# Which nation/empire/coherent governing force in history had the most wars ("declared" or not)? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 23, 2013, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-nation-empire-coherent-governing-force-in-history-had-the-most-wars-declared-or-not/661709 "2013-06-23T16:00:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 1
**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:** [June 23, 2013, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-nation-empire-coherent-governing-force-in-history-had-the-most-wars-declared-or-not/661709/1 "2013-06-23T16:00:57Z")
See subject. ---
**Author:** ![Donnerwetter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b2d939/32.png) [@Donnerwetter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Donnerwetter)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2013, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-nation-empire-coherent-governing-force-in-history-had-the-most-wars-declared-or-not/661709/2 "2013-06-23T16:26:15Z")
I’d say: Great Britain. > **[List of wars involving the United Kingdom](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_wars_involving_Great_Britain)** > > This is a list of wars and humanitarian conflicts involving the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and its predecessor states (the Kingdom of Great Britain, Kingdom of England, Kingdom of Scotland and generally the British Isles). Notable militarised interstate disputes are included. For a list of wars before the Acts of Union 1707 please see List of wars involving England & List of wars involving Scotland. To see wars that have been fought on the United Kingdom mainland, see th... ---
**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:** [June 23, 2013, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-nation-empire-coherent-governing-force-in-history-had-the-most-wars-declared-or-not/661709/3 "2013-06-23T17:51:21Z")
If I were guessing I’d say Persia/Iran. They’ve been a coherent nation for a long period of time and they’re located in an area where a lot of fighting and invading occurs. ---
**Author:** ![Sailboat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sailboat/32/461_2.png) [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2013, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-nation-empire-coherent-governing-force-in-history-had-the-most-wars-declared-or-not/661709/4 "2013-06-23T18:27:49Z")
Rome. As John Keegan put it, every campaign season for hundreds of years, the Romans issued forth to wreak massive violence on their neighbors, in a way that, in retrospect, almost pathological. Roman politicians, leaders, and eventually emperors often needed a conquest for domestic political purposes, and they did not shrink from drumming one up under the flimsiest pretenses. Rome as a civilization lasted over 900 years as traditionally reckoned, and over most of that time fought wars for expansion as well as wars simply for political glory. ---
**Author:** ![lisiate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f05b48/32.png) [@lisiate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lisiate)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2013, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-nation-empire-coherent-governing-force-in-history-had-the-most-wars-declared-or-not/661709/5 "2013-06-23T23:02:37Z")
Here’s the wikipedia list for [wars involving Rome](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Roman_wars). I count 75. The list for Great Britian has about 100, but that includes a lot of border skirmishes and frankly non-military disputes (like the three Cod Wars for example). ---
**Author:** ![Fubaya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c2a13f/32.png) [@Fubaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fubaya)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2013, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-nation-empire-coherent-governing-force-in-history-had-the-most-wars-declared-or-not/661709/6 "2013-06-23T23:12:50Z")
Wiki has 113 for the Byzantine Empire but some of those could probably be argued. ---
**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:** [June 24, 2013, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-nation-empire-coherent-governing-force-in-history-had-the-most-wars-declared-or-not/661709/7 "2013-06-24T13:45:39Z")
How about: under a single ruler or Prince or Potentate (as they say). A triumvirate or similar would be OK. ---
**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:** [June 24, 2013, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-nation-empire-coherent-governing-force-in-history-had-the-most-wars-declared-or-not/661709/8 "2013-06-24T14:27:38Z")
> [@Leo\_Bloom](#): > > How about: under a single ruler or Prince or Potentate (as they say). A triumvirate or similar would be OK. I count about 37 wars by the UK during the reign of Victoria (1837-1901). There were about 33 during the reign of George III (1760-1820), although during the last 10 years of his life the country was under the regency of his son. I think these would be tough to beat. ---
**Author:** ![Don\_t\_Panic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/don_t_panic/32/398_2.png) [@Don\_t\_Panic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_t_Panic)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2013, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-nation-empire-coherent-governing-force-in-history-had-the-most-wars-declared-or-not/661709/9 "2013-06-24T14:45:30Z")
> [@Donnerwetter](#): > > I’d say: Great Britain. > > [List of wars involving the United Kingdom - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_wars_involving_Great_Britain) My favorite from that list is the [Anglo-Zanzibar War](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anglo-Zanzibar_War), which is the shortest war in history, clocking in at 40 minutes. Another good one is the [War of Jenkins’ Ear](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_of_Jenkins%27_Ear), and the [Cod Wars](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cod_Wars) get an honorable mention. ---
**Author:** ![Simplicio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c37758/32.png) [@Simplicio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simplicio)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2013, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-nation-empire-coherent-governing-force-in-history-had-the-most-wars-declared-or-not/661709/10 "2013-06-24T15:13:33Z")
> [@lisiate](#): > > Here’s the wikipedia list for [wars involving Rome](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Roman_wars). I count 75. > > The list for Great Britian has about 100, but that includes a lot of border skirmishes and frankly non-military disputes (like the three Cod Wars for example). The list for Rome is no where near complete. The Crisis of the Third Century is totally skipped, for example. That five years of Aurelian’s reign alone had at least four wars (and that’s grouping a couple related conquests togeather) that aren’t included. ---
**Author:** ![smiling\_bandit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@smiling\_bandit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smiling_bandit)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2013, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-nation-empire-coherent-governing-force-in-history-had-the-most-wars-declared-or-not/661709/11 "2013-06-24T17:42:25Z")
> [@Simplicio](#): > > The list for Rome is no where near complete. The Crisis of the Third Century is totally skipped, for example. That five years of Aurelian’s reign alone had at least four wars (and that’s grouping a couple related conquests togeather) that aren’t included. Does Rome count as one nation? Two? Three? Or more? There’s so much ambiguity in the question it’s utterly impossible to answer. ---
**Author:** ![TheSeaOtter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ed655f/32.png) [@TheSeaOtter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheSeaOtter)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2013, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-nation-empire-coherent-governing-force-in-history-had-the-most-wars-declared-or-not/661709/12 "2013-06-24T17:52:47Z")
I also want to say Rome - as **Sailboat** points out, the Roman state didn’t just thrive on conquest, it was actively dependent on it, in no small part because if you didn’t give the Army something to do (and pay them to do it), they had a distressing tendency to depose whoever was in power. This was also long enough ago that ‘because they have stuff and we want it’ was a perfectly viable public justification for invading and conquering someone. As for ‘silly wars missing from the lists’, I have to take this chance to give a shout-out to the [Pig War of 1859](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pig_War). ---
**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:** [June 24, 2013, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-nation-empire-coherent-governing-force-in-history-had-the-most-wars-declared-or-not/661709/13 "2013-06-24T19:08:47Z")
> [@smiling\_bandit](#): > > Does Rome count as one nation? Two? Three? Or more? > > There’s so much ambiguity in the question it’s utterly impossible to answer. OP here. Feel free to narrow the question. Everybody. That’s why they call it drift. ---
**Author:** ![isaiahrobinson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/85e7bf/32.png) [@isaiahrobinson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/isaiahrobinson)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2013, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-nation-empire-coherent-governing-force-in-history-had-the-most-wars-declared-or-not/661709/14 "2013-06-24T22:42:09Z")
I would’ve said Rome. Rome was a continuous state that was fighting wars, usually on multiple fronts, for at least 800 years; arguably over 1000 years. Regions like Persia and Palestine/Israel probably saw conflict for that length of time, but I doubt they meet the ‘continuous state’ part the way Rome did. ---
**Author:** ![isaiahrobinson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/85e7bf/32.png) [@isaiahrobinson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/isaiahrobinson)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2013, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-nation-empire-coherent-governing-force-in-history-had-the-most-wars-declared-or-not/661709/15 "2013-06-24T22:45:50Z")
> [@smiling\_bandit](#): > > Does Rome count as one nation? Two? Three? Or more? > > There’s so much ambiguity in the question it’s utterly impossible to answer. Why is it impossible to answer? There’s some subjectivity in what counts as a single ‘nation’ or ‘continuous state’ but nothing wrong with that. I would say Rome counts as a continuous state from the founding of the Republic around 500 BC through to the end of the Western Empire around 400 AD, which is the best part of a millennium of near-constant wars on multiple fronts. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2013, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-nation-empire-coherent-governing-force-in-history-had-the-most-wars-declared-or-not/661709/16 "2013-06-24T22:58:37Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > I count about 37 wars by the UK during the reign of Victoria (1837-1901). There were about 33 during the reign of George III (1760-1820), although during the last 10 years of his life the country was under the regency of his son. I think these would be tough to beat. Interesting about Victoria. In my ignorance I think if that period as “Pax Brittanica”…but any empire has to fight to keep many if its colonies, for starters. ---
**Author:** ![lisiate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f05b48/32.png) [@lisiate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lisiate)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2013, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-nation-empire-coherent-governing-force-in-history-had-the-most-wars-declared-or-not/661709/17 "2013-06-24T23:34:08Z")
> [@TheSeaOtter](#): > > I also want to say Rome - as **Sailboat** points out, the Roman state didn’t just thrive on conquest, it was actively dependent on it, in no small part because if you didn’t give the Army something to do (and pay them to do it), they had a distressing tendency to depose whoever was in power. This was also long enough ago that ‘because they have stuff and we want it’ was a perfectly viable public justification for invading and conquering someone. > > As for ‘silly wars missing from the lists’, I have to take this chance to give a shout-out to the [Pig War of 1859](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pig_War). I’ll see your Pig War and raise you a [Dog Tax War.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dog_Tax_War)