Even the shortest war can cause innumerable pain and suffering. What can we say about the longest wars in human historythat lasted for decades and claimed millions of lives.
In some wars, soldiers fought all their lives and could not wait for the conflict to end, which had begun even before they were born.
10. The Great Northern War - 1700-1721. (21 years old)
The longest war in Russian history was fought between Sweden and a coalition of Northern European countries. And the “main prize” in it was the lands of the Baltic states. It is curious that the formal reason for Russia's entry into the war was the “untruths and insults” that were allegedly perpetrated against Peter I by the Swedes during his trip to Europe.
The war ended with the defeat of Sweden and the emergence in the geopolitical arena of Europe of a new powerful player - the Russian Empire, with a strong army and navy. It was during the Northern War that St. Petersburg was founded, located in the place where the Neva River flows into the Baltic Sea.
9. The war of the Scarlet and White Rose - 1455-1487 (32 years)
One of the consequences of the Hundred Years War (which was also included in the ranking of the longest-running military conflicts in history) was the Rose War, which raged in Northern England. The throne of England was at stake, and roses were the hallmarks of warring parties.
King Henry VI was a weak and unhealthy ruler, in which various groups of courtiers fought for power. Sometimes the king fell into insanity, which also did not add to his popularity and trust.
The legitimacy of Henry's reign was challenged by Richard, Duke of York. The Lancaster House of which Henry was born and the York House of Richard fought for three decades until the Lancaster finally won.
And Henry Tudor from the side branch of the house of Lancaster, married the daughter of Edward IV of York, Elizabeth, thus uniting the two warring houses. So the Tudor dynasty was founded, which lasted on the throne until 1603. But this, as they say, is a completely different story.
8. Banana Wars - 1898-1934 (36 years)
A long series of conflicts in various Latin American countries, the so-called "banana wars", began in 1898 with US intervention in Cuba as part of the Spanish-American war. And it ended only in 1934, when President Roosevelt withdrew troops from the island of Haiti.
American forces (primarily marines) defended US interests not only in Cuba, but also in Honduras, Haiti, Mexico, Nicaragua and the Dominican Republic. Most of the conflicts were launched to protect American commercial and economic interests, especially fruit exports.
7. Cold War - 1946-1990 (44 years old)
This confrontation between the USSR and the USA was not a military conflict in the international legal sense of the word. It was a confrontation between two ideologies - socialist and capitalist. And although the two countries did not fight each other on the battlefield, they actively intervened in conflicts around the world in order to create and maintain spheres of influence.
Both sides waged indirect wars with each other in Korea, Vietnam and a number of other countries, financed riots and revolutions, created more and more powerful weapons, and in 1962 the world was on the verge of a nuclear war. The Cold War ended a bit before the USSR collapsed in 1991.
6. Greek-Persian wars 499-449 BC e (50 years)
Scientists draw all information about the Greco-Persian wars from Greek sources, others simply did not survive. It is known that military conflicts were between the Persian Empire of the Achaemenids and the Greek city-states, which defended their independence.
As a result of one of the longest wars in the history of Athens, they defeated Persia, captured most of its territory, and the war ended with the Callian world. The Achaemenid Empire lost its possessions in the Aegean, on the coast of the Hellespont and the Bosphorus, and was also forced to recognize the political independence of the policies in Asia Minor.
5. Civil war in Burma - 1948-2012. (64 years old)
This is the longest civil war in modern history between the government of Burma and the communist forces, including several ethnic minorities. By the name of one of them (Karen) this war is also called the Karen conflict.
Over the decades of warfare, the numerous war crimes of the Burmese army have been widely documented, including the killing of civilians and sexual violence against women and girls.
As a result of systematic attacks on ethnic minority civilians, about three million people left Burma. Most of them fled to neighboring Thailand.
4. The Dutch War of Independence - 1568-1648 (80 years old)
When the Dutch revolution began, Spain was one of the greatest superpowers in the world. By the time it ended, the “Spanish Age” had ended.
Seventeen provinces fought for independence from Spanish rule, and their first leader was William of Orange. After the death of William, he was replaced by Moritz Oransky as commander of the Dutch army.
The Dutch War of Independence (also known as the Eighty Years War) was the defining conflict of its era. It ensured the triumph of the Reformation in northwestern Europe and along the way changed the geopolitics of the continent, causing the appearance of the first modern European republics.
3. The Hundred Years War - 1337-1453 (116 years)
One of the longest wars in world history was fought between England and France. And although she is called the “Centennial,” she walked with four interruptions for 116 years. Strictly speaking, it was a series of military Anglo-French conflicts.
The fight was fought for the British-controlled territory of France and control of the French throne. The rulers of England and France were bound by kinship for centuries, so the British claim to the French throne really had some basis.
The war ended with the surrender of the British in 1453, after bloodshed that lasted more than a century. The French winners took away almost all of the English possessions in France, thus beginning a long era during which England remained largely isolated from European affairs.
During the Hundred Years War, it is estimated that up to 3.5 million people were killed.
2. Punic wars - 264-146 years. BC. (118 years)
You may have heard the phrase “Carthage must be destroyed” in school history lessons. Do you remember why Carthage should have been destroyed? So that his main adversary - Rome - could strengthen his position in the Western Mediterranean. That was the purpose of the three Punic wars.
During the Second Punic War, one of the greatest generals in history managed to inflict a crushing defeat on Rome. Unfortunately for the Carthaginians, this victory did not mark the end of the war. After the Third Punic War, the Carthaginian region became part of the Roman Empire, and the city itself was burned to the ground.
1. The Araucan War - 1536-1825 (289 years old)
A series of irregular conflicts, known as the Araucan War, began in 1536, when the Creole population, part of the Spanish Empire, tried to colonize the Mapuche people living in Chile. Spain met a strong army during the exploration of the Strait of Magellan and, although it was in the minority, was able to kill thousands of Mapuche warriors thanks to superior firepower.
Despite numerous attempts by the Spaniards to conquer Mapuche, this people remained independent from Spanish rule. Battles between him and the Spaniards were common for nearly 300 years, until Chile's independence.
Peace was established on January 7, 1825 - but even then the Mapuche were not integrated into Chilean society until their land was conquered in 1883. And some still protest against Chilean rule.
The longest bloodless war in history - 1651-1986. (335 years)
The longest 335-year war was a bloodless conflict between the Netherlands and the tiny Scilly archipelago. It all started back in 1651 during the civil war in England. The Dutch, seeing the opportunity to recover part of their losses from the royalist raids, immediately sent a fleet of twelve warships to the royalist base - Scilly, to demand reparation. Not receiving a satisfactory answer from the royalists, the Dutch admiral Maarten Tromp declared war on March 30, 1651.
And already in June of that year, the Dutch forced the royalist fleet to surrender. The Dutch fleet did not make a single shot. Because of the vagueness of declaring war on one nation against a small part of another, the Netherlands did not officially declare a peace treaty.
The Ambassador of Holland visited Silly only in 1986 to proclaim the end of the 335-year-old confrontation. At the same time, the Dutch ambassador joked that it was terrible for the residents of Scilly to “know that we could attack at any moment.”
A series of the longest wars in history - 452-1485. (1033 years)
The Anglo-Welsh wars waged between the Anglo-Saxons and Welsh from the 5th to the 15th centuries were the longest wars that mankind knew.
They began with the attacks of pagan Germanic tribes, colonizing parts of the eastern and southern coasts of Britain, against the British (whom the Anglo-Saxons called “Wealsc”). And they continued until the late Middle Ages, when Wales was finally subjugated and annexed by England.
The final of the Anglo-Welsh wars was the battle of Bosworth, during which the troops of the English king Richard III (the last of the York family) were defeated by the troops of Henry Tudor from the house of Lancaster.
