U.S.: 250 Years of History but a Few of Total Peace
This July 4 commemorates the 250th anniversary of Thomas Jefferson’s 1776 Declaration of Independence, which marked the birth of the United States as a nation. Since then, Congress has declared war on eleven occasions, the last being World War II.However, the United States has experienced only 22 years of total peace. Korea, Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan, and currently Iran are not formally declared wars, but rather “military interventions,” authorized by resolutions on the “use of force” or by international mandates. For example, President Donald Trump has described the intervention against Iran, in conjunction with Israel, as “Operation Epic Fury,” just as in June 2025 he called the U.S. attack on that country (also in collaboration with Israel) “Operation Midnight Hammer.”
The explanation is simple: declaring war is an exclusive power of the U.S. Congress, and President Trump prefers to propose that the House adopt this decision to go to war. The United States is not the only country that resorts to euphemisms and calls “operations” what are in fact full-scale attacks by its military. Israel does the same, as does Russia in invading Ukraine and Ukraine in defending itself against this invasion. In times officially deemed “peaceful,” the United States has conducted numerous military operations abroad. Only four periods of “total peace” can be identified: • From 1796 to 1800, although there was a “near-war” with France • From 1843 to 1845, before the U.S. intervention in Mexico • From 1935 to 1940, prior to World War II • And from 1976 to 1978, after the withdrawal from Vietnam and before new interventions during the Cold War. |