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Interminable War Timeline
The U.S. at War
The U.S.—from its inception to the present—is plagued by perpetual, endless military adventures in its pursuit of global hegemony. Our "Interminable War Timeline" project shows just that, a history of U.S. armed supremacy and its excesses and destructive powers, both domestically and internationally, and the long-term consequences that follow its tragedies.
We want to help build a world that favors peace.
Below is a timeline of wars, which we here define as armed, violent conflicts, whether declared by Congress or not, in which the U.S. was involved in any capacity.
Of its 246 years of existence, the U.S. has had 14 years of peace.
U.S. HISTORY
1775
1776
The Declaration of Independence of the United States is signed on July 4th, 1776.
American War of Independence (1775 - 1783)
Cherokee-American War (1776 - 1795)
1785
Northwest Indian War (1785 - 1795)
18TH CENTURY
1798
Quasi-War (1798 - 1800)
19TH CENTURY
First Barbary War (1801 - 1805)
1801
Congress passes the "Act Prohibiting the Importation of Slaves," officially abolishing the trans-Atlantic slave trade.
1808
1811
1812
1813
Tecumseh's War (1811 - 1813)
War of 1812 (1812 - 1815)
Creek War (1813 -1814)
1815
Second Barbary War
1817
First Seminole War (1817 - 1818)
1820
Texas-Indian Wars (1820 - 1875)
1823
Arikara War
1827
Winnebago War
Pennamite-Yankee War (1769 - 1784)
1783
Oconee War (1783 - 1796)
Peoria War
U.S. Expands Territory in West Florida
1814
U.S. Expands Territory in Florida
1825
Yellowstone Expedition
Black Hawk War
1811
1835
Texas Revolution (1835 - 1836)
Second Seminole War (1835 - 1842)
1830
Congressional passage of the Indian Removal Act in 1830 begins a ten year-long program of forced Indian removal along the Trail of Tears.
1832
1818
1819
Anti-Piracy War (1818 - 1825)
Yellowstone Expedition (1819 - 1820)
1831
Sac and Fox Indian War
1834
Pawnee Indian Territory Campaign
1836
Second Creek War (1836 - 1837)
Cherokee Removal (1836 - 1838)
1837
Heatherly Indian War
Osage Indian War
1840
1841
U.S. Naval Forces Invade Fiji Islands
1846
Mexican-American War (1846 - 1848)
1847
1851
1855
Cayuse War (1847 - 1855)
Apache War (1851 - 1900)
1854
Bleeding Kansas (1854 - 1861)
Puget Sound War
Rogue River War
Third Seminole War (1855 - 1858)
Yakima War (1855 - 1858)
1856
Second Opium War (1856 - 1859)
Utah War (1857 - 1858)
1857
1858
Navajo Wars (1858 - 1866)
1861
1859
First and Second Cortina War (1859 -1861)
1860
Paiute War
The American Civil War
(April 12th, 1861 - May 9th, 1865)
Yavapai Wars (1861 - 1875)
1862
Dakota War
U.S. Naval Forces Invade Samoa
1843
U.S. Forces Clash with China
U.S. Troops Invade West African Coast
1849
1st Cavalry & Indian Skirmish
1850
1863
1864
1865
Colorado War (1863 - 1865)
Shimonoseki War
Snake War (1864 - 1868)
1866
The Reconstruction Era
(Dec 8, 1863 – Mar 31, 1877)
Red Cloud's War (1866 - 1868)
Powder River
1867
Comanche Campaign (1867 - 1875)
1853
Walker War
California Indian Wars (1850 - 1866)
Utah Indian Wars (1851 - 1853)
1st Cavalry & Indian Skirmish
Klickitat War
U.S. Forces Invade Uruguay
Tintic War
Conflict in Nicaragua
U.S. Forces Invade Uruguay
Mohave War
Spokane-Coeur d'Alene-Paloos War
U.S. Forces Attack Paraguay
U.S. Forces Invade Mexico
Kiowo-Comanche War
Cheyenne Campaign (1861 - 1864)
Goshute War
Utah's Black Hawk War (1865 - 1872)
Conflict in China
U.S. Invades Mexico
1st Cavalry & Indian Skirmish (1866 - 1868)
Franklin County War (1866 - 1872)
U.S. Troops Occupy Nicaragua
U.S. Troops Attack Taiwan
1872
Modoc War (1872 - 1873)
1868
Battle of Washita River
1871
Kingsley Cave Massacre
U.S. Forces Invade Korea
Mason County War (1874 - 1877)
Red River War (1874 - 1875)
Cypress Hills Massacre
U.S. Forces Invade Mexico (1873 - 1896)
Las Cuevas War
Colfax County War
San Elizario Salt War
Lincoln County War (1877 - 1878)
1876
Great Sioux War of 1876
Buffalo Hunter's War (1876 - 1877)
1877
Nez Perce War
1st Cavalry & Indian Skirmish
1883
Sino-French War (1883 - 1885)
Sheepeater Indian War
White River War
1879
1878
Cheyenne War (1878 - 1879
Bannock War
1891
Garza Revolution (1891 - 1893)
On December 29th, 1890, nearly 300 Lakota people at Wounded Knee Creek in southwestern South Dakota are killed by the U.S. army in what has been known as the Wounded Knee Massacre. It is often regarded as the end of the multi-century series of Indian Wars.
1890
Jim Crow South (1890 - 1965)
1886
Victorio's War (1879-1881)
Pleasant Valley War
1888
U.S. Shows Force on Haiti
Ghost Dance War (1890 - 1891)
Sioux Indian War ( 1890 - 1891)
1896
Yaqui Wars (1896 - 1918)
1893
U.S. Forces Invade Hawaii
1898
Spanish-American War
Second Samoan Civil War (1898 - 1899)
Moro Rebellion (1899 - 1913)
Boxer Rebellion (1899 - 1901)
1899
Philippine-American War (1899 - 1902)
1892
Johnson County War
Battle at Leech Lake
Chippewa Indian Disturbances
20TH CENTURY
1875
1874
1873
Border War (1910 - 1919)
Negro Rebellion
1914
Bluff War (1914 -1915)
First World War
(July 28th, 1914 - November 11th, 1918)
1918
Russian Civil War (1918 - 1920)
1923
Last Indian Uprising
The Chinese Civil War
(1927 - 1949)
1927
1939
Second World War
(September 1st, 1939 - September 2nd, 1945)
Two atomic bombs are dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan on August 6th and 9th, 1945.
1945
1946
First Indochina War
(December 19th, 1946 - August 1st, 1954)
The Cold War
(1947 - 1991)
