War

RECORDS

The wars between the Romans and Persians lasted about 721 years, the longest conflict in human history.

The shortest war on record, between Britain and Zanzibar in 1896, lasted just 38 minutes. It was provoked by the death of the pro-British Sultan Hamad bin Thuwaini on August 25, 1896 and the succession of Sultan Khalid bin Barghash, whom the British did not approve of. At 09.02 on August 27, 1896 British ships started a bombardment of the sultan's palace. It ended 9.40 when Zanzibar surrendered. 500 Zanzibaris were killed, but only one British sailor was injured.

The Sultan's harem after the bombardment.

The war with Spain was the shortest war in American history. It lasted five months: April 1898 to August 1898. When Spain declared war on the U.S. in 1898, the U.S. in turn declared war on Spain but backdated the declaration by three days so it would look more heroic to have declared war first.

The longest war in recorded history lasted 335 years and 19 days. It was between the Netherlands and the Isles of Scilly, an archipelago located off the southwest coast of England. The war began in 1651 but the warring parties quickly recalled their troops, though without a treaty declaring its end. Thee conflict was forgotten until a Scilly historian contacted the Dutch about it in 1985. Despite questions regarding the validity of the declaration of war, a treaty was officially declared on April 17, 1986.

UNUSUAL WARS

The "War of Jenkins' Ear" between England and Spain was declared on October 23, 1739, as a result of Robert Jenkins, captain of a British merchant ship, having his ear severed by Spanish coastguards in the Caribbean. Jenkins was in command of the brig HMS Rebecca and in April 1731, his ship was stopped and boarded by the Spanish guarda-costa or privateer La Isabela on suspicion of smuggling. It was only when he displayed the severed ear (pickled in a jar) to Parliament in 1738 that real hostilities broke out. The subsequent three-year conflict was dubbed the War of Jenkins’ Ear.

Robert Jenkins hands a dismissive Prime Minister Robert Walpole his severed ear

The 1784 'Kettle War' between the Netherlands and Holy Roman Empire involved a single shot. It hit a soup kettle.

Red Cloud's War was an armed conflict between the Lakota, Northern Cheyenne, and Northern Arapaho on one side and the United States in Wyoming and Montana territories from 1866 to 1868. Technically, it's the only war that America has ever lost.

The Spanish municipality of Huescar was technically at war with Denmark, as a result of the Napoleonic wars over Spain, where Denmark supported the French Empire. They forgot about the conflict until a local historian found the declaration 172 years later. A peace treaty was signed on  November 11, 1981 by the city mayor and the Ambassador of Denmark. No shots were fired during the supposed hostilities.

The War of the Stray Dog was a conflict between Greece and Bulgaria between October 18 and 25, 1925 that killed a total of 171 people. It began when a Greek soldier accidentally crossed the border chasing his runaway dog. There was a short invasion of Bulgaria by Greece near the border town of Petrich, after the shooting of the soldier by Bulgarian troops. The incident ended after a decision of the League of Nations.

Demir Kapia [bg] , where original incident took place By Спасимир

FUN WAR FACTS

The first international war crime trial took place in the Holy Roman Empire in 1474. Following a rebellion by towns of the Upper Rhine against his tyranny, Peter von Hagenbach was put on trial for the atrocities committed during the occupation of Breisach, and beheaded.

The US has officially declared war 11 times, though really only five if you wrap up the World War I declarations and World War II declarations.

The U.S. has been at war or in some form of armed conflict in 91 per cent of all the years it has existed as an independent country.

Major General Peter Conover Hains is believed to be the only person to have served in both the American Civil War and World War I. He retired at the mandatory retirement age of 64 but was recalled to active duty out of retirement at the age of 77 in 1917 to serve in World War I as an engineer.

The average infantryman in the South Pacific during World War II saw about 40 days of combat in four years (10 days in one year). The average infantryman in Vietnam saw about 240 days of combat in one year thanks to the mobility of the helicopter.

The Vietnam War cost the U.S. $2,204 per person; the Korean War, $2,266 per person; and World War II, $20,388 per person.

According to British historian Niall Ferguson, out of all recorded conflicts which occurred since the year 387 BC, France has fought in 168 of them, won 109, lost 49 and drawn 10; this makes France the most successful military power in European history in terms of number of fought and won.

There is a documented war among two groups of chimpanzees, known as the "Gombe Chimpanzee War" or the "4 Year War".

Here is a list of songs about war

Source TFD