War on terror the longest war?

Answer 1

By no means- the term 'War on Terror' was coined by President George W. Bush following the terrorist attacks on New York on the 11th September 2001, but it is a state of conflict that is not officially recognised by the UN, and is only perceived as existing at all by the United States.

The longest state of warfare is that which exists between the Arabs and the Jewish people, which has been continuing intermittently for over 2000 years- although an officially-declared state of war has not existed between the two groups for all of this time. The longest officially-declared war was The Hundred Years War, which ran from 1337 to 1453 and lasted for 116 years- this was an ongoing conflict between England and France for claim of the French throne, beginning when Edward III of England claimed to be the rightful French ruler and launched an invasion of North Western France. The French were supported by the Scots and also the Welsh during the time of the Glyndwr Rebellion; later on, Joan of Arc led the French Army into a series of victories against the occupying English, finally repulsing the invaders in 1453.

Bizarrely, a state of war existed between Holland and the Isles of Scilly for 335 years! The Scilly Isles are a small archipelago off the tip of Cornwall- the 'war' existed only on paper, since from it's beginning in 1631 until it's end in 1986 it saw no hostile action and claimed not a single casualty.