List of wars that have been prolonged de jure by diplomatic irregularities

There are various reasons why a war due to diplomatic irregularities continued to exist de jure after the de facto end of the war . Sometimes a small country that participated in the declaration of war was not included in the peace agreement. These "prolonged wars" were only discovered later and had no political influence after the end of the fighting (often centuries ago). The discovery of an "extended war" is often used to initiate a ceremonial peace settlement. This can increase the tourist attractiveness or improve relations between the countries concerned. In some cases, however, such a peace agreement was deliberately avoided because political differences still existed after the end of the war, for example in the Kuril conflict between Japan and Russia .

Prolonged Wars

Warring parties	conflict	declaration of war	De facto peace	De jure peace
Isles of Scilly versus United Netherlands	First Anglo-Dutch War	1651	1654	1986
	The Republic of the United Netherlands under Michiel Adriaenszoon de Ruyter declared war on the Isles of Scilly, the last stronghold of the English Royal Naval Forces. When the Netherlands and England made the Peace of Westminster in 1654 , the Isles of Scilly were not mentioned and thus not included in the peace. The Dutch ambassador, who visited the Isles of Scilly in 1986 to make peace, joked that it must be shocking for the islanders to know they could be constantly attacked.
Huéscar (Spain) versus Denmark	Napoleon Bonaparte's campaign on the Iberian Peninsula	1809	1814	1981
	Huéscar was at war with Denmark during the Napoleonic Wars against Spain , because the Danes supported France . The official declaration of war was forgotten until 1981. On November 11, 1981 peace was made between the Danish Ambassador and Mayor Huéscars. During the 172-year conflict, not a single shot was fired, and there were no deaths or injuries.
Principality of Montenegro against the Japanese Empire	Russo-Japanese War	1904	1905	2006
	As an ally of Russia, Montenegro declared war on Japan , but they lacked a navy or other means to attack Japan. Montenegro was united with Serbia in 1919 and only regained independence in 2006. A separate peace treaty was then concluded to establish diplomatic relations with Japan.
Andorra against German Empire	First World War	1914	1918	1958
	Andorra declared war on Germany in 1914 in solidarity with France , but was not taken into account at the Paris Peace Conference . Problems arose in World War II when German troops attacked Andorra and partially occupied it. Even after the Second World War, Andorra was not taken into account, so that the Federal Republic of Germany only made peace with the dwarf state in 1958.
Costa Rica against German Empire	First World War	1918	1918	1945
	Because of the dispute over the legality of the government of Federico Tinoco Granados , Costa Rica was not a party to the Versailles Treaty and thus did not end the war with Germany. The state of war did not end until after World War II , when Costa Rica was included in the Potsdam Conference . Costa Rica did not declare war on Germany during World War II.
Allies of the Second World War against the German Empire	Second World War	1939	1945	1991
	After the Second World War was de facto over, there was no single German state that the victorious powers could agree on that could become the legal successor to the German Reich. De jure, the war did not end until the reunification of Germany in 1990. Some formalities were changed in 1949 in order to weaken the state of war between Germany and the USA. The state of war was maintained until the United States could legally station troops in West Germany. As a legal replacement for a peace treaty, the United States formally officially ended the state of war on October 19, 1951 at 5.45 p.m. However, the Soviet Union delayed an official peace treaty with Germany. Only with the Two-Plus-Four Treaty in 1990 was peace officially concluded. The treaty entered into force on March 15, 1991.
UN forces (led by the US) against Iraq	Second Gulf War	1991	1991	2003
	The UN resolution that ended the First Gulf War was only a ceasefire. The state of war with Iraq did not end. The British government used the state of war with Iraq twelve years later to create a legal base for the 2003 invasion.

See also

• List of ongoing wars and conflicts

Individual evidence

1. ^ Britain: Peace In Our Time, " Time , April 28, 1986.
2. ^ Montenegro, Japan to declare truce . United Press International.
3. ^ "World War I Ends in Andorra," UPI story in the New York Times, Sep 25, 1958. p. 66. A number of sources say 1939, but there is no period confirmation for this.
4. ↑ United States. Congress. Senates. Committee on Foreign Relations: Treaty of peace with Germany: Hearings before the Committee on Foreign Relations, United States Senate, sixty-sixth Congress, first session on the Treaty of peace with Germany, signed at Versailles on June 28, 1919, and submitted to the Senate on July 10, 1919 . Govt. Print Off., 1919, pp. 206-209 (accessed February 9, 2013).
5. ^ THE NATIONS: A Step Forward . In: Time , November 28, 1949. Retrieved May 11, 2010. 
6. ↑ ^{a b} National Affairs: War's End . In: Time , July 16, 1951. Retrieved May 11, 2010. 
7. ↑ Lord Goldsmith : A case for war . March 17, 2003. Retrieved November 1, 2015. 
8. ^ David Morrison: Was Britain's military action in Iraq legal? . October 28, 2015. Accessed November 1, 2015.