Jimmy Carter: US has only enjoyed 16 years of peace in its 242-year history

“Since 1979, do you know how many times China has been at war with anybody?” Carter asked. “None. And we have stayed at war.” The U.S., he noted, has only enjoyed 16 years of peace in its 242-year history, making the country “the most warlike nation in the history of the world,” Carter said. This is, he said, because of America’s tendency to force other nations to “adopt our American principles.”

List of wars involving the United States

18th-century wars

Conflict Combatant 1 Combatant 2 Result for the United States and its Allies
American Revolutionary War
(1775–1783)Location: Eastern North AmericaSouthern North AmericaGibraltarIndiaCaribbean Sea, and the Atlantic

The Battle of Long Island, August 27, 1776

 United States
Kingdom of France France

Spain Spanish Empire

 Iroquois

Watauga Association
Catawba
 Lenape
 Choctaw


 Dutch Republic


 Mysore

 Great Britain
 Loyalists
Holy Roman Empire German Auxiliaries
 Iroquois

 Cherokee

US-allied victory
Cherokee–American wars
(1776–1795)Part of the American Indian Wars

Location: Old Southwest

Abduction of Daniel Boone’s daughter by the Cherokee

 United States
 Choctaw
 Cherokee US-allied victory
Northwest Indian War
(1785–1793)Part of the American Indian Wars

Location: Northwest Territory

 United States
 Chickasaw
 Choctaw
Western Confederacy

List

Kingdom of Great Britain Great Britain

US-allied victory
Quasi-War
(1798–1800)Location: Atlantic Ocean, the Caribbean, the Indian Ocean and the Mediterranean
 United StatesCo-belligerent:
 Great Britain
France France Convention of 1800
  • Peaceful cessation of Franco-American alliance
  • End of French privateer attacks on American shipping
  • American neutrality and renunciation of claims by France

19th-century wars[edit]

Conflict Combatant 1 Combatant 2 Result for the United States and its Allies
First Barbary War
(1801–1805)Part of the Barbary Wars

Location: Mediterranean Sea off the coast of Tripoli

Lieutenant Presley O’Bannon at Derna, April 1805

 United States[2]
 Sweden[2]
 Sicily[2]
 Malta[2]
 Portugal[2]
 Morocco[2]
border=no Tripolitania[3]
Morocco Morocco[3]
US-allied victory
Tecumseh’s War
(1811)Part of the American Indian Wars and the War of 1812

Location: Northwest River Ohio

 United States Tecumseh’s Confederacy

List
US victory
War of 1812
(1812–1815)Location: Eastern and Central North America

General Andrew Jackson stands on the parapet of his makeshift defenses as his troops repulse attacking Highlanders, by painter Edward Percy Moran in 1910.

 United States
 Choctaw Nation
 Cherokee Nation
Creek Allies
 United Kingdom

Tecumseh’s Confederacy

List

Spain Spain (1814)

Inconclusive/Other Result
Creek War
(1813–1814)Part of the American Indian Wars and the War of 1812

Location: Southern United States

 United States
Lower Creeks
 Cherokee Nation
 Choctaw Nation
Red Stick Creek US-allied victory
Second Barbary War
(1815)Part of the Barbary Wars

Location: Mediterranean Sea and the Barbary States

Decatur’s squadron off Algiers

 United States Flag of Ottoman Algiers.svg Deylik of Algiers US victory
First Seminole War
(1817–1818)Part of the Seminole Wars and the American Indian Wars

Location: PensacolaSpanish Florida

Barracks and tents at Fort Brooke near Tampa Bay

 United States Seminole

Spain Spanish Florida

US victory
Arikara War
(1823)Part of the American Indian Wars

Location: Missouri River

An Arikara warrior

 United StatesSioux Arikara Inconclusive/Other Result
  • White Peace treaty agreed by US Col Leavenworth[4]
Winnebago War
(1827)Part of the American Indian Wars

Location: Illinois and Michigan Territory

 United States
 Choctaw Nation
Prairie La Crosse Ho-Chunks
with a few allies
US-allied victory
  • Ho-Chunks cede lead mining region to the United States
Black Hawk War
(1832)Part of the American Indian Wars

Location: Illinois and Michigan Territory

Native women and children fleeing the Battle of Bad Axe

 United States
Ho-Chunk
Menominee
 Dakota
Potawatomi
Black Hawk’s British Band
Ho-Chunk and Potawatomi allies
US-allied victory
Texas Revolution
(1835–1836)Location: Texas

Fall of the Alamo

 Republic of Texas

 United States

  • Out of the Texan soldiers serving from January through March 1836, 78% had arrived from the United States after October 2, 1835.[Note 1][5]

 Mexican Republic Texan victory
  • The Republic of Texas gains its independence.
  • Texas is annexed into the United States in 1845.
Second Seminole War
(1835–1842)Part of the Seminole Wars and the American Indian Wars

Location: FloridaUnited States

U.S. Marines search for Seminoles in the Everglades

 United States Seminole US victory
Mexican–American War
(1846–1848)Location: TexasNew MexicoCalifornia and Mexico

2nd Dragoons charge the enemy at the Battle of Resaca de la Palma, 1846

 United States
 California Republic
 Mexico US-allied victory
Cayuse War
(1847–1855)Part of the American Indian Wars

Location: Oregon

The Whitman Massacre.

 United States Cayuse US victory
  • Cayuse reduced in numbers and forced to cede most of their lands
Apache Wars
(1851–1900)Part of the Texas–Indian wars and the American Indian Wars

Location: Southwestern United States

U.S. Cavalry dash for cover while fighting Apaches, by F. Remington

 United States Apache
Ute
Yavapai
US victory
Bleeding Kansas
(1854–1861)Location: Kansas and Missouri
Anti-slavery settlers
(Free-Staters)
Pro-slavery settlers (Border Ruffians) Free-Stater victory.
  • Kansas admitted as a free state on January 29, 1861.
Puget Sound War
(1855–1856)Part of the American Indian Wars

Location: Washington

 United States
Snoqualmie
Nisqually
Muckleshoot
Puyallup
Klickitat
Haida
Tlingit
US victory
Rogue River Wars
(1855–1856)Location: Rogue Valley
 United States Rogue River people US victory
  • Indians relocated to Siletz, Grand Ronde and Coast Reservations
Third Seminole War
(1855–1858)Part of the Seminole Wars and the American Indian Wars

Location: PensacolaFlorida

 United States Seminole US victory
  • By late 1850s, most Seminoles forced to leave their land; a few hundred remain deep in the Everglades on land unwanted by white settlers
Yakima War
(1855–1858)Part of the American Indian Wars

Location: Washington Territory

Seattleites evacuate to the town blockhouse as USS Decatur opens fire on advancing tribal forces.

 United States
Snoqualmie
Yakama
Walla Walla tribe
Umatilla tribe
Nez Perce tribe
Cayuse tribe
US victory
Second Opium War
(1856–1859)Part of the Opium Wars

Location: China

Palikao’s bridge, on the evening of the battle, by Émile Bayard

United Kingdom British Empire
France French Empire
 United States
 China US victory
Utah War
(1857–1858)Part of the Mormon wars

Location: Utah Territory and Wyoming

 United States Deseret/Utah Mormons (Nauvoo Legion) Inconclusive/Other Result
  • Resolution through negotiation
  • Brigham Young replaced as governor of the territory
  • Full amnesty for charges of sedition and treason issued to the citizens of Utah Territory by President James Buchanan on the condition that they accept American Federal authority
Navajo Wars
(1858–1866)Part of the American Indian Wars

Location: New Mexico

 United States Navajo Nation US victory
John Brown’s Raid on Harpers Ferry
(1859)Part of pre-Civil War conflicts

Location: West Virginia

Harper’s Weekly illustration of U.S. Marines attacking John Brown’s “Fort” Teresa Baine

 United States Abolitionist Insurgents US victory
First and Second Cortina War
(1859–1861)Location: Texas and Mexico
United States United States

Confederate States of America Confederate States


 Mexico

Mexico Cortinista bandits US-allied victory
Paiute War
(1860)Part of the American Indian Wars

Location: Pyramid LakeNevada

 United States Paiute
Shoshone
Bannock
US victory
American Civil War
(1861–1865)Location: Southern United StatesIndian TerritoryNortheastern United StatesWestern United StatesAtlantic Ocean

The Battle of Antietam, by Kurz & Allison.

 United States  Confederate States
 Cherokee Nation
 Choctaw Nation
 Chickasaw Nation
 Muskogee Nation
 Seminole Nation
 Comanche Nation
US victory
Yavapai Wars
(1861–1875)Part of the American Indian Wars

Location: Arizona

 United States Yavapai
Apache
Yuma
Mohave
US victory
Dakota War of 1862
(1862)Part of the American Indian Wars

Location: Minnesota and Dakota

The Siege of New Ulm, Minnesota on August 19, 1862

 United States  Dakota Sioux US victory
Colorado War
(1863–1865)Part of the American Indian Wars

Location: ColoradoWyoming, and Nebraska

 United States  Cheyenne
 Arapaho
 Sioux
Inconclusive/Other Result
Snake War
(1864–1868)Part of the American Indian Wars

Locations: OregonNevadaCalifornia, and Idaho

 United States Paiute
Bannock
Shoshone
US victory
Powder River War
(1865)Part of the American Indian Wars

Location: Powder River State

 United States  Sioux
 Cheyenne
 Arapaho
Inconclusive
Red Cloud’s War
(1866–1868)Part of the American Indian Wars

Location: Powder River State

The Fetterman Massacre

 United States
 Crow Nation
 Lakota
 Cheyenne
 Arapaho
Lakota-allied victory
Comanche Campaign
(1867–1875)Part of the American Indian Wars

Location: Western United States

Battle of Beecher Island. One soldier and three horses have fallen, while others continue to wage the battle.

 United States  Cheyenne
 Arapaho
 Comanche
Kiowa
US victory
Modoc War
(1872–1873)Part of the American Indian Wars

Location: California and Oregon

Engraving of soldiers recovering the bodies of the slain May 3, 1873.

 United States  Modoc US victory
Red River War
(1874–1875)Part of the American Indian Wars

Location: Texas

 United States  Cheyenne
 Arapaho
 Comanche
Kiowa
US victory
  • End to the Texas-Indian Wars
Las Cuevas War
(1875)Location: Texas and Mexico

Texan soldiers.

 United States Mexican bandits US victory
  • Cattle returned to Texas
Great Sioux War of 1876
(1876–1877)Part of the American Indian Wars

Location: MontanaDakota and Wyoming

Custer’s last stand at Little Bighorn.

 United States  Lakota
 Dakota Sioux
 Northern Cheyenne
 Arapaho
US victory
  • Legal control of Powder River Country ceded to the United States
Buffalo Hunters’ War
(1876–1877)Part of the American Indian Wars

Location: Texas and Oklahoma

 United States  Comanche
Apache
US victory
Nez Perce War
(1877)Part of the American Indian Wars

Location: OregonIdahoWyoming, and Montana

Chief Joseph’s band in the Battle of Bear Paw Mountain

 United States Nez Perce
Palouse
US victory
Bannock War
(1878)Part of the American Indian Wars

Location: IdahoOregon, and Wyoming

 United States Bannock
Shoshone
Paiute
US victory
Cheyenne War
(1878–1879)Part of the American Indian Wars

Location: OklahomaKansasNebraskaSouth Dakota and Montana

Aftermath of the Battle of “The Pit.”

 United States  Cheyenne US victory
Sheepeater Indian War
(1879)Part of the American Indian Wars

Location: Idaho

 United States Shoshone US victory
Victorio’s War
(1879–1881)Part of the American Indian Wars

Location: Mexico

 United States
 Mexico
Apache US-allied victory
White River War
(1879–1880)Part of the American Indian Wars

Location: Colorado

 United States Ute US victory
Pine Ridge Campaign
(1890–1891)Part of the American Indian Wars

Location: South Dakota

Mass grave for the dead Lakota after the conflict at Wounded Knee Creek.

 United States  Sioux US victory
Garza Revolution
(1891–1893)Location: Texas and Mexico

3rd Cavalry Troopers searching a suspected Revolutionist, 1892

 Mexico
 United States
Garzistas US-allied victory
Yaqui Wars
(1896–1918)Part of the American Indian Wars

Location: Arizona and Mexico

10th Cavalry soldiers holding Yaqui prisoners at their camp in Bear Valley, January 9, 1918.

 United States
 Mexico
Flag of the Yaqui tribe.png Yaqui
Pima
Opata
US-allied victory
Second Samoan Civil War
(1898–1899)Location: Samoa

Samoan warriors and American servicemen during the Siege of Apia in March 1899.

Samoa
 United States
Mataafans
 Germany
Inconclusive/Other Result
Spanish–American War
(1898)Location: CubaPuerto RicoPhilippines and Guam

Teddy Roosevelt and the “Rough Riders” charge Spanish positions during the Battle of San Juan Hill.

 United States
 Cuban Revolutionaries
 Filipino Revolutionaries
Spain Spain US-allied victory
Philippine–American War
(1899–1902)Location: Philippines

Kurz & Allison print of the Battle of Quingua.

1899–1902
 United States

1902-1906
 United States

1899–1902
 Philippine Republic

Limited Foreign Support:
 Empire of Japan


1902-1906
Flag of the Katagalugan Republic.svg Tagalog Republic

US victory
Moro Rebellion
(1899–1913)Location: Philippines

The 8th Infantry Regiment defeat the Moros in the four-day battle of Bagsak Mountain on Jolo Island in the Philippines.

 United States  Moro
 Remnants of the Sulu Sultanate
US victory
Boxer Rebellion
(1899–1901)Location: China

Corporal Titus, of the 14th Infantry Regiment, scaling the walls of Peking.

British Empire United Kingdom
 Russia
 Japan
France France
 United States
 Germany
 Italy
 Austria-Hungary
 Righteous Harmony Society (Boxers)
 China
US-allied victory
  • Signing of the Boxer Protocol
  • Provisions for foreign troops to be stationed in Beijing

20th-century wars[edit]

Conflict Combatant 1 Combatant 2 Result for the United States and its Allies
Crazy Snake Rebellion
(1909)Part of the American Indian Wars

Location: Oklahoma

Creek prisoners of war.

 United States Creek US victory
Border War
(1910–1919)Part of the Mexican Revolution

Location: Mexico–United States border

American troops of the 16th Infantry Regiment rest for the night on May 27, 1916

 United States  Mexico
 Germany
US victory
Negro Rebellion
(1912)Part of the Banana Wars

Location: Cuba

USS Mississippi in Cuba

Cuba Cuba
 United States
Cuba Cuban PIC US-allied victory
  • Dissolution of the PIC
Occupation of Nicaragua
(1912–1933)Part of the Banana Wars

Location: Nicaragua

US Marines holding a captured Sandinista flag.

 United States
 Nicaragua
Flag of Nicaragua.svg Nicaraguan Liberals
Flag of Nicaragua.svg Sandinistas
US-allied victory
  • Nicaragua occupied until 1933
Bluff War
(1914–1915)Part of the American Indian Wars

Location: Utah and Colorado

Prisoners of the Bluff War in Thompson, Utah, waiting to board a train for their trial in Salt Lake City.

 United States Ute
Paiute
US victory
Occupation of Veracruz
(1914)Part of the Mexican Revolution

Location: Mexico

American ships at Veracruz

 United States  Mexico US victory
Occupation of Haiti
(1915–1934)Part of the Banana Wars

Location: Haiti

2nd Marine Regiment in Haiti

 United States
 Haiti
Haiti Haitian Rebels US-allied victory
Occupation of the Dominican Republic
(1916–1924)Part of the Banana Wars

Location: Dominican Republic

US Marines in the Occupation of the Dominican Republic.

 United States  Dominican Republic US victory
World War I
(1917–1918)Location: EuropeAfricaAsiaMiddle East, the Pacific Islands, and coast of North and South America

Two US troops pass by dead German soldiers on a battlefield.

 France
 British Empire

 Russia
 United States
Republic of China (1912–1949) China
 Italy
 Japan
 Serbia
 Montenegro
 Romania
 Belgium
 Greece
 Portugal
 Brazil

 Germany
 Austria-Hungary
 Ottoman Empire
 Bulgaria
US-allied victory
Russian Civil War
(1918–1920)Location: RussiaMongolia, and Iran

US troops march through Russia before the Battle of Romanovka.

Russia White Movement
 British Empire

 United States
France France
 Japan
 Czechoslovakia
 Greece
 Poland
 Romania
 Serbia
 Italy
Republic of China (1912–1949) China

 Russian SFSR
 Far Eastern Republic
 Latvian SSR
 Ukrainian SSR
 Commune of Estonia
 Mongolian Communists
Bolshevik victory
  • Allied withdrawal from Russia
  • Bolshevik victory over White Army
Last Indian Uprising
(1923)Part of the American Indian Wars

Location: Utah

Ute and Paiute prisoners of war.

 United States Ute
Paiute
US victory
World War II
(1941–1945)Location: EuropePacific OceanAtlantic OceanSoutheast AsiaEast AsiaMiddle EastMediterraneanNorth AfricaOceaniaNorth and South America

U.S. Army Soldiers advancing at dawn in the cover of a M4 Sherman tank, during the Battle of Bougainville, 1944.

 Soviet Union
 United States
 United Kingdom
 China
 France
 Poland
 Canada
 Australia
 New Zealand
 India
 South Africa
 Yugoslavia
 Greece
 Denmark
 Norway
 Netherlands
 Belgium
 Luxembourg
 Czechoslovakia
 Brazil
 Mexico
 Chile
 Peru
 Ethiopia
 Mongolia
 Philippines
North Vietnam Viet Minh
Korea KLA
 Germany
 Japan
 Italy
 Hungary
 Romania
 Bulgaria
 Slovakia
 Croatia
 Albania
 Finland
 Thailand
 Manchukuo
 Mengjiang
US-allied victory
Operation Beleaguer
(1945-1949)Location: Hopeh and Shantung ProvincesChina

Marines in Tsingtao during Operation Beleaguer.

 United States China Communist Party of China US Victory
  • Occupation of Hopeh and Shantung provinces
  • Japanese and Koreans repatriated
  • American and other foreign nationals evacuated
Korean War
(1950–1953)Part of the Cold War

Location: Korea

American soldiers in the Korean War with the Browning M1919A6 LMG.

 South Korea
 United States
 United Kingdom
 Australia
 Belgium
 Canada
 France
 Philippines
 Colombia
 Ethiopia
 Greece
 Luxembourg
 Netherlands
 New Zealand
 Spain
 South Africa
 Thailand
 Turkey
 North Korea
 China
 Soviet Union
Inconclusive/Other Result
  • Korean Armistice Agreement
  • North Korean invasion of South Korea repelled
  • Subsequent United Nations invasion of North Korea repelled
  • Subsequent Chinese-North Korean invasion of South Korea repelled
Lebanon Crisis
(1958)Location: Lebanon

US Marine sits in a foxhole and points his machine gun toward Beirut.

 Lebanon
 United States
Lebanon Lebanese Opposition: US-allied victory
Vietnam War
(1955–1964[a], 1965–1973[b], 1974–1975[c])Part of the Cold War and Indochina Wars

Location: VietnamCambodia, and Laos

1st Cavalry Division, Battle of Ia Drang, 1965.

 South Vietnam
 United States
 South Korea
 Australia
 New Zealand
 Thailand
 Philippines
 Laos
Cambodia Khmer Republic
 North Vietnam
 Viet Cong
Laos Pathet Lao
 Khmer Rouge
 China
 Soviet Union
 North Korea
North Vietnamese-allied victory
Korean DMZ Conflict
(1966–1969)Part of the Korean conflict and the Cold War

Location: Korean Demilitarized Zone

ROK and US troop stationed at the DMZ, 1967.

 South Korea
 United States
 North Korea US-allied victory
  • North Korean failure to launch an insurgency in South Korea
Dominican Civil War
(1965–1966)Location: Dominican Republic

US soldiers push a child underneath a Jeep to protect him during a firefight in Santo Domingo on May 5, 1965.

 Dominican Loyalists
 United States
 IAPF
 Dominican Constitutionalists US-allied victory
Multinational Intervention in Lebanon
(1982–1984)Location: Lebanon

US Marines on patrol in Beirut, April 1983

 Lebanese Armed Forces

 UNIFIL
Multinational Force in Lebanon:


 Israel
 Lebanese Front
 Army of Free Lebanon
SLA

 Lebanese National Movement
 Jammoul
 PLO

 Amal Movement


 Iran

 Hezbollah
Islamic Jihad Organization


 Islamic Unification Movement


 Syria


 Arab Deterrent Force

Syrian-Allied Victory
Invasion of Grenada
(1983)Part of the Cold War

Location: Grenada

American soldiers in mortar positions in Grenada.

 United States
 Barbados
 Jamaica
 Antigua and Barbuda
 Dominica
 Saint Kitts and Nevis
 Saint Lucia
 Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
Grenada PRG of Grenada
 Cuba
Military advisors:

List
US-allied victory
  • Military dictatorship of Hudson Austin deposed
  • Defeat of Cuban military presence
  • Restoration of constitutional government
Invasion of Panama
(1989–1990)Location: Panama

U.S. troops prepare to take a neighborhood in Panama City, December 1989.

 United States
 Panamanian Opposition
 Panama US-allied victory
Gulf War
(1990–1991)Location: IraqKuwaitSaudi Arabia, and Israel

M1 Abrams tanks of the 3rd Armored Division advance on Medina Ridge.

 Kuwait
 United States
 United Kingdom
 Saudi Arabia
 France
 Canada
 Egypt
 Syria
 Qatar
 Bahrain
 United Arab Emirates
 Oman
 Iraq US-allied victory
Iraqi No-Fly Zone Enforcement Operations
(1991–2003)Location: Iraq

Tomahawk cruise missile is fired from an Arleigh Burke-class destroyer during Operation Desert Fox in December 1998.

 United States
 United Kingdom
 France
 Australia
 Belgium
 Netherlands
 Saudi Arabia
 Turkey
 Italy
 Iraq US-allied victory
  • Periodic depletion of Iraqi air defenses
First U.S. Intervention in the Somali Civil War
(1992–1995)Part of the Somali civil war (1991–present)

Location: Somalia

US Marines on patrol in Somalia.

 United States
 United Kingdom
 Spain
 Saudi Arabia
 Malaysia
 Pakistan
 Italy
 India
 Greece
 Germany
 France
 Canada
 Botswana
 Belgium
 Australia
 New Zealand
Somalia Somali National Alliance Inconclusive/Other Result
  • Failure to capture SNA leader Mohamed Farrah Aidid; specific Aidid lieutenants captured
  • Withdrawal of U.S. forces 5 months after losses in the Battle of Mogadishu
  • The UN mandate saved close to 100,000 lives, before and after U.S. withdrawal
  • Civil war is ongoing
Bosnian War
(1992–1995)Part of the Yugoslav Wars

Location: Bosnia and Herzegovina

Russian and American troops on a joint patrol around the Bosnian town of Zvornik on the afternoon of February 29, 1996.

Bosnia and Herzegovina Bosnia and Herzegovina

Croatian Republic of Herzeg-Bosnia Herzeg-Bosnia
 Croatia


 United States
 Belgium
 Canada
 Denmark
 France
 Germany
 Italy
 Luxembourg
 Netherlands
 Norway
 Portugal
 Spain
 Turkey
 United Kingdom

 Republika Srpska
 Serbian Krajina
 Western Bosnia
US-allied victory
Intervention in Haiti
(1994–1995)Location: Haiti

US troops arrive in Haiti.

 United States
 Poland
 Argentina
 Haiti US-allied victory
Kosovo War
(1998–1999)Part of the Yugoslav Wars

Location: Serbia

Bombing of Novi Sad.

 KLA
Albania AFRK
 Albania
 Croatia
 United States
 Belgium
 Canada
 Czech Republic
 Denmark
 France
 Germany
 Hungary
 Italy
 Luxembourg
 Netherlands
 Norway
 Portugal
 Poland
 Spain
 Turkey
 United Kingdom
 FR Yugoslavia US-allied victory[10][11][12][13]
  • Ceasefire reached through Kumanovo Agreement of June 1999. after Russian and Finnish envoys visit Belgrade
  • Yugoslav forces pull out of Kosovo
  • UN Resolution 1244 confirming Kosovo as de jure part of FRY
  • De facto separation of Kosovo from FR Yugoslavia under UN administration
  • Return of Albanian refugees after attempted ethnic cleansing of Albanians
  • KLA veterans join the UÇPMB, starting the Preševo insurgency
  • Around 200,000 Serbs, Romani, and other non-Albanians fleeing Kosovo and many of the remaining civilians becoming victims of abuse
  • Three Chinese journalists were killed in United States bombing of the Chinese embassy in Belgrade
  1. ^ Advisory role from the forming of the MAAG in Vietnam to the Gulf of Tonkin incident.
  2. ^ Direct U.S. involvement ended in 1973 with the Paris Peace Accords. The Paris Peace Accords of January 1973 saw all U.S forces withdrawn; the Case–Church Amendment, passed by the U.S Congress on 15 August 1973, officially ended direct U.S military involvement .
  3. ^ The war reignited on December 13, 1974 with offensive operations by North Vietnam, leading to victory over South Vietnam in under two months.

21st-century wars[edit]

Conflict Combatant 1 Combatant 2 Result for the United States and its Allies
War in Afghanistan
(2001–present)Part of the War on Terror and the War in Afghanistan (1978–present)

Location: Afghanistan

American and British soldiers take a tactical pause during a combat patrol in the Sangin District area of Helmand Province.

 Resolute Support Mission
 Afghanistan
 United States
 Canada
 United Kingdom
 Australia
 New Zealand
 Croatia
 Czech Republic
 Denmark
 Georgia
 Germany
 Italy
 Romania
 Spain
 Turkey

Formerly:
 ISAF

Afghanistan Taliban

Allied groups
 HIG
 al-Qaeda
 Islamic Jihad Union[14]


Taliban splinter groups


Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant IS-Affiliates:


2001 Invasion:
Afghanistan Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan

Ongoing
Iraq War
(2003–2011)Part of the War on Terror

Location: Iraq

Soldiers from 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment conduct security before a cordon and search operation in Biaj, Iraq with their M1 Abrams Main Battle Tank.

 United States
 Iraq
 United Kingdom
 Australia
 South Korea
 Denmark
 Italy
 Georgia
 Poland
 Spain
 Netherlands
 Ukraine
 Romania
 MNF–I
 Ba’ath Loyalists

 Islamic State of Iraq
 al-Qaeda in Iraq
 Mahdi Army
 Special Groups
 IAI
 Ansar al-Sunnah


2003 Invasion:
Iraq Iraq

Inconclusive/other result[15]
Second U.S. Intervention in the Somali Civil War
(2007–2021)Part of the Somali Civil War (1991–present) and the War on Terror

Location: Somalia and Northeastern Kenya

MQ-9 Reaper commonly used in covert drone strikes in Somalia.

 Somalia
 United States
 United Kingdom
 Kenya
 Ethiopia
 AMISOM
 United Nations

 European Union[26]

 Al-Shabaab
Hizbul Islam

 Daesh
Alleged support:
 Eritrea

Inconclusive/Other Result
Operation Ocean Shield
(2009–2016)Part of the War on Terror

Location: Indian Ocean

A tall plume of black smoke rises from a destroyed pirate vessel that was struck by USS Farragut in March 2010.

 NATO
 United States
 Malaysia
 Norway
 United Kingdom
 New Zealand
 Denmark
 Netherlands
 Italy
 South Korea
 India
 Russia
 China
Somali pirates US-allied victory
  • Number of pirate attacks dramatically decreased
  • The US Office of Naval Intelligence have officially reported that in 2013, only 9 incidents of piracy were reported and that none of them were successfully hijacked[citation needed]
  • Piracy drops 90%[27]
International intervention in Libya
(2011)Part of the Libyan Crisis and the First Libyan Civil War

Location: Libya

US vessels launch missiles in support of the First Libyan Civil War.

 NATO
 United States
 United Kingdom
 Belgium
 Bulgaria
 Canada
 Denmark
 France
 Greece
 Italy
 Netherlands
 Norway
 Romania
 Spain
 Turkey
 Sweden
 Jordan
 Qatar
 United Arab Emirates

 Anti-Gaddafi rebels

 Libya US-allied victory
Operation Observant Compass
(2011–2017)Part of the War on Terror

Location: Uganda

U.S. Marine Sgt. Joseph Bergeron, a task force combat engineer, explains combat marksmanship tactics to a group of Ugandan soldiers.

 United States
 Uganda
 DR Congo
 Central African Republic
 South Sudan
 Lord’s Resistance Army Ongoing
  • Founder and leader of the LRA Joseph Kony goes into hiding
  • Senior LRA commander Dominic Ongwen surrenders to American forces in the Central African Republic and is tried at the Hague[7][8]
  • Majority of LRA installations and encampments located in South Sudan and Uganda abandoned and dismantled
  • Small scale LRA activity continues in eastern DR Congo, and the Central African Republic
American-led intervention in Iraq
(2014–present)Part of Operation Inherent Resolve, the Iraqi Civil War, the Spillover of the Syrian Civil War, the War on Terror and the International ISIS campaign

Location: Iraq

General Stephen J. Townsend observes a HIMARS strike that destroyed a building near Haditha, September 2016

 United States
 Iraq
 Iraqi Kurdistan
 Australia
 New Zealand
 Belgium
 Canada
 Denmark
 France
 Germany
 Jordan
 Morocco
 Netherlands
 United Kingdom
 Turkey

 Iran
 Hezbollah

Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant Islamic State of Iraq and Syria Ongoing
  • Tens of thousands of ISIL fighters killed
  • American-led forces launch over 13,300 airstrikes on ISIL positions in Iraq
  • Heavy damage dealt to ISIL forces, ISIL loses 40% of its territory in Iraq by January 2016, and all of its territory in Iraq in December 2017
  • Multinational humanitarian and arming of ground forces efforts
  • 200 ISIL created mass graves found containing up to 12,000 people[29]
  • Ongoing US-led Coalition advising and training of Iraqi and Kurdish ground forces
  • US maintains limited military presence in Iraq
American-led intervention in Syria
(2014–present)Part of Operation Inherent Resolve, the Syrian Civil War, the War on Terror and the International ISIS campaign

Location: Syria

United States United States

 Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria


 CJTF-OIR Members:
 United Kingdom
 France
 Australia
 New Zealand
 Canada
 Jordan
 Denmark
 Netherlands
 Belgium
 Lebanon
 Morocco
 Saudi Arabia
 United Arab Emirates
 Qatar
 Bahrain


 Turkey


 Israel (limited involvement; against Hezbollah and government forces only)


Formerly:
Syrian opposition Free Syrian Army (2011–2017)


Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant Islamic State of Iraq and Syria


 al-Qaeda linked groups:

 Syria (limited encounters with US and Israel)
Supported by:
 Russia
 Iran
 Hezbollah
Syria-allied victory
American intervention in Libya
(2015–2020)Part of the Second Libyan Civil War, the War on Terror, and the International ISIS Campaign

Location: Libya

USS Wasp conducts flight operations in Operation Odyssey Lightning.

 United States
 Libya
 Islamic State in Libya US-allied Victory
  • Liberation of Sirte
  • Hundreds of airstrikes carried out in Libya against Islamic State affiliated militant groups

See also[edit]

UNCOVERING THE HIDDEN COSTS OF THE PETRODOLLAR

V. BITCOIN AND A MULTIPOLAR WORLD

U.S. foreign policy has kept the petrodollar dominant for many decades, but its power is inarguably beginning to wane. Many Americans, including this author, have been incredibly privileged by this system, but it will not last forever.

Luke Gromen calls the petrodollar system a “company town,” where the U.S. has enforced control over oil pricing with threats and violence. After the fall of the Soviet Union, he says, America could have restructured the system and held another Bretton Woods, but it held on to the unipolar moment. Beyond protecting the system against disruptions like the petroeuro, Gromen says that America extended the life of the system by launching NAFTA and helping China join the World Trade Organization in 2001. These steps allowed the U.S. to continue exporting manufacturing and treasuries abroad in exchange for goods and services. He notes that in 2001, China’s treasury holdings were $60 billion, but rose to $1.3 trillion a decade later. From 2002 to 2014, America’s biggest export was treasuries, where foreign central banks bought 53% of the issuance, using it as a new form of gold. But since then, China and other governments have been divesting treasuries and pushing us toward a new system, in expectation of that gold losing value. According to Gromen, they realized if dollars were still priced in oil as the U.S. continued to run higher debt-to-GDP ratios (up from 35% in the 1970s to more than 100% today), the price of oil would eventually skyrocket. Europe was not able to disrupt the petrodollar system in the early 2000s, but over time the U.S.’s hegemony and ability to stop other nations from pricing oil in their own currencies has eroded.

More and more countries are denominating oil trade in other currencies, like euros, yuan and rubles, partly because they fear reliance on a weakening system, and partly because the U.S. government continues to use the dollar as a weapon. The American sanction system is incredibly powerful, as it can cut enemies off from the SWIFT payment network or from the World Bank or IMF. As the Financial Times reported, “by using American banks as a cudgel against Russia, Joe Biden has shown a willingness to weaponize the U.S. financial system against foes, continuing a tactic honed during the Obama years and dramatically ramped up under Donald Trump.”

This month, President Biden publicly denounced the Nord Stream2 Pipeline project, which would build on the momentum Russian President Vladimir Putin already has with Rosneft, pricing more than 5% of the world’s oil in euros by connecting Europe and Russia. Team Biden reportedly wants to “kill” the project, and its officials have commented that dollar primacy remains “hugely important” to the administration and that “it’s in our national interest because of the funding cost advantage it provides, [because] it allows us to absorb shocks… and gives us enormous geopolitical leverage.” This is a striking indication of just how important the petrodollar system remains politically to the U.S., 50 years after its creation, despite critics who say the world uses dollars for pure market reasons.

Many countries want to escape from U.S. financial control, and this desire is accelerating global de-dollarization. For example, China and Russia are, as of last year, transacting in dollars just 33% of the time, versus just 98% seven years ago. China is expanding oil trading denominated in yuan, and many worry about the Chinese Communist Party’s new “DC/EP,” or digital yuan project, being a ploy for increased international use of the yuan. Meanwhile, former European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker has said “it is absurd that Europe pays for 80 percent of its energy import bill — worth 300 billion euros a year — in U.S. dollars when only roughly 2 percent of our energy imports come from the United States.” While the dollar is still dominant, trends point to other major currencies gaining traction in the coming years.

Beyond a shift to a multipolar currency world, another threat to the petrodollar could be the SDR, or “Special Drawing Right,” employed by the IMF, which is based on the dollar, euro, pound, yen and yuan. Inspired by Keynes and his failed bancor idea from Bretton Woods, the SDR has achieved more traction in the past few years, with more than 200 billion units in circulation and another 650 billion possibly being created. But few governments in a position of economic power would willingly hand their monetary control over to an unelected alphabet soup organization.

As for gold, the world is not going back. As Jacques Rueff wrote in the 1960s, “money managers in a democracy will always choose inflation; only a gold standard deprives them of the option.” The left-wing historian Michael Hudson explains that in the 1970s, he tried to make an apolitical case for the U.S. government to revert to the gold standard, teaming up with the right-wing scholar Herman Khan: “He and I went down and gave a presentation to the U.S. Treasury, saying, ‘gold is a peaceful metal because it’s a constraint on the balance of payments. If countries had to pay their balance-of-payments deficit in gold, they would not be able to afford the balance-of-payments costs of going to war.’ That was pretty much accepted and that was why the United States basically responded, ‘That’s why we’re not going back to gold. We want to be able to go to war and we want the only alternative to hold central bank reserves to be the United States Dollar.’” Gold is, by the account of most economists today, simply too restrictive.

A 2020 study in the Journal of Institutional Economics posited four potential future monetary outcomes for the world:

  1. continued dollar hegemony,
  2. competing monetary blocs (where the EU and China act as counterweights to the U.S.),
  3. an international monetary federation (where at the top of the international hierarchy stands no longer a state, but the BIS and the SDR), and
  4. international monetary anarchy, where the world shrinks into less connected islands. The authors, however, miss a fifth possibility:
  5. a Bitcoin standard where the digital currency becomes the global reserve asset.

Since its creation in 2009 by Satoshi Nakamoto, bitcoin has grown in value from less than a penny to more than $50,000, spreading to every major urban area on earth as a store of value and, in some places, a medium of exchange. In the past year, Fortune 500 companies like Tesla and sovereign wealth funds like Singapore’s Temasek have started to accumulate bitcoin on account of its inflation-resistant properties. Many call it digital gold.

We are very possibly witnessing the birth of not just a new ultimate store of value but also a new global base money, neutral and decentralized like gold, but unlike gold in that it is programmable, teleportable, easily verifiable, absolutely scarce and resistant to centralized capture. Any citizen or any government can receive, store or send any amount of bitcoin simply with internet access, and no alliance or empire can debase that currency. It is, as some say, the currency of enemies: adversarial parties can use the system and benefit equally without detracting from each other.

As bitcoin’s value goes up against fiat currencies, more and more corporations and individuals will begin to accumulate. Eventually, governments will too. At first they will add it as a small part of their portfolio alongside other reserve currencies, but eventually, they will try to buy, mine, tax or confiscate as much as they can.

Born at a time when the previous world reserve currency had reached its apex, Bitcoin could introduce a new model, with more possibilities but also more restraint. Anyone with an internet connection will be able to protect their wages and savings, but governments, unable to so easily create money on a whim, will not be able to wage forever wars and build massive surveillance states that contradict the wishes of their citizens. There could be a closer alignment between the rulers and the ruled.

The big fear, of course, is that America will not be able to finance its exorbitant social programs and military spending if there is less global demand for the dollar. If people prefer the euro or yuan or bonds from other countries, the U.S. in its current form would be in big trouble. Nixon and Kissinger designed the petrodollar so that the U.S. could benefit from global demand for dollars tied to oil. The question is, why can’t there be a global demand for dollars tied to bitcoin?

No matter the base money, there could still be fiat currency and government debt, priced according to the economic power and bitcoin position of those countries. And in the emerging Bitcoin world, America is leading in many categories, whether it is infrastructure, software development, actual holdings by the population, and, increasingly given current trends, mining. America is also built on liberty, equality of opportunity, free speech, private property, open capital markets and other values and institutions that Bitcoin reinforces and reverberates. If Bitcoin did eventually become the global base money, then America is in a position to capitalize on that transformation.

This means no more reliance on dictators and secret pacts in the Middle East, no more need to threaten or invade other countries to preserve dollar primacy, and no more opposing nuclear or renewable energy technology to protect the fossil fuel industry. Unlike the petrodollar system, Bitcoin could very well accelerate the global energy transition to renewables, with miners always choosing the cheapest sources of electricity, and trends pointing to cheaper renewables in the future.

Under the Bitcoin standard, everyone would play by the same rules. No government or alliance of governments can manipulate the monetary policy. But any individual can opt into a nondiscretionary rules-based currency and control a savings instrument that has historically appreciated versus goods and services. This would be a dramatic net benefit for most people on earth, especially when considering that billions today live under high inflation, financial repression or economic isolation.

This transition may not be so pleasant for authoritarian regimes, which are more closed, tyrannical, violently redistributionist and isolated than liberal democracies. But in this author’s view, that would be a good thing, and one that could force reforms where activism alone has failed.

The world’s multipolar drift is inevitable. No one country can, in the near future, gain as much power as America had at the end of the 20th century. The U.S. will still be a powerhouse for a long time to come, but so will China, the EU, Russia, India and other nations. And they may compete in a new monetary system that moves away from the petrodollar and all of its costly externalities: a neutral Bitcoin standard that plays to the strengths of open societies, does not depend on dictators or fossil fuels, and is ultimately run by citizens, not the entrenched elite.

Anti-war US Army veteran warns of hawks in Biden transition team

 

President-elect Joe Biden’s transition team is full of war hawks and weapons industry shills. Max Blumenthal and Ben Norton speak with US Army veteran Danny Sjursen, who fought in Iraq and Afghanistan before becoming an anti-imperialist activist and journalist, about what a Biden-Harris administration foreign policy would look like. Sjursen, who previously taught at the United States Military Academy, also discusses how warmongering members of the West Point Mafia dominate the US government and military-industrial complex.