Australia and the World Past and Present

Has the U.S. fought full-scale wars on its own land against external enemies?

Yes is the short answer, but only in a few cases and not for 200 years.

It plays a crucial part in explaining how the U.S. has managed to rise to superpower status and remain there.

Of course there was the American Revolutionary War (1775-1783). When the war broke out, technically the U.S. didn’t yet exist. Rather, there were 13 British colonies. That soon changed with Declaration of Independence (1776) and the Articles of Confederation (ratified 1781).

Then, the British decided to take another bite at the apple. The War of 1812 (1812-15) was the clearest example of a full-scale war conducted on American soil. British forces burned Washington D.C. There was also fighting in the Great Lakes area and in New Orleans. Still, the U.S. was able to shrug off the redcoats and recover quickly.

The British were now vanquished. U.S. expansion westwards and southwards would inevitably bring it into conflict with Mexico. Hence the Mexican-American War (1846-48). Much of the fighting took the form of skirmishes. Importantly, almost all of the major battles took place on Mexican land.

There have also been minor foreign incursions. There was Pancho Villa’s raid from Mexico into New Mexico (1916). These paramilitary forces were Villa’s and not soldiers of the Mexican state.

There were also various British or Canadian skirmishes along the northern border.

Pearl Harbor is an interesting case. The attack did take place of U.S. territory (Hawaii). But it was not yet a state. Hawaii wouldn’t achieve statehood status until 1959. Japanese planes attacked a large contingent of the American fleet, inflicting massive damage. However, the Japanese did not seek to invade and hold Hawaii. Their objective was to neutralise American military power in the Pacific and Southeast Asia.

What hasn’t been mentioned up to this point is the initial conflict with Native Americans. While there was no doubt such conflict occurred, the scope of this article deals with the modern U.S. state as it has existed since 1776.

Of course for the native people of the what is now the United States, the settlers of the first 13 colonies and others who came afterwards represented foreign forces. 100% of the conflict that took place between Native Americans and settlers occurred within continental North America. Many lives were lost as well as territory and culture.

What about the American Civil War I hear you say? Of course this did take place on American soil. But for the most part, the conflict saw Americans fighting Americans. It was a civil war rather than a war of external forces. There may have been some support from outside powers for particular parties, but it doesn’t change the essential nature of the conflict – brother against brother, American against American.

The U.S. has long history of fighting major wars outside of its borders. Some call it forward defense. It appears to be a very successful way to increase and maintain national power. There are two sides to the coin.

Firstly, it externalises physical damage and destruction. Your enemy will have to not only win the war, but they will have to rebuild afterwards. Even if they win the war, they will have gone backwards. They will have to catch up to where they were previously before they can start to forge ahead. They will have reconstruct dwellings, roads, railways, schools and hospitals.

If you fight a war on foreign soil, even if you lose, you probably won’t have gone backwards when it comes to your own infrastructure. You will be in a position to move forward immediately.

As they say, if you are going to fight it is better to “take it outside.”