240 Wars in 237 Years: USA Wages War More Often than Just Annually

RINF – by Yuri Skidanov

The United States, an example of public and social order for the countries of the “golden billion,” has a unique history. In the 237 years of its existence, it has been either at war, or preparing for a new attack, looking for victims. During the period from 1798 to 2012 Washington used military force abroad 240 times, more frequently than annually.

The results of this military – aggressive development are impressive. Five percent of the world’s population who are lucky enough to be U.S. citizens consume, according to various estimates, from 25 to 30 percent of the planet’s resources. How did the country manage to achieve such prosperity for its 320 million people?  

It all started a long time ago, in 1620, when “Mayflower” ship with 142 settlers on board left theBritish port of Plymouth, crossed the Atlantic Ocean, and on November 11 dropped the first batch of “pilgrims” on the North American coast. Their descendants in the United States today have become a semblance of royal aristocracy in Europe.

However, not the best members of society, mildly put, were sent from Britain to North America. Many of them had a clear tendency for significant and small violations of the law and light attitude towards the norms of public morality. Perhaps such a disposition of the first settlers identified some of the historical features of the U.S. Code.

In 1776, 13 American colonies united into the United States, and rebelled against their legitimate ruler, King of Great Britain. The war for independence lasted thirteen years and ended in a victory of the colonists. The legitimacy of the U.S. formation can be equated to the legitimacy of the Great October Socialist Revolution that resulted in the Bolsheviks coming to power. The war for independence was the first and last war with an external enemy on the United States territory, and it can hardly be called aggressive or predatory.

Before completing the formation of the government and public institutions, the U.S. began unleashing wars and conflicts, one after another. Here are the most important ones. 1798-1800 – the war with France, the former ally of the United States in the fight for independence. As a result, some North American colonies of France went under the control of the United States, which was the prelude to their accession later.

The next full-scale war, the first Tripoli or Barbary war, the one that the United States fought in the Mediterranean with Algeria, Tunisia and Tripolitania (modern Libya) ten thousand miles away from its borders, predetermined the wars of the 20-21stcentury in the same region. This war can safely be called the first war of the policy of “big stick” under which Washington, disregarding the rules of the international law, advanced or protected its economic interests. The reason for the war was the demand of Arab States that a tribute be paid to Tripoli for the use of the trade routes in the Mediterranean.

The first Barbary War did not end well for the United States. They had to buy out 300 U.S. soldiers from captivity, while the Americans captured only 100 Arab soldiers, and the desired result – getting rid of tribute – could not be achieved. Only the second Barbary War in 1815 brought success. As a result, the American merchant vessels, unlike the French and English ones, were given priority in the freedom of movement in the Mediterranean.

Throughout the nineteenth century, the United States fought with the British, Mexican, Japanese, Nicaragua, Hawaii, and the Philippines, not to mention dozens of local military operations. As a result, the territories of modern states of California, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada, and Utah were conquered. Protectorate was established over Hawaii, the U.S. military government was introduced in Cuba, and a colonial regime established in the Philippines.

In the twentieth century, the aggressive U.S. operations have become even more widespread. Virtually the entire Central America and much of Latin America were under the U.S. control. The United States and Russia were at war, albeit without much result, landing their troops in Archangelsk and Vladivostok. Now not just the Mediterranean or Central America, like it was in the nineteenth century, but the entire world is covered by the U.S. military machine.

U.S. soldiers fought in China (1925), Korea (1950), again in China (1958), and Lebanon (1958). The biggest defeat in the history of the United States was suffered in Vietnam, where 60,000 people were killed and over 300,000 wounded. After the war, about 100,000 of its veterans committed suicide. In parallel, Americans conducted armed operations in Latin America – Panama, Brazil (overthrow of the legally elected President Joao Goulart in 1964) , Cuba, Bolivia, the Dominican Republic, and Chile. Africa was not forgotten either, and in 1960, the U.S. organized a coup during which dictator Mobutu came to power, and the legally elected Prime Minister Patrice Lumumba was killed.

Recent achievements of the U.S. foreign policy are fresh in memory – from the bombing of sovereign Yugoslavia to the completely illegal invasion of Iraq, the war in Afghanistan and the defeat of Libya. Syria so far has managed to avoid the role of the next object of the export of American-style democracy, but this situation may change any time.

Of course, it is impossible to list all the facts of war and armed aggression by the United States in the information material. However, this is more than enough to make a conclusion – the leaders of the United States of all time had an unbeatable claim of being the major war criminals of the modern and contemporary history.

If we were to apply the norms developed by the Nuremberg Tribunal to the U.S. foreign policy, as well as the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court in The Hague whose effect on the U.S. citizens Washington refuses to recognize, they would fit right in. Of course, the U.S. is at war with nearly the entire world not because of the psychological characteristics of its politicians and presidents.

The U.S. gets obvious economic benefits and great distributed very unevenly within the country, leaving virtually nothing for “cannon meat” – young individuals from lower social classes that form the basis of the Armed Forces of the United States. The formula for economic prosperity and model democracy is simple: attack and rob.

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