Afghanistan War now exceeds Revolutionary War: 2nd-longest war in American history

Feb. 22, 2010

The War in Afghanistan today surpassed the American Revolutionary War in duration to become the second-longest war in American history at eight years, four months and 16 days.

Unless a swift resolution to the escalating conflict is achieved, the Afghanistan War will surpass the War in Vietnam as the longest war in U.S. history on either March 27 of this year or July 30, 2012, depending on the timeline one uses to define the Vietnam War.

U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War officially began with the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution on August 7, 1964. The Paris Peace Accords, signed on Jan. 27, 1973, ended the war but brought only a temporary ceasefire. The last U.S. troops to die in Vietnam were two Marines killed in a rocket attack at Saigon's Tan Son Nhut airport on April 30, 1975.

Prior to the War in Vietnam, the longest American War was the Civil War, running from April of 1861 through April of 1865. The War in Iraq is the fourth-longest American War. If it is still under way in July of 2011, it will surpass the American Revolution in length as well.

According to the highly regarded Web site icasualties.org, the American troop fatality total in Afghanistan stands at 999 since the war began in 2001. The next confirmed American troop death will be the 1,000th, yet another grim milestone in a war that has been under way for more than 80 percent of the 21st century. The 317 American fatalities in 2009 were the highest annual total for the war, but the annual total has been increasing every year since 2007.

American Revolution, selected timeline:

April 19, 1775 – First shots fired in the American Revolution in the battles of Lexington and Concord, Mass.

Oct. 19, 1781 – British Gen. Charles Corwallis dispatches representatives to surrender to Gen. GeorgeGeorge Washington at Yorktown, Va., marking the culmination of major land battles in the revolution.

Sept. 3, 1783 – Treaty of Paris signed between the Kingdom of Great Britain and the United States of America, formally ending the Revolutionary War.

April 19, 1775 through Sept. 3, 1783 = Eight years, four months and 15 days

War in Afghanistan, selected timeline:

Oct. 7, 2001 - U.S. forces strike Kandahar, Afghanistan, and other targets in the country at the outset of Operation Enduring Freedom.

July 2008 - For the first time since the United States invaded Iraq in March of 2003, monthly U.S. troop fatalities in Afghanistan (20) outnumber troop fatalities in Iraq (13).

Dec. 31, 2009 - 317 confirmed U.S. military deaths in 2009, at least 940 confirmed dead over the course of the war.

Feb. 22, 2010 – The war in Afghanistan surpasses the American Revolutionary War in length as it reaches a duration of eight years, four months and sixteen days.

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