War Facts

The shortest war on record was fought between Zanzibar and England in 1896. Zanzibar surrendered after 38 minutes.

The Canadian province of New Brunswick (which was part of the UK at the time) had a bloodless war with the US state of Maine in 1839

More Americans have died in car accidents than have died in all the wars ever fought by the United States.

In 1916, a US constitutional amendment was proposed requiring a national vote before declaring war, with a provision that anyone voting 'yes' would have to register for military service. The idea resurfaced multiple times, most notably as the Ludlow Amendment in the 1930s.

The flag of the Philippines is flown with the red stripe up in times of war and blue stripe up in times of peace.

Sergeant Reckless was a Mongolian mare bought for $250 by US Marines in 1952. During one day of battle in 1953, she made 51 solo trips hauling ammunition to the front lines, covering over 35 miles under fire. She was formally promoted to Staff Sergeant by the Commandant of the Marine Corps - with a 1,700-Marine parade in her honor.

During a war between France and England in 1697, Louis XIV ordered the release of a captured English engineer who had been building a lighthouse. His reasoning: "France is at war with England, not with humanity."

The Netherlands and the Isles of Scilly (off the coast of England) were technically at war from 1651 to 1986 — 335 years. No shots were fired. No one died. In 1985, a Scilly historian contacted the Dutch Embassy to joke about it. The Dutch ambassador flew to the islands and signed a peace treaty, ending a war nobody knew was still happening.

Ronin is an African giant pouched rat, roughly the size of a small cat. Belgian charity APOPO trained him to sniff out landmines in Cambodia. From 2021 to 2025, he found 109 landmines and 15 other unexploded devices there. That broke the Guinness World Record set by his predecessor Magawa. A rat clears a tennis-court area in 30 minutes. A human deminer takes up to four days.