# What was the last declared War **URL:** \ **Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\ **Created:** [March 27, 2015, 7:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-last-declared-war/716092 "2015-03-27T07:26:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![jezzaOZ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a9a28c/32.png) [@jezzaOZ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jezzaOZ)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2015, 7:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-last-declared-war/716092/1 "2015-03-27T07:26:09Z")
^ [Cecil Column on Declaring War](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/3217/why-don-t-states-declare-war-anymore) ---
**Author:** ![yellowjacketcoder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/4bbf92/32.png) [@yellowjacketcoder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yellowjacketcoder)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2015, 12:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-last-declared-war/716092/2 "2015-03-27T12:40:49Z")
According to [wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Declaration_of_war), the 2012 [declaration of war by Sudan on South Sudan](http://news.sudanvisiondaily.com/details.html?rsnpid=208992) ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2015, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-last-declared-war/716092/3 "2015-03-27T13:37:51Z")
The column didn’t say much about why countries ever bothered to officially declare war in the first place. At least in western European tradition, it might go as far back as republican Rome. Then, an official declaration of a state of war allowed for the election of a dictator for the duration and the placing of the armed citizenry, the _militia_, under military rather than civil law. During the feudal era wars between ostensibly Christian opponents led to concerns on each side about prosecuting a “just” war as defined by the Church. And when nation states reemerged following the Renaissance, declaring war and following a code of conduct allowed for the countries involved to distinguish their soldiers and sailors from brigands and pirates. In addition, it created a framework for neutral trading partners to (try to) avoid being dragged into the conflict. And when conscripting citizens and industrial mobilization entered the picture, an official state of war became necessary internally. So what happened after 1945? The biggest change were nuclear weapons, and the rise of non-state guerrillas. Henceforth there would be no more mass wars between nuclear-armed powers and the decision to launch either a nuclear attack or a retaliation against one had to be entrusted to the executive powers. And since going to nuclear war was inconceivable in all but the most dire circumstances, conflict shifted to proxy wars where outside powers took sides in internal conflicts. At least for the USA, military action from 1950 to 2001 centered on fulfilling defense pacts with allies, either suppressing rebellions or defending against invasion, usually under a coalition banner. Since 2001 “war” has been either extended military operations against non-state actors, or carrying out vague “mandates” such as Gulf War II against Saddam Hussein’s regime for (alleged) violations of international agreements. In the name of peace. :dubious: What’s really changed isn’t adhering to a formality but that war itself isn’t what it used to be. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2015, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-last-declared-war/716092/4 "2015-03-27T15:08:16Z")
Good column. Two questions: “Since then, however, we’ve had about the same number of conflicts, but only three of them have been declared, and none of those by a so-called Great Power, like the U.S., the UK, China, France, etc.” - Why use periods between the initals “U.S.,” but not “UK”? “In this context, then, George Bush’s decision (OK, we all know it wasn’t _his_ decision) to declare a legally confusing “War on Terror” was a well-calculated move.” - Is this a gratuitous political slam (and I’m no fan of GWB), or am I missing something? ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2015, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-last-declared-war/716092/5 "2015-03-27T15:19:09Z")
As far as I’m concerned when congress provides funding for a war, it’s a declaration. The column alludes to this. They don’t have produce a document titled “Declaration of War”, or chant “One, Two, Three, Four, I declare a thumb war”. When they fund troops and arms it’s a declaration of war. And there really isn’t a need for these official declarations anymore anyway. We don’t need to send the declaration to another country or it’s ambassadors, they’ll hear about it on the news, and if they don’t they’ll get the idea when the bombs start falling. ---
**Author:** ![bup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6bbea6/32.png) [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2015, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-last-declared-war/716092/6 "2015-03-27T16:13:04Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > “In this context, then, George Bush’s decision (OK, we all know it wasn’t _his_ decision) to declare a legally confusing “War on Terror” was a well-calculated move.” - Is this a gratuitous political slam (and I’m no fan of GWB), or am I missing something? I think you’ve got it. In the area of foreign policy and war-making, though, I think the slam is especially warranted. It’s an easy joke to say Bush wasn’t making the decisions in the White House, but I think there’s a lot of merit to it in deciding what the US is authorized to do internationally - who’s an ‘enemy combatant,’ what’s ‘torture,’ who are the CIA and FBI allowed to wiretap without warrants, what class of people are held in (and thus, what laws apply to) Guantanamo, etc. The sophist arguments that let the administration do whatever it felt like clearly came from other quarters. ---
**Author:** ![waddlingeagle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/4da419/32.png) [@waddlingeagle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/waddlingeagle)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2015, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-last-declared-war/716092/7 "2015-03-27T16:18:27Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > As far as I’m concerned when congress provides funding for a war, it’s a declaration. The column alludes to this. They don’t have produce a document titled “Declaration of War”, or chant “One, Two, Three, Four, I declare a thumb war”. When they fund troops and arms it’s a declaration of war. And there really isn’t a need for these official declarations anymore anyway. We don’t need to send the declaration to another country or it’s ambassadors, they’ll hear about it on the news, and if they don’t they’ll get the idea when the bombs start falling. Exactly. There is no prescribed format in any nation’s constitution for a declaration of war. A state of war exists if military force is authorized. In the US, we have substituted the euphemism “authorization to use military force” for a declaration of war. However, the legal effect is the same. Some countries have declared war on the United States and technically we are at war with them without us really doing anything about it, Iran and North Korea among them. It is possible that Venezuela will follow in their footsteps. Some drug cartels and American Indian tribes have also declared war on the United States. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2015, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-last-declared-war/716092/8 "2015-03-27T18:33:44Z")
> [@waddlingeagle](#): > > Exactly. There is no prescribed format in any nation’s constitution for a declaration of war. Although interestingly enough, the wording of the formal declarations of war hasn’t varied much in nearly 200 years. War of 1812: > [@](#): > > Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That war be and is hereby declared to exist between the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and the dependencies thereof, and the United States of America and their territories; and that the President of the United States is hereby authorized to use the whole land and naval force of the United States to carry the same into effect, and to issue to private armed vessels of the United States commissions or letters of marque and general reprisal, in such form as he shall think proper, and under the seal of the United States, against the vessels, goods, and effects of the government of the said United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and the subjects thereof.[1] World War II (Germany): > [@](#): > > Whereas the Government of Germany has formally declared war against the Government and the people of the United States of America: Therefore be it Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the state of war between the United States and the Government of Germany which has thus been thrust upon the United States is hereby formally declared; and the President is hereby authorized and directed to employ the entire naval and military forces of the United States and the resources of the Government to carry on war against the Government of Germany; and, to bring the conflict to a successful termination, all of the resources of the country are hereby pledged by the Congress of the United States. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2015, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-last-declared-war/716092/9 "2015-03-27T19:19:59Z")
> [@waddlingeagle](#): > > … Some drug cartels and American Indian tribes have also declared war on the United States. The Confederate States declared war on the United States, but the latter did not return the favor, as it considered the Civil War to be a massive rebellion or insurrection and not a war with another sovereign power. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2015, 5:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-last-declared-war/716092/10 "2015-03-28T05:28:28Z")
> [@bump](#): > > Although interestingly enough, the wording of the formal declarations of war hasn’t varied much in nearly 200 years. But those are both US declarations. Compare with the way the First Barbary War was declared: Tripoli declared war by chopping down the flagpole at the US Consulate. There’s a long list of WWII war declarations on the [Declaration of War](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Declaration_of_war) wiki page, but it’s not complete. It’s missing the US declarations of war on Hungary, Romania, and Bulgaria on 5 Jun 1942. (Strangely enough, those declarations are mentioned in a later paragraph on that page.) There’s another page [here](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Declarations_of_war_during_World_War_II) with the same list, also missing those declarations. I imagine there are other omissions. ---
**Author:** ![Messy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5fc32e/32.png) [@Messy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Messy)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2015, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-last-declared-war/716092/11 "2015-04-04T14:29:56Z")
Interestingly, the last country to formally declare war on the United States was Panama in 1989, a few days before we invaded. ---
**Author:** ![Rillian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bcef8e/32.png) [@Rillian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rillian)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2015, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-last-declared-war/716092/12 "2015-04-12T19:46:21Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > “Since then, however, we’ve had about the same number of conflicts, but only three of them have been declared, and none of those by a so-called Great Power, like the U.S., the UK, China, France, etc.” - Why use periods between the initals “U.S.,” but not “UK”? Many style guides specify that periods should be used in abbreviations that are the same as another English word, e.g. I.T. not IT and U.S. not US, but UK not U.K. and SCUBA not S.C.U.B.A. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2015, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-last-declared-war/716092/13 "2015-04-12T20:54:36Z")
> [@Rillian](#): > > Many style guides specify that periods should be used in abbreviations that are the same as another English word, e.g. I.T. not IT and U.S. not US, but UK not U.K. and SCUBA not S.C.U.B.A. I think consistency in the same sentence is the better approach. ---
**Author:** ![drewder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/57b2e6/32.png) [@drewder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewder)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2015, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-last-declared-war/716092/14 "2015-04-22T04:45:52Z")
One thing, I don’t think the United States Congress is at all interested in giving the president the almost limitless powers that come with a declaration of war.