For every major war that fills our history books and
newspapers—the Revolutionary War of the American colonists vs. England, Civil
War with the North vs. the South, World War I, World War II, what were termed police actions such as Korea and Viet
Nam (war by any other name), and Desert Storm (25 years ago) leading up to the
current armed conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan—there are dozens of small wars
that don't receive any attention in history class. Some of them were ludicrous and others were
very serious.
Here's a list of 10 wars (in no particular order) that you
probably never heard about.
1) The Pig War
This little known conflict dates back to 1859 and had the
potential to change the course of American history. And it all started with a pig. Both America and Britain claimed possession
of and resided on San Juan Island off the coast of Washington state. The two countries maintained an uneasy
truce…until an American farmer shot a British pig he discovered tearing up his
potato patch. This action resulted in
the British trying to arrest the farmer who called in the American troops in
support of his position. The two
countries squared off on the tiny island.
The British Navy sent 3 warships and over 2,000 men. No shots were fired (beyond the original shot
that killed the pig). San Juan Island
was eventually ceded to the Americans as part of the San Juan Islands group.
2) The Stray Dog War
And speaking of animals being the source of an international
conflict, that's also the case with the long-running rivalry between Bulgaria
and Greece. In 1925 a Greek soldier
chased his runaway dog across the border and was shot dead by a Bulgarian
border guard. That action set off an
immediate retaliation with the Greek army invading the border region of Petrich
and routing the Bulgarian army. The
League of Nations ordered Greece to withdraw and pay Bulgaria about $90,000 in
damages.
3) The War Of Jenkins' Ear
There are lots of reasons why wars start, but there's only
one known to have started because of a severed ear. British sea captain Robert Jenkins' boat was
boarded by the Spanish in the Caribbean.
The Spanish accused him of piracy and cut off his left ear. In 1738, Jenkins brought the ear to
Parliament and it was enough for Great Britain to declare war on Spain. After 7 years of conflict, both countries
backed off with no major territory changes on either side.
4) The Moldovan-Transdniestrian War
The breakup of the Soviet Union left several countries
looking for something to do and in some cases that something ended up being
war. Moldova had a partisan faction
wanting to stay allied with Romania and another wanting to align with
Russia. Nearly a thousand people were
killed before hostilities ceased. The
unusual part of the war was the relationship between the soldiers of the
opposing sides. After battling each
other during the day, they would socialize in the bars in the disputed zone at
night, often apologizing to each other for the events of the day.
5) The Honey War
In the early days of the United States when the federal
government wasn't as strong as it is now, the individual states often became
involved in ridiculous squabbles with each other that sometimes escalated into
violence. In 1839, the governor of
Missouri decided to redraw his state's border with Iowa because…well,
apparently because he felt like it that morning. And then he sent in his tax collectors to
pick up some extra cash from its new citizens.
Needless to say, this didn't go over very well. The only thing the tax collectors were able
to collect consisted of 3 beehives full of honey. The Missouri militia got into an armed
conflict with Iowa citizens who captured a sheriff. Congress finally drew a permanent border line
and told both states to chill out.
6) Anglo-Zanzibar War
This conflict lasted an awesome 38 minutes making it the
world record holder for the shortest war in history. Khalid vin Bargash, the new Sultan of
Zanzibar, came into power in 1896. He
didn't like having his protectorate as a British puppet so he declared war and
barricaded himself in the palace. Less
than an hour later, the British had shelled him, removed him from power and
installed a new Sultan in his place.
7) The Football War
This four day war between Honduras and El Salvador was about
more than a soccer game. Hundreds of
thousands Salvadorans had been moving to Honduras to find work. By the late 1970s, tensions between the two
countries had reached the breaking point.
The spark that set off the war was the FIFA World Cup qualifying matches
between the two countries. After each
had won one game, the Salvadoran Air Force (passenger planes with bombs
strapped to them) attacked Honduran targets.
Neither nation could support an extended war, so a cease-fire was
negotiated. They remained bitter enemies
for more than a decade.
8) The Watermelon War
Yet another war that started over a trivial matter and
quickly escalated out of control. The
United States occupation of Panama to build the canal displaced much of the
nation's white-collar workforce, leaving a great many natives unemployed. A boat carrying 1,000 American workers landed
in Panama City making the matter even worse.
One of those passengers, an American named Jack Oliver, took a piece of
watermelon from a Panamanian vendor and refused to pay for it. The vendor pulled a knife. Oliver pulled a gun. And both sides were battling it out with each
sustaining casualties. Eventually a
railroad car of riflemen arrived on the scene and brokered a peace. The brief war, however, laid the groundwork
for the later American occupation of Panama.
9) The Emu War
Unlike earlier mentioned wars started because of animals,
this one was a war against animals. In
1932 Australia found itself overrun by emus, a large flightless bird that looks
like an ostrich. More than 20,000 emus
were destroying crops so the government declared all out war on the birds. They sent soldiers armed with machine guns
and orders to shoot emus on sight. The
birds proved to be tougher than estimated and after a week the commanding
officer gave up. They had killed barely
10 percent of their target.
10) The Chaco War
This was a South American conflict that started over a
postage stamp. The Chaco region is on
the border between Bolivia and Paraguay with both countries believing the
region was rich in oil (which it wasn't).
Bolivia issued a postage stamp in 1932 featuring a map of their country
including the Chaco region. Not to be
outdone, Paraguay struck back by issuing their own stamp with their map
including the Chaco region. Hostilities
erupted in the region with both sides buying arms from the U.S. and from
Europe. When it was over, Paraguay was
the winner and new owner of a completely useless piece of land.
