Can you name the countries on which the United States of America has declared war pursuant to the US Constitution? - sporcle

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Can you name the countries on which the United States of America has declared war pursuant to the US Constitution?

Enter a country in the box below
Correctly named countries will show up in the table below
Answers do not have to be guessed in order
This game was contributed by Sporcle user: Booger
NOTE: Does not include extended military engagements that were authorized by Congress, i.e. something short of a formal declaration of war.

You have 3 minutes to guess after you click the button below.

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Date	Country	War
June 18, 1812		War of 1812
May 13, 1846		Mexican War
April 25, 1898		Spanish-American War
April 6, 1917		World War I
December 7, 1917		World War I
December 8, 1941		World War II
December 11, 1941		World War II
December 11, 1941		World War II
June 5, 1942		World War II
June 5, 1942		World War II
June 5, 1942		World War II

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There are 80 comments for this game.
(Warning: comments may contain spoilers)

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	emh:	Feb 24th, 2009 at 20:22 GMT	2 points
	Interesting quiz. Had to guess at some of them. Somehow got them all except Bulgaria.

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	Tuj:	Feb 24th, 2009 at 20:32 GMT	9 points
	Seems it's whether they officially declared war according to the constitution, by the title. Interesting stuff. By the way, there's a typo: "Word War II" for the 7th entry.

	batmann:	Feb 24th, 2009 at 20:32 GMT	20 points
	yep Zala, we have not officially declared war since WW2.

	HollywoodLeo:	Feb 24th, 2009 at 20:32 GMT	3 points
	War wasn't declared in Vietnam, nor was it declared in Iraq. I thought it was declared in the Gulf the first time and in the Korean war, but maybe I was wrong.

	LinuxLinus:	Feb 24th, 2009 at 20:32 GMT	27 points
	It requires an act of Congress for the United States to offically declare war. That hasn't happened since WWII. Korea, Vietnam, et al were never declared wars. Vietnam was famously called a "policing action", for instance.

	R3doubt:	Feb 24th, 2009 at 20:33 GMT	19 points
	Most "wars" following WW2 were fought under organizations. Korea and Afghanistan under UN; Vietnam under SEATO; Balkans under NATO, etc. While others were under presidential order, e.g., Grenada. Technically and Constitutionally speaking, only Congress can declare war.

	frey553:	Feb 24th, 2009 at 20:36 GMT	15 points
	@Zala and Badman Browne: The key is "declared war pursuant to the US Constitution" the United States Congress has not voted to declare war since WWII most of the wars since have been labeled "military actions" or "police actions". If I remember my AP Government correctly, the president can essentially wage a war for a certain amount of time (60 days?) without asking congress to officially declare it and I believe congress can authorize further extensions of that time period. Again I don't remember exactly if anyone else does please correct me.

	emh:	Feb 24th, 2009 at 20:38 GMT	14 points
	There have been 12 instances of "Military Engagements authorized by Congress". That's where Vietnam and the 2 Irag wars come in. Korea was justified based on a UN resolution. There have also been at least 125 military actions without Congressional approval. (all this is from Wikipedia, btw)

	emh:	Feb 24th, 2009 at 20:38 GMT	3 points
	Ooops..that should say Iraq.

	NewYorkCanWait:	Feb 24th, 2009 at 20:42 GMT	14 points
	According to sporcle, it seems that the USA and Germany played scrabble in 1941!? lol

	BelowZero:	Feb 24th, 2009 at 20:42 GMT	-2 points
	I thought the war in Afghanistan was official? I guess I was misinformed. I got them all.

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	magister:	Feb 24th, 2009 at 20:49 GMT	5 points
	@Is this it?: I don't get it.

	Tim99:	Feb 24th, 2009 at 20:54 GMT	17 points
	@MattJ - The CSA was never formally recognized as a "country" by any other nation.

	mkgrenwel:	Feb 24th, 2009 at 20:54 GMT	6 points
	Damn, 10/11. I was about to type in Bulgaria a a guess when the time ran out.

	Tim_Allen:	Feb 24th, 2009 at 20:57 GMT	13 points
	@magister: One of the answers was misspelled "Word War II"...thus, the Scrabble joke.

	emh:	Feb 24th, 2009 at 20:57 GMT	12 points
	MattJ: The US did not declare war during the civil war. We never officially recognized the confederacy as a nation; hence, there was no country to declare war on.

	emh:	Feb 24th, 2009 at 20:58 GMT	6 points
	Oh wow, the Scrabble joke is great!!! I laughed out loud at that one.

	Morbo:	Feb 24th, 2009 at 21:12 GMT	9 points
	I consider myself a history buff, and I never knew about the last three. Sporcle, you done learnt me again!

	davidr:	Feb 24th, 2009 at 21:12 GMT	4 points
	I had it in my mind that Thailand was the last country the US had declared war on. It seems I have this backwards, though: in January 1942, Thailand declared war on the US but the US never declared war back. Does anyone know if any country has declared war on the US since 1942?

	magister:	Feb 24th, 2009 at 21:21 GMT	3 points
	@Tim Allen: oh.

	Havok3595:	Feb 24th, 2009 at 21:25 GMT	4 points
	I missed the last two. @davidr: I'm pretty sure there was a situation where a country did, as a formality, but I forget who it was.

	JAJDH:	Feb 24th, 2009 at 21:30 GMT	3 points
	I would have never known we (USA) haven't officially declared war since WWII...especially with all of the news coverage (and, well, pretty much everyone) referring to the "'War' on Terror." I like quizzes that make my brain feel upgraded afterwards. :-)

	Booger:	Feb 24th, 2009 at 21:59 GMT	6 points
	The only country that has declared war against the USA since WW II is the Duchy of Grand Fenwick in 1959, lead by General Peter Sellers. If you don't get that one, do a search for "The Mouse That Roared Movie".

	Rzeziol:	Feb 24th, 2009 at 22:15 GMT	7 points
	I think "Hungary" shouldn't give you Austria-Hungary.

	sevorak:	Feb 24th, 2009 at 22:15 GMT	11 points
	I have to question accepting Austria and Hungary for Austria-Hungary, especially with Hungary on their by itself as well. The Austrian-Hungarian empire was a very different entity than the modern countries. It's like accepting Czech Republic or Slovakia for Czechoslovakia, or Croatia for Yugoslavia.

	Rzeziol:	Feb 24th, 2009 at 22:17 GMT	2 points
	Also, didn't USA declare war on Croatia and Siam in WW2? Or Turkey and Bulgaria in WW1?

	Booger:	Feb 24th, 2009 at 22:21 GMT	6 points
	@Rzeziol & Brian: I debated that one. I can certainly see your point.

	Kevin:	Feb 24th, 2009 at 22:27 GMT	9 points
	I get accepting Austria for Austria-Hungary, because under the Habsburgs it was known as the Austrian Empire. Even in the duel country, though, Hungary was never the dominant entity. I'd only take Hungary for WWII.

	Kevin:	Feb 24th, 2009 at 22:29 GMT	7 points
	Although realistically, if you knew WWI and Austria wasn't accepted, you'd enter Austria-Hungary. You'd only get screwed if you were guessing.

	GreySector:	Feb 24th, 2009 at 23:02 GMT	8 points
	Although not an officially declared war, the Pig War has always been one of my favorite wars. http://www.outwestnewspaper.com/pigwars.html

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	davidr:	Feb 24th, 2009 at 23:30 GMT	24 points
	@pbrown: If war had been declared between the USA and the USSR, it would be known as `World War III', not `the Cold War.' And we probably wouldn't be sitting here talking about it.

	checkmike:	Feb 24th, 2009 at 23:55 GMT	3 points
	I thought the US declared war on Japan, then Germany declared war on the US, did the US declare war on Germany after that? or maybe I'm just wrong in general

	Booger:	Feb 25th, 2009 at 00:00 GMT	10 points
	@checkmate: You are correct. That is why the US declared war on Japan three days before declaring war on Germany. Germany declared war on the US on December 11, 1941. You can read the text of the declaration at http://www.historyplace.com/worldwar2/timeline/germany-declares.htm

	CarpeDiem:	Feb 25th, 2009 at 00:08 GMT	4 points
	@davidr: LOL. Great comment.

	CarpeDiem:	Feb 25th, 2009 at 00:08 GMT	9 points
	Booger -- another excellent game!! Bravo!!