The Eighty Years' War or Dutch Revolt (c. 1566/1568–1648) was an armed conflict in the Habsburg Netherlands between disparate groups of rebels and the Spanish government. The causes of the war included the Reformation, centralisation, excessive taxation, and the rights and privileges of the Dutch nobility and cities.

The years 1621–1648 constituted the final phase of the Eighty Years' War (c. 1568–1648) between the Spanish Empire and the emerging Dutch Republic. It began when the Twelve Years' Truce (1609–1621) expired, and concluded with the Peace of Münster in 1648.

Although the Dutch and Spanish were both involved in opposite sides of the War of the Jülich Succession (June 1609 – October 1610; May–October 1614) in Jülich-Cleves-Berg, they carefully avoided each other, and thus the hostilities never spread back into the Habsburg Netherlands, and the truce held firm.[54] Nevertheless, attempts to negotiate a definitive peace also failed, and the war resumed as anticipated in 1621. Essentially, it became a side theatre of the wider Thirty Years' War that had already broken out with the Bohemian Revolt in 1618 in eastern parts of the Holy Roman Empire (Bohemia and Austria), pitting Central Europe's Protestant Union against the Catholic League, although the two conflicts never fully merged.

The United States has always regarded itself as an exceptional nation – and an example for others to follow.

Most Americans think of their country as a beacon of goodness admired around the world. Former president Ronald Reagan once described the U.S. as a "shining city on a hill," "teeming with people of all kinds, living in harmony and peace."

But the truth is, most Americans won't see themselves the way others do. Where Americans see "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness," others see a nation that has fought for unfair interests and unjustified values.

Americans have forgotten or are unaware of the people who suffered in helping to build the U.S. into a global power.

And they don't realize that their country has almost always been at war.

At any given time, most Americans couldn't identify the countries where U.S. troops are fighting on a map – let alone explain why they are engaged in conflict.

Since 1776, the U.S. has only been at peace for 17 years.

American colonists took up arms against Britain to win independence. European settlers then wiped out North America's indigenous people in order to expand westward.

There were an estimated 10 million native people living on the continent when the settlers arrived. By 1900, the estimated indigenous population was less than 300,000.

In an almost unbroken stream of wars and fighting, the U.S. expanded from 13 colonies to 50 states.

The U.S. has also annexed or conquered five territories. It has military bases in about 80 foreign countries and territories. Since 1776, the U.S. has been at peace for just one out of every 20 years.

Why is the U.S. always fighting?

A vital element in keeping the peace is our military establishment. Our arms must be might, ready for instant action, so that no potential aggressor may be tempted to risk his own destruction. . . . American makers of plowshares could, with time and as required, make swords as well. But now we can no longer risk emergency improvisation of national defense; we have been compelled to create a permanent armaments industry of vast proportions. . . . This conjunction of an immense military establishment and a large arms industry is new in the American experience. . . .Yet we must not fail to comprehend its grave implications. . . . In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist.