What was the last profitable war? Announcing the arrival of Valued Associate #679: Cesar Manara Planned maintenance scheduled April 23, 2019 at 23:30 UTC (7:30pm US/Eastern)What was the first battle in history fought by vast-majority-% “distance-shooting” non-mechanized force?Did the Carthaginians have the option of sending Hannibal to Sicily?Has anyone ever named a war after their own country or faction?What was the cleanest war ever fought?Which was the last war in which swords were used?Has a major war ever occured and a map before the war looked exactly the same after?What are some examples of US states warring with one another?Artillery guns near Triglav?What were the incentives for war during the Warring States Period?What's the origin of differentiating between civilians' and soldiers' “rights” in war?

Any stored/leased 737s that could substitute for grounded MAXs?

How does TikZ render an arc?

Should man-made satellites feature an intelligent inverted "cow catcher"?

NIntegrate on a solution of a matrix ODE

When does a function NOT have an antiderivative?

Why did Bronn offer to be Tyrion Lannister's champion in trial by combat?

Does the main washing effect of soap come from foam?

"Destructive power" carried by a B-52?

Baking rewards as operations

Flight departed from the gate 5 min before scheduled departure time. Refund options

newbie Q : How to read an output file in one command line

Besides transaction validation, are there any other uses of the Script language in Bitcoin

How do you write "wild blueberries flavored"?

First paper to introduce the "principal-agent problem"

Marquee sign letters

Short story about astronauts fertilizing soil with their own bodies

How can I prevent/balance waiting and turtling as a response to cooldown mechanics

Determine whether an integer is a palindrome

How can I list files in reverse time order by a command and pass them as arguments to another command?

Why is there so little support for joining EFTA in the British parliament?

Are there any irrational/transcendental numbers for which the distribution of decimal digits is not uniform?

How do Java 8 default methods hеlp with lambdas?

.bashrc alias for a command with fixed second parameter

Diophantine equation 3^a+1=3^b+5^c



What was the last profitable war?



Announcing the arrival of Valued Associate #679: Cesar Manara
Planned maintenance scheduled April 23, 2019 at 23:30 UTC (7:30pm US/Eastern)What was the first battle in history fought by vast-majority-% “distance-shooting” non-mechanized force?Did the Carthaginians have the option of sending Hannibal to Sicily?Has anyone ever named a war after their own country or faction?What was the cleanest war ever fought?Which was the last war in which swords were used?Has a major war ever occured and a map before the war looked exactly the same after?What are some examples of US states warring with one another?Artillery guns near Triglav?What were the incentives for war during the Warring States Period?What's the origin of differentiating between civilians' and soldiers' “rights” in war?










1















I was having a conversation with family and friends this weekend and this question came up: "what was the last profitable war?" Of course in history there were wars that turned a profit, ones I can think of are the Dacian war and some of the Mithradatic wars. But once we get to a more recent history it is hard to think of many wars that have been profitable.



The best we could come up with as a possibility were some of the English wars in India. The last war we could say was definitely profitable would have been the 4th crusade, and that was only definitely profitable for the Venetian's.



I have been using google and wikipedia primarily for my research as I am on vacation, and have looked up pretty much all of the wars I can think of but I am sure there are some we have missed.



Also as a caveat, no minor wars, which would eliminate the wars the Dutch fought against minor island kingdoms in their "spice wars" and no wars where a belligerent doesn't fight but receives some recompense for being in the alliance. Also as far as profit, it has to be a financial profit, money, land, etc... No political profit, or other intangible things. So in other words, only short term profit. The profit refers to the regime, government, king in charge, not profitable to some people in society. The profit from the war is meant mainly in spoils, land, etc.










share|improve this question



















  • 5





    It would always come down to "for whom"? As a large-scale arms dealer every war is profitable, for me.

    – LangLangC
    7 hours ago






  • 1





    There's also the question of long-term vs. short-term profit. I've seem plausible arguments that none of the great European empires actually were financially profitable when you count all the costs. It's certainly true that big, tightly-controlled 19th and early 20th century empires correlate very poorly with subsequent prosperity. The one way that conquest seems profitable is when it suppresses existing endemic warfare enough to allow economies to grow in peace. Arguably this is why the Roman Empire worked...and why it failed when it stopped creating peace.

    – Mark Olson
    7 hours ago







  • 1





    @MarkOlson: You would have a hard time arguing that the Pax Britannica didn't have the same effect for a century, from 1815 to 1914. Or that the creation of the United States from 1792 to 1945 didn't have the same effect.

    – Pieter Geerkens
    7 hours ago







  • 4





    Measuring the profit of a war is kind of like ... I don't know, measuring the calorie content of a communion wafer - or the return on investment of marriage. The measurement may be valid, but if the results of the measurement have anything to do with the activity, then there is something very wrong with your value matrix.

    – Mark C. Wallace
    7 hours ago











  • Seems to me that the definition of "minor war" is tightly coupled with "profitable war". The only time you'd fight a war for profit is when you're confident you can predict the outcome. Risky war (between near equals) should be avoided as an existential threat.

    – Mark C. Wallace
    7 hours ago















1















I was having a conversation with family and friends this weekend and this question came up: "what was the last profitable war?" Of course in history there were wars that turned a profit, ones I can think of are the Dacian war and some of the Mithradatic wars. But once we get to a more recent history it is hard to think of many wars that have been profitable.



The best we could come up with as a possibility were some of the English wars in India. The last war we could say was definitely profitable would have been the 4th crusade, and that was only definitely profitable for the Venetian's.



I have been using google and wikipedia primarily for my research as I am on vacation, and have looked up pretty much all of the wars I can think of but I am sure there are some we have missed.



Also as a caveat, no minor wars, which would eliminate the wars the Dutch fought against minor island kingdoms in their "spice wars" and no wars where a belligerent doesn't fight but receives some recompense for being in the alliance. Also as far as profit, it has to be a financial profit, money, land, etc... No political profit, or other intangible things. So in other words, only short term profit. The profit refers to the regime, government, king in charge, not profitable to some people in society. The profit from the war is meant mainly in spoils, land, etc.










share|improve this question



















  • 5





    It would always come down to "for whom"? As a large-scale arms dealer every war is profitable, for me.

    – LangLangC
    7 hours ago






  • 1





    There's also the question of long-term vs. short-term profit. I've seem plausible arguments that none of the great European empires actually were financially profitable when you count all the costs. It's certainly true that big, tightly-controlled 19th and early 20th century empires correlate very poorly with subsequent prosperity. The one way that conquest seems profitable is when it suppresses existing endemic warfare enough to allow economies to grow in peace. Arguably this is why the Roman Empire worked...and why it failed when it stopped creating peace.

    – Mark Olson
    7 hours ago







  • 1





    @MarkOlson: You would have a hard time arguing that the Pax Britannica didn't have the same effect for a century, from 1815 to 1914. Or that the creation of the United States from 1792 to 1945 didn't have the same effect.

    – Pieter Geerkens
    7 hours ago







  • 4





    Measuring the profit of a war is kind of like ... I don't know, measuring the calorie content of a communion wafer - or the return on investment of marriage. The measurement may be valid, but if the results of the measurement have anything to do with the activity, then there is something very wrong with your value matrix.

    – Mark C. Wallace
    7 hours ago











  • Seems to me that the definition of "minor war" is tightly coupled with "profitable war". The only time you'd fight a war for profit is when you're confident you can predict the outcome. Risky war (between near equals) should be avoided as an existential threat.

    – Mark C. Wallace
    7 hours ago













1












1








1








I was having a conversation with family and friends this weekend and this question came up: "what was the last profitable war?" Of course in history there were wars that turned a profit, ones I can think of are the Dacian war and some of the Mithradatic wars. But once we get to a more recent history it is hard to think of many wars that have been profitable.



The best we could come up with as a possibility were some of the English wars in India. The last war we could say was definitely profitable would have been the 4th crusade, and that was only definitely profitable for the Venetian's.



I have been using google and wikipedia primarily for my research as I am on vacation, and have looked up pretty much all of the wars I can think of but I am sure there are some we have missed.



Also as a caveat, no minor wars, which would eliminate the wars the Dutch fought against minor island kingdoms in their "spice wars" and no wars where a belligerent doesn't fight but receives some recompense for being in the alliance. Also as far as profit, it has to be a financial profit, money, land, etc... No political profit, or other intangible things. So in other words, only short term profit. The profit refers to the regime, government, king in charge, not profitable to some people in society. The profit from the war is meant mainly in spoils, land, etc.










share|improve this question
















I was having a conversation with family and friends this weekend and this question came up: "what was the last profitable war?" Of course in history there were wars that turned a profit, ones I can think of are the Dacian war and some of the Mithradatic wars. But once we get to a more recent history it is hard to think of many wars that have been profitable.



The best we could come up with as a possibility were some of the English wars in India. The last war we could say was definitely profitable would have been the 4th crusade, and that was only definitely profitable for the Venetian's.



I have been using google and wikipedia primarily for my research as I am on vacation, and have looked up pretty much all of the wars I can think of but I am sure there are some we have missed.



Also as a caveat, no minor wars, which would eliminate the wars the Dutch fought against minor island kingdoms in their "spice wars" and no wars where a belligerent doesn't fight but receives some recompense for being in the alliance. Also as far as profit, it has to be a financial profit, money, land, etc... No political profit, or other intangible things. So in other words, only short term profit. The profit refers to the regime, government, king in charge, not profitable to some people in society. The profit from the war is meant mainly in spoils, land, etc.







military war






share|improve this question















share|improve this question













share|improve this question




share|improve this question








edited 7 hours ago







ed.hank

















asked 7 hours ago









ed.hanked.hank

2,70911124




2,70911124







  • 5





    It would always come down to "for whom"? As a large-scale arms dealer every war is profitable, for me.

    – LangLangC
    7 hours ago






  • 1





    There's also the question of long-term vs. short-term profit. I've seem plausible arguments that none of the great European empires actually were financially profitable when you count all the costs. It's certainly true that big, tightly-controlled 19th and early 20th century empires correlate very poorly with subsequent prosperity. The one way that conquest seems profitable is when it suppresses existing endemic warfare enough to allow economies to grow in peace. Arguably this is why the Roman Empire worked...and why it failed when it stopped creating peace.

    – Mark Olson
    7 hours ago







  • 1





    @MarkOlson: You would have a hard time arguing that the Pax Britannica didn't have the same effect for a century, from 1815 to 1914. Or that the creation of the United States from 1792 to 1945 didn't have the same effect.

    – Pieter Geerkens
    7 hours ago







  • 4





    Measuring the profit of a war is kind of like ... I don't know, measuring the calorie content of a communion wafer - or the return on investment of marriage. The measurement may be valid, but if the results of the measurement have anything to do with the activity, then there is something very wrong with your value matrix.

    – Mark C. Wallace
    7 hours ago











  • Seems to me that the definition of "minor war" is tightly coupled with "profitable war". The only time you'd fight a war for profit is when you're confident you can predict the outcome. Risky war (between near equals) should be avoided as an existential threat.

    – Mark C. Wallace
    7 hours ago












  • 5





    It would always come down to "for whom"? As a large-scale arms dealer every war is profitable, for me.

    – LangLangC
    7 hours ago






  • 1





    There's also the question of long-term vs. short-term profit. I've seem plausible arguments that none of the great European empires actually were financially profitable when you count all the costs. It's certainly true that big, tightly-controlled 19th and early 20th century empires correlate very poorly with subsequent prosperity. The one way that conquest seems profitable is when it suppresses existing endemic warfare enough to allow economies to grow in peace. Arguably this is why the Roman Empire worked...and why it failed when it stopped creating peace.

    – Mark Olson
    7 hours ago







  • 1





    @MarkOlson: You would have a hard time arguing that the Pax Britannica didn't have the same effect for a century, from 1815 to 1914. Or that the creation of the United States from 1792 to 1945 didn't have the same effect.

    – Pieter Geerkens
    7 hours ago







  • 4





    Measuring the profit of a war is kind of like ... I don't know, measuring the calorie content of a communion wafer - or the return on investment of marriage. The measurement may be valid, but if the results of the measurement have anything to do with the activity, then there is something very wrong with your value matrix.

    – Mark C. Wallace
    7 hours ago











  • Seems to me that the definition of "minor war" is tightly coupled with "profitable war". The only time you'd fight a war for profit is when you're confident you can predict the outcome. Risky war (between near equals) should be avoided as an existential threat.

    – Mark C. Wallace
    7 hours ago







5




5





It would always come down to "for whom"? As a large-scale arms dealer every war is profitable, for me.

– LangLangC
7 hours ago





It would always come down to "for whom"? As a large-scale arms dealer every war is profitable, for me.

– LangLangC
7 hours ago




1




1





There's also the question of long-term vs. short-term profit. I've seem plausible arguments that none of the great European empires actually were financially profitable when you count all the costs. It's certainly true that big, tightly-controlled 19th and early 20th century empires correlate very poorly with subsequent prosperity. The one way that conquest seems profitable is when it suppresses existing endemic warfare enough to allow economies to grow in peace. Arguably this is why the Roman Empire worked...and why it failed when it stopped creating peace.

– Mark Olson
7 hours ago






There's also the question of long-term vs. short-term profit. I've seem plausible arguments that none of the great European empires actually were financially profitable when you count all the costs. It's certainly true that big, tightly-controlled 19th and early 20th century empires correlate very poorly with subsequent prosperity. The one way that conquest seems profitable is when it suppresses existing endemic warfare enough to allow economies to grow in peace. Arguably this is why the Roman Empire worked...and why it failed when it stopped creating peace.

– Mark Olson
7 hours ago





1




1





@MarkOlson: You would have a hard time arguing that the Pax Britannica didn't have the same effect for a century, from 1815 to 1914. Or that the creation of the United States from 1792 to 1945 didn't have the same effect.

– Pieter Geerkens
7 hours ago






@MarkOlson: You would have a hard time arguing that the Pax Britannica didn't have the same effect for a century, from 1815 to 1914. Or that the creation of the United States from 1792 to 1945 didn't have the same effect.

– Pieter Geerkens
7 hours ago





4




4





Measuring the profit of a war is kind of like ... I don't know, measuring the calorie content of a communion wafer - or the return on investment of marriage. The measurement may be valid, but if the results of the measurement have anything to do with the activity, then there is something very wrong with your value matrix.

– Mark C. Wallace
7 hours ago





Measuring the profit of a war is kind of like ... I don't know, measuring the calorie content of a communion wafer - or the return on investment of marriage. The measurement may be valid, but if the results of the measurement have anything to do with the activity, then there is something very wrong with your value matrix.

– Mark C. Wallace
7 hours ago













Seems to me that the definition of "minor war" is tightly coupled with "profitable war". The only time you'd fight a war for profit is when you're confident you can predict the outcome. Risky war (between near equals) should be avoided as an existential threat.

– Mark C. Wallace
7 hours ago





Seems to me that the definition of "minor war" is tightly coupled with "profitable war". The only time you'd fight a war for profit is when you're confident you can predict the outcome. Risky war (between near equals) should be avoided as an existential threat.

– Mark C. Wallace
7 hours ago










3 Answers
3






active

oldest

votes


















2














After World War 2.0 the assumed international consensus is often read is "no more wars —— of this kind". No aggressive wars, no territorial changes achieved by war, etc.



So, given the current conditions and prerequisites of the question: at the international "country profits", in terms of "land, spoils" etc, the examples for this should be non-existant.



But there seems to be a quite prominent exception to this:




enter image description here




From the 6-Day-War of 1967.






share|improve this answer























  • was the land the got more valuable than the entire cost of the war?

    – ed.hank
    4 hours ago











  • Financially Israel didn't pay for the 1967 war, Israel's foreign allies did with US aid to Israel jumping from 23.7 million in 1967 to 100 million in 1968, and 170 million in 1969. Jewish Virtual Library

    – JMS
    3 hours ago











  • @ed.hank Certainly not if you'd ask me, but I thought perhaps according to the criteria you set forth? (Plus I'd be hard pressed to calculate like that)

    – LangLangC
    3 hours ago


















2














From 1618 to 1871 the Electorate and Duchy of Brandenburg-Prussia did very well for itself, thank you very much, in a long series of wars, expanding significantly on each cycle:



  • Thirty Years War (1618-1648)


  • War of Austrian Succession (1740-1748)


  • Seven Years War (1756-1763)


  • Partitions of Poland (1772, 1793, 1795)


  • French Revolutionary Wars (1790-1815)


  • Austro-Prussian War (1866)


  • Franco-Prussian War (1870)


Likewise the United Kingdom did well in all of the same wars that it chose to participate in over the same period, plus the War of Spanish Succession in which it acquired Gibraltar.



The United States did well for itself in a century long series of Indian Wars plus the Mexican-American War and the Spanish-American War, stretching from its independence into the pre-WW1 twentieth century.



France under Napoleon profited in both territory and allies from all of (mostly at the expense of Austria):



  • War of the Third Coalition (1803-1806)


  • War of the Fourth Coalition (1806-7)


  • War of the Fifth Coalition (1809)



The Last Profitable War - by any stretch - must be at least World War Two for the U.S.



United States industry reaped immense profits from 1945 to about 1970 literally rebuilding Europe. That great boom that spawned the Baby Boomers - that was all the result of the U.S. (and Canada to an extent) rebuilding Europe.






share|improve this answer

























  • I edited the question some. I think I am more interested in short term profits, ie spoils of war. Not so much long term effects. I will check out the Prussian wars as I am not well read on them.

    – ed.hank
    7 hours ago


















1















Question:

When was the last profitable war?




I would say all wars are profitable for somebody. The second gulf war has been estimated by both the chief economist of the world bank (a nobel prize winning economist) and a Harvard Economy Professor to cost 3 trillion dollars by when it's all said and done back in 2008. A lot of people walked away from that war with a lot of cheddar.




Financial cost of the Iraq War

Joseph Stiglitz, former chief economist of the World Bank and winner of the Nobel Prize in Economics, and Linda Bilmes of Harvard University, have stated the total costs of the Iraq War on the US economy will be three trillion dollars in a moderate scenario, described in their book The Three Trillion Dollar War and possibly more in a study published in March 2008




But if you are looking for a war which actually turned a profit. Then the first Gulf War came pretty close.




Gulf War Fast Facts

The US Department of Defense has estimated the incremental costs of the Gulf War at $61 billion, with US allies providing about $54 billion of that -- Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states covered $36 billion. Germany and Japan covered $16 billion.







share|improve this answer























    Your Answer








    StackExchange.ready(function()
    var channelOptions =
    tags: "".split(" "),
    id: "324"
    ;
    initTagRenderer("".split(" "), "".split(" "), channelOptions);

    StackExchange.using("externalEditor", function()
    // Have to fire editor after snippets, if snippets enabled
    if (StackExchange.settings.snippets.snippetsEnabled)
    StackExchange.using("snippets", function()
    createEditor();
    );

    else
    createEditor();

    );

    function createEditor()
    StackExchange.prepareEditor(
    heartbeatType: 'answer',
    autoActivateHeartbeat: false,
    convertImagesToLinks: false,
    noModals: true,
    showLowRepImageUploadWarning: true,
    reputationToPostImages: null,
    bindNavPrevention: true,
    postfix: "",
    imageUploader:
    brandingHtml: "Powered by u003ca class="icon-imgur-white" href="https://imgur.com/"u003eu003c/au003e",
    contentPolicyHtml: "User contributions licensed under u003ca href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/"u003ecc by-sa 3.0 with attribution requiredu003c/au003e u003ca href="https://stackoverflow.com/legal/content-policy"u003e(content policy)u003c/au003e",
    allowUrls: true
    ,
    noCode: true, onDemand: true,
    discardSelector: ".discard-answer"
    ,immediatelyShowMarkdownHelp:true
    );



    );













    draft saved

    draft discarded


















    StackExchange.ready(
    function ()
    StackExchange.openid.initPostLogin('.new-post-login', 'https%3a%2f%2fhistory.stackexchange.com%2fquestions%2f52238%2fwhat-was-the-last-profitable-war%23new-answer', 'question_page');

    );

    Post as a guest















    Required, but never shown

























    3 Answers
    3






    active

    oldest

    votes








    3 Answers
    3






    active

    oldest

    votes









    active

    oldest

    votes






    active

    oldest

    votes









    2














    After World War 2.0 the assumed international consensus is often read is "no more wars —— of this kind". No aggressive wars, no territorial changes achieved by war, etc.



    So, given the current conditions and prerequisites of the question: at the international "country profits", in terms of "land, spoils" etc, the examples for this should be non-existant.



    But there seems to be a quite prominent exception to this:




    enter image description here




    From the 6-Day-War of 1967.






    share|improve this answer























    • was the land the got more valuable than the entire cost of the war?

      – ed.hank
      4 hours ago











    • Financially Israel didn't pay for the 1967 war, Israel's foreign allies did with US aid to Israel jumping from 23.7 million in 1967 to 100 million in 1968, and 170 million in 1969. Jewish Virtual Library

      – JMS
      3 hours ago











    • @ed.hank Certainly not if you'd ask me, but I thought perhaps according to the criteria you set forth? (Plus I'd be hard pressed to calculate like that)

      – LangLangC
      3 hours ago















    2














    After World War 2.0 the assumed international consensus is often read is "no more wars —— of this kind". No aggressive wars, no territorial changes achieved by war, etc.



    So, given the current conditions and prerequisites of the question: at the international "country profits", in terms of "land, spoils" etc, the examples for this should be non-existant.



    But there seems to be a quite prominent exception to this:




    enter image description here




    From the 6-Day-War of 1967.






    share|improve this answer























    • was the land the got more valuable than the entire cost of the war?

      – ed.hank
      4 hours ago











    • Financially Israel didn't pay for the 1967 war, Israel's foreign allies did with US aid to Israel jumping from 23.7 million in 1967 to 100 million in 1968, and 170 million in 1969. Jewish Virtual Library

      – JMS
      3 hours ago











    • @ed.hank Certainly not if you'd ask me, but I thought perhaps according to the criteria you set forth? (Plus I'd be hard pressed to calculate like that)

      – LangLangC
      3 hours ago













    2












    2








    2







    After World War 2.0 the assumed international consensus is often read is "no more wars —— of this kind". No aggressive wars, no territorial changes achieved by war, etc.



    So, given the current conditions and prerequisites of the question: at the international "country profits", in terms of "land, spoils" etc, the examples for this should be non-existant.



    But there seems to be a quite prominent exception to this:




    enter image description here




    From the 6-Day-War of 1967.






    share|improve this answer













    After World War 2.0 the assumed international consensus is often read is "no more wars —— of this kind". No aggressive wars, no territorial changes achieved by war, etc.



    So, given the current conditions and prerequisites of the question: at the international "country profits", in terms of "land, spoils" etc, the examples for this should be non-existant.



    But there seems to be a quite prominent exception to this:




    enter image description here




    From the 6-Day-War of 1967.







    share|improve this answer












    share|improve this answer



    share|improve this answer










    answered 6 hours ago









    LangLangCLangLangC

    27.1k587138




    27.1k587138












    • was the land the got more valuable than the entire cost of the war?

      – ed.hank
      4 hours ago











    • Financially Israel didn't pay for the 1967 war, Israel's foreign allies did with US aid to Israel jumping from 23.7 million in 1967 to 100 million in 1968, and 170 million in 1969. Jewish Virtual Library

      – JMS
      3 hours ago











    • @ed.hank Certainly not if you'd ask me, but I thought perhaps according to the criteria you set forth? (Plus I'd be hard pressed to calculate like that)

      – LangLangC
      3 hours ago

















    • was the land the got more valuable than the entire cost of the war?

      – ed.hank
      4 hours ago











    • Financially Israel didn't pay for the 1967 war, Israel's foreign allies did with US aid to Israel jumping from 23.7 million in 1967 to 100 million in 1968, and 170 million in 1969. Jewish Virtual Library

      – JMS
      3 hours ago











    • @ed.hank Certainly not if you'd ask me, but I thought perhaps according to the criteria you set forth? (Plus I'd be hard pressed to calculate like that)

      – LangLangC
      3 hours ago
















    was the land the got more valuable than the entire cost of the war?

    – ed.hank
    4 hours ago





    was the land the got more valuable than the entire cost of the war?

    – ed.hank
    4 hours ago













    Financially Israel didn't pay for the 1967 war, Israel's foreign allies did with US aid to Israel jumping from 23.7 million in 1967 to 100 million in 1968, and 170 million in 1969. Jewish Virtual Library

    – JMS
    3 hours ago





    Financially Israel didn't pay for the 1967 war, Israel's foreign allies did with US aid to Israel jumping from 23.7 million in 1967 to 100 million in 1968, and 170 million in 1969. Jewish Virtual Library

    – JMS
    3 hours ago













    @ed.hank Certainly not if you'd ask me, but I thought perhaps according to the criteria you set forth? (Plus I'd be hard pressed to calculate like that)

    – LangLangC
    3 hours ago





    @ed.hank Certainly not if you'd ask me, but I thought perhaps according to the criteria you set forth? (Plus I'd be hard pressed to calculate like that)

    – LangLangC
    3 hours ago











    2














    From 1618 to 1871 the Electorate and Duchy of Brandenburg-Prussia did very well for itself, thank you very much, in a long series of wars, expanding significantly on each cycle:



    • Thirty Years War (1618-1648)


    • War of Austrian Succession (1740-1748)


    • Seven Years War (1756-1763)


    • Partitions of Poland (1772, 1793, 1795)


    • French Revolutionary Wars (1790-1815)


    • Austro-Prussian War (1866)


    • Franco-Prussian War (1870)


    Likewise the United Kingdom did well in all of the same wars that it chose to participate in over the same period, plus the War of Spanish Succession in which it acquired Gibraltar.



    The United States did well for itself in a century long series of Indian Wars plus the Mexican-American War and the Spanish-American War, stretching from its independence into the pre-WW1 twentieth century.



    France under Napoleon profited in both territory and allies from all of (mostly at the expense of Austria):



    • War of the Third Coalition (1803-1806)


    • War of the Fourth Coalition (1806-7)


    • War of the Fifth Coalition (1809)



    The Last Profitable War - by any stretch - must be at least World War Two for the U.S.



    United States industry reaped immense profits from 1945 to about 1970 literally rebuilding Europe. That great boom that spawned the Baby Boomers - that was all the result of the U.S. (and Canada to an extent) rebuilding Europe.






    share|improve this answer

























    • I edited the question some. I think I am more interested in short term profits, ie spoils of war. Not so much long term effects. I will check out the Prussian wars as I am not well read on them.

      – ed.hank
      7 hours ago















    2














    From 1618 to 1871 the Electorate and Duchy of Brandenburg-Prussia did very well for itself, thank you very much, in a long series of wars, expanding significantly on each cycle:



    • Thirty Years War (1618-1648)


    • War of Austrian Succession (1740-1748)


    • Seven Years War (1756-1763)


    • Partitions of Poland (1772, 1793, 1795)


    • French Revolutionary Wars (1790-1815)


    • Austro-Prussian War (1866)


    • Franco-Prussian War (1870)


    Likewise the United Kingdom did well in all of the same wars that it chose to participate in over the same period, plus the War of Spanish Succession in which it acquired Gibraltar.



    The United States did well for itself in a century long series of Indian Wars plus the Mexican-American War and the Spanish-American War, stretching from its independence into the pre-WW1 twentieth century.



    France under Napoleon profited in both territory and allies from all of (mostly at the expense of Austria):



    • War of the Third Coalition (1803-1806)


    • War of the Fourth Coalition (1806-7)


    • War of the Fifth Coalition (1809)



    The Last Profitable War - by any stretch - must be at least World War Two for the U.S.



    United States industry reaped immense profits from 1945 to about 1970 literally rebuilding Europe. That great boom that spawned the Baby Boomers - that was all the result of the U.S. (and Canada to an extent) rebuilding Europe.






    share|improve this answer

























    • I edited the question some. I think I am more interested in short term profits, ie spoils of war. Not so much long term effects. I will check out the Prussian wars as I am not well read on them.

      – ed.hank
      7 hours ago













    2












    2








    2







    From 1618 to 1871 the Electorate and Duchy of Brandenburg-Prussia did very well for itself, thank you very much, in a long series of wars, expanding significantly on each cycle:



    • Thirty Years War (1618-1648)


    • War of Austrian Succession (1740-1748)


    • Seven Years War (1756-1763)


    • Partitions of Poland (1772, 1793, 1795)


    • French Revolutionary Wars (1790-1815)


    • Austro-Prussian War (1866)


    • Franco-Prussian War (1870)


    Likewise the United Kingdom did well in all of the same wars that it chose to participate in over the same period, plus the War of Spanish Succession in which it acquired Gibraltar.



    The United States did well for itself in a century long series of Indian Wars plus the Mexican-American War and the Spanish-American War, stretching from its independence into the pre-WW1 twentieth century.



    France under Napoleon profited in both territory and allies from all of (mostly at the expense of Austria):



    • War of the Third Coalition (1803-1806)


    • War of the Fourth Coalition (1806-7)


    • War of the Fifth Coalition (1809)



    The Last Profitable War - by any stretch - must be at least World War Two for the U.S.



    United States industry reaped immense profits from 1945 to about 1970 literally rebuilding Europe. That great boom that spawned the Baby Boomers - that was all the result of the U.S. (and Canada to an extent) rebuilding Europe.






    share|improve this answer















    From 1618 to 1871 the Electorate and Duchy of Brandenburg-Prussia did very well for itself, thank you very much, in a long series of wars, expanding significantly on each cycle:



    • Thirty Years War (1618-1648)


    • War of Austrian Succession (1740-1748)


    • Seven Years War (1756-1763)


    • Partitions of Poland (1772, 1793, 1795)


    • French Revolutionary Wars (1790-1815)


    • Austro-Prussian War (1866)


    • Franco-Prussian War (1870)


    Likewise the United Kingdom did well in all of the same wars that it chose to participate in over the same period, plus the War of Spanish Succession in which it acquired Gibraltar.



    The United States did well for itself in a century long series of Indian Wars plus the Mexican-American War and the Spanish-American War, stretching from its independence into the pre-WW1 twentieth century.



    France under Napoleon profited in both territory and allies from all of (mostly at the expense of Austria):



    • War of the Third Coalition (1803-1806)


    • War of the Fourth Coalition (1806-7)


    • War of the Fifth Coalition (1809)



    The Last Profitable War - by any stretch - must be at least World War Two for the U.S.



    United States industry reaped immense profits from 1945 to about 1970 literally rebuilding Europe. That great boom that spawned the Baby Boomers - that was all the result of the U.S. (and Canada to an extent) rebuilding Europe.







    share|improve this answer














    share|improve this answer



    share|improve this answer








    edited 2 hours ago

























    answered 7 hours ago









    Pieter GeerkensPieter Geerkens

    41.7k6119197




    41.7k6119197












    • I edited the question some. I think I am more interested in short term profits, ie spoils of war. Not so much long term effects. I will check out the Prussian wars as I am not well read on them.

      – ed.hank
      7 hours ago

















    • I edited the question some. I think I am more interested in short term profits, ie spoils of war. Not so much long term effects. I will check out the Prussian wars as I am not well read on them.

      – ed.hank
      7 hours ago
















    I edited the question some. I think I am more interested in short term profits, ie spoils of war. Not so much long term effects. I will check out the Prussian wars as I am not well read on them.

    – ed.hank
    7 hours ago





    I edited the question some. I think I am more interested in short term profits, ie spoils of war. Not so much long term effects. I will check out the Prussian wars as I am not well read on them.

    – ed.hank
    7 hours ago











    1















    Question:

    When was the last profitable war?




    I would say all wars are profitable for somebody. The second gulf war has been estimated by both the chief economist of the world bank (a nobel prize winning economist) and a Harvard Economy Professor to cost 3 trillion dollars by when it's all said and done back in 2008. A lot of people walked away from that war with a lot of cheddar.




    Financial cost of the Iraq War

    Joseph Stiglitz, former chief economist of the World Bank and winner of the Nobel Prize in Economics, and Linda Bilmes of Harvard University, have stated the total costs of the Iraq War on the US economy will be three trillion dollars in a moderate scenario, described in their book The Three Trillion Dollar War and possibly more in a study published in March 2008




    But if you are looking for a war which actually turned a profit. Then the first Gulf War came pretty close.




    Gulf War Fast Facts

    The US Department of Defense has estimated the incremental costs of the Gulf War at $61 billion, with US allies providing about $54 billion of that -- Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states covered $36 billion. Germany and Japan covered $16 billion.







    share|improve this answer



























      1















      Question:

      When was the last profitable war?




      I would say all wars are profitable for somebody. The second gulf war has been estimated by both the chief economist of the world bank (a nobel prize winning economist) and a Harvard Economy Professor to cost 3 trillion dollars by when it's all said and done back in 2008. A lot of people walked away from that war with a lot of cheddar.




      Financial cost of the Iraq War

      Joseph Stiglitz, former chief economist of the World Bank and winner of the Nobel Prize in Economics, and Linda Bilmes of Harvard University, have stated the total costs of the Iraq War on the US economy will be three trillion dollars in a moderate scenario, described in their book The Three Trillion Dollar War and possibly more in a study published in March 2008




      But if you are looking for a war which actually turned a profit. Then the first Gulf War came pretty close.




      Gulf War Fast Facts

      The US Department of Defense has estimated the incremental costs of the Gulf War at $61 billion, with US allies providing about $54 billion of that -- Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states covered $36 billion. Germany and Japan covered $16 billion.







      share|improve this answer

























        1












        1








        1








        Question:

        When was the last profitable war?




        I would say all wars are profitable for somebody. The second gulf war has been estimated by both the chief economist of the world bank (a nobel prize winning economist) and a Harvard Economy Professor to cost 3 trillion dollars by when it's all said and done back in 2008. A lot of people walked away from that war with a lot of cheddar.




        Financial cost of the Iraq War

        Joseph Stiglitz, former chief economist of the World Bank and winner of the Nobel Prize in Economics, and Linda Bilmes of Harvard University, have stated the total costs of the Iraq War on the US economy will be three trillion dollars in a moderate scenario, described in their book The Three Trillion Dollar War and possibly more in a study published in March 2008




        But if you are looking for a war which actually turned a profit. Then the first Gulf War came pretty close.




        Gulf War Fast Facts

        The US Department of Defense has estimated the incremental costs of the Gulf War at $61 billion, with US allies providing about $54 billion of that -- Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states covered $36 billion. Germany and Japan covered $16 billion.







        share|improve this answer














        Question:

        When was the last profitable war?




        I would say all wars are profitable for somebody. The second gulf war has been estimated by both the chief economist of the world bank (a nobel prize winning economist) and a Harvard Economy Professor to cost 3 trillion dollars by when it's all said and done back in 2008. A lot of people walked away from that war with a lot of cheddar.




        Financial cost of the Iraq War

        Joseph Stiglitz, former chief economist of the World Bank and winner of the Nobel Prize in Economics, and Linda Bilmes of Harvard University, have stated the total costs of the Iraq War on the US economy will be three trillion dollars in a moderate scenario, described in their book The Three Trillion Dollar War and possibly more in a study published in March 2008




        But if you are looking for a war which actually turned a profit. Then the first Gulf War came pretty close.




        Gulf War Fast Facts

        The US Department of Defense has estimated the incremental costs of the Gulf War at $61 billion, with US allies providing about $54 billion of that -- Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states covered $36 billion. Germany and Japan covered $16 billion.








        share|improve this answer












        share|improve this answer



        share|improve this answer










        answered 3 hours ago









        JMSJMS

        15.4k344120




        15.4k344120



























            draft saved

            draft discarded
















































            Thanks for contributing an answer to History Stack Exchange!


            • Please be sure to answer the question. Provide details and share your research!

            But avoid


            • Asking for help, clarification, or responding to other answers.

            • Making statements based on opinion; back them up with references or personal experience.

            To learn more, see our tips on writing great answers.




            draft saved


            draft discarded














            StackExchange.ready(
            function ()
            StackExchange.openid.initPostLogin('.new-post-login', 'https%3a%2f%2fhistory.stackexchange.com%2fquestions%2f52238%2fwhat-was-the-last-profitable-war%23new-answer', 'question_page');

            );

            Post as a guest















            Required, but never shown





















































            Required, but never shown














            Required, but never shown












            Required, but never shown







            Required, but never shown

































            Required, but never shown














            Required, but never shown












            Required, but never shown







            Required, but never shown







            Popular posts from this blog

            Oświęcim Innehåll Historia | Källor | Externa länkar | Navigeringsmeny50°2′18″N 19°13′17″Ö / 50.03833°N 19.22139°Ö / 50.03833; 19.2213950°2′18″N 19°13′17″Ö / 50.03833°N 19.22139°Ö / 50.03833; 19.221393089658Nordisk familjebok, AuschwitzInsidan tro och existensJewish Community i OświęcimAuschwitz Jewish Center: MuseumAuschwitz Jewish Center

            Valle di Casies Indice Geografia fisica | Origini del nome | Storia | Società | Amministrazione | Sport | Note | Bibliografia | Voci correlate | Altri progetti | Collegamenti esterni | Menu di navigazione46°46′N 12°11′E / 46.766667°N 12.183333°E46.766667; 12.183333 (Valle di Casies)46°46′N 12°11′E / 46.766667°N 12.183333°E46.766667; 12.183333 (Valle di Casies)Sito istituzionaleAstat Censimento della popolazione 2011 - Determinazione della consistenza dei tre gruppi linguistici della Provincia Autonoma di Bolzano-Alto Adige - giugno 2012Numeri e fattiValle di CasiesDato IstatTabella dei gradi/giorno dei Comuni italiani raggruppati per Regione e Provincia26 agosto 1993, n. 412Heraldry of the World: GsiesStatistiche I.StatValCasies.comWikimedia CommonsWikimedia CommonsValle di CasiesSito ufficialeValle di CasiesMM14870458910042978-6

            Typsetting diagram chases (with TikZ?) Announcing the arrival of Valued Associate #679: Cesar Manara Planned maintenance scheduled April 17/18, 2019 at 00:00UTC (8:00pm US/Eastern)How to define the default vertical distance between nodes?Draw edge on arcNumerical conditional within tikz keys?TikZ: Drawing an arc from an intersection to an intersectionDrawing rectilinear curves in Tikz, aka an Etch-a-Sketch drawingLine up nested tikz enviroments or how to get rid of themHow to place nodes in an absolute coordinate system in tikzCommutative diagram with curve connecting between nodesTikz with standalone: pinning tikz coordinates to page cmDrawing a Decision Diagram with Tikz and layout manager