# Have we ever had a time with no war? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 19, 2013, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-we-ever-had-a-time-with-no-war/647723 "2013-01-19T17:25:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![spunkymuzicnote](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bc79bd/32.png) [@spunkymuzicnote](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spunkymuzicnote)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2013, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-we-ever-had-a-time-with-no-war/647723/1 "2013-01-19T17:25:57Z")
Do we have a record of a time (a year, a month, a day) where there was no war in the world? ---
**Author:** ![Danger-Mouse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/8491ac/32.png) [@Danger-Mouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Danger-Mouse)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2013, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-we-ever-had-a-time-with-no-war/647723/2 "2013-01-19T17:38:42Z")
I wouldn’t know this answer, I can add that the American flag flying as we know it means we’re at war, rather then left to right, it should fly stars on top. But this may be a product of it being more visually in line with the rest of the flags of the world. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2013, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-we-ever-had-a-time-with-no-war/647723/3 "2013-01-19T17:39:29Z")
You need to pin down exactly what counts as a “war”. Does it count if it’s just two tribes of a few dozen people each? Is it only when cannonballs (arrows, spears) etc. are flying, or when nations are preparing to shoot? How long a time must pass after the last weapon discharge before the fighting is considered “over”? ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2013, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-we-ever-had-a-time-with-no-war/647723/4 "2013-01-19T17:41:18Z")
> [@](#): > > I wouldn’t know this answer, I can add that the American flag flying as we know it means we’re at war, rather then left to right, it should fly stars on top. But this may be a product of it being more visually in line with the rest of the flags of the world. I’m not sure what you’re talking about. The American flag, when displayed against a surface, should always be with the stars in the upper left corner, from the viewer’s perspective, and when flown from a mast, it blows whichever way the wind is blowing. The Flag Code says nothing whatsoever about war or peace. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Second\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@The\_Second\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Second_Stone)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2013, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-we-ever-had-a-time-with-no-war/647723/5 "2013-01-19T17:43:38Z")
No. There are over a 100 small armed conflicts at any time. See David Wilkerson, Deadly Quarrels.Published in the early 1980s, it is a statistical analysis of wars. ---
**Author:** ![jasg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f0a364/32.png) [@jasg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jasg)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2013, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-we-ever-had-a-time-with-no-war/647723/6 "2013-01-19T17:56:54Z")
Obligatory quote > [@](#): > > “We’ve always been at war with [del]Eurasia[/del] Eastasia” ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2013, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-we-ever-had-a-time-with-no-war/647723/7 "2013-01-19T18:37:43Z")
_Pax Mundi_ had about a 4 billion year run until it inexplicably ended at the dawn of the Stone Age. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2013, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-we-ever-had-a-time-with-no-war/647723/8 "2013-01-19T19:09:25Z")
> [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](#): > > _Pax Mundi_ had about a 4 billion year run until it inexplicably ended at the dawn of the Stone Age. Given that troops of chimps make war even without stone tools, it probably goes back 6 to 8 million years at least. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2013, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-we-ever-had-a-time-with-no-war/647723/9 "2013-01-19T19:55:08Z")
Well, Israel has officially been at war with Syria since 1948, although there have been extended armistices in the fighting. The Chinese Civil War ran from 1927 to 1950. The collapse of the Ottoman Empire in 1918 led to a border war between Yemen and Saudi Arabia, which didn’t officially end until 1934. World War I started in 1914 and didn’t officially end until 1921 when the United States declared that it had ended its hostilities with Germany (other nations had done this in 1919 via the Treaty of Versailles but we didn’t sign that). The Mexican Revolution lasted off and on from 1910 to 1920. So right there, we have it that there hasn’t been any war-free period in the last hundred years. ---
**Author:** ![Freakenstein](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b782af/32.png) [@Freakenstein](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freakenstein)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2013, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-we-ever-had-a-time-with-no-war/647723/10 "2013-01-19T20:14:12Z")
Do we have a record of a time (a year, a month, a day) where there was no peace in the world? ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2013, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-we-ever-had-a-time-with-no-war/647723/11 "2013-01-19T20:34:42Z")
> [@Freakenstein](#): > > Do we have a record of a time (a year, a month, a day) where there was no peace in the world? A _real_ world war? Naw, thanks to pussies like the Swiss. ---
**Author:** ![DrCube](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a3d4f5/32.png) [@DrCube](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrCube)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2013, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-we-ever-had-a-time-with-no-war/647723/12 "2013-01-19T21:41:51Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > The American flag, when displayed against a surface, should always be with the stars in the upper left corner, Not if you’re a soldier wearing the flag patch in combat. Stars towards the front. [http://www.mccoy.army.mil/ReadingRoom/Triad/06252004/images/New\_Army\_Uniform\_400x.jpg](http://www.mccoy.army.mil/ReadingRoom/Triad/06252004/images/New_Army_Uniform_400x.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2013, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-we-ever-had-a-time-with-no-war/647723/13 "2013-01-19T22:41:10Z")
> [@DrCube](#): > > Not if you’re a soldier wearing the flag patch in combat. The rules are different for the flag fixed on a moving object. It is always displayed as if the object is moving forward and the flag is “blowing” backwards. Like the patch on the soldier or painted on the tail of an aircraft. > **[File:Air Force One over Mt. Rushmore.jpg](https://fi.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiedosto:Air_Force_One_over_Mt._Rushmore.jpg)** > > Original file (1,900 × 1,528 pixels, file size: 1.72 MB, MIME type: image/jpeg) > > If you think this file should be featured on Wikimedia Commons as well, feel free to nominate it. > If you have an image of similar quality that can be published under a suitable copyright license, be sure to upload it, tag it, and nominate it. > العربية ∙ беларуская (тарашкевіца) ∙ català ∙ čeština ∙ Deutsch ∙ English ∙ español ∙ eesti ∙ فارسی ∙ suomi ∙ français ∙ italiano ∙ 日本語 ∙ 한국어 ∙ македонски ∙ മലയാളം ∙ မြန်မာဘာ... ---
**Author:** ![getitrite](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47774/32.png) [@getitrite](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/getitrite)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2013, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-we-ever-had-a-time-with-no-war/647723/14 "2013-01-19T23:44:52Z")
There once was a pastor who insisted that the only way christianity survived was a peace from the time of Jesus’s birth until 70 A.D. I don’t think he looked in to this very well, as the Romans were taking Britian, and there was conflict in China too. ---
**Author:** ![SCAdian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scadian/32/3292_2.png) [@SCAdian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCAdian)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2013, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-we-ever-had-a-time-with-no-war/647723/15 "2013-01-20T00:21:49Z")
> [@Danger-Mouse](#): > > I wouldn’t know this answer, I can add that the American flag flying as we know it means we’re at war, rather then left to right, it should fly stars on top. Huh??? ---
**Author:** ![Shmendrik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Shmendrik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shmendrik)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2013, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-we-ever-had-a-time-with-no-war/647723/16 "2013-01-20T00:39:43Z")
> [@Danger-Mouse](#): > > I wouldn’t know this answer, I can add that the American flag flying as we know it means we’re at war, rather then left to right, it should fly stars on top. But this may be a product of it being more visually in line with the rest of the flags of the world. Everyone knows that has nothing to do with war or peace. It just means your incorporated entity is subject to admiralty law. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2013, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-we-ever-had-a-time-with-no-war/647723/17 "2013-01-20T02:26:33Z")
I remember when I was a kid, we always watched the Huntley-Brinkley news show every night. I guess I was 14 or so when I remember Chet Huntley saying something like,"…what can only be called the Indian-Pakistani _War_," with a significant emphasis on the word WAR. A glance at Wikipedia tells me that was probably 1965. I had never heard anything called a “war” on the news before. Ever. And it made cold chills run down my back. Yeah, we had the Cold War hanging over our heads, but this was different-- a war with people shooting each other. It was a first in my lifetime, as far as I knew. ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2013, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-we-ever-had-a-time-with-no-war/647723/18 "2013-01-20T15:47:20Z")
Isn’t the USA still at war with North Korea? ---
**Author:** ![Shakester](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shakester/32/437_2.png) [@Shakester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shakester)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2013, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-we-ever-had-a-time-with-no-war/647723/19 "2013-01-20T16:41:14Z")
> [@Leo\_Bloom](#): > > Isn’t the USA still at war with North Korea? The US hasn’t officially been at war with anyone since 1945, and was never officially at war with North Korea (or North Vietnam). Those weren’t wars, they were “police actions”. That aside, I think you’re thinking of South Korea, whose war with NK is still officially in effect.