The United States has been directly attacked by other nations...TWICE in its entire history.

[Hugabear]

Last edited Fri Aug 31, 2012, 12:43 AM - Edit history (1)

** On edit - I will allow for the War of 1812 - even though it was not a direct attack that lead to war **

WWII. That's it. That is the only time that I can recall the US ever being attacked by another country without provocation. And even that is often the subject of debate, whether or not it was a LIHOP action.

Afghanistan - nope (OBL was not acting in any official capacity).
Iraq - nope.
Vietnam - nope.
WWI - nope (not directly attacked)
Spanish American War - highly unlikely
Mexican War - nope.


Plus countless other smaller wars and conflicts...all started or entered into by the US.

When you think about it - how many times has the US actually been attacked by another country - the answer is quite surprising, and says a lot about the expansion and maintenance of American Empire

[WinkyDink]

1. Only one nation has ever nuked civilians.

[Hugabear]

2. One could argue the Unted States has been the most warmongering country over the past 200+ years

You bring up an excellent point regarding atomic weapons.

Almost all of our military conflicts have been about maintaining American influence around the world.

[Initech]

16. George Carlin certainly made that argument.

[DefenseLawyer]

33. The most self righteous are always the most war mongering

You can justify anything if you are firmly convinced you are morally superior and that God is on your side.

[Shankapotomus]

3. War of 1812

British invaded. Sacked the white house.

[Hugabear]

6. But who started that war?

The British didn't just invade the US without provocation.

[Shankapotomus]

9. Okay I see what you're saying.

Yes, the US declared war on the British Empire. However, the British were enslaving American seamen on the high seas and other offenses.

[newspeak]

19. well, that's our history's argument, the impressing seamen

however, the US invaded canada. Not too many americans are aware of that-they have their own "paul revere" (woman) who sounded the alarm "the americans are coming."

[former9thward]

25. "our history's argument"

Apparently not yours. So what does your side say?

[Drale]

28. The British started the "War of 1812"

They began forced impressment of American Sailors because of the lack of recruits to fight the French. They also wanted to reclaim the American territories and they supported the Native American tribes attacking the United States with weapons and other goods. Technically the US declared war and invaded Canada but it was not without provocation. The only reason the British even ended the war with a treaty was because of the more dire threat of Napoleon. But wars are rarely ever black and white, no one ever starts a war, but they are only defending themselves, or at least thats what they tell other people, even Hitler said that in the beginning.

[Downwinder]

4. Twice. 1814, 1941.

[Hugabear]

10. We started the War of 1812.

Sorry if I didn't make myself clearer, but I'm referring to unprovoked attacks on the United States.

[Rosco T.]

5. er....

how about the British after the US declared independence?

[Hugabear]

8. I'm talking about after we became a country.

We weren't officially a country until we won our independence from Britain.

I know it's nit-picking...

[Rosco T.]

12. We were a COUNTRY when we declared our independence...

.. gimme that NIT BACK!

we have been physically attacked TWICE

[Lex]

7. But we are attacked by religious zealots from other countries and

from our own country.

[AnotherMcIntosh]

11. You don't consider the British acts of stopping American ships and taking as many American seamen

as they wanted for their own ships to be an attack upon the United States?

You may be right, but didn't President James Madison consider it to be an attack upon the United States when he asked for a declaration of war against England?

[Hugabear]

13. Even if we allow for the War of 1812, the point remains we have seldom ever been attacked.

I'll allow for the fact that the British basically forced our hand, even though they didn't directly attack the US to begin with.

Even if we allow for the War of 1812, the fact still remains that we have seldom been directly attacked by another nation.

[AnotherMcIntosh]

14. I wholeheartedly agree that we've seldom been attacked. But I wouldn't let the British off

by saying that "the British basically forced our hand."

Or that "they didn't directly attack the US to begin with."

Under maritime law known to the British long before this country was founded, when ships sail in open waters under the protection of a country's flag, an attack by another country's Navy is an act of war. As known to the British in 1812, when American ships sailed under the protection of the American flag in open waters, attacks by the British Navy upon those ships were attacks upon the United States.

What was left for Madison to do? Send a note and say please don't do that? Wait until the British seized a port to take even more Americans for England's war against Bonaparte? The leaders of any other country who would have had their ships attacked while flying their flags would have considered England's actions to be a direct attack. Madison considered it to be a direct attack upon the United States. Why shouldn't we?

[Selatius]

18. The Royal Navy probably did it because they thought they could get away with it.

At the time, they probably didn't really think the United States was in a position to dictate to the Empire, much less the Royal Navy, what they could or couldn't do on the high seas. That's just my opinion on it, anyway.

[hifiguy]

21. Indeed. And the Brits were enthusiastically pressing

American sailors into the service of the Royal Navy.

[rgbecker]

15. Don't you remember when Panama sent bombers?

Or was that the Dominican Republic? No, wait, Granada.

[TheMightyFavog]

17. Not Directly attacked during WWI? *ahem*

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Tom_explosion

History Detectives did a Piece about this attack!

http://video.pbs.org/video/1912551687/



And What about Antietam and Gettysburg? Were we not attacked by a foreign power then?

Does Pancho Villa's raid on New Mexico count, as well?

[former9thward]

26. What foreign power was at Antietam and Gettysburg?

If you say the Confederate states Lincoln would violently disagree with you.

[TheMightyFavog]

34. Confederacy.

I do not recognize those who fought for the Confederacy as Americans.

[former9thward]

35. I assume in your world you don't call it the Civil War.

But its your world so who cares.

[TheMightyFavog]

37. In my world the CSA soldiers stopped being Americans the moment they took up arms against the US

Just my opinion.

[hifiguy]

20. The only proper use of the military

is when the country is directly attacked (see WW II) or when it is obliged to act in fulfillment of treaty obligations. Unilateral military action against a sovereign state which has not attacked the US is a violation of international law and the Nuremberg doctrine against waging aggressive warfare.

[Missycim]

22. So are you against

the actions in Kosovo and Libya?

[hifiguy]

24. I view them somewhat dubiously, but

they were multilateral operations with international approval. There was at least a pretense of legitimacy given that fact.

[Missycim]

27. Well didn't the first Iraqi war have international approval

as well?


I believe we should only use force if attack or if an attack is imminent, I was against the Kosovo war and Libya operations, our interests were never at risk, that goes for operations like Granada and Panama.

[hifiguy]

31. The UN conspicuously refused to grant

its sanction and the Chimp & Poodle Blair cobbled together some token "allies" and decided to go ahead anyway. The famous "coalition of the willing" that was 90%+ US and UK

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

23. And, lately, the "World's Strongest Military" can't even win the ones we start.

[bongbong]

30. Here's why

For the sake of accuracy, change the "World's Strongest Military" to the "World's Greatest Profits For Weapon Makers"

The two are rarely in conjunction. Most of the time the two themes are directly in opposition.

[sarisataka]

29. Many Times -with several corrections

Discounting the Revolution since we were not a country when it started, these are the times the US has been attacked on its own soil

War of 1812 (England)
Indian Wars 18th to 20th centuries (Various sovereign tribal nations)
Thornton Affair April 26, 1846 (Mexico)
Mexican-American War 1846 (Mexico)
Battle of Columbus March 9, 1916 (Mexico)
WW 1
Black Tom Explosion July 30, 1916 (German saboteurs)
Battle of Ambros Nogales August 27, 1918 (Mexico/Germany)
WW 2
Bombardment of Ellwood February 23, 1942 (Japan)
Bombardment of Fort Stevens June 21-22, 1942 (Japan)
Lookout Air Raids September 9, 1942 (Japan)
Fire Balloon Attacks November 1944 and April 1945 (Japan)

Not included-
Civil War
Pearl Harbor, Wake Island, Midway Island, Guam, Aleutians- all of these were US territories during WW2
NYC, Arlington VA, Shanksville PA -alQaeda was not representing or receiving direct help from the Afghan government to conduct the attacks

[Romulox]

32. We engaged in Acts of War before we were ever attacked in WWII--blockades, and arming combatants. nt

[CK_John]

36. The civil war started by British support for the cotton states whob

controlled the industrial eonomic boom in Europe.