The shortest and longest war in history?

[The Stranger]

who can tell me what the shortest and longest war in history were

[Rodion Romanovich]

depends on how you count. For instance the hundred years war could either be around 100 years, or a series of many short about 3 years long wars, or maybe considered to be a struggle over several centuries of rivalry between France and England... It's mostly a matter of definitions IMO - should traditional dates appointed as start and end of the wars be used, or should the beginning and end of conflict/rivalry be counted, or just the beginning and end of hot war be counted?

[Reverend Joe]

Couple of wierd candidates:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Longest_war

[AggonyDuck]

The shortest war in history would be the Anglo-Zanzibar war of 1896. It lasted a whopping 45 minutes.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anglo-Zanzibar_War

[Kraxis]

Oh my god...

If war can be funny, this has to be it!

[Oaty]

Another good candidate would'nt make it for the shortest war but is noteworthy. It lasted 3(?) days from my memory. The war was between 2 south american countries over a soccer match.

[Reverend Joe]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arauco_War

Sorry to screw up, but I have no edit button... here's that second war again.

[Perplexed]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Longest_war

That's pretty ridiculous.

And yes, it's far too late at night for me to get anything other than Wikipedia.

[ShadesWolf]

1337 - 1453 hundred years war

[The Stranger]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Longest_war

That's pretty ridiculous.

And yes, it's far too late at night for me to get anything other than Wikipedia.

ehhehehe by then i doubt anyone in the world knew what they were fighting about...

[DukeofSerbia]

I know one major war in which almost nothing happend and was short: War for Bavarian Succession 1778-9 (so called Potato War (Kartoffelkrieg)).

[The Stranger]

so you are also around... how are you doing. Remember our fights in the colloseum... Ah the gooddays

[Avicenna]

The shortest war in history would be the Anglo-Zanzibar war of 1896. It lasted a whopping 45 minutes.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anglo-Zanzibar_War

I think that's the Guinness World Records one. The 2000 issue, though.

Another short one would be, if you count it as a war, was the Japanese takeover of Manchuria. It was a lot longer at a few days long, but the KMT had ordered its troops not to retaliate, so not much fighting went on.

[The Wizard]

Another good candidate would'nt make it for the shortest war but is noteworthy. It lasted 3(?) days from my memory. The war was between 2 south american countries over a soccer match.

On the surface, the 1960s war between Honduras and El Salvador might indeed seem to be over a soccer match. But that was only the catalyst.

The war was actually fought out because the Salvadorean junta had expelled thousands of Honduran economic immigrants from its borders, and there was a serious economic conflict between the two. Indeed, the war saw quite some action, carrying on unofficially (after a U.S.-brokered ceasefire) for months, and it was the last war in which piston-powered planes fought for control of the skies.

At least better (or not) than the Anglo-Zanzibar war.

[The Stranger]

ehehehe Wiz good to see you man.

[Alexanderofmacedon]

Well there was never an end to WWII, there was only a ceasefire, but it still wouldn't be that long, so I guess that doesn't really matter.

[Oaty]

On the surface, the 1960s war between Honduras and El Salvador might indeed seem to be over a soccer match. But that was only the catalyst.

Ah yes thanks for the extra info wich gave me enough for wiki. And according to wiki it was 5 days long but had many longterm consequences.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Football_War

I always suspected there was a whole lot more to it, it's the fact that media jsut too often warps reality.

[Kraxis]

Well there was never an end to WWII, there was only a ceasefire, but it still wouldn't be that long, so I guess that doesn't really matter.

Depends... When Dönitz, in the form of Reichführer, signed the unconditional surrender of all troops, he also surrendered Germany.
Since the Allies then held all of Germany, there was little need for a more ritual end of the war, which had normally been between two existing factions, now one side was gone.

[DukeofSerbia]

so you are also around... how are you doing. Remember our fights in the colloseum... Ah the gooddays

??? What fight in Colloseum? I wasn't there over a year!

[Watchman]

The Hundred Years' War doesn't count as it was a series of conflicts with often quite lenghty periods of peace inbetween (or what now amounted to peace in medieval Europe anyway). It was just later summed up under one general heading for convenience.

The Thirty Years' War, waged essentially nonstop from 1618 to 1648 pretty much with at least one major operation being conducted somewhere at any given time, ought to be a fairly good candidate as far as "hot" wars where lots of people die, economies are ruined and vast tracts of land rendered into uninhabited wasteland go.

[Kekvit Irae]

War for Hungarian Independance, 1848-Spring 1849. Also one of the shortest periods of independancies ever, when Russia came rolling in with 200,000 troops that summer.

[Incongruous]

The Hundred years war.
There was never any true peace, but constant little localised conflicts taking place right through the period.

[ShadesWolf]

The Hundred Years' War doesn't count as it was a series of conflicts with often quite lenghty periods of peace inbetween (or what now amounted to peace in medieval Europe anyway). It was just later summed up under one general heading for convenience.

I accept that 'peace' was agreed a number of times turning the conflict, but real peace didnt come until 1453, with the lost of Aquintaine.

Fighting still continued in Brittany and Aquintaine even when 'peace' was in effect.


If you only class it as a war between England and France then you would be wrong as this war also included a French civil war, where we never had peace until Burgundy finally changed sides.

As a side point the final struggle started in 1415 and didnt finish until Aquintaine was lost in 1453, this was continuos war and large areas of France changed hands.

[The Stranger]

I know, the fight was in when you signed up. about the roman legion buildup :P i wrote a 1000 words reply and i only got for replies...damn i was pissed :P

[Brutus]

Another very short war: The "Kettle War" was 'fought' between the Dutch Republic and the Holy Roman Empire on 8 October 1784. Emperor Joseph II sent 3 ships up the Scheldt to break the Dutch blockade of the river (which had been in effect since the 16th Century). The Dutch ship De Dolfijn shot one cannonball, which hit the cooking kettle aboard the Imperial warship Le Louis. The Imperials immediately surrendered and a year later a peace was signed.

[Craterus]

There is an even longer battle, and thus war? This battle has been raging on for centuries.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

The battle of the sexes.

[Duke of Gloucester]

I thought Russia v Berwick on Tweed might be a candidate (1853 to 1966) but it turns out that this only apochryphal.

[The Wizard]

I accept that 'peace' was agreed a number of times turning the conflict, but real peace didnt come until 1453, with the lost of Aquintaine.

Fighting still continued in Brittany and Aquintaine even when 'peace' was in effect.

If you choose to call those little conflicts between tiny barons and their couple retainers "wars" then basically there was war from the Great Migrations period until power started being centralized from the Renaissance onwards and the little potentates no longer had the ability to solve a local dispute by the sword.

[Incongruous]

Brittany and The Aquataine were not small baronies but made up I believe almost all of Western France.

[Sardo]

How about Rome and Carthage only making peace in 1985?