 1814/12 2.5 years
(2 years, 6 months)
14. Red Cloud's War 1866/07 – 1868/04 1.8 years
(1 year, 9 months)
15. Mexican–American War 1846/04 – 1848/02 1.8 years
(1 year, 9 months)
16. World War I 1917/04 – 1918/11 1.6 years
(1 year, 7 months)
17. Russian Civil War 1918/09 – 1920/04[14] 1.6 years
(1 year, 7 months)
18. Great Sioux War of 1876 1876/02 – 1877/05 1.2 years
(1 year, 3 months)
19. Libyan Civil War (2011) 2011/03 – 2011/10[15] 0.6 years
(7 months)
20. Persian Gulf War 1990/08 – 1991/02[16][17] 0.6 years
(7 months)
21. Whiskey Rebellion 1794/05 – 1794/10 0.4 years
(5 months)
22. Spanish–American War 1898/04 – 1898/08 0.3 years
(114 days)
23. Kosovo War 1999/03 – 1999/06[18] 0.2 years
(79 days)
24. Invasion of Panama 1989/12 – 1990/01 0.1 years
(42 days)
25. Invasion of Grenada 1983/10 – 1983/10 0 years
(4 days)


(Ongoing wars indicated in bold and with red bars.) Sources are found in the main articles of each war, as well as the Associated Press.[19]

Notes[edit]

  • Article One, Section Eight of the Constitution gives the United States Congress the power to declare War. Historically wars have been either declared as "Formal" wars or authorized as "Authorized military engagements".[20] In 1973 Congress further clarified their role in authorized armed conflict with the passing of the War Powers Resolution.[21]
  • The dates used by the Associated Press for official U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War are August 1964 (the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution) to January 1973 (the Paris Peace Accords), although U.S. military activities and intervention in Vietnam spanned from 1955 to 1975.[22][23][24] While the first US Combat Troops arrived in South Vietnam in 1965, by the end of 1964 over 23,000 American military personal were already present.[25]
  • For the Philippine–American War, not included by the Associated Press in their tally above, official start and end dates used by some sources are June 2, 1899 – July 4, 1902, (three years and one month,) although resistance groups continued fighting until June 15, 1913.[26][27][28][29]
  • The start date used by the Associated Press for U.S. engagement in the Persian Gulf War is January 17, 1991 (the start of its extensive aerial bombing campaign under the offensive known as Operation Desert Storm.)[30]
  • U.S. President Barack Obama pledged in 2009 and 2010 that the U.S. war in Iraq would end by the end of 2011 when all remaining U.S. troops would be withdrawn from Iraq. Then, in the Spring of 2011, Secretary of Defense Gates, went to Iraq, pleading with the government of Iraq, to let U.S. Forces remain past the 2011 deadline.[31][32][33][34][35][36]
  • The start date of March 24, 1999 is the date used by PBS Frontline as the beginning of the Kosovo air war. The ending date of June 20, 1999 is the date NATO's bombing campaign formally ended.[18] Although the war itself ended in 1999, some US forces took part in peacekeeping and associated duties thereafter.[37]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ https://web.archive.org/web/20131020044326/http://www.defense.gov/Releases/Release.aspx?ReleaseID=1902
  2. ^ DoD 1998
  3. ^ Lawrence 2009, p. 20
  4. ^ Direct U.S. involvement ended in 1973 with the Paris Peace Accords
  5. ^ Knefel, John (7 January 2015). "Drone Rules in Afghanistan Go Unchanged, And Other Reasons the War Isn't Really Over". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 15 May 2015.
  6. ^ Sennott, Charles M. (5 May 2015). "The First Battle of the 21st Century". The Atlantic. Retrieved 15 May 2015. Even after 14 years of war in Afghanistan, the U.S. military has not fully succeeded in restoring security to the country or defeating the Taliban. Now, at the request of the new Afghan government, the United States has delayed the completion of its troop withdrawal from the country until 2016 at the earliest.
  7. ^ "- The Washington Post". Washington Post.
  8. ^ "US military deaths in Iraq war at 4,452".[permanent dead link]
  9. ^ "Why can't we stop our wars?".
  10. ^ Wood, David (27 April 2011). "Robert Gates' Pentagon Legacy: Unfinished Wars, Unfinished Budget Reform" – via Huff Post.
  11. ^ "Obama May Face Tough Decision as Iraqi Leader Signals U.S. Troops Could Stay".
  12. ^ "Subscribe to read". Financial Times.
  13. ^ Terkel, Amanda (11 May 2011). "Iraq Withdrawal Date For U.S. Troops May Be Pushed Back Beyond 2011" – via Huff Post.
  14. ^ Robert L. Willett, "Russian Sideshow" (Washington, D.C., Brassey's Inc., 2003), page 267
  15. ^ https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-15516795
  16. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2014-02-26. Retrieved 2013-07-12.
  17. ^ (33)The term "Persian Gulf War" means the period beginning on August 2, 1990, and ending on the date thereafter prescribed by Presidential proclamation or by law. https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/38/101
  18. ^ a b PBS Frontline, A Kosovo Chronology
  19. ^ "U.S. Participation in Major Wars". Fox News. Associated Press. 25 November 2006. Retrieved 11 July 2017.
  20. ^ Declaration of war by the United States
  21. ^ War Powers Resolution
  22. ^ Herring, George C.: America's Longest War, p. 18.
  23. ^ Zinn, A People's History of the United States, p. 471.
  24. ^ Kolko, Gabriel Anatomy of War, pages 457, 461 ff., ISBN 1-898876-67-3
  25. ^ "Vietnam War Statistics and Facts 1". 25thaviation.org.
  26. ^ Delmendo 2004, p. 47.
  27. ^ Constantino 1975
  28. ^ Agoncillo 1990, p. 247
  29. ^ "Iraq war is ending, with last troops out in 2011: Obama". 28 August 2010 – via The Age.
  30. ^ "1991: 'Mother of all Battles' begins". 10 October 1991 – via news.bbc.co.uk.
  31. ^ Sandler, Mike (17 August 2009). "Obama: Iraq war to end in 2011".
  32. ^ Blake, Scott Wilson and Aaron (3 August 2010). "Obama tells veterans that end of Iraq war is about to begin" – via www.washingtonpost.com.
  33. ^ Johnson, Bridget (28 August 2010). "Obama: 'The war is ending,' fulfilling campaign pledge".
  34. ^ Cooper, Helene; Stolberg, Sheryl Gay (31 August 2010). "Obama Declares an End to Combat Mission in Iraq" – via www.nytimes.com.
  35. ^ "US in Final Phase of Iraq War". Archived from the original on 2011-07-22.
  36. ^ "Obama envoy secretly offered troops in Iraq after 2011". www.finalcall.com.
  37. ^ Kosovo Campaign Medal

Bibliography[edit]

U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) (6 November 1998). "Name of Technical Sergeant Richard B. Fitzgibbon to be added to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial". DoD.
Lawrence, A. T. (2009). Crucible Vietnam: Memoir of an Infantry Lieutenant. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland. ISBN 978-0-786-44517-2.


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