Wars/Battles Over The Last 1000 years.

[MA-Caver]

This animation shows all important battles that took place over the last ten centuries. The sizes of the explosions and labels are proportional to the number of casualties. The music is "Ride Of The Valkyries" by Richard Wagner. The data comes from the wikipedia article, List of Battles.
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Interesting how it seems that proportionally the U.S. Civil War, Korea, Vietnam and a number of others were barely just specks in the time frames given.

Thoughts, comments please.

 

[Bob Hubbard]

That was cool.

 

[Bill Mattocks]

But remember, we (the USA) are the bad guys. Always.

 

[WC_lun]

That's pretty cool. I do think by watching that, you can see why Europeans might have a higher aversion to war.

 

[MA-Caver]

That's pretty cool. I do think by watching that, you can see why Europeans might have a higher aversion to war.

Reminds me of that line from Red Dawn where Powers Boothe's character said in response to the European involvement in that war... "...they decided to sit this one out, they figure twice in one century is enough..."

 

[Bill Mattocks]

That's pretty cool. I do think by watching that, you can see why Europeans might have a higher aversion to war.

Or that they can't get along with each other and like to fight. Just sayin'.

 

[Tez3]

Or that they can't get along with each other and like to fight. Just sayin'.

This is over a thousand years, how many wars has America had on home soil?
Seven according to this source
http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_wars_were_fought_on_American_soil

three according to this one which leaves out the wars with the Native Americans.
http://wiki.answers.com/Q/How_many_wars_have_been_fought_on_US_soil

the second answer on this has more.
http://uk.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20100201035428AADxeoj

I like the first answer on this one where it says 'British colonists revolting', it's an old joke but they are the best.

So guys who's right, how many wars have been fought by Americans on home soil?

 

[Bob Hubbard]

Hmm...wars on US soil.

French/Indian war
Revolution
1812
Texas War of independence
Mexican war
Civil War
Indian wars
Spanish American war

I get 8.

 

[Bob Hubbard]

Seriously, I find the display interesting. Need to watch it again with my encyclopedia of battles and look some of those up.

 

[Bill Mattocks]

Number of World Wars: 2
Number of World Wars started by the USA: 0
Number of World Wars started by Europe: 2
Number of World Wars the USA asked to intervene in: 2
Number of World Wars ended after the USA intervened: 2

Blase, blase, etc, etc. When we stay home and refuse to intervene, the world demands our money, our blood, our war material. When we intervene, we're OK for about six months after the end of the conflict, then we're the bad guys again.

The world loves us, they hate us, but no matter what, they resent us. Whatever.

 

[Bruno@MT]

That's pretty cool. I do think by watching that, you can see why Europeans might have a higher aversion to war.

Hoooraaayy!
He shoots.... he scores...

 

[Bruno@MT]

Number of World Wars: 2
Number of World Wars started by the USA: 0
Number of World Wars started by Europe: 2
Number of World Wars the USA asked to intervene in: 2
Number of World Wars ended after the USA intervened: 2

Blase, blase, etc, etc. When we stay home and refuse to intervene, the world demands our money, our blood, our war material. When we intervene, we're OK for about six months after the end of the conflict, then we're the bad guys again.

The world loves us, they hate us, but no matter what, they resent us. Whatever.

Not that I don't acknowledge the US efforts, but the US only got involved after Pearl Harbor. Before that they were content to watch the train wreck.

And if anyone deserves kudos for ending WW2, it's the Russians.
We might have won without the US, but we would have lost without Russia.

 

[Bruno@MT]

Or that they can't get along with each other and like to fight. Just sayin'.

The first part is true. But after WW2, we kind of universally agreed that fighting with each other was not such a good idea after all.

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[MA-Caver]

Number of World Wars: 2
Number of World Wars started by the USA: 0
Number of World Wars started by Europe: 2
Number of World Wars the USA asked to intervene in: 2
Number of World Wars ended after the USA intervened: 2

Blase, blase, etc, etc. When we stay home and refuse to intervene, the world demands our money, our blood, our war material. When we intervene, we're OK for about six months after the end of the conflict, then we're the bad guys again.

The world loves us, they hate us, but no matter what, they resent us. Whatever.

Carlin explains it best I think...

And that makes sense, because we like war. We're a warlike people. We can't stand not to be ****ing with someone. We couldn't wait for the Cold War to end so we could climb into the big Arab sandbox and play with our nice new toys that were recently invented. We like war.
And one reason we enjoy it is that we're good at it. You know why we're good at it? Because we get a lot of practice. This country is only just over 200 years old, and already we've had ten major wars. We average a major war every twenty years, So we're good at it!

We might as well be good at it, because we're not very good at anything else. Can't build a decent car anymore. Can't make a TV set, a cell phone, or a VCR. Got no steel industry left. Can't educate our young people. Can't get health care to our old people. But we can bomb the **** outta your country, all right.

Especially if your country is full of brown people. Oh, we like that, don't we? That's our hobby. It's also our new job in the world: bombing brown people. Iraq, Panama, Grenada, Libya. You got some brown people in your country? Tell 'em to watch the **** out, or we'll goddamn bomb them!

Well, who were the last white people you can remember that we bombed? In fact, can you remember any white people we ever bombed? The Germans! That was only because they were tryin' to cut in on our action. They wanted to dominate the world.

:bs1:! That's our job. That's our ****in' job.

In a way we kind of owe it to people of the world to get involved in their differences. After all 99% of Americans have descendants from those countries that are still fighting each other. When we try to stay out of it, somebody usually throws a rock through our window and so we gotta get into it or else we'll be looked at in a not so favorable light.

 

[CoryKS]

Hmm...wars on US soil.

French/Indian war
Revolution
1812
Texas War of independence
Mexican war
Civil War
Indian wars
Spanish American war

I get 8.

Of course, that only counts the battles recorded since Europeans reached the Americas. If we counted fighting among the indigenous peoples, North and South America would not have remained unlit until so late in the game.

 

[Bill Mattocks]

Not that I don't acknowledge the US efforts, but the US only got involved after Pearl Harbor. Before that they were content to watch the train wreck.

First, we were providing monstrous amounts of material to the Allies so they could prosecute the war. Second, we were doing then what we're often told to do now - which is to mind our own business.

The US government was sympathetic to and was actively trying to find ways to get the US public convinced to enter the war. The typical citizen on the street, up to the attack on Pearl Harbor, didn't want to do so.

We used to like to mind our own business. We were castigated for doing so. Now we don't mind our own business enough - we're castigated for doing so.

SO WHICH IS IT?

And if anyone deserves kudos for ending WW2, it's the Russians.
We might have won without the US, but we would have lost without Russia.

The UK would absolutely have faced a German invasion. What would have happened after that is anyone's guess, but in my humble opinion, the UK would be the smallest province in the German Empire and you'd all be singing Uber Alles today.

I'm not suggesting the USA deserves all the kudos. But the facts remain - we don't start World Wars, Europe does. We do end them, though.

 

[CoryKS]

We used to like to mind our own business. We were castigated for doing so. Now we don't mind our own business enough - we're castigated for doing so.

SO WHICH IS IT?

It's a lot like marriage, isn't it? Perhaps a trial separation might be in order.

I'm not suggesting the USA deserves all the kudos. But the facts remain - we don't start World Wars, Europe does. We do end them, though.

I'd also point out that despite what has been suggested further up the thread, there's no evidence that the European nations "got tired of war". They simply wouldn't have been allowed to start yet another one.

 

[Bill Mattocks]

The first part is true. But after WW2, we kind of universally agreed that fighting with each other was not such a good idea after all.

I beg your pardon? :erg:

 

[crushing]

That's pretty cool. I do think by watching that, you can see why Europeans might have a higher aversion to war.

I thought I knew what the word "aversion" meant, but after your post I was compelled to look it up to make sure. Yep, it means what I thought it meant. That "higher aversion to war" doesn't seem to be demonstrated in the provided video.

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/aversion

 

[Bruno@MT]

I beg your pardon? :erg:

After WW2, Western Europe is experiencing a 65 year peace.
That is pretty much unprecedented. We've had 100 year wars, not 100 years peace.