The 10 strangest wars in history that no one will expect

The 10 strangest wars in history that no one will expect

The war is fought because of many things.

It could be a war about honor and glory, liberating a land you think is yours – and so... , but there have been a number of unusual wars, fought for trivial reasons.

The 10 strangest wars in history

10 War for rent against France

In 1883, the citizens of Laigar, a small village in southern Spain, were outraged when they heard reports that during the visit of the Spanish king, Alfonso XII to Paris, he was insulted and even attacked in the streets by Parisian mobs.

In response, the mayor of Légar, Don Miguel García Saez, and all 300 citizens of Légar declared war on France on October 14, 1883.

Not a single shot was fired, and there was not a single victim on both sides during the confrontation.

Ninety-three years later in 1976, King Juan Carlos of Spain went on a trip to Paris, where he was treated with great respect by the citizens of the French capital.

In 1981, the town council of Lagar ruled that "due to the excellent attitude of the French, Lagar would end the fighting and agree to a ceasefire with France.[ 1]

Duration of the war: (1883-1981) ninety-eight years.

Injuries: None.

9 Aquarius Oak War

This war began in 1325, when rivalry between the autonomous city states of Modena and Bologna escalated and spiraled out of control because of something strange: a wooden bucket.

The trouble began when a group of Modena soldiers raided Bologna and stole a large wooden bucket.

The raid was successful, but Bologna, wanting to regain Aquarius and its pride, declared war on Modena.

The war raged for a full twelve years but Bologna could not get the bucket in the end.

To this day Aquarius is still in the bell tower of Modena. [ 2 ]

Duration of the war: (1325-1337) twelve years.

Injuries: unknown.

8 Paraguayan War

Paraguayan War

The president of Paraguay, Francisco Solano López, was a big admirer of Napoleon Bonaparte. He imagined himself as a skilled tactical commander, but lacked one thing: war.

So in order to solve this problem, in 1864 he declared war on the three neighboring countries of Paraguay, namely Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay.

The outcome of the war? Paraguay was almost completely destroyed.

It is estimated that 90% of its male population died during the war, from disease, starvation and battles with enemy armies.

This war was one of the most useless in history as López had no reason to declare war on his more powerful neighbors. [ 3 ]

Duration of the war: (1864-1870) six years.

Injuries: 400,000 on both sides.

7 Stray Dog War

Stray Dog War

In 1925, Greece and Bulgaria were no friends.

They fought each other during World War I, and these wounds have not yet healed.

Tensions have always been high along the border, especially along an area called Petrits.

These tensions reached boiling point on October 22, 1925, when a Greek soldier chased his dog across the Bulgarian border and was shot dead by a Bulgarian sentry.

Greece vowed revenge, kept its word, and invaded Petritsch the next day.

They quickly cleaned the Bulgarian forces from the area but the war was stopped by the League of Nations (now the replacement of the United Nations), which punished Greece and ordered them to leave Petritsch and pay Bulgaria for damages.

Greece withdrew its troops ten days later and paid Bulgaria £45,000. [ 4 ]

Duration of the war: (October 23 - November 2, 1925) ten days.

Casualties: Fifty-two dead on both sides.

6 Arostock War

Arostock War

The Arostock War was a military confrontation between the United States and Great Britain on the border of Maine.

After the War of 1812, British forces occupied most of eastern Maine, and although there were no troops in the area, it was still seen as British territory.

In the winter of 1838, American lumberjacks cut down firewood in the disputed area, and as a result, Great Britain became angry, and its forces penetrated into the area.

U.S. forces moved in as well, and it looked like an impending war.

But there was a logistics error on each side and the Americans got huge quantities of pork and beans due to a supply department error.

This led to the war being called the "War of Pork and Beans."

For almost a year, British and American forces waited for each other before their governments finally reached an agreement.

Britain agreed to give America the eastern part of Maine, and in return, American troops retreated.

The Arostok War was devoid of military battles but there were still hundreds of deaths from illness and accidental injuries. [ 5 ]

Duration of the war: (December 1838 - November 1839) eleven months.

Victims: 550 killed on both sides.

5 Pig War

pig war

Before the assassination of Crown Prince Franz Ferdinand of Austria on 28 June 1914, which led to the outbreak of World War I, the European continent experienced events and conflicts that increased tension and worsened diplomatic relations between world powers. In addition to the crises in Bosnia and Tangier, the Balkan wars, the arms race and the dilemma of re-sharing the world between colonial powers, Europe was at the beginning of the twentieth century on a date with what was known as the pig war, which developed rapidly and almost caused ominous consequences.

During this period, the European powers practiced protectionism, at which time the Kingdom of Serbia suffered from almost absolute economic dependence on the Empire of Austria-Hungary. At the beginning of the twentieth century, 80% of Serbian exports were destined for Austrian markets, while Austrian goods accounted for 60% of Serbian imports.

Compared to trade in the rest of Europe, Austria imposed high tariffs on Serbia and refused to ease them during several rounds of negotiations.

Faced with this situation, Serbia gradually broke free of its economic dependence on Austria, and in 1904 it began to conclude a deal with France for the import of French ammunition, and the following year signed a customs union and free trade cooperation agreement with Bulgaria.

Serbia's actions angered the Austrians, who in turn imposed a trade ban on Serbian exports, which focused mainly on pigs, since the beginning of the twentieth century the pig trade in Serbia has witnessed a remarkable boom that has yielded great profits for the country.

In addition, Austria tried to deal a fatal blow to the Serbian economy by trying to deprive it of this lucrative trade, and rumors spread throughout Europe that Serbian pigs had become fatally ill.

To save its economy, Serbia responded by reducing tariffs on European powers and opening a trade route in the Adriatic Sea, accelerating France's investment in Serbian industry.

The German Empire also took advantage of the situation, diverting Austrian goods previously sent to Serbia to the German market, while at the same time increasing the volume of its trade with the Serbs.

By 1908, the Serbian economy had experienced a recovery that proved the failure of the blockade imposed by Austria, especially as the French and Bulgarian sides imported its pigs.

Meanwhile, the same period witnessed a dangerous escalation between the Empire of Austria-Hungary and the Russian Empire, as the latter tended to support the Kingdom of Serbia economically and militarily to confront any possible Austrian aggression, and as a result, the specter of war loomed over the region had it not been for the intervention of the German Empire in 1909, and its decision to issue an ultimatum to the Russians through which it threatened to move its army east if Russian support for the Serbs did not stop.

This trade war was known as the "pig war" after the Serbian pig trade, and thanks to the German intervention that forced the Russians to stop their support for the Serbs, the world survived a devastating world war that would have erupted if the policy of military alliances had been activated.

On the other hand, these events played an important role in increasing tensions between Austria and Serbia on the one hand, and Austria and Russia, which sought to increase the size of their influence in the South Slavic regions, on the other hand, making the "pig war" one of the indirect causes that led to the outbreak of World War I in 1914. [ 6 ]

Duration of the war: (June to October 1859) four months.

Injuries: One pig.

4 The War of Three Hundred and Thirty Five Years

The War of Three Hundred and Thirty Five Years

This war broke out between the Netherlands and the island of Scilly, which lies off the southwest coast of Great Britain.

The war began in 1651, but like many wars of that era it was not taken seriously and was soon forgotten.

Three centuries passed before the two countries finally agreed to a peace treaty in 1986, making their war the longest in human history. [ 7 ]

Duration of the war: (1651 - 1986) three hundred and thirty-five years.

Injuries: None.

3 Soccer War

Soccer War

Some wars start with a surprise attack, others with a massacre, but this war began with a football game between El Salvador and Honduras in 1969.

El Salvador lost the match and tensions rose and rose until June 14, the Salvadoran army began attacking Honduras.

The sudden violence caused the Organization of American States to organize a ceasefire that went into effect on June 20, just a hundred hours after the first shots were fired. [ 8 ]

Duration of the war: (14-20 June 1969) four days.

Casualties: 3,000 killed from both sides.

2 War of Moldova and Transnistria

War of Moldova and Transnistria

This war began shortly after the collapse of the Soviet Union, when the former Soviet state of Moldova experienced some crises.

Two-thirds of the country wants closer ties with Romania, but the remaining third wants to stay closer to Russia.

As a result, war broke out.

But what really makes this war strange is that men fight each other during the day, often gathering in the no-man's land at night to mingle and drink.

So much so that the soldiers took promises to each other not to shoot each other if they met during the battle the next day.

This was not a one-time thing, but it happened almost every night for the duration of the war.

A soldier wrote in his diary: "War is like a horrible party, during the day we kill our enemy, during the night we drink with them. What a strange war." [ 9 ]

Duration of the war: (March 2 - July 21, 1992) four months.

Casualties: 1,300 killed from both sides.

1 Emo War (Dermis)

Emo War (Dermis)

This is perhaps the only official war in which one of the belligerents is not a human, but a bird.

In 1932, Australia's amu population was growing out of control, with an estimated 20,000 emus running around the Australian desert and wreaking havoc on crops.

In response, the Australian Army sent a task force of soldiers armed with machine guns to kill emus and declared war on them (as a joke).

In mid-November they went out into the desert, and began chasing any emu birds they could find.

However, they faced some complications; these birds proved remarkably resilient, even when hit by several bullets from a machine gun they continued to escape, easily bypassing the soldiers with weapons.

The Emo War lasted for about a week before Major Meredith, the leader of the Emo killing mission, despaired and surrendered after the soldiers killed only a small part of the birds. [ 10 ]

Duration of war: (11-18 November 1932) seven days.

Injuries: 2,500 emo birds.