5 Ridiculously Silly Things After Which Nations Fought Massive Wars

These stupidest wars ever fought in history will make you laugh.

As we all know, war is the last and most extreme step any nation takes, either to protect their sovereignty or for the good of their country.

Good people risk their lives for the betterment of their country — this is never easy for any nation.

But! What if the cause of war is stupid? Simply absurd? And leaders are planning to sacrifice all for something as silly as a puppy, a bucket, or a candy?

Let’s go through some of these ridiculous wars that were fought with no ideology or concrete reason, costing many the lives of their loved ones.

1. 40 Years Of Conflict Because Of A Camel

This conflict took place long before the Islamic era, in 494CE, and it all began with one camel.

Al Basus met her niece Jalila Bint Al Murrah in the Taghleb tribe. Al Basus was accompanied by her nephew, who, along with others, was also from the tribe of Bakr.

Jalila was married to the head of the Taghleb Tribe called Kulayab, where that person was known for being overprotective about his land and property.

A camel of Al Basus wandered into the herd of Kulayab, and upon seeing this foreign camel Kulayab got furious, and as a result, he killed the camel with an arrow.

Al Basus got offended by this act and exaggerated the situation further. She complained to her nephew about what Kulayab did. Consequently, Al Basus’ nephew killed Kulayab, the head of the Taghleb Tribe, causing the start of the 40 years of conflict between both the tribes.

2. The Bucket War Between Bologna and Modena

This one is not as it sounds, and many myths surround this medieval war of the bucket, but the most popular interpretation is that it all started from an oak bucket.

Tensions were high between the two states, and all they were waiting for was a spark that would ignite the fire of war.

In 1325, soldiers from Modena entered Bologna and stole the oaken bucket from the central city well and filled it with loot.

Bolognese demanded the return of the bucket, but when Modena refused, Bologna weighed a full-on war upon Modena.

But in the end, Bologna lost the battle, and the bucket remained with Modena as a trophy. All for a bucket — seriously?

3. El Salvador and Honduras Had a Football War

The war between El Salvador and Honduras, fought in 1969, lasted for one hundred hours and it is most commonly known as The Football War and 100 hours’ war.

Tensions between both sides existed before the FIFA world cup qualifiers matches, which only worsened after these matches.

Both the sides went into a full-on war mode displacing thousands and killing hundreds

The first round of the qualifiers was won by Honduras, while El Salvador won the second and third; much violence occurred after each qualifying round.

Particularly after the third round, all the diplomatic ties were dissolved, and on the 14th of July 1969, El Salvador launched a full-scale military operation against Honduras.

4. The Pastry War In Mexico

After its independence from the Spanish occupation in 1821, Mexico suffered from severe political anarchy, and a movement against Mexico’s first government began.

In all this lawlessness, many businesses were burned and destroyed. Among them was a bakery owned by a French chef named Remontel.

After his bakery was destroyed, Remontel asked the government of Mexico to pay for his damages, but his request was refused immediately.

Being a Frenchman, Remontel wrote to the French government, but soon he forgot about that.

Ten years later, the incident caught the attention of the King of France. King Louis Philippe demanded that the Mexican government pay the baker for his damages and include 90% interest to compensate for all these years.

Mexicans refused, and consequently, the French blockaded Mexico and occupied the city of Veracruz.

No one cared about the bakery or pastries except Remontel — the French were only after the money.

The French stayed in Mexico until the Mexicans agreed to pay the baker, but this was short-lived because the French were back in 1861.

Interestingly, only after the fall of the French empire everything settled, making people forget about this pastry war.

5. War Caused By A Bloody Ear

In 1731, a trader from the British empire named Robert Jenkins was stopped by the Spanish officials, getting accused of smuggling.

Spanish authorities seized all of Jenkins’ cargo and decided to cut off Jenkins’ ear for no reason.

About eight years later, the British were looking for an excuse to force the Spanish out of the Caribbean and what better reason could they possibly have than the ear of some random trader.

Brits launched a war on the Spaniards’ forces. Some 25,000 men were either killed or wounded, and almost 5,000 ships were lost in the quest to avenge an ear.

Many men lost their lives in this war, some because of war itself and some because of the tropical disease.

Still, to top it all, everyone forgot about the Jenkins’ ear when the battle for Austria’s succession began.

The Englishmen started fighting the Spaniards and the Frenchmen for who would rule over German Austria.

We all know the European way of doing things.

Final Words

Throughout the history of human beings, nations went to war against each other because they had an ideology and legit reasons.

Still, some took this extreme step for their gains and just because they could, not worrying about the consequences.

The cost of their ridiculous decision was paid by the lives of good men and women and the displacement of many families.

All we can hope for is nothing like this happens ever again because the world, with all its advanced weaponry, cannot afford any stupid misadventure.

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