The Longest War

[Clay_Allison]

The crux of this question is how you define a 'war'. I personally think of a sustained and continuous military conflict between two factions which is decisively concluded by military victory - a bit of a windy definition I know, but the best I can think of right now The Hundred Years War falls outside this definition because over the long century in question, there were three separate but related conflicts between Britain and France, with periods of up to 25 years peace in between. The Eighty Years War between the Spanish Netherlands and Spain was similarly disjointed. I must admit though, I'm not entirely sure what the longest war is by my own definition

I think the 30 years war was.

 

[davparlr]

Although I am sure it doesn't fit your criteria, the Arab-Israeli war, which has probably lasted 4000 years, starting with Abraham.

 

[BombTaxi]

I'm pretty sure it wouldn't fit the criteria Dave. In any case, Israel didn't exist until 1948 so the longest you could could argue an Arab-Israeli war lasting for is 61 years...

 

[Colin1]

Can any of you name the longest war in history? It might surprise you.

The Anglo-Zanzibar war of 1896...