The Georgian conflict ended 1,716 days of no war between
nations. But trends favor peace. Chapel Hill, N.C.; and Bowling
Green, Ohio When Russian troops attacked Georgia this month,
rolling tanks into Tskhinvali and bombing Gori, it was not just
a tragedy for the Caucasus. It also marked the demise of more
than four years of no war between nations, the longest period in
modern history. With the news so full of violence, you may not
have noticed that the world was at peace. But ever since India
and Pakistan signed a cease-fire in November 2003, there have
been no wars between governments. That's 1,716 straight days of
world peace. Russia's invasion ended the streak on Aug. 8. The
previous record had been just over 600 days, from the end of the
second Taiwan Straits crisis in 1958 to border skirmishes
between Ethiopia and Somalia in 1960. Since then, there had been
as many as nine interstate conflicts at a time, according to the
International Peace Research Institute in Oslo, which counts
conflicts with 25 or m