Wars are tragic, devastating affairs, which is why no one wants to fight them longer than it takes to resolve the issue. That’s not always the case, however, as we know of quite a few conflicts in history that went on for tens or hundreds of years. Some of the longest wars of the past could even be classified as eras of their own, often outlasting the people – and sometimes even the empires – that started them.
10. Great Beaver Wars – 61 years
Beginning in 1640, the Great Beaver Wars were a series of conflicts between the Iroquois Confederacy – also called Five Nations – and an alliance of France with various Algonquian-speaking native-American tribes living in the Ohio Country and Great Lakes regions.
The conflict lasted for over 60 years until 1701, making it one of the longest wars in the history of the continent.
The primary cause was control over the lucrative fur trade in the region, resulting in the Iroquois Confederacy launching military campaigns against competing factions like the Huron, Petun, and Erie tribes. The wars were mostly limited to the Great Lakes and Ohio River Valley areas, which were the major centers for fur trading at the time. In the aftermath, many Native American tribes were displaced or decimated as a result of the conflict. Additionally, it disrupted the existing balance of power in the region and significantly weakened the influence of the tribes, which were eventually assimilated or relocated by European colonization.
9. Anglo-Ashanti Wars – 77 years
Lasting from 1823 to 1900, the Anglo-Ashanti Wars were a series of conflicts between the Ashanti Empire – located in present-day Ghana – and the British Empire. The wars spanned several decades, with major conflicts breaking out from 1823-1831, 1863-1864, and 1873-1874.
They were mainly fought in what was then known as the Ashanti empire – a powerful entity in West Africa that posed a major challenge to British efforts to colonize the region. The Ashanti were known for their military prowess among other African empires of the time and employed effective guerrilla warfare tactics against the trained British forces, defeating them decisively in the first two wars.
Ultimately, however, it was the superior British firepower that ended the war, followed by a series of treaties to establish British control over the trade of slave, gold, and other valuable resources on the African west coast.
8. Eighty Years’ War
As the name makes it abundantly clear, the Eighty Years’ War lasted for 80 years, fought between the Spanish Empire and the Dutch Republic between 1568 and 1648. It’s also sometimes called the war of Dutch independence from Spain, as the conflict originated from religious and political tensions in the Spanish-controlled Netherlands.
The Dutch Protestants, led by William I of Orange, revolted against the rule of the Catholic Spanish Empire, largely thanks to the oppressive and discriminatory policies of Philip II. Authorities in Spain aimed to maintain their control over the region and suppress Protestantism, resulting in a war that would soon draw all of Europe into a brutal conflict in the form of the Thirty Years’ War.
While Spain enjoyed some early successes, the entry of France into the war turned it in the favor of the Dutch, resulting in the formal recognition of the Dutch Republic as an independent state of Europe. Both the Thirty and Eighty Years’ Wars ended with the Peace of Münster in 1648, and played a crucial role in the broader struggle for religious and political freedom in Europe.
7. Anglo-Afghan Wars – 80 years
The Anglo-Afghan Wars refer to a series of three conflicts between Great Britain and Afghanistan, starting in 1839 and ending in 1919. They were a part of a larger geopolitical battle between the British and Russian Empire that began in 1830, also known as the Great Game.
Throughout the drawn-out conflict, British forces – seeking to protect its interests in India – fought against Afghan forces led by multiple emperors, including Dost Mohammad Khan and Sher Ali Khan. Much of the fighting took place inside Afghanistan, with major battles in cities like Kabul and Kandahar.
Like its other colonies, the British created strong alliances and diplomatic ties with local Afghan factions, allowing them to score some early victories and hold on to a significant amount of territory during the first invasion. That would soon change, however, as almost the entire British contingent was wiped out during their disastrous 1842 retreat from the country. By the end of it in 1919, the British government had to sign an armistice giving up control of Afghanistan’s foreign affairs.
6. Sengoku Period – 101 years
The Sengoku period was one of the most tumultuous eras in Japanese history. It began around 1467 with the ?nin War – a power struggle between rival samurai clans across the country. The primary warring parties were the local daimyos – or feudal lords – and their powerful armies, as they sought to gain influence in the power vacuum left by the weakening and eventual defeat of the centralized Ashikaga shogunate.
The period saw a number of battles, sieges, and skirmishes across Japan, and within about a hundred years of fighting, Japan was divided into numerous small fiefdoms ruled by a few hundred warlords. The Sengoku period ended in 1568 with the emergence of Oda Nobunga as the most powerful daimyo, though it would be his successor – Toyotomi Hideyoshi – who finally reunified Japan into a single state.
5. Australian Frontier Wars – 146 years
The colonial frontier wars in Australia began with the arrival of British ships in 1788, putting the poorly-armed and supplied native population against the trained, battle-hardened imperial British army. Despite those odds, however, the conflict couldn’t be resolved for almost another one-and-a-half centuries, costing the lives of as many as 60,000 natives according to some estimates.
Like other places around the world, the period was marked by intense violence against civilians and military targets alike, resulting in the almost-complete wipeout of the indigenous population due to factors like conflict or disease. By one estimate, the native population was reduced by around 90 per cent between 1788 and 1900.
4. Crusades – 196 years
By the 11th century, much of the ancient Christian world had been conquered by Islamic armies, including important regions like Palestine, Syria, Egypt, and Anatolia. The Crusades refers to the time period between 1095 to 1291, when armies assembled and funded by Christian countries organized military campaigns to retake the regions around the Holy Land.
The campaigns saw some initial successes, including the formation of an independent Christian state in Palestine and Syria. They were no match for the emerging Islamic power, however, as those victories were eventually reversed by the powerful Muslim armies emerging in the region at the time. The conflict began to come to an end after the failure of the Ninth Crusade, followed by the Muslim conquest of Acre in 1291.
3. Yaqui Wars – 396 years
From 1533 to 1929, New Spain – and later Mexico – fought a bitter civil war against the native-American Yaqui people. The Yaqui Wars saw intermittent-yet-intense violence, often resulting in summary executions and other crimes against the native population.
The primary cause of the conflict was the encroachment of native land by European and Mexican settlers, particularly the ancestral lands claimed by the Yaqui. Fighting was limited to the state of Sonora, where the Mexican government employed both military forces and private armies against the Yaqui, utilizing tactics like scorched-earth and manhunts to subdue the population. Thousands were forcefully deported to far-away locations, which severely affected the fighting ability of the rebels and led to their eventual defeat in 1929.
2. Roman-Persian Wars – 680 years
The Persian-Roman Wars – fought between 53 BC and 627 AD – were easily one of the longest-lasting conflicts in history. It well outlasted the empires that started it – Rome and Parthia – and would eventually be fought between the Roman Republic, Roman Empire, and Byzantine Empire in the west, and the Parthian and Sassanid Empires in the east.
It has often been called a Great War of the ancient era, thanks to its unimaginable scale and duration, as the conflict was spread across a region ranging from the Transcaucasus in eastern Europe to Mesopotamia in the Middle East. While it didn’t result in any significant territorial gains for either side, the Roman-Persian wars made sure that neither the Byzantine empire nor Persia had the means to counter the oncoming Islamic armies.
1. Reconquista – 770 years
The Reconquista refers to a nearly 770-years-long period of conflict triggered by the Islamic conquest of territories on the Iberian peninsula, particularly the defeat of the Visigothic Kingdom of Hispania in 711. It was fought between Christian kingdoms in the north, including Castile, Aragon, and Portugal, and an Iberian Muslim faction known as the Moors, who established various Islamic states in the south of the region.
While there were many complex political and economic reasons behind the war, it was primarily driven by religious fervor and territorial expansion. The Reconquista progressed gradually but surely, with Christian forces slowly pushing southward over the centuries. It ended with the fall of the Emirate of Granada, the last Muslim stronghold, in 1492. The Christian forces that captured the city were led by Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella I of Castile, effectively ending Muslim rule in Iberia.