I'm a history teacher and I wanted to do a unit on some of the weirdest wars in history just so the students could have fun with something. Some I've come up with 1) The British/Zanzibar Conflict (shortest war in history). 2) The Cod Wars 3) The Football (Soccer) War 4) The Emu War 5) The Toyota War. Any other suggestions?
1. War of the Bucket, between 2 Italian provinces in 1325. Essentially a bunch of soldiers stole a bucket, and a war started over it. They won the war, and still display the bucket in the town hall to this day. 2. Paraguayan War, Between Paraguay on one side, and Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay on the other from 1864-1870. Thinking he was another Napoleon, the President of Paraguay declared war against his 3 neighbors. After 6 years, Paraguay lost 90% of it's male population, 60% of it's population in general, and many areas were bitten off by Brazil and Argentina as well as a long occupation by Brazil. Only the tensions between these two nations and the reestablishment of Paraguay as a buffer nation prevented it from being disestablished and annexed. 3. Aroostook War, between the US and UK from 1838-1839. Maine waqs in dispute at this time, claimed by both nations. Some US loggers went into British claimed territory to cut wood, and that started an occupation by both sides. No shots were fired, but around 100 died on both sides due to disease and accidents. 4. The Pig War, between the US and UK in 1859. On some disputed islands along the British Columbia - Washington Border. One island had US and UK residents, and a US farmer shot and killed a pig owned by a UK resident. A bloodless war followed, no deaths (other then the pig) 5. 335 Years War, between the Netherlands and Scilly between 1651-1986. During the English Civil War, Royalists fled Lord Protector Cromwell's Protestant Army (and his warts) and fled to the Scilly Islands. Declaring themselves separate, this caused the Dutch (who supported the Protestants) to declare war. No shots were ever fired, and the war was forgotten. In 1985 the Historian of the Scilly Council tried to disprove the myth that the islands were at war with the Dutch, and found out that there had indeed never been a peace treaty. So 335 years after the war began, the Dutch Ambassador was invited to the islands and a peace treaty signed.
The incident at Petrich, or the War of the Stray Dog,[2] was a Greek–Bulgarian crisis in 1925, in which there was a short invasion of Bulgaria by Greece near the border town of Petrich, after the killing of a Greek captain and a sentry from Bulgarian soldiers.[3][4][5] The incident ended after a decision of the League of Nations. It allegedly started on October 19, when a Greek soldier ran after his dog, which had strayed across the border from Greece at the pass Demirkapia on Belasitsa (in Bulgarian)/Belles (in Greek); thus, it is sometimes referred to as the War of the Stray Dog. The border was guarded by Bulgarian sentries, and one of them shot the Greek soldier. According to newspapers of that time, the Greco-Bulgarian frontier incident was caused when Bulgarian soldiers violated the Greek borders, attacked a Greek outpost at Belasitsa/Belles and killed a Greek captain and a sentry.[7][8][9] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Incident_at_Petrich
What about a weird battle, when US Army and German Wehrmacht fought side by side? In many forums and history sites the question is asked about an incident during which US Army and Wehrmacht fought side by side, nobody knowing if and when it occurred. The incidence occurred on May 5th 1945 at Itter Castle (Schloss Itter) in Austria, when the 23rd US Tank Bataillon of the 12th US Army Armoured division defended Itter Castle, in which prominent French POWs were held (among others the sister of the French General De Gaulle and the wife of the French General Weygand) with the help of Wehrmacht troops under the command of the Wehrmacht officer Josef Gangl, who died during the assault, against the 17th Waffen SS Panzer Grenadier division. http://www.thedailybeast.com/articl...en-americans-and-germans-fought-together.html
