List of the lengths of United States participation in wars

This article contains the length and list of major conflicts, invasions and wars participated by the United States Armed Forces since its creation in 1775. Note that it does not include any Native American wars (such as the Apache Wars from 1849–1886, lasting 36 years).

Lengths of U.S. combat forces' participation in wars

War in the context of this list is broadly construed to be a direct armed conflict between organized U.S. military forces and organized forces of (a) belligerent(s).

(Note: Ongoing wars are indicated in bold and with red bars.)

Rank	War	Dates	Duration	Duration (graphical representation)
1	War in Afghanistan	2001 – 2021	19.9 years (19 years, 10 months)
2	Vietnam War	1955 – 1975	19.4 years (19 years, 5 months)
3	Occupation of Haiti	1915 – 1934	19 years
4	Second US Intervention in the Somali Civil War	2007 – present	19.0 years (18 years, 11 months)
5	US intervention in Yemen	2002, 2009 – present	16.0 years (16 years)
6	Philippine–American War and Moro Rebellion	1899 – 1913	14 years
7	War in North-West Pakistan	2004 – 2017	13 years
8	Operation Inherent Resolve	2014 – present	11.5 years (11 years, 6 months)
9	US military intervention in Niger	2013 – 2024	11 years
10	Northwest Indian War	1785 – 1795	10 years
11	Iraq War	2003 – 2011	8.7 years (8 years, 9 months)
12	American Revolutionary War	1775 – 1783	8.4 years (8 years, 5 months)
13	Second Seminole War	1835 – 1842	6.7 years (6 years, 7 month)
14	First Barbary War	1801 – 1805	4.1 years (4 years, 1 month)
15	American Civil War	1861 – 1865	4.1 years
16	World War II	1938 – 1945	6.0 years (3 years, 8 months)
17	Korean War	1950 – 1953	2.1 years (3 years, 1 month)
18	War of 1812	1812 – 1814	2.5 years (2 years, 6 months)
19	Red Cloud's War	1866 – 1868	1.8 years (1 year, 9 months)
20	Mexican–American War	1846 – 1848	1.8 years (1 year, 9 months)
21	World War I	1913 – 1918	4.6 years (1 year, 7 months)
22	Russian Civil War	1918 – 1920	1.6 years (1 year, 7 months)
23	Great Sioux War of 1876	1876 – 1877	1.2 years (1 year, 3 months)
24	Gulf War	1990 – 1991	0.6 years (7.2 months)
25	Whiskey Rebellion	1794 – 1794	0.4 years (4.8 months)
26	Spanish–American War	1898 – 1898	114 days
27	Kosovo War	1999 – 1999	79 days
28	Invasion of Panama	1989 – 1990	42 days
29	Invasion of Grenada	1983-10-25 – 1983-10-29	4 (3.5) days
30	Bay of Pigs Invasion	1962-04-19	1 day

Sources are found in the main articles of each war, as well as the Associated Press.

See also

• United States military deployments
• Foreign policy of the United States
• United States Department of Defense
• Declaration of war by the United States
• Military history of the United States
• Foreign interventions by the United States
• United States Armed Forces
• United States military casualties of war
• List of wars involving the United States
• List of conflicts by duration

Bibliography

U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) (November 6, 1998). "Name of Technical Sergeant Richard B. Fitzgibbon to be added to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial". DoD. Archived from the original on August 28, 2015.

Lawrence, A. T. (2009). Crucible Vietnam: Memoir of an Infantry Lieutenant. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland. ISBN 978-0-786-44517-2.