Wars, unfortunately, are everywhere. There have been very few times when there has been no war in the entire world. But you might not realize just how lengthy wars can be. So, what is the longest war in history? This list shows the brutal side of wars that last hundreds and hundreds of years, and the reason behind them.
6. Arab-Byzantine Wars
Lasting 551 years, the Arab-Byzantine wars, or Muslim-Byzantine wars, were a series of wars from the 7th to 11th centuries between multiple Arab dynasties and the Byzantine Empire. The Muslin Arab Caliphates conquered large parts of the Christian Byzantine Empire and unsuccessfully attacked the Byzantine capital of Constantinople.
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5. Roman-Germanic Wars
Another one of the longest wars in history was between the Romans and various Germanic peoples that lasted 588 years. The nature of the wars varied through time between Roman conquest, Germanic uprisings, later Germanic invasions of the Western Roman Empire that started in the late second century BC, and more.
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4. Byzantine-Bulgarian Wars
The Byzantine-Bulgarian Wars lasted 675 years and were a series of conflicts between the Byzantine Empire and Bulgaria, which began after the Bulgars conquered parts of the Balkan peninsula after 680 AD. The two continued to clash over the next century with variable success, until the Bulgarians, led by Krum, inflicted a series of crushing defeats on the Byzantines.
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3. Roman-Persian Wars
Lasting 681 years total, the Roman-Persian wars are considered one of the longest wars in history. And while the conflict between the two civilizations did involve direct military engagements, a significant role was played by a plethora of vassal kingdoms and allied nomadic nations, which served as buffer states or proxies for either side.
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2. Anglo-French Wars
One of the longest wars in history was the Anglo-French Wars, which went from 1109 to 1815, a total of 706 years. The wars were a series of conflicts between the territories of the Kingdom of England and the Kingdom of France, which spanned from the Middle Ages to the modern age.
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1. Reconquista
The Reconquista, or the Fall of al-Andalus, was a series of military and cultural campaigns that European Christian kingdoms waged against the Muslim kingdoms following the Muslim conquest of the Iberian Peninsula by the Umayyad Caliphate. The beginning dated to the Battle of Covadonga in 718 or 722, and ended finally in 1492, lasting around 774 years.
