The causes of wars were varied. They fought for a bucket, cow and pork. There were struggles with ostriches and because of the dog. Blood was also spilled due to club affiliation and a lost match. Therefore, it is absolutely not surprising that equally bloody passions could arouse ... islands and not mysterious or even treasures.
The War for Petrushka
The island of Perejil (Spanish:Petrushka) off the coast of Morocco became the bone of contention for one of these conflicts. The dispute over it stretched back to the middle of the last century. It was then that France and Spain withdrew from Morocco, which was the protectorate of Paris and Madrid. Under an agreement of 1956, Spain retained two coastal exclaves, Ceuta and Melilla. Morocco, however, has challenged Spain's rights to several nearby rocky islands, including Petrushka.
The boiling point lasted a long time, and finally, on July 2, 2002, there was an open conflict. By the decision of the Moroccan authorities, a military detachment to monitor illegal immigration landed on Perejila - that is how Rabat explained it. In addition, Moroccans believed that the island's numerous caves were used as shelter for drug smugglers.
Parsley Island
Such an explanation was unacceptable to the Spaniards. Under their pressure, regular soldiers were replaced by cadets of the naval school, who were to ... establish a permanent base there . In this situation, talks between the heads of diplomacy of Spain and Morocco were interrupted. On July 18, 2002, Spanish special forces, supported by ships and fighters, made a landing in the disputed territory. Fortunately, the Moroccan cadets did not resist and the conflict, which was gathering momentum, ended without casualties. In US mediation, Madrid and Rabat agreed to maintain the status quo prior to the July events.
The longest war?
History lovers, and even mere mortals, are familiar with great world struggles, such as the Six-Day, Seven, Thirteen, Thirty, Eighty and even Hundred Years Wars. Few people know, however, that a certain war lasted well over 300 years (!) . The Cromwell Revolution ousted Cornish royalist troops loyal to the Stuarts. The Isles of Scilly (an archipelago of about 140 islets located off the south-east coast of Great Britain) became their last shelter at that time.
Royalists defended themselves long and effectively against Parliament's fleet and its allies from the Netherlands. And it was the latter, on March 30, 1651, that demanded from the royalists the return of the Dutch ships and compensation for the losses suffered. In view of the refusal to meet the demands of the Dutch adm. Tromp declared war on them on behalf of the Netherlands. However, he did not undertake any military action. He was soon relieved of this by a fleet of parliamentarians, which forced the royalists to surrender in June. The English Civil War was over, and the Anglo-Dutch War, which lasted until 1654, also ended.
Maarten Harpertszoon Tromp
And here comes the problem for historians . Is adm. Tromp had the right to declare war on behalf of the Netherlands? And even if he did, wasn't the war ended by chance with the Westminster Peace Treaty? After all, the conflict between the royalists and the Dutch continued in hiding, although not a single shot was fired in it . The whole thing found its happy epilogue only in 1985, when the Dutch ambassador to London signed a peace agreement with the Scilly Isles council and their inhabitants ending the conflict lasting 335 years. Finally, he didn't deny himself a little joke:It must have been terrible to live with the knowledge that you could be attacked at any moment.
The shortest war in history
Blitzkrieg is a well-known concept. Efficient and quick conduct of the military campaign was and is the dream of every commander. We read with amazement about several weeks or days of military operations. But what about the war that lasted less than 40 minutes? In such a record time, the British (where is the English phlegm?) In Zanzibar on August 27, 1896.
The immediate cause of the conflict was the sudden death of Sultan Samad bin Thuwaini, favoring the British. The ruler of the island was probably killed two days earlier by his nephew Khalid bin Bargash. This absolutely did not appeal to the British government, because under the agreement of 1886, the British appointed the next rulers of the island, which was in their sphere of influence. An additional insult to the English was the fact that Khalid was considered a supporter of Germany - and that was too much for the proud Albion.
Sultan's harem after artillery fire
The peculiarity in the confusion was that Khalid was nevertheless trying to legalize his coup d'état by asking the British for approval to his rule. However, there was no question of acceptance and the British consul issued an ultimatum to the usurper, calling him to abdicate. The deadline for the ultimatum was August 27, 9 am.
At the same time, a squadron of the British Navy (two cruisers and three gunboats) commanded by Adm. Harry Rawson took up combat positions in the port of Zanzibar Town, and a 150-strong Marine unit was landed. He joined nearly 900 Zanzibari soldiers under English command. Khalid, however, trusting in his reasons and strength (about 3,000 poorly armed fighters) did not yield.
In view of this position, at 9 o'clock the British consul submitted a declaration of war declaration , and at 9:02, Rawson's ships began massive shelling at the Sultan's palace. Soon, no stone on stone remained from the palace buildings, literally, because it was built of wood. And to make matters worse, the Sultan's harem was destroyed. The few artillery of the rebel forces, which was mostly still in the 17th century, ceased to exist, and after a short skirmish, the entire navy (a yacht and two steamboats) of the new ruler sank at sea.
Due to the qualitative and technological advantage of the British side, at 9.40 am Khalid's army surrendered, losing 500 soldiers. The Sultan himself fled to the German consulate, and then was granted asylum in German East Africa. The British did not capture him until 1916 after the capture of Tanganyika.
A really lightning-fast, because a 38-minute war, brought the British side, with symbolic losses (one wounded soldier), only benefits. In addition to the war contribution in the form of payroll, ammunition and coal used in the fighting, Zanzibar, a nominally independent state until 1963, became a British protectorate.
As you can see, it was possible to fight for everything, with everyone, for a long time, not even remembering when to finish, and for a short time, but bloody and passionately. But whatever the causes of all these struggles, as Abraham Lincoln said, There is nothing good in war. Except at its end.
We invite you to read the previous articles in the series:
Pigs, dogs and other strange pretexts for wars
Strange wars, ridiculous pretexts for battles