When it comes to Celtic leaders who defended their land from the encroaching Romans, one figure instantly comes to mind—the famous war-queen Boudicca and her equally famous (and sometimes historically inaccurate) chariot. It’s easy to assume that she was the only Celtic leader to rally against the invaders; in actual fact, there are several others who haven’t achieved nearly the same fame as Boudicca.

The Romans were efficient and ruthless, so fighting them was no easy feat. As such, not every Celtic leader who went against the Romans had a happy ending. Regardless, here are ten leaders who dared challenge the might of Rome in the name of the Celts.

10 Boduognatus

Boduognatus was the leader of the Nervii people. His name translates to “he who was born of the battle crow,” which tells you what kind of person he was.

Boduogantus was one of the few leaders who came close to defeating Caesar in the battlefield. In the Battle of the Sabis, he led some 40,000 Celts—with 60,000 more hidden in a nearby forest—against eight of Caesar’s legions (two of which consisted of the “baggage train”).

During the battle, the 40,000 Celts fled into the forest, hoping to draw the Romans in, but they didn’t give chase. That didn’t stop the Celts, who then gave a surprise charge that took Caesar’s forces off guard. The Romans acted quickly to get into a defensive stance and managed to turn the tide, but it was a Pyrrhic victory at best.

9 Vercingetorix

Vercingetorix lived from 82 to 46 BC and was the chieftain of the Arverni. His name translates to the very ambitious “Victor of a Hundred Battles.”

Vercingetorix put himself on the Celtic timeline when he arranged a rebellion to stop Caesar from subjugating the people of Gaul. Not much is known about Vercingetorix’s life before his revolt; even his name was given to him after he came into the spotlight. His real name was kept secret, as the Celts believed that knowing someone’s real name gave the enemy power.

Vercingetorix would use his forces to disrupt Roman trade lines and goad fights in his favor, but he fumbled when he lost a battle and fled. Caesar countered with a siege against Vercingetorix’s fortress. Vercingetorix was taken to Rome to show off Caesar’s prowess, before being executed six years later.

8 Caratacus

King of the Catuvellauni, Caratacus led his army with his brother. Combined, they helped to stave off the Roman armies for almost nine years. His own forces were outnumbered by the Romans, so he drew out the conquest by picking spots that were easy to defend and worked to repel the oncoming forces for as long as he could. He was regarded as a hero even after he lost the battle against Ostorious Scapula in AD 51 and was captured.

Even after his capture, Caratacus caught a break. He was well-known for his character, which played an important part when he was brought before Claudius for trial in Rome. His heart-capturing final speech caused Claudius to pardon him for his actions. He and his family lived the rest of their lives in Italy.

7 Ambiorix

Ambiorix was nothing short of a slippery character. Leader of the Eburones tribe, he managed to get on the good side of a legion and half of Caesar’s troops. He used the insider information gleaned to start a revolt and attack the camp.

When the attack failed, he managed to convince the camp that the revolts were widespread, Caesar had fled Gail, and that Germans were on the way to massacre the Romans. The camp fled, only to be nearly wiped out in an ambush set up for them.

It was Caesar’s worst loss in the Gallic War, so he wanted revenge. He wiped out the rebels, leaving Ambiorix for last. Ambiorix knew he was severely outnumbered, so when the Romans came for him, he simply told his army to spread out and flee. He hid in the woods, never to be seen again.

6 Cassivellaunus

Cassivellaunus played a vital role in opposing Caesar during his second invasion against the Celts. Caesar had learned from his mistakes during his first invasion, so instead of bringing two legions, he brought five. This was, obviously, a giant problem for the Celts, so they weren’t very confident in enaging the Romans in a straight fight.

Cassivellaunus responded by denying Caesar a proper fight, instead backpedaling into the woods and making guerilla strikes against the forces. The Romans made heavy use of chariots, which Cassivellaunus made sure to capitalize on in his surprise attacks.

Cassivellaunus would eventually have his stronghold ratted out by other captured Celtic leaders. His stronghold fell to the Romans, and Cassivellaunus fled. He tried one last attack on a Roman camp, but he failed and sued for surrender. He had to promise not to wage war against the Romans again but was otherwise left alone.

5 Dumnorix

Dumnorix was the leader of an anti-Roman faction in the Aedui tribe, which was mostly allied with Caesar. He joined Orgetorix and his Helvetii as they migrated from modern Switzerland to France. Caesar wasn’t too pleased with this and denied them travel across his lands.

Dumnorix got permission from the Sequani to cross their lands, where pro-Rome Aedui lived. Caesar didn’t like this, so he cut off Dumnorix with the Battle of the Ara. Even worse, the pro-Rome Aedui had taken poorly to Dumnorix and attacked, meaning that he had to fight two different forces.

The Romans managed to defeat some of the Helvetian forces, so the armies settled into negotiations. However, they fell apart. Dumnorix continued the migration, but the Romans shadowed them. He was eventually taken hostage by Caesar. He was killed after he tried to flee the camp in which he was kept.

4 Convictolitavis

Convictolitavis came into the picture when he and Cotos fought over leadership of the Aedui tribe. Caesar helped Convictolitavis to win in hopes that he’d help fight against Vercingetorix, but Convictolitavis told Caesar that he “did not owe him anything”—something that would bite Caesar later on.

When Caesar led his army against Vercingetorix in a siege of Gergovia, he expected Convictolitavis to help him. Instead, Convictolitavis revealed his true colors and aided Vercingetorix midway into the fight, catching Caesar unaware and causing him to lose the battle entirely. It was one of the few times where Caesar had been simply outdone.

3 Viridomarus

Viridomarus (or Britomartus, depending on translation) was a Gallic king in 222 BC. Not much is known about him, other than how attacked the Roman village of Clastidium. Unfortunately for him, a particularly successful Roman cavalry leader named M. Claudius Marcellus caught wind of his attack. Marcellus redirected his army to Clastidium and attacked Viridomarus’s forces from the front and then from the sides and rear, which broke Viridomarus’s army.

Trying to make something good of a bad situation, Viridomarus challenged Marcellus to single mounted combat. Marcellus accepted and won the duel, which earned Marcellus a spolia opima (spoils from a slain commander) for killing a Gallic king.

2 Venutius

Venutius was king of the Brigantes, along with his wife, Queen Cartimandua. When Caratacus arrived at Brigantium to find support against the Romans, Cartimandua responded by capturing him and turning him over to Caesar. Venutius disliked this move, and when Cartimandua divorced him for his armor-bearer, Vellocatus, he began a revolt that was initially against Cartimandua but then escalated into an anti-Roman cause. The Romans stepped in, quelled the revolt, and brought the couple back together again.

Venutius wasn’t done, however. During the Roman “year of four emperors” (AD 68 to 69), the Roman government was unstable. Using this weakness, Venutius staged another revolt. Cartimandua asked Rome for aid but got only auxiliary units. She was eventually overthrown by Venutius, who acted as a thorn in Rome’s side until his defeat.

1 Brennus

We’ve already covered a war leader named Brennus (see “10 Forgotten Conquerors From Ancient History”). This is a different Brennus, who appeared in the fourth century AD and fought against the Romans.

Brennus has an especially large claim to fame, since he was the first commander to sack Rome. He commanded his forces in the Battle of the Allia over Rome, which ended in Brennus’s victory and the Gallic Celts managing to secure a large majority of the city. The Romans negotiated Brennus’ leave with 450 kilograms (1,000 lb) of gold. Brennus responded by using overly heavy weights on the scales used to measure the gold and then threw his own sword atop the weights and said, “Vae Victis,” or “Woe to the vanquished.”

S.E. Batt is a freelance writer and author. He enjoys a good keyboard, cats, and tea, even though the three of them never blend well together. You can follow his antics over at @Simon_Batt or his fiction website at sebatt.com

We’re so used to pop culture providing stories of ragtag bands of brothers with lowest-bidder equipment overcoming vast legions with sophisticated weaponry that we can lose sight of just how rare those situations are. Plenty of articles have been devoted to that subject, and way too many give the ending away in the title that the outnumbered army will win. Not this time. Only the biggest war buffs won’t be unfamiliar with at least a few battles featured here, so the suspense will be there again whether the underdogs pulled it off or whether the numbers, weapons, and equipment carried the day. 

10. Battle of Leipzig

This battle has been largely overlooked by historical summaries of the Napoleonic Wars even though it was one of the most momentous battles of the era and in many ways the largest battle on the continent of that century. In 1813, Napoleon Bonaparte’s Le Grand Armee invaded Prussia (modern Germany) to reassert his dominance of the continent despite the disasters of 1812 in Russia and Spain. However Allied armies converged to cut off his supply and communication lines with France, and Napoleon was forced to concentrate his forces at Leipzig. October 16 when the battle commenced Napoleon had 198,000 troops and 700 cannons, the largest force he ever commanded in a single battle. However, he was facing the combined armies of Prussia, Austria, and Russia, which totaled nearly 400,000 and 1,500 artillery pieces. 

Napoleon’s only hope was his classic “divide and conquer” technique, and on the first day the French used this with counterattacks against the Austrian and Prussian armies, but the approach of other troops divided Napoleon’s attention and he was unable to neutralize either army. From there, it was only a matter of time as the allies ground down Le Grand Armee from all directions, neutralizing all the French cavalry counterattacks with their mounted troops. On October 18, the French began to retreat across a bridge on the Elster River, and unfortunately, the bridge was destroyed well before the last troops had crossed, leaving tens of thousands to either be cut to pieces or drowned. The French suffered 73,000 casualties to the enemy’s 54,000 and lost half their artillery pieces. The battle ruined Napoleon’s ability to wage war, and even before the Battle of Waterloo, the French would strategically be so hopelessly outnumbered that Napoleon’s days as Emperor of France would inevitably end with his ouster rather than death or retirement. 

9. Outpost Harry

By 1953, the Korean War had ground down into a permanent stalemate, including at the UN coalition Outpost Harry in the heart of the Koreas, sixty miles to the north of Seoul. On June 10, the 74th Division of the People’s Volunteer Army began a bombardment that launched 88,000 shells on the person defenders, then with howitzer support began an attack on K Company, one of five companies that would defend Outpost Harry (four were America, one was Greek). While Outpost Harry at 1,280 feet enjoyed a significant advantage of elevation, it also was a drawback in that it made it harder to keep it supplied and also forced the UN forces to only deploy one company at a time. 

The battle would rage for eight days, with the defenders forced to risk dropping flaming 55-gallon drums of napalm on the attackers. Despite heavy losses, the Chinese troops displayed considerable courage, and many times the defenders had to resort to hand-to-hand combat. Sergeant Ola Mizes alone was credited with killing 65 attackers. On June 18, 1953, the 74th Division ceased attacks, having suffered 4,000 casualties and being designated a no longer functioning unit. The defenders had suffered 200 killed or missing. Arguably, it was all for nothing as a ceasefire that was generally regarded as the end of the Korean War was signed only fifteen days later.   

8. Battle of Fraustadt

In 1706, a Swedish army of about 9,400 was confronted by a Polish-Russian army of roughly 20,000 in what’s now western Poland. Beyond the numerical superiority, the Allied army under Johann Schulenberg had 32 artillery pieces while the Swedish didn’t have any. Nevertheless, the Swedish commander Carl Rehnskiöld decided fortune would favor the bold and positioned his troops to make a pincer attack. 

Rehnskiöld was in an unusual position where his distrust of new technology worked to his advantage. While conventional wisdom held that guns and cannons would be the key to victory, in 1706 had not been fully developed to the extent that they would chew up enemy armies as they did in the 19th Century. So firearms were often so inaccurate that nervous ranks of troops could fire a volley and barely hit anyone. At Fraustadt, the Swedish troops were instructed to aggressively charge the enemy instead of stopping to reload, many not even having an opportunity to fire a shot. This gave the Poles and Russians only time to fire a volley before the enemy was upon them with the bayonet and in many cases with pikes. In the end, the battle was ended in a very short time with the Swedes suffering only about 1,500 to their enemy’s 15,000. And yet, by 1721, the Russian Coalition still won the war, signaling the decline of the Swedish Empire in the Baltic Region and the rise of the Russian Empire. 

7. Battle of Dybbol

We don’t need to travel far from the site of the previous entry to visit the scene of this battle between the newly united German Empire and its neighbor to the north, Denmark. In March 1864 the Prussian Army marched into the Jutland peninsula and broke through the Danewerk fortifications that the Danes had been heavily banking on to defend the nation. 40,000 Prussians then marched on the fortresses defending Dyobbol with 11,000 Danish troops. The Danes had the ironclad ship Rolf Krake in support of their fortification, which in that era when ironclads were new was legitimately intimidating. 

Unfortunately for the Danes, the Prussians also brought state-of-the-art artillery. They spent weeks battering the Danish defenses and even inflicted casualties on the Rolf Krake, and this was only two years after the famous Merrimac and Monitor had endured dozens of artillery rounds with scarcely a dent during the American Civil War. On April 18, the Prussians launched their attack and broke through the Danish trenches in only 13 minutes, and did not take much longer to shatter the counterattack by the enemy reserves. In total the Danish suffered approximately 3,600 casualties to the Prussian’s roughly 1,300. 

The Battle of Dybbol is especially noteworthy because it was the first time that the Red Cross was present for a battle to monitor for war crimes since the famous Geneva Convention from the year before. They were therefore present to witness the victory that won Prussia the war and signaled the ascension of a German Empire which would cause a lot of trouble for Europe in the next century. 

6. Battle of Iquique

Speaking of ironclads, on May 21, 1879, the Peruvian ironclad Huacar faced the Chilean corvette Esmeralda off the coast of Iquique, Peru. While commander Miguel Seminaro’s vessel was a modern ship equipped with artillery that fired 300-pound rounds, Captain Arturo Prat’s Esmeralda was one of the oldest ships in the Chilean navy, only pressed into service because Chile needed to blockade the Peruvian-Bolivian alliance. 

Almost immediately the Huacar’s crew fired rounds that tore right through the Esmeralda while the corvette’s shells just harmlessly bounced off the iron armor. Prat then essentially used the town of Iquique hostage in a sense by sailing the Esmeralda between the Huacar and the town to dissuade the Peruvians from firing out of fear they might miss and shell the town. This use of the town as a human shield backfired when artillery crews in Iquique fired on the wood ship. Seminaro started ramming the Esmeralda before firing point blank. The Esmeralda’s crew was boldly unwilling to surrender, so the Huacar had to ram it repeatedly until the ship sank, Captain Prat’s dead body being left on the ironclad during an attempted boarding.   

While Esmeralda‘s defeat was hopelessly one-sided, Prat’s courage became highly inspirational for the people of Chile and the date became a national holiday. Furthermore, Chile’s navy was overall larger than the Peru-Bolivian navy and quite capable of getting revenge. On October 9, 1879, the Huacar was shot to pieces by a fleet of six Chilean warships of which two were ironclads and then it was captured. But at least Seminaro had one easy victory to put on his record. 

5. Battle of Rome

While the time when Rome fell to the Visigoths in 410 and 476 to end the Western Roman Empire is covered in the most general overviews of human history, the Italian Wars of the 16th Century are much less taught, such as on May 6, 1527, when the Holy Roman Imperial army under King Charles III attacked. They numbered 34,000. Rome had 5,000 defenders, but only 2,000 were professionals, members of the elite Swiss Guard. The defenders at least had the advantage of artillery, as Charles V’s troops were underfed and he abandoned his cannons to reach the city faster. 

As if the Imperial Army didn’t have enough advantages, a fog bank rolled in which allowed them to reach the city walls in the face of inaccurate artillery and small arms fire. By sheer luck, one of the shots happened to hit and kill Charles III. Bad luck, that is. Without Charles V to offer a moderating force, his hungry, anti-papal troops became unruly mobs of German, Italian, and Spanish troops who showed little mercy to defenders or civilians. Only 42 Swiss Guards survived. Pope Clement VII barely escaped the sack, troops shooting at him as he fled. Rome was so devastated that its population dropped from roughly 55,000 to less than 10,000. They had to content themselves with vengeance with the fact Rome had little food and considerable disease from all the bodies left in the street, which killed many of the invaders. Even today, the Swiss Guard pays tribute to guards who gave their lives for the papacy that day. 

4. Siege of Szigetvar

Imagine being one of the defenders under Count Nikola Zrinski of the Hungarian stronghold on August 2, 1566. There are 2,300 Croatians and Hungarians defending Szigetvar. An Ottoman army of 100,000 has begun to arrive under the command of Sultan Suleiman. Additionally, the Ottomans had 300 cannons. About the only thing the defenders have in their favor is a solidly built wall and moat. Would you feel brave enough to stand up to those odds for even a day?

Over the next month, the Ottomans launched three major attacks in between heavy bombardments. Stuck in place with large numbers as they were, the Ottomans suffered more losses from disease than from combat, most significantly Sultan Suleiman himself. The Sultan’s death was kept secret and the next day the Ottomans stormed the Szigetvár defenses once and for all. Even that cost them greatly since Zrinski had set up explosives to effectively destroy the town and kill many more Ottomans. As a result of the extremely pyrrhic victory, the Ottomans retreated. 

Putting the heroic in a more tragic light, Zrinski and his army’s ultimate sacrifice might not have been necessary. While the Ottoman Army was vast, more than 80,000 Habsburg troops under Emperor Maximilian were spread within striking distance of Szigetvar and had a month to lift the siege. It therefore seems unlikely as some have claimed that if the Suleiman had survived or the stronghold had fallen a little sooner the fate of Eastern Europe hung in the balance when there was such a substantial army ready to face the Ottomans anyway.  

3. Battle of Gate Pa

During the Age of Colonization, there were numerous battles where firepower allowed relatively small European armies to best overwhelming numbers of indigenous soldiers with obsolete weapons, from the Battle of Blood River to Rorke’s Drift. So the situation on April 29, 1864, when the British forces under Lieutenant General David Cameron attacked the fort of Gate Pa in New Zealand was unusual. In addition to possessing heavy artillery, they had 1,700 soldiers to the 250 that the Maori under Rawiri Puhirake had manning their defenses. They had been rebelling against a British land grab. To heighten the disparity, the British had spent days bombarding the defenses and inflicted 15 casualties. 

However, to the surprise of many, the attackers found themselves funneled into tight approaches to Gate Pa, which led to the attack stalling and becoming confused. Then the Maori began picking off the officers until a general rout broke out. They left more than 110 attackers killed or wounded while suffering roughly half that many casualties. Despite their victory, the defenders slipped away that night under cover of darkness. On the way out, one H?ni Te Kiri Karam? provided water to the British wounded. 

The British were desperate for revenge, and defeated the Maori on June 20, 1864, at the follow-up battle of Te Ranga, even though this time the Maori were reinforced to more than 500 troops. While a peace treaty was signed shortly after, it was extremely generous by the standards of the day, including providing food and water for the indigenous people. It seemed that Gate Pa had shaken the confidence of the colonizers more than they were willing to admit. 

2. Battle of Vukovar

The Croatian War of Independence was overshadowed in the eyes of the World by the first Gulf War, the Kosovo War, etc. Yet within it occurred one of the most dramatic conflicts in the past few decades. Vukovar was an eastern village in newly emergent Croatia that in 1991 stood in the path of the Yugoslavian People’s Army, a military body composed of Yugoslavians and Serbians determined to put down the independence movement. Vukovar had roughly 2,000 defenders, of which only 300 were National Guard members, 300 were police, and the rest were civilian volunteers, and only half the civilians had so much as a hunting rifle. Fortunately for them, they had a decent arsenal of rocket launchers. Against that, the invaders had more than 35,000 troops, 400 tanks, and air support. After a prolonged artillery bombardment, the clash began on August 25.

Despite the overwhelming strength of the enemy, the Croatians dragged the battle out for 87 days, despite days when as many as 11,000 explosives were fired into the town. Not only did the Croatians inflict many casualties on the invaders while suffering 1,600 of their own, but they also destroyed more than 110 tanks. In strategic terms, the prolonged stand was invaluable for the rest of Croatia in terms of rallying military forces and inspiring the population while heavily demoralizing the Yugoslavian military. Despite claiming victory, the People’s Army withdrew from Croatia in January 1992, quite a bit like the Ottomans before them. 

The damage to the city lingered far beyond the end of the battle. In the immediate aftermath, tens of thousands of non-Serbian civilians were expelled from the village. For those that remained, all necessities from electricity to sanitation were disrupted and numerous buildings had been leveled, including the hospital. When Croatia regained control, there was harsh treatment in store for Serbian villagers (who’d comprised about a third of the population.) Even decades later, many buildings in Serbian neighborhoods were left unrepaired.  

1. The Zanzibar Coup

On August 25, 1896, the sultan of Zanzibar (an island off the coast of Tanzania in Eastern Africa) died. As Zanzibar was a British colony and the sultan was only a figurehead, the British under Basil Cave thought they could choose Hamud ibn Mohammed as the new sultan. Prince Khalid ibn Barghash had other ideas and on August 26 occupied the royal palace in Stone Town with 1,000 soldiers and 2,000 civilian followers. He also brought in the Zanzibar ship Glasgow, which was a yacht that some cannons had been mounted on, and a four-piece battery of artillery. The British assembled 1,000 troops to oust him, but they turned out to be a formality as the fact there were five British warships were within bombarding range of the Prince’s forces. They gave the Zanzibar forces a day to surrender, although he was waiting for official authorization from London. The Prince dismissed it as a bluff.  

The next day, the warships revealed definitively that they had not been bluffing. The Glasgow demonstrated why yachts are not conventional warships by sinking quickly, and the palace burned to the ground. 500 casualties were inflicted between the Zanzibar land and fleet, with only a single British sailor being injured. Accounts vary on how long it was before the Prince surrendered, but every version put it well under an hour. Despite his brief yet bloody stand, the Prince himself was smuggled away to German East Africa, where he remained free until 1916 when the British invaded the German colony and captured him. He was sent to Saint Helena. Unlike Napoleon before him, he was allowed to return home and live out the rest of his days until 1927 as possibly the most quickly defeated national leader in world history.  

Dustin Koski co-wrote Return of the Living, the strange and hilarious story of the sighting of the first living thing after Earth has only been occupied by ghosts for centuries!

Some wars seem important and inevitable. Like World War II or the American Civil War. Others, not so much. Turns out, humans just love to fight. And we’ll use almost anything as an excuse to do it. From wooden buckets to stray dogs, and even one centuries long war that everyone forgot they were supposed to be fighting, these are just a few of the silliest, most face-palmingly dumb wars ever fought. May we immediately forget. 

10. Emu War (1932)

The term “war” often conjures up images of intense battles, strategic planning, and significant outcomes. But when it comes to the Emu War, the stakes were… a bit different. Taking place in Australia in 1932, this conflict pitted humans against, of all things, flightless birds.

After World War I, many Australian veterans were given land by the government to take up farming. By 1932, these farmers had a problem on their hands: around 20,000 emus, large native birds of Australia, began migrating inland from coastal areas, trampling fences and ravaging the newly cultivated lands in the process. To combat this feathery menace, the government dispatched soldiers equipped with two Lewis machine guns and 10,000 rounds of ammunition. What could go wrong?

Well, as it turned out, a lot. The emus confounded the soldiers by running in erratic patterns, making them tough to hit. In one “battle,” only a dozen birds were killed out of a thousand, and the machine guns jammed. After several attempts, the soldiers admitted defeat in the Emu War. It’s yet more proof that people only live in Australia because the wildlife permits it. 

9. War of the Oaken Bucket (1325-1328)

Wars have been fought for a multitude of reasons – land, power, honor, or sometimes, just a simple wooden bucket. Enter the War of the Oaken Bucket, which was not an SNL skit but exactly what it sounds like: a war fought over a bucket between the rival Italian city-states of Modena and Bologna.

Let us explain. The tensions between the two cities had been simmering for years due to political and territorial disputes. However, the straw that broke the camel’s back was an audacious act by Modenese soldiers. During a raid on Bologna, instead of going for something valuable or strategic, they brazenly stole an oaken bucket from a city well. This seemingly trivial theft was taken as a grave insult by the Bolognese, who demanded the bucket’s return. When Modena refused, the situation escalated to a full-scale battle, known as the Battle of Zappolino. The Modenese emerged victorious and, adding insult to injury, kept the bucket as a war trophy. To this day, the infamous oaken bucket is displayed in Modena, a reminder of one of history’s stupidest conflicts. And that’s saying a lot. 

8. War of Jenkins’ Ear (1739-1748)

Now, while the name might sound like a quirky tale from a children’s book, the War of Jenkins’ Ear was a deadly serious conflict between Britain and Spain during the 18th century. The strange name derives from the incident that became the catalyst for tensions that had been building between the two naval powers.

In 1731, Captain Robert Jenkins, a British merchant seaman, claimed that while his ship was boarded by Spanish coastguards, they had severed one of his ears, warning that the same would happen to King George II. This story might have remained a sailor’s tale, but it gained political traction in 1738 when Jenkins reportedly displayed his preserved, severed ear to the British Parliament, fueling the fires of anti-Spanish sentiments. Although there were deeper issues at play, such as trading rights in the Caribbean and territorial ambitions, this ear-centric incident played a significant role in rallying public and parliamentary opinion against Spain. By 1739, the nations were at war. 

7. Pastry War (1838-1839)

No, it wasn’t a food fight. This was an actual war fought between France and Mexico, and it all started with a disgruntled French pastry chef named Remontel.

In the early 1830s, Remontel’s shop in Tacubaya (now part of Mexico City) was looted by Mexican officers. Outraged by the damages which amounted to 60,000 pesos and unable to get compensation from the Mexican government, Remontel took his grievances all the way to King Louis-Philippe of France. The pastry chef’s complaints coincided with broader concerns the French had over Mexican debts and unpaid reparations following the Mexican War of Independence.

Seizing on the pastry incident as the last straw, France decided to take action. In 1838, French forces blockaded Mexico’s eastern seaboard, aiming to force a resolution. This military pressure led to skirmishes, including a significant naval battle at Veracruz.

The conflict came to a close in early 1839 when British diplomat Sir Charles Elliot mediated between the two nations. Mexico agreed to repay the 600,000 pesos debt, including Remontel’s pastry-related damages. The Pastry War serves as a deliciously odd reminder of how seemingly trivial incidents can escalate in the context of larger international tensions.

6. Toledo War (1835-1836)

If two states are going to fight over who gets possession of a city, you’d think it’d be something like Chicago or New York. Not freaking Toledo, Ohio. And yet, there was the Toledo War. The “war” was “fought” from 1835-1836 between Ohio and Michigan, over which state got to control the 468-square-mile Toledo Strip. Both states claimed the area as their own, citing conflicting surveys and interpretations of old territorial laws, and hoping to capitalize on its potential as a rising trade hub due to the Erie Canal.

Both sides mustered militias and rattled sabers. Thankfully, though, nobody was killed. This border spat escalated to the federal level and was eventually settled without a battle. In 1836, as a condition for its statehood, Michigan was “persuaded” to cede the Toledo Strip to Ohio. In return, Michigan was granted the western portion of the Upper Peninsula, an area rich in timber and minerals. At the time, many Michiganders felt shortchanged, but in the long run, the vast resources of the Upper Peninsula proved to be a boon for the state. 

5. The Soccer War (1969)

Everyone knows Latin America takes soccer very seriously. But Honduras and El Salvador went a little overboard in 1969. To be fair, while the Soccer War is nicknamed after the sport, attributing the war solely to soccer is an oversimplification. The matches were more the spark than the sole cause. Still, they played an embarrassingly large role. 

Both countries had longstanding tensions over land and immigration issues. By the 1960s, many Salvadorans had migrated to Honduras in search of better opportunities. However, these migrants often faced discrimination and hostility. Matters came to a head in June 1969 during a three-game soccer series between the two countries as part of the World Cup qualifiers. Each game was accompanied by violent incidents and media-fueled nationalistic fervor.

After the final game, diplomatic relations were severed, and by July 14, military conflict had erupted. Over the next four days, the Salvadoran air force launched attacks on targets in Honduras, while the Honduran air force retaliated. Both nations suffered, with thousands killed and even more displaced. Fortunately, a ceasefire went into effect before things got nastier. 

4. The Pig War (1859)

As its name suggests, the Pig War of 1859, which nearly triggered a third conflict between the United States and Great Britain, was all over a single hungry pig. 

Both sides laid claim to San Juan Island, located between the mainland United States and Vancouver Island. Simmering tensions boiled over when an American settler named Lyman Cutlar shot and killed a pig, which belonged to the British Hudson’s Bay Company, for repeatedly raiding his garden.

This incident escalated rapidly. The British threatened to arrest Cutlar. The Americans called in the military. Before anyone could catch their breath, the island was garrisoned with US and British soldiers. 

For months, the two sides engaged in a tense standoff, with warships anchored menacingly nearby. Thankfully, cooler heads prevailed. Negotiations ensued, and a deal was struck to maintain a joint military occupation of the island until a final agreement could be reached. That agreement came 12 years later in 1871, when the Treaty of Washington awarded San Juan Island to the US. Remarkably, the only casualty in the whole affair was the pig itself.

3. War of the Stray Dog (1925)

Borders have always been a source of tension, but rarely have they been as explosively touchy as the Greco-Bulgarian border in 1925. The bizarre conflict that ensued was known as the War of the Stray Dog. 

It all began when a Greek border guard soldier reportedly crossed into Bulgaria while chasing after his runaway dog. Bulgarian border guards, perhaps mistaking his intentions, shot and killed him. This incident, set against a backdrop of existing tensions between the two countries, quickly escalated.

Greece, angered by the death of their soldier, demanded an apology from Bulgaria and also sought compensation for the incident. When Bulgaria didn’t immediately comply, Greece took a more aggressive stance and invaded, capturing the town of Petrich and its surrounding areas. In a matter of days, skirmishes broke out, leading to the deaths of several dozen people.

Before the situation could further deteriorate, the League of Nations (the precursor to the United Nations) stepped in. The League mandated a ceasefire, called for Greece to withdraw from the occupied areas, and ordered Greece to pay compensation to Bulgaria for the damages. Both nations agreed to these terms, and the potential for a full-scale war was averted.

2. Three Hundred and Thirty-Five Years’ War (1651-1986)

When you think of “war,” you imagine battles, strategy, and casualties. Yet, the Three Hundred and Thirty-Five Years’ War stands out for a completely different reason—there was not a single shot fired, and no casualties reported whatsoever. 

Here’s the backstory: The war allegedly began in 1651 during the English Civil War. The Isles of Scilly, located off the southwest coast of England, were occupied by the Royalist navy. The Dutch, having been previously attacked by this navy and being at the time allied with the Parliamentarians, declared war on the Isles.

Sounds like the precursor to a fierce conflict, right? Wrong. After the initial declaration, there’s no record of any military action, and the whole issue was seemingly forgotten by both sides. Fast forward to 1985, and historians in Scilly and the Netherlands realized that a state of war technically still existed between them, as no peace treaty had been signed.

In a move filled with goodwill and a sense of humor, the Dutch ambassador visited the Isles of Scilly in 1986 to finally sign a peace treaty and declare an end to the 335-year “war.” 

1. The War of 1812

Spanning from 1812 to 1814, The War of 1812 is one of the most senseless conflicts in history. It was characterized by laughably poor military leadership, unclear objectives. Contrary to the simplistic narratives often presented in seventh grade, the war wasn’t about “good guys” versus “bad guys.” It was far too stupid for that. 

In the early 1800s, American Republicans were fuming at Britain for trade disputes and impressing American sailors into the British Navy. But they were looking for a fight anyway, and used these issues as an excuse to try to take over British-ruled Canada. It didn’t go well. U.S. Federalists believed the real threat was Napoleonic France, not Britain. Furthermore, many Americans who had migrated to Canada, lured by the promise of free land, still held affection for their homeland and might have preferred an American victory in the war. Native populations were dragged into the war, facing internal divisions and ultimately gaining nothing but betrayal and loss at the hands of the Americans. Attempts to commemorate this war today risk distorting its messy reality, possibly turning it into a tool of nationalistic propaganda. There’s just not a lot to praise, and few figures to root for.

Dueling was supposed to be the last resort when it came to settling matters of honor. Gentlemen were supposed to try to resolve their differences peacefully, but sometimes it seemed that a gentleman and his second must do what a gentleman and his second must do. In the 17th and 18th centuries, a code of honor held that any man who did not abide by the very strict rules would have to pay the penalty—namely that “his adversary will be justified in refusing to recognize him as a gentleman.”^[1] A fate worse than death.

The rules were quite detailed and included advice on where a duel should be fought, when, what clothes the combatants should wear (ruffles, for example, being deemed unfair as they may prove a distraction), and so on. Surgical assistance should be on hand wherever possible, and seconds should ensure that no injured gentleman is left on the field. Most importantly of all, combatants should salute each other before commencing try to kill each other. In practice, many of these duels went off without any injury to either party, but unfortunately, neither party could know, until it was over, whether their opponent intended them permanent harm.

10 Alexander Hamilton And Aaron Burr

Aaron Burr and Alexander Hamilton, two of the Founding Fathers of the United States, had a lot in common. They both fought in the American Revolution and were both successful in politics at an early age. Burr rose to become vice president, while Hamilton became the first secretary of the treasury. However, it is said that the two men despised each other. The feud began when Burr defeated Hamilton’s father-in-law in a senate race, was inflamed when Hamilton’s popularity eclipsed Burr’s because of his flamboyance, and boiled over when Hamilton allegedly expressed a “despicable opinion” of Burr at a dinner party.^[2]

In 1804, after Hamilton had refused to apologize, Burr demanded satisfaction, and the two arranged a duel. The precise nature of the events are unclear, but it is believed by some that Hamilton, as was customary for a gentleman, deliberately missed. Burr, on the other hand, whether by accident or design, shot Hamilton in the stomach, tearing through his internal organs and paralyzing him. Hamilton died 36 hours later.

Facing potential murder charges, Burr fled, and though he returned to Washington to serve out the rest of his term as vice president when the charges were dropped, his career never recovered.

9 Lady Almeria Braddock And Mrs. Elphinstone

Dueling was not confined to gentlemen. Sometimes, gentlewomen got in on the action, too. In 1792, it was reported in Carlton House Magazine that Lady Almeria Braddock and Mrs. Elphinstone were taking tea when insults were said to have been exchanged. Mrs. Elphinstone had the temerity to tell Lady Braddock that she “had been” a beautiful woman.

Lady Braddock took exception to the past tense and took greater exception when the indiscreet Mrs. Elphinstone questioned the lady’s stated age, saying she was nearer to 60 than 30. Lady Almeria demanded satisfaction, to which Mrs Elphinstone is said to have replied, “Name your weapons. Swords or pistols?”

Lady Almeria responded, “Both!”^[3]

On the morning of the duel, Mrs. Elphinstone put the first shot through Lady Almeria’s hat, which incensed the lady further. They set upon each other with swords, and Mrs. Elphinstone took a blow to her arm before the ladies judged honor to have been satisfied and ceased hostilities.

8 Alexander Pushkin And Georges D’Anthes

In 1834, the famous Russian poet Alexander Pushkin received a letter informing him that he had been elected to “The Most Serene Order of Cuckolds.” This was a fancy way of saying, “Your wife is cheating on you.” Georges d’Anthes was the dashing Frenchman who was supposed to have done the deed. Though d’Anthes and Natalya Pushkin had met and flirted over a series of dinners, it was never proven that she had been unfaithful.

However, it was not the first time Pushkin had received such letters. There had been previous allegations of an affair with Tsar Nicholas, which Pushkin, who had fought in a number of duels, was forced to tolerate, being unable to challenge a tsar to a duel. But a mere captain was a different matter. The taunts about being a cuckold weighed upon Pushkin’s mind, and he challenged d’Anthes. The duel was seemingly prevented when d’Anthes married someone else, but rumors persisted, and in January 1837, the two men finally faced each other with pistols.^[3]

Pushkin was mortally wounded in the duel and died two days later. Georges d’Anthes was stripped of his rank and ordered to leave Russia permanently.

7 Ben Jonson And Gabriel Spenser

The playwright Ben Jonson (pictured above) was an accomplished man. He had at one time been a laborer but had worked his way up to become an actor and playwright. He was learned man, in fact, which was just as well.

One of his plays landed him and his leading man, Gabriel Spenser, in jail because of its political satire. It was the beginning of a bitter feud between the two men. Jonson’s career was on the rise, but Spenser’s hit the skids, and he began to drink.

Spenser had a history of violence, once stabbing a man through the eye with a sword and killing him, so Jonson was wise to be wary of him. In September 1598, the two men met by chance, and Spenser challenged Jonson to a duel. Spenser was at an advantage, since his sword was 25 centimeters (10 in) longer than Jonson’s. However, being an actor, Spenser spent some time swishing his sword theatrically, and Jonson, taking no chances, swiped at him viciously, leaving Spenser dead at his feet.^[4]

Jonson was arrested and charged with murder but was saved from the scaffold by a legal loophole which stated that any man who understood Latin must, therefore, be a cleric and consequently immune to prosecution under secular law. This “benefit of clergy” excuse required only that Jonson be able to recite a psalm in Latin, which he duly did. He was released from Newgate Prison with an X branded on his thumb, to prevent him from using the excuse a second time.

6 Andrew Jackson And Charles Dickinson

In 1806, Andrew Jackson quarreled with the attorney Charles Dickinson. The dispute had originated over a bet between Jackson and Dickinson’s father-in-law and ended with Dickinson insulting Jackson’s wife and then calling Jackson a “poltroon and a coward” in a statement published in the Nashville Review.

Obviously, no gentleman could be expected to tolerate such an insult, and Jackson challenged Dickinson to a duel. Dickinson was, unfortunately for Jackson, a regular duelist and one of the best shots in Tennessee, and being the one who was challenged, he had the choice of weapons. He chose pistols.

Dickinson fired the first shot, which broke two of Jackson’s ribs, the bullet lodging 5 centimeters (2 in) from his heart. (Dickinson’s seconds claimed that Jackson did not shoot at the same time because his gun misfired.) As Jackson clutched his chest, he recocked his gun and shot Dickinson dead. Though on the face of it, Jackson had good grounds to shoot, the rules of dueling were that each man should fire at the same time, but that if one man fired first, the other man should fire in the air and not take his time taking deliberate aim at his opponent.^[5]

Though there was some unpleasantness over the issue, Jackson was never charged with murder. He was troubled with pain from the injury for the rest of his life, but it did his career no harm, as he went on to become the seventh president of the United States.

5 The Duke Of Wellington And The Earl Of Winchilsea

The Duke of Wellington (left above) was serving as prime minister when he fought a duel in 1829 with the Earl of Winchilsea (right above) over the Catholic Relief Bill, which allowed members of the Catholic Church to stand as MPs. The Earl, a staunch Protestant, accused Wellington of “an insidious design for the infringement of our liberties and the introduction of Popery into every department of the State.”

In today’s terms, that sounds rather mild. But Wellington felt that there had been a slight upon his honor and challenged Winchilsea to a duel.^[6]

This all sounds rather thrilling. However, what transpired was that after much cloak-and-dagger work from the duelers’ seconds and a fair amount of tramping through the fields to find a secluded spot, both men aimed wide and deliberately missed. Winchilsea apologized, and they all went home.

All that drama for nothing.

4 Francois Fournier And Pierre Dupont

In 1794, when Pierre Dupont was given the task of delivering an unwelcome message to Francois Fournier, he could not have known that it would be the beginning of a 19-year duel. Fournier was known for his heated temper and was a keen duelist, despite the fact that Napoleon, in whose army both men served, had banned the practice.

Fournier took exception to the message and, in time-honored tradition, decided to shoot the messenger (although, actually, he used a sword). In their first meeting, Fournier was wounded and demanded further satisfaction. They met again, and Dupont was wounded. He demanded a rematch. They met yet again, and both men managed to wound the other, so no winner could be discerned.

So, the men drew up a contract, which set out the terms of their own private feud: Every time they came within 160 kilometers (100 mi) of each other, they would duel. The two met and fought a further 27 times, using swords, pistols, sabers, rapiers, and even lances. They fought on foot and on horseback.

Finally, in 1813, Dupont stabbed Fournier through the neck during a sword fight. Dupont then informed Fournier that, as he was about to be married, he would quite like to stop fighting now, thank you very much. The two men agreed on a final pistol showdown.

Dupont tricked Fournier into firing wide before advancing on him with a loaded pistol. Fournier, possibly out of consideration for the forthcoming nuptials, finally conceded, and the long duel was over.^[7]

3 Lucius Marshall Walker And John Sapington Marmaduke

John Sapington Marmaduke (left above) and Lucius Marshall Walker (right above) were both brigadier generals in the Confederate Army. Both had graduated from West Point, and both were sent to Arkansas during the Civil War. In 1863, the two men fell out in a dispute over whether Walker had unnecessarily exposed Marmaduke’s troops to enemy fire. Marmaduke allegedly questioned Walker’s courage, and the two men began to exchange letters on the matter.

The letter carriers also fell out while exchanging communications, and Walker’s man took it upon himself to challenge Marmaduke on Walker’s behalf. Marmaduke’s postman took it upon himself to accept. The two messengers decided the terms of the duel, and their superior officers, it seems, just went along with it.

So, in September 1863, the two generals met near Little Rock to duel. The messengers served as their seconds. The generals each fired from 15 paces and missed. On their second shots, Marmaduke fatally wounded Walker, perhaps accidentally, since he rushed immediately to his side to ask if he was hurt and lent Walker his personal ambulance. Despite this, General Walker died the following day.^[8]

The moral seems to be that if you want something done, it’s probably safer to do it yourself.

2 Baron Mohun And The Duke Of Hamilton

In 1712, after ten years of litigation, Baron Mohun challenged the Duke of Hamilton to a duel. Both men’s wives had been granddaughters of the 1st Earl of Macclesfield. So when the 3rd Earl of Macclesfield died without an heir in 1702, both women laid claim to the inheritance. Mohun himself had been named the heir to the 2nd Earl of Macclesfield.

Mohun was not a newcomer to dueling. He had been tried, and acquitted, of murder twice following previous duels, and he fought to win.

In November 1712, the two men fought a fierce duel by sword, both sustaining serious wounds. Both men died. However, it was said that the Duke had been killed not by Mohun but by Mohun’s second, Lieutenant Genernal MacCartney. MacCartney is said to have thrust his sword through the Duke’s chest, a clear breach of the rules.^[9]

MacCartney fled the country and was tried in absentia for murder. He was stripped of his army rank and deemed not to be a gentleman. Poor thing.

1 Monsieur Granpree And Monsieur Le Pique

When Monsieur Granpree discovered his ballerina mistress in a compromising position with Monsieur Le Pique, he became, well, piqued and challenged the other to a duel. And, being slightly dotty, the two men decided to duel from balloons.

They both spent a month in training before meeting in a field near Paris in May 1808. They each climbed into their balloons with their seconds and their blunderbusses.

At 9:00 AM, the restraining cords on the baskets were cut, and each balloon ascended gracefully into the air above a crowd of spectators who had gathered to watch. They attempted to maneuver their balloons the appropriate distance apart, and then Le Pique fired the first shot, which went wide.

Granpree returned fire, and as everyone but them could have predicted, the shot ripped through the silk of his opponent’s balloon, causing it to descend rapidly and uncontrollably. Le Pique and his second were “dashed to pieces” against the roof of a nearby house.

Monsieur Granpree, as a victory salute, let his balloon ascend higher. It then drifted uncontrollably before finally coming down a long time later, some 39 kilometers (24 mi) off from where he intended.^[10]

Ward Hazell is a writer who travels, and an occasional travel writer.

For as long as humans have been fishing to feed themselves, they have also been fighting over access to the best catch. While we don’t have any records of cavemen bashing each other’s brains in over who gets the biggest trout, there is a long history of bitter conflict in the fishing industry. This list covers some of the times that tension between fishermen erupted into riots, international incidents, and full-blown armed conflict.

10 Oyster Wars (1865-1959)

The Oyster Wars began after the American Civil War with a boom in the Chesapeake Bay oyster industry. Chesapeake oyster towns became a frontier flocked by fortune-seekers. Violence soon erupted between locals and new arrivals, and when the locals ran out of new settlers to shoot at, they turned on each other. Gunfire was exchanged between Maryland and Virginia watermen, and within the states between fishermen from different counties.

It wasn’t long before the government began to intervene in these fishing squabbles, creating the Maryland “Oyster Navy,” a nautical police force that was notoriously ineffective. In 1882, Virginia’s governor William Cameron sent a militia to seize seven boats suspected of illegal oyster dredging in the Rappahannock River. Violent skirmishes over oyster territory continued until 1959, when Maryland patrollers fatally shot a Virginian waterman named Berkeley Muse. To avoid further bloodshed, the two states signed a compact designed to end the century-long conflict.

9 Palingoproer: The Dutch Eel Riot (1886)

One of the favorite pastimes in 19th century Amsterdam was known as eel-pulling (palingtrekken). A rope was stretched across a canal, with a live eel tied in the middle. Men would then cruise beneath the eel-rope in small boats and attempt to pull the slippery fish loose. He who freed the eel received a prize of six guilders, which was decent walking-around money back then. The sport was illegal by the 1880s, but that didn’t halt its popularity.

On July 25, 1886, a lively session of palingtrekken was afoot on the Lindegracht Canal. They had already pulled three times when the police showed up and demanded a stop to the spectacle, entering one of the houses where the ropes were tied to cut the eel loose. The legend says that the falling rope hit a spectator, who started whacking the police with an umbrella. In a matter of hours, a full-blown riot broke out, with spectators throwing bricks at police. Things cooled down overnight, but the next day the army opened fire on rioters storming the police station. Twenty-six civilians were killed and thirty-two were severely injured, making the Palingoproer one of the most severe cases of police brutality in Dutch history.

8 Newlyn Mackerel Riots (1896)

Newlyn is a seaside town in western England with a long history as a fishing port. In the late 19th century, most Newlyn fishermen were strictly religious and refused to work on the Sabbath. However, they had to share their waters with large fishing companies from the east coast of England, who were perfectly fine with fishing on Sundays. This meant the eastern boats could bring their catch to market on Monday, which let them sell at much higher prices. Resentment among observant Newlyn fishermen boiled over in May of 1896, when Tuesday prices dropped as low as 3 shillings for 120 mackerel.

On May 18th, a crowd of fed-up fishermen boarded boats from the east and tossed thousands of mackerels back into the sea. The outrage spread to other Cornish fishing communities, some of whom also attacked eastern boats and erected barriers to prevent access to their harbors. Eventually the local authorities called in the military to quell the rioters, who threw stones at the authorities but eventually settled down, leaving the eastern companies to continue fishing on Sundays.

7 Cod Wars (1415-1976)

Cod is perhaps one of the most economically important fish in history, so it’s no surprise that countries have fought over the right to harvest it. The Cod Wars between the United Kingdom and Iceland are certainly the longest-lasting entry on this list, with historians claiming as many as ten separate episodes spanning several centuries. The first Cod War started in 1415 with English authorities arresting a Danish official in Iceland, which was then the territory of Denmark. This conflict resulted in a treaty agreement that was negotiated and re-negotiated between the two countries for centuries, with each waiting for political instability in the other to regain power over the cod trade.

There were three Cod Wars in the 20th century, mostly involving warning shots, cutting of nets, and ramming of boats. Though the two countries’ ships exchanged minor blows, there were only two casualties recorded in the modern Cod Wars: the accidental deaths of a British fisherman and an Icelandic engineer. It is generally agreed that Iceland was the victor of the Cod Wars, with the resulting treaty agreements effectively ending British long-distance fishing.

6 Lobster War (1961-1964)

Do lobsters crawl or swim? This was the central question in the so-called Lobster War between France and Brazil in the early 1960s. Brazilian authorities insisted that spiny lobsters crawl along the continental shelf of their territory, while French fishermen claimed they swam like fish, making them fair game for any country to harvest. After complaints of French ships catching lobster off the coast of Pernambuco, the Brazilian president gave France 48 hours to withdraw all boats. When they refused, the Brazilian Navy captured a French vessel and shut off access to all French boats off their coast. The next year, Brazil seized three more French vessels. This ignited an international incident that was not resolved until 1964, when the countries to reach an agreement that expanded Brazil’s territorial waters but allowed limited French lobster fishing. No blood was shed, but the country’s respective biologists continued debating whether lobsters crawl or swim for many years after.

5 Galveston Bay Shrimp Conflict (1979-1981)

After the Vietnam war, some refugees fleeing Southeast Asia settled in the Galveston Bay area of Texas and found jobs on shrimp boats. The growth of the refugee shrimper population upset local white shrimpers, who saw them as competition for the limited resources of the bay. The tensions turned to violence in 1979, when a fistfight resulted in the shooting of a white crabber and the burning of several Vietnamese boats. This ongoing ethnic conflict brought the Texas Knights of the Ku Klux Klan to Galveston in 1981, where they began terrorizing Vietnamese shrimpers with armed demonstrations on and off the water. Many white supremacists directly threatened violence against the Vietnamese shrimpers, waving pistols and circling their boats in paramilitary gear.

A resulting harassment trial brought by the Southern Poverty Law Center revealed a video of KKK leader Louis Beam encouraging his militia to “utterly destroy everybody.” The lawsuit ended the harassment and disbanded the paramilitary groups, but by then many Vietnamese shrimpers had already moved away or suffered property damage. This incident was the inspiration for the 1985 film Alamo Bay. Beam and his followers went on to perpetrate extremist violence in other parts of the country, laying the groundwork for contemporary white supremacist groups that still threaten violence against minority communities today.

4 Turbot War (1995)

In 1995, the Canadian Coast Guard seized the Spanish trawler Estai, which was fishing in international waters off the coast of Newfoundland. Canadian authorities claimed the Spanish vessel had exceeded its quota of Greenland turbot, a goofy-looking flatfish that goes great with butter and capers. Despite the EU condemning the seizure as an act of “organized piracy,” Canadian vessels cut off the nets of three more Spanish and Portuguese fishing boats in the following weeks. Tensions increased, and Spain even sent a warship to protect its fishing vessels. Eventually, Canada reached an agreement with the EU that ended the conflict by strengthening fishing enforcement and increasing Spain’s turbot quota. No one invited the turbots to the negotiating table. Just the dinner table.

3 Great Scallop War (2012-2020)

In October 2012, a group of about forty French vessels surrounded a few British fishing boats off the coast of France. French fishermen were upset that their country prohibited them from harvesting scallops between May and October, while British fishermen could fish year-round. According to the British fishermen, the French vessels threw stones and nets at the British boats, along with French taunts worthy of any Monty Python sketch. Despite the best efforts of both countries, violence flared between British and French scallop fishermen again in 2018 and 2020. Along with rocks, the French fishermen were accused of throwing frying pans, flares, gasoline bombs, and oil at their British rivals. No love lost between these neighbors!

2 Guang Da Xing No. 28 Incident (2013)

On May 9, 2013, a Filipino Coast Guard patrol boat opened fire on an unarmed Taiwanese boat, the Guang Da Xing No. 28, which was fishing in disputed waters between the two island nations. The coast guard gunfire hit the small vessel at least 45 times, resulting in the death of 65-year-old fisherman Hoh Shi Cheng. This incident was a flashpoint in the conflict between the two countries, whose territorial claims overlap in the waters where the boat was shot. Demonstrations occurred in both countries after the shooting, including a Filipino ex-policeman publicly burning a Taiwanese flag to send the message that “Filipinos are not cowards.” Relations between the two nations have since normalized, and the eight coast guard employees who committed the shooting were convicted in 2019.

1 Nova Scotia Mi’kmaq Lobster Dispute (2020)

The most recent entry in this list is the Mi’kmaq Lobster Dispute, which has yet to reach a resolution. According to a 1999 Canadian Supreme Court decision, members of the Mi’kmaq Indigenous tribe have the right to fish on a small scale whenever and wherever they want. In September 2020, the Sipekne’katik First Nation opened a small lobster fishery in Nova Scotia, which was quickly criticized by non-Indigenous fishermen for operating outside of the commercial season. In October, several mobs of non-Indigenous fishermen laid siege to Indigenous-owned lobster facilities in Nova Scotia, throwing rocks, breaking windows, and threatening to set the entire place on fire if the employees inside did not leave. One facility was burned to the ground and the remaining live lobsters poisoned with PVC cement. Canadian officials have called for peace in the wake of the violence in Nova Scotia, but tensions remain high between Indigenous and non-Indigenous fishermen.

Roughly 150,000 men of Jewish descent fought in Hitler’s army. While their families back home were being corralled into ghettos and sent off to death camps, these men were in Poland, France, or Russia, spreading the fascist system that was killing their people across Europe.

It’s hard to understand, but many Jewish Germans signed up for military service. Each man had his own reason to do it—often one of necessity. Told together, their stories give an incredible insight into life for a German Jew at the break of World War II.

10 Werner Goldberg

There was a face you could find plastered on the walls of Nazi Germany: a swastika at his chest, standing proud over a proclamation that this was “The Ideal German Soldier.” But the ideal German soldier wasn’t a member of Hitler’s master race. He was half-Jewish.

Werner Goldberg had joined the army after years of struggling with his own identity. His father never told him he was Jewish; instead, Werner found out when he was 14 in the most humiliating way possible. His principal declared that their school would be Jew-free—and then publicly singled Goldberg out as the school’s Jewish problem.

In an instant, Goldberg found himself on the outside, and he was desperate to fit back in. He signed up for the army the first chance he could, getting in early enough to fight in the first invasion of Poland.

But back at home, his father struggled through the horrors of the Holocaust, and Goldberg was forced to use his influence to save his father more than once. At one point, after learning that his father was going to be sent to Auschwitz, Werner snuck into the building they were using as his prison and broke his father out.^[1]

It worked. At the end of the war, all but one member of his family had died. The only one left to greet Werner was the Jewish father he had saved from the death camps.

9 Nachemia Wurman

It has long been debated just how well the soldiers of the Nazi army understood what was happening behind the concentration camp walls, but among the Nazis’ 72nd Infantry, there was one man who definitely knew it firsthand: Nachemia Wurman.^[2]

Wurman was a Holocaust survivor. He was a Polish Jew who had been sent to labor camps in 1944, where he’d endured every horror imaginable. He’d seen his own father executed, and he’d even been forced to bathe using soap made from the bodies of his campmates.

In time, he managed to escape. He fled west, hoping to find the Soviet army—but instead, he ran directly into a Nazi battalion. Wurman knew he wouldn’t be able to sneak past them, so instead, he walked straight up to them, shook their hands, and introduced himself as “Marion Schmidt,” German-born chef.

Soon, Wurman was a part of the Nazi battalion. From then on, he spent the war with a swastika on his arm, feeding the soldiers and praying that nobody would realize who he really was. “The best hiding place,” Wurman said, “was in the mouth of the wolf.”

8 Arno Spitz

One of the more decorated men in the Nazi army was Arno Spitz. By the end of the war, he’d won three Iron Crosses, the highest award a Nazi could earn for bravery.

He was a paratrooper, one beloved by the Nazi army—even if they absolutely loathed his father. Spitz’s father was Jewish, and he’d suffered from such fierce persecution back home that, early on during the rise of Nazi Germany, he fled the country for the United States.

Spitz, however, stayed and made such an impression on his superiors that he didn’t even have to hide his parentage. In 1940, under Himmler’s orders, the Nazis kicked every half-Jewish soldier out of the army, but Spitz was such an effective soldier that he was allowed to stay.

To the end, he insisted that, by fighting with the Nazis, he did nothing wrong. He fought for Germany, not for Hitler, he told Dateline NBC in 2002, declaring: “There is a difference.”^[3]

Not everyone in his family, however, sees it the same way. Spitz said that his daughter has accused him of participating in the Nazis’ crimes against his own people. But despite her rebukes, Spitz refused to hide or apologize for his time fighting in Hitler’s military. “I don’t have to,” he said. “I didn’t do anything that is a crime.”

7 Hans-Geert Falkenberg

“I did not want to join the army,” Hans-Geert Falkenberg said. “I had to join the army.”

He joined the German army as soon as war was declared. Jews were already starting to see their shops destroyed and being harassed in the streets, and Falkenberg felt a need to connect himself to the German side of his identity to stay alive.

He’d heard his teachers tell his classes that the Jewish race was inferior, and, desperate to prove his equality, he’d spent his teenage years trying to be the best at everything the Nazis valued. Joining the army was just a natural next step for him.

But as he fought in France, his grandmother was sending him letters, letting him watch the Holocaust slowly unfold back home.^[4] Then, one day, the letters stopped. His grandmother, he would soon learn, had been sent to a concentration camp.

It was a shock—not just for him but for those who cared about him, as well. One friend of his wrote to him, with dismay: “I believe that the Jews are Germany’s misfortune, but that has nothing to do with grandmother!”

The rest of his family had already fled to England, and Falkenberg considered joining them. Trapped in the middle of Europe, surrounded by the Nazi army, however, he just didn’t know how it could be done. “The safest thing was to stay in the army,” Falkenberg would later say. “No question.”

6 Helmut Kopp

Helmut Kopp was the son of a German man and Jewish woman, but it was the Jewish side of his family that left him feeling persecuted.

As a boy, Kopp said, his maternal grandfather would openly disrespect him, refusing to view him as a part of his family. When he was chided by his wife and reminded that this was their daughter’s son, his grandfather snapped back that, no, this wasn’t his grandson—this was their son-in-law’s goy. “After how my grandfather had treated me,” Kopp said, “I didn’t want to own up to my Jewish past.”

When the war started, he signed up for the Wehrmacht, and when they handed him his papers, he marked himself down as “full Aryan.” For years, he fought with a Nazi artillery unit. Kopp was aware of the concentration camps, but he justified what he was doing by simply not thinking about it. “You didn’t think about the Fuhrer or the nation,” he said.^[5] “I thought only about myself—that either my tank or something will be hit and then I’ll be gone anyway, or I’ll make it through.”

5 Friedemann Lichtwitz

“In the German army, I was in a pretty good situation,” Friedemann Licthwitz said. “It was a good bunch of guys. I felt comfortable there.”

Litchwitz claimed that, when he joined up with the Nazi army, he had no idea how bad the persecution against the Jews in Germany was becoming.^[6] He only knew that, in the army, he was accepted and treated as an equal and that, when he was home in Germany, he was not.

After he was kicked out in the 1940 military purge, however, Litchwitz found out exactly how bad it was. He was sent to a forced labor camp and then, after a failed attempt to escape, into Dachau: one of Germany’s deadliest concentration camps.

An NBC reporter asked him how he felt, having gone from the inside of the Nazi army to a death camp. “I can’t say,” was all Lichtwitz could reply. “I don’t know how to answer that.”

4 Major Leo Skurnik

Major Leo Skurnik was working as a doctor in the Finnish 53rd Infantry. He was a Jew, but he was also a Finn—and that meant that, in the Soviet Union, he and the Nazis had a common enemy. That put him side by side with a German SS division, fighting against a Russian invasion and trying to help every man who was injured by the Russian shells, whether he was a Finnish soldier or a member of the SS.

“He had taken the Hippocratic oath,” Skrunik’s son told the National Post.^[7] “He wouldn’t turn away an injured man, whatever his nationality.” Skurnik, however, took it further than that. He helped clear paths for the German army to attack and, when a German soldier was in need, would rush into no man’s land, risking his own life to save wounded Nazis.

He saved the lives of more than 600 men, many of them members of the SS, by organizing an evacuation of a field hospital that was being bombarded by Russian shells. Skrunik led the wounded Germans across 8.9 kilometers (5.5 mi) of bogland and, when it was all over, was awarded with an Iron Cross.

Skurnik turned it down. He claimed that as soon as he got word that the Germans wanted to present him with their highest honor, he told his commanding officer: “Tell your German colleagues that I wipe my arse with it!”

3 Harry Matso

“We’ve been called ‘fascist,’ ” Harry Matso said, “which is a lie.”^[8]

He was a member of the Finnish army, a man who fought for a force allied with the Nazis. If the war had ended in their favor, his race—the Jewish race—would have been exterminated. Still, Matso insists that he was no fascist.

“Finnish Jews fought for Finland’s independence,” he said. “Not for Germany’s war aims.”

He’d joined the war after being conscripted by his nation. He answered their call—even though he knew that his nation was allied with the Nazis and though, by 1942, he’d started hearing rumors of the systematic extermination of Jews in Germany.

But Matso feared life under Soviet rule every bit as much. Caught between two tyrants, he sided with the one nation he believed would take care of him: his homeland of Finland. Still, Matso fought, rebelling in his own small, quiet way. When he saw a German soldier, he said, he would staunchly refuse to salute.

2 Emil Maurice

One of the founders of the SS was, by Heinrich Himmler’s standards, a Jew. His name was Emil Maurice, and he was classified as SS Member #2—second only to Adolf Hitler himself.

Maurice had been a part of the National Socialist Party from the start. He joined up with Hitler in 1919 and soon rose up to be the supreme leader of Hitler’s Sturmabteilung. He joined in the Beer Hall Putsch, Hitler’s failed coup d’etat in 1923, and sat with him in prison, where he even helped Hitler write Mein Kampf.^[9]

Maurice couldn’t have been closer to Hitler. The two even shared a lover: Geli Raubal, Hitler’s niece, had affairs with both men, a fact that would create the only split between them. Still, the bond between Hitler and his SS Member #2 was so strong that when Heinrich Himmler publicly exposed Maurice’s Jewish ancestry and demanded that he be expelled from the SS, Hitler had Maurice declared an “honorary Aryan” and saved his life.

1 Erhard Milch

There are Jews who fought for Hitler even though they knew the horrors of the Holocaust, but Erhard Milch went even further. He didn’t just fight for Germany despite the atrocities—he joined in. He was a member of the German War Cabinet and the Nazi Air Force’s chief of staff. Few were higher up in the Nazi party than he was, even though it was public knowledge that his father was Jewish.

Milch, however, had friends in powerful places. Hermann Goering saw him as his protege, and to keep his friend safe, he had Milch’s mother sign a statement saying that Erhard wasn’t truly his father’s son so that Goering could have him registered as “full Aryan.”

No part of Milch ever seems to have felt sympathy for his father’s people. During the Nuremberg trials, he was charged with experimenting on Jewish prisoners in Dachau. They accused him of playing a role in human experiments that sent Jewish prisoners into dangerous altitudes to see how high they could go before they died, as well as others that tested how cold water had to be before the temperature would kill someone.

Milch never apologized. When the trials came, he stayed true to his mentor, speaking out in Goering’s defense. In the end, he was prosecuted as a Nazi war criminal.^[10]

Oftentimes, we regard actors as people who exist in their own special little world, outside the norms of common folk. However, major events and tragedies often bring them back down to reality, and few events are more major than a war. That’s why today we are taking a look at ten actors who fought in World War II.

10. Desmond Llewelyn

The name Desmond Llewelyn might only be recognizable to James Bond fans who will know him as the iconic Q, the head of the research and development team that always provided Bond with the cool toys and gadgets he used on every mission. Llewelyn played the role for almost 40 years, appearing in 17 Bond movies, more than any other actor in the franchise.

And yet, his acting career was almost snuffed out in its infancy thanks to World War II. Born in Newport, Wales, Llewelyn moved to London in 1934 to study acting at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. His first on-screen role was in the 1939 Will Hay comedy Ask a Policeman. And immediately following his big break, World War II erupted and Llewelyn was commissioned as a second lieutenant with the Royal Welsh Fusiliers and sent to France.

The following year, his unit was in Lille, engaged in combat with a Panzer division, when it got overrun and captured. Llewelyn was sent to Laufen, but there he got caught trying to escape, so instead he was relocated to the notorious Colditz Castle where he spent the remainder of the conflict as a prisoner of war.

9. James Arness

Just like our previous entry, the name James Arness won’t evoke immediate recognition, but Western fans will remember him for his role as Marshal Matt Dillon in Gunsmoke, a part he played for 20 years in over 600 episodes. Before all that, though, James Arness was a decorated veteran who was awarded the Purple Heart, the Bronze Star, and a few others for his role in the Battle of Anzio.

When the US joined the Second World War, Arness wanted to become a Navy pilot, but he was disqualified for being too tall. Instead, he joined the Army and was a part of the 3rd Infantry Division that landed at Anzio in 1944 as part of the Italian Campaign. His height once again worked against him, as Arness was the first sent out of the landing craft to test the depth of the water. 

Although he made it through the battle unscathed, Arness later sustained a serious injury while on night patrol, when he walked in front of a machine gun nest. Several shots pierced his right leg, causing the bones to splinter. Arness survived, but the surgeries to repair his leg shortened it by over half an inch, forcing the actor to wear lifts for the rest of his life.

8. Lenny Bruce

Before the stand-up comedian was ushering in the counterculture era and taking part in landmark obscenity laws, he was a seaman aboard the USS Brooklyn warship during World War II. Lenny Bruce joined the US Navy when he was only 16 and saw action in Northern Africa and Italy, taking part in four overseas invasions. 

Then, in 1945, Bruce decided that he’d had enough of the Navy, so he pretended to be gay to receive a discharge. He started by mentioning his “homosexual tendencies” to the medical officer, who reported it to the ship’s commander and then had Bruce sent for a “neuro-psychiatric consultation,” where the future comedian admitted that it was only a matter of time before he gave into his urges. 

The analysis concluded that Bruce was being truthful and not simply trying to get out of the service. The commander agreed and recommended to have Lenny be either discharged or transferred to a shore-based station. A few weeks later, Bruce received a dishonorable discharge, but he successfully petitioned to have it changed to an honorable one. Decades later, Lenny’s little stunt served as the inspiration for the cross-dressing Corporal Klinger character on the TV show M*A*S*H.

7. Charles Bronson

Charles Bronson became famous for his roles portraying a no-nonsense quiet tough guy, and it seems that this was simply a case of art imitating life. Growing up dirt poor in Pennsylvania in a large family of Lithuanian immigrants, Bronson had to work in the coal mines as a teenager to help support his family after his father’s death. 

During World War II, he got drafted and, after attending gunnery school in Arizona, he joined up with the 61st Bombardment Squadron, 39th Bombardment Group, based in Guam. After being assigned to a B-29 “Superfortress” bomber, Bronson fought in the Pacific Theater where he took part in 25 missions and later received the Purple Heart for his efforts. Afterward, he used the GI Bill to get into acting and, fittingly enough, found his first film role in a military production where he played a sailor.

6. Don Adams

Donald James Yarmy became better known professionally as Don Adams, a TV actor with a 50-year career which included his most famous role, that of bumbling secret agent Maxwell Smart in the sitcom Get Smart. But before all of that, Adams had a very close call with death while serving in World War II.

When the war broke out, Adams was still in high school, so he dropped out and joined the Marines. He underwent basic training in North Carolina and then was assigned to I Company, 3rd Battalion, 8th Marines, and shipped to Samoa. On August 7, 1942, Adams took part in the initial assault on Guadalcanal, and even though he got shot by a Japanese sniper, that’s not what almost did him in. During combat, Adams contracted blackwater fever, a serious form of malaria that carried with it a 90 percent fatality rate.

He was not expected to live, but Adams did manage to make a full recovery after spending an entire year in the hospital in New Zealand. Despite his close shave, Adams still liked the military life, so when he returned to America, he became a drill instructor for Marine recruits.

5. Mel Brooks

We just had the man who starred in Get Smart, so now let’s move on to the man who created Get Smart. Legendary funnyman Mel Brooks became a big star in Hollywood thanks to his parodies like Blazing Saddles and Young Frankenstein. But just like Don Adams, his first career was in the military, which he joined while still in high school.

One day, when Brooks was 17, an army recruiter showed up at his high school for an aptitude test. Brooks scored highly and joined the Army Specialized Training Reserve Program since he knew that he was probably going to be drafted anyway. From then on, he studied engineering at the Virginia Military Institute and officially joined the Army when he turned 18.

Brooks spent the bulk of his active duty as a combat engineer with the 1104 Engineer Combat Battalion, 78th Infantry Division, helping to clear landmines and build bridges. Even so, his unit had to fight as infantry on multiple occasions and even took part in the crucial Battle of the Bulge.

Once the war was over, Mel Brooks immediately transitioned to a career in entertainment while he was still stationed overseas. He joined a Special Services unit that staged variety shows from camp to camp.

4. Henry Fonda

Unlike most other entries on this list, Henry Fonda was already a big star when he decided to put his career on hold in order to fight in World War II. He made his Hollywood debut in 1935 and rose to prominence during the late ’30s with roles in movies such as Jezebel and The Grapes of Wrath. 

Like many actors, Fonda initially did his bit by making war movies to raise funds and morale. But this wasn’t enough for him. The actor was reported saying that he doesn’t want to be “in a fake war in a studio,” so he enlisted in the Navy in 1942. At first, he served as a Quartermaster 3rd Class aboard the USS Satterlee destroyer. Later, he was commissioned as a Lieutenant Junior Grade in Air Combat Intelligence, fighting in the Central Pacific. 

According to his record, Fonda’s superiors described him as possessing “officer-like qualities of leadership, military bearing, loyalty, judgment, and intelligence.” He was awarded a Bronze Star Medal and, after the war ended, Fonda kept up his military career by serving another three years in the Naval Reserve.

3. James Doohan

The first, but not the last entry on this list who took part in D-Day, James Doohan is best known to sci-fi fans everywhere as Scotty in the original Star Trek series. Born in Vancouver, British Columbia, Doohan enrolled in the Royal Canadian Army Cadet Corps in 1938 after graduating high school. A year later, he enlisted in the Royal Canadian Artillery, and afterward, he was sent to Britain to prepare for Operation Overlord aka the Battle of Normandy. 

On D-Day, Doohan’s regiment stormed Juno Beach, and the actor was personally credited with taking down two enemy snipers. Although he escaped the actual battle unscathed, he was almost killed by friendly fire later that night. Doohan snuck away to smoke a cigarette and, when he returned, a jumpy Canadian sentry mistook him for an enemy and shot him six times. Most of the bullets went into his leg, although one of the shots did blow off his right middle finger. Doohan concealed his missing finger using prosthetics for most of his acting career, although there are scenes in Star Trek where the amputated digit can be seen.

2. David Niven

On-screen, David Niven was always the ideal image of the English gentleman: suave, sophisticated, eloquent, and perfectly mannered. In real life, though, he wasn’t afraid to get his hands dirty and fight for king and country.

Unlike the other entries, Niven already had a military career before the Second World War. Born into a military family, he attended the Royal Military College at Sandhurst and graduated in 1930 with a second lieutenant’s commission. He gave up the army life when he discovered that he wasn’t too fond of following orders and launched his acting career.

By the time World War II came around, Niven had already become a leading man and just had his big role as Raffles, the gentleman thief. However, as soon as Britain entered the war, he paused his career and returned home to fight for his country. He joined the Commandos and was assigned to a special recon unit named “A” Squadron GHQ Liaison Regiment, better known as “Phantom.” By the time D-Day came around, he was commander of the unit and led his men into the Battle of Normandy. However, following the war, he steadfastly refused to discuss his experience.

1. James Stewart

In terms of military careers, no actor can boast one quite like Jimmy Stewart. Not only was he already a big star when he enlisted, with films such as Mr. Smith Goes to Washington and It’s a Wonderful Life under his belt, but he retired with the rank of Brigadier General. 

Like David Niven, Stewart’s family had deep military ties. Like Henry Fonda, he started out by doing recruitment drives, fundraisers, and other public appearances, but wanted to do more. Stewart was already a licensed commercial pilot, so for him, the choice seemed obvious – join the Air Force. After training to fly bombardiers in New Mexico, Stewart was sent overseas, to Britain, as the Commanding Officer of the 703rd Bomb Squadron.

He took part in 20 bombing missions during the war, at a time when most aircrews averaged, at most, a dozen before being killed in combat. Stewart received numerous commendations for his actions during World War II, but even after the war ended, he continued his service in the Air Force Reserve. Even during the Vietnam War, Stewart flew one last mission as an observer and then finally hung up his wings as a Brigadier General.

War has changed a lot over the years. The earliest battles were probably fought with sticks and rocks. Later, we evolved to use swords and bows. And now we can kill people on the other side of the planet with the push of a button. Typically, any war or battle takes place in a geographic area that is actually related to both or, at least, one party to the conflict. But it doesn’t always work that way. 

10. An American Civil War Battle Took Place off the Coast of France

If you’ve taken an American history class, then you’ve heard of the American Civil War. The conflict between the Union and the Confederacy and was chiefly concerned with issues related to slavery. The war can be said to have been fought between the North and the South, as that was the vague divide between forces. But, in general, that North and South distinction was in specific reference to the United States itself. And then the Battle of Cherbourg happened.

Cherbourg is not in a northern state or a southern state. It’s not in the United States at all. Instead, it’s in France. The battle was a naval conflict that took place off the coast between the CSS Alabama, a confederate vessel, and the USS Kearsarge, a Union ship.

The Alabama was in France for a retrofit and repairs. Kearsarge got word and went to check it out. The captains of each vessel agreed to a duel in international waters and headed out to sea some days later, but the Alabama was not in any position to take on anyone. Their munitions were subpar and one shell even hit the enemy’s sternpost and failed to go off. It’s on display in a museum currently.

Eventually the Alabama succumbed to the Union vessel and sank. Some of the crew died, but many were rescued by the Kearsarge as well as a British yacht.

9. The US and Britain Had a Naval Battle in Lake Erie

On September 10, 1813, six British vessels were spotted in Lake Erie. The American forces had cut off British supply lines by taking the lake and the British were trying to reclaim it. Though the British forces had superior long range weapons, the Americans had more ships with better close range armaments. Their pursuit was hindered by poor winds on the lake until shifting fortunes put the wind behind the Americans so they could close on the British, who had no recourse but to fight.

Fortune favored the British vessels at first, and the American flagship the Lawrence took a severe beating from their enemies. Part of the problem was that the American ship Niagara had essentially fallen back from the battle and done nothing. 

The American vessel was rendered dead in the water. Many of the crew were dead and injured and all guns facing the enemy destroyed. Captain Oliver Perry took several crew and hit the water in a cutter and paddled to the Niagara, avoiding attacks from the British fleet. They made it somehow unscathed and took control of the sister ship.

British forces, while nearly victorious, had endured severe damage taking out the Lawrence. Now the completely undamaged Niagara was able to plow through their ranks and destroy the fleet with the aid of smaller gunships. Four British vessels were forced to surrender while the two that fled were hunted down. 

The British were forced to abandon Detroit, and this one battle turned the tides of the northwest campaign.  

8. The Battle of Manila was a Mock Battle in the Spanish-American War 

The Battle of Manila Bay was part of the Spanish-American War. At the battle, US forces, led by Commodore George Dewey, defeated the Spanish fleet and ended the war. The older, less powerful Spanish fleet was in Philippine waters and was unable to put up much of a fight, stranding the Spanish in Manila.

On land, another battle was brewing as Philipine resistance leader Emilio Aguinaldo rose up to fight the Spanish as well. He declared independence for his people, but neither the Spanish nor the Americans wanted to acknowledge this. Still, the Spanish were cut off, held between Americans at sea who were bringing in thousands of reinforcements and Philippine forces on land. With few options, the Spanish had no desire to cede to Aguinaldo.

A Belgian consul aided in negotiations between American and Spanish forces. The result was the creation of an American war hero in Dewey who was later promoted to Rear Admiral and the preservation of reputation for the Spanish Governor-General. The “battle” would take place on August 13. Essentially, it was all for show. The Americans destroyed what remained of the fleet and the Spanish surrendered.. The Philippine forces were left in the dark and America stepped in, taking Spain’s place. 

7. No Americans Were Involved In One of the Longest Battles of the Revolutionary War

It’s good to have friends and this is especially true in battle. Throughout history, allies have come to one another’s aid in times of war. The Great Siege of Gibraltar showed that sometimes an ally is all you need and the main combatants don’t even need to be there. This was a battle of the War of Independence that no Americans were involved in.

In the 1770s, Spain and France teamed up to take Gibraltar from Britain under the guise of aiding the American Revolution. They intended to invade Britain, and taking Gibraltar was the first step. Britain understood the strategic importance of Gibraltar, so they had spent years bolstering its defenses before any attack even began. By 1779, when Spain and France set up a blockade, the British were dug in with enough supplies to wait their enemies out far longer than either anticipated, which were bolstered by several supports over the years.

For three years and seven months, 7,000 British soldiers held off against 40,000 French and Spanish soldiers until a truce was signed. It’s not known how many of the allied forces were lost, but the British lost 333 to battle and 536 to disease.

6. The Final Battle of the Revolutionary War Took Place in India

Another example of an ally looking for an excuse to get something for themselves during the Revolutionary War also turned out to be the war’s final battle, and it was long after Yorktown.

On the other side of the world, India had as many reasons to want to be free of Britain as the Americans did. The Kingdom of Mysore in India had been fighting the British for years and after their sultan died, the British were ready to squash the resistance once and for all. They sent soldiers to India, but France, allied with America and Mysore, did the same. The two armies clashed in 1783, two years after Yorktown and what most people today consider the end of the war. In reality, it was only three months before the Treaty of Paris, which was the actual end of the war, was signed.

While French assaults on British forces were proving disastrous, the battle was far from either country and both suffered greatly. Eventually, British forces learned of the impending end to the war in America and the battle was stopped. 

5. The Battle of Tannenberg Didn’t Take Place in Tannenberg

Nearly every battle is named after either where it took place or, in some cases, what caused it. And then there’s the Battle of Tannenberg 1914, which didn’t even take place at Tannenberg but was named after the 1410 Battle of Tannenberg, purely out of spite.

In 1410, Teutonic knights were defeated in Tannenberg by various Slavic forces. In very basic terms, Germans were defeated by Russians. So, fast forward literally 500 years, and a battle between German and Russian forces in Allenstein saw the Germans deliver a brutal defeat to the Russians who lost 120,000 men. The battle was named after that first battle as a sort of compensation and way to mythologize German military prowess by giving them back a win, even if Allentstein was miles from Tannenberg.

4. The Battle of Attu Took Place on American Soil

Much of World War II was waged on European soil, but not all of it. The Battle of Attu was the only battle that took place on American soil. In May 1943, Japanese and American forces fought for control of Attu Island, part of Alaska’s Aleutian Islands in the North Pacific, which had a population of only 40. 

The Japanese had attacked the islands in June 1942, but it wasn’t until 1943 that US forces took it back. On May 11, 12,500 US soldiers were sent to the island and fought Japanese forces for two entire weeks. 

Despite the island’s tiny size, the battle was brutal, and the terrain was unforgiving. Over 2,100 US troops were taken out not by the Japanese but due to disease and non-battle injuries including frostbite, trench foot, fevers and even starvation. It got so bad, some soldiers were throwing grenades into the sea to kill fish for food.. 

Over 1,700 fell to enemy soldiers and when the Americans finally gained the upper hand, over 2,350 Japanese soldiers were dead, many of them by their own hand having used grenades to commit suicide.

3. German U-boats Invaded the St. Lawrence River in Canada  

The Battle of the St. Lawrence was a naval battle in the Second World War that took place in a Canadian river. German U-boats made it all the way up the river to Montreal and over the course of several months, 23 vessels sank. Allied Forces also lost 70,000 tons of supplies. Nazi forces greatly outmatched the Canadians, who were not prepared to defend their own waters against submarine attacks. The losses were considerable and one vessel, a ferry heading from Nova Scotia to Quebec, sank with women and children on board.

There was initially no aerial support at all and barely any defenses along the waterway, since it had never been a military target in the past. Though defenses were eventually brought in, the cost was considerable.

2. The Battle of Brisbane in WWII Took Place Between Americans and Aussies

Battles during World War II took place all over the world, hence the name. But one battle that is often overlooked is the Battle of Brisbane. It took place in Brisbane, Australia, and the combatants were Australians and their American allies. It wasn’t technically an armed conflict, but things did get out of hand.

For two days in November, 1942, American troops who had been in Brisbane for the better part of a year as part of the defense against Japan after Pearl Harbor, wore out their welcome with the locals. 

Though Americans had been received well at the start of the war, some trash talk from American General Douglas MacArthur had soured relations. Americans had better provisions than local Australians, were better dressed, and were known to charm the local ladies, all of which bred more resentment. 

Some Aussie soldiers tossed some insults at an American on November 26. An MP got involved and then got punched. Within fifteen minutes, there were 3000 soldiers fighting in the streets.An MP shot and killed an Australian soldier and wounded several others. The fight was soon quelled for the night but the next day saw it rekindled. 

1. The $300,000 Battle of B-R5RB Took Place Entirely Online

Wars are costly endeavors and can set countries back billions of dollars. But those are all real world wars that have real world expenses. Bullets and planes and soldiers don’t just grow on trees. The Battle of B-R5RB took place entirely in a virtual space and still cost $300,000 in real world currency for all that was lost.

In the world of online gaming, sometimes things can get out of hand. That’s one way to describe this battle from 2014. The battle started when a player group that was controlling a star system called B-R5RB forgot to pay their monthly bill to keep it. Essentially, they were renting the space and forgot to set up automatic payments for it with in-game currency, so it was repossessed and put back on the market. 

Thousands of players scrambled to get control of the system, which was a staging area for a major in-game alliance. No one had planned for the sector to be abandoned. It had been a complete accident, which meant gaining control of it was time sensitive. Players all over the world were teaming up to take control. The ensuing battle was, at the time, one of the biggest in online gaming history. Upwards of 12,000 people watched it unfold as it was live streamed. It lasted almost 22 straight hours.

The British Empire was the largest empire in history in terms of landmass, as well as one of the most formidable military powers in the world at its peak. From Napoleonic France to southeast Asia to the Americas, Great Britain was known for its spectacular successes on the battlefield, often against much larger, better-armed enemies. 

Of course, you can’t win every battle you fight. Like every other powerful empire in history, the grand story of the British Empire also contains quite a few accounts of massive, catastrophic military upsets. 

10. Battle Of Isandlwana

The Battle of Isandlwana was the first engagement of the Anglo-Zulu war – a major conflict in the south-eastern part of South Africa involving the Zulu kingdom and Great Britain. Fought on January 22, 1879, it would be one of the bloodiest defeats suffered by British forces at the hands of a native army, despite their considerable superiority in military technology. 

Armed with rockets and state-of-the-art breech loading rifles – compared to old school melee weapons like pikes and spears on the Zulu side – the British forces were caught off guard by the sheer number of the Zulu army. Lord Chelmsford, who led the attack, vastly underestimated their will to fight, too, and by the end of the day, a big chunk of the British force was decimated. 

It was the first battle of the Anglo-Zulu war, and while the Zulus were eventually defeated after a six-month campaign, the battle at Isandlwana is still counted as a major British defeat in colonial-era Africa. It was a part of the larger British efforts to form a South African confederation in the region, directly challenging the autonomy of multiple, ethnically-diverse African states like Zululand. 

9. First Anglo-Boer War

The First Anglo-Boer War – also known as the First Transvaal War of Independence, or the Transvaal rebellion – could be seen as an extension of the global British-Dutch rivalry at the time, though the Boers weren’t actually Dutch citizens. While they did predominantly come from a Dutch lineage and spoke Dutch as their first language, Boers included descendants of settlers from all over Western Europe. 

British incursions into Boer territory started long before the war, though it was the annexation of Transvaal in 1877 – one of the territories governed by the Boers – that really triggered it. The war – or more accurately the rebellion – began in December 1880, pitting the British empire against an equivalently armed and well trained enemy. 

As you can guess from the general theme of this list, it didn’t go too well for the British. The Boers turned out to be much better at fighting in that terrain, as they regularly used firearms for hunting. They had much better weapons and tactics, too, and the British forces were regularly faced with mobile, mounted groups of riflemen. 

The war ended with the decisive battle of Majuba Hill in February 1881, when the Boers successfully stormed the British position of Majuba Hill manned by over 400 soldiers. More than 22,000 British soldiers lost their lives throughout this campaign, with over 6,000 casualties on the Boer side. 

8. Siege Of Kut

The Battle of Kut was fought during the Mesopotamian campaign of the First World War. About 100 miles southeast of Baghdad, Kut was then a strategically crucial town due to its proximity to oil – a resource that would change warfare forever. 

On December 7, 1915, the Ottoman army laid siege to the town, garrisoned by a British force of about 10,000 soldiers. While it was later strengthened by a relief contingent of about 30,000 soldiers, the siege would still end in a disaster for the Brits.

In an almost five-month-long siege, Ottoman forces – despite being overwhelmingly outnumbered – killed more than 30,000 British soldiers, making it one of the deadliest military engagements in British history. More than 13,000 soldiers were taken prisoner by the end of it, including six generals and 476 officers. 

7. Battle Of Tug Argan

The East African campaign of WW2 is a largely forgotten phase of the war, and perhaps rightly so, too. Mostly controlled by the British, the region had little strategic value for either side, though it still saw some of the heaviest fighting of the war outside the main European and Pacific theaters. 

The Battle of Tug Argan was an early fight during the campaign, fought between Italian and British forces on August 11, 1940. It was a lightly defended position, as they didn’t expect Italian forces to venture so far into British-controlled territory for an outpost that could at best be described as ‘occasionally hospitable’. It was, however, great for morale among Italian troops, which could come in handy elsewhere. 

Despite their heavy fortifications, the British forces were overrun within less than five days, though at a high cost for Italy. Despite their numeric advantage, the Italian force lost over 2,000 soldiers that day. British casualties numbered around 250, as they successfully managed to retreat from the position before it was stormed. 

6. Battle Of Gazala

The Gazala line refers to a heavily fortified Allied position that had developed west of Tobruk – a port city in Libya – during the North African campaign of WW2. Its primary purpose was to hold the city, which had been put under siege by German and Italian forces during the earlier phases of the campaign. By May 1942, the line was manned and defended almost entirely by the British Eighth Army; a formation especially trained for combat and reconnaissance in the desert, even if that would do little to stop the Axis war machine. Well, at first, anyway.  

On May 26, the 50-mile-long line came under heavy attack from Italian and German forces led by Erwin Rommel, also known as the Desert Fox for his achievements in this theater. By even conservative estimates, the British formation – made up of soldiers from its colonies and the Free French Republic – numbered close to 175,000, outnumbering Rommel’s force by more than 2:1. 

While the defenders proved to be stubbornly resistant, the Eighth Army was eventually unable to maintain its supply lines, unlike Rommel, who was regularly supplied by the Italian command centers in Libya and across the Mediterranean. Tobruk fell on June 21, and the remaining Allied forces were surrounded and forced to retreat across the Egyptian border. Over 50,000 soldiers lost their lives throughout this battle, and about 35,000 were taken captive, compared to a loss of about 3,300 soldiers for Germany and Italy.

5. The Medway Raid

The Dutch raid on the Medway dockyards in 1667 came at the worst time possible. Just on the heels of the Great Fire of London and a devastating outbreak of the bubonic plague that killed upto 100,000 people, the country was also engaged in an increasingly intense war with the Dutch. The raid, however, would prove to be its most intense and devastating phase. 

Unlike the latter years of the empire, this was a time when other maritime empires – like the Dutch and Portuguese – posed a considerable challenge to the Royal Navy. The raid started on June 12, when Dutch ships passed the defensive chain on British shores and proceeded to lay waste to the entire docks. Many fortifications, smaller boats and canon batteries were destroyed, in exchange for minimal losses for the Dutch. The destruction was so massive that it looked like the sea was on fire, and by the end of it, the Dutch had captured four ships, including HMS Royal Charles. It was easily the largest British defeat on home soil, and it would take years before the Royal Navy was restored to its full capacity. 

4. Battle Of Carillon

The Battle of Carillon was a part of the larger French and Indian War, which was in turn a part of the larger Seven Years’ War between Britain and France. Fought at Fort Carillon – a well defended French position between Lake George and Lake Chaplain in New York – it would see some of the heaviest fighting of the war.

The battle began on July 6, 1758. Despite the overwhelming numerical superiority of the British contingent, it would hardly take a couple of days for the French – allied with various native groups in the region – to drive them away. By even the most conservative estimates, the fort was stormed by at least 15,000 British soldiers, compared to about 3,600 French defenders. 

While the British troops were well-trained and battle-ready, the attack was made without the use of artillery, resulting in heavy losses and a quick defeat. By the end of it, more than 2,000 British soldiers were killed or wounded in the attempt, compared to just over 300 casualties on the French side. 

3. First Anglo-Afghan War

British forces from India invaded Afghanistan in March 1839, marking the beginning of the first Anglo-Afghan War. It was a part of a larger cold war brewing between Russia and Britain for much of the 19th century. If Afghanistan was invaded by Russia, they feared that it could be then used to launch an invasion of British-held India – by then one of the most lucrative colonial enterprises in the world. 

The invasion force was made up of 20,000 soldiers, along with a caravan of about 38,000 civilians hoping to resettle the country after it was smoothly taken over, like it usually went for the Brits. That’s what happened, too, at least during the first phase. The British war machine was able to topple the existing emir – Dost Mohammad – with relative ease by August 1839, replacing him with the puppet, pro-British ruler, Shuja Shah. 

While it was an easy place to conquer, Afghanistan would prove to be an impossible territory to hold. For more than two years, British forces in Kabul fought a violent insurgency on all sides, including murders of a few high profile British officers inside Kabul. With a vastly outnumbered force – as most of the initial members of the caravan had already moved back home to India – the British force began a retreat in January 1842 with a total of about 16,000 people. It would turn into a massacre, as the whole column was harrassed and attacked by Afghan fighters until they reached Jalalabad. By ‘they’, we mean ‘him’, as only one British officer was able to survive this ordeal, as the entire column was decimated on the way.

2. Gallipoli Campaign

The Gallipoli campaign during WW1 aimed to strike at the heart of the Ottoman empire – Istanbul. The allied force was massive – over 480,000 troops took part in the campaign, though most of them would never make it back. A bulk of it was British troops, along with smaller contingents from Australia, New Zealand, Russia and other allied countries. 

The overall objective was to achieve complete allied superiority over the Gallipoli peninsula, which could then be used as a base for direct attacks on Istanbul. Despite heavy losses of the Royal Navy under the command of Winston Churchill – then the First Lord of Admiralty in the British Navy – the allies managed to capture a few positions on the beach in February, 1915, which would soon be turned into a network of trench lines similar to those in Europe. 

For about a year, the allies tried to maintain their positions, though they were no match for the entrenched and well-equipped Ottoman force. Moreover, they were able to reinforce their positions much faster than the allies, who were also suffering from deadly outbreaks of diseases like dysentery.

The allied force capitulated in January 1916, though only after suffering heavy losses. Both sides suffered over 250,000 casualties, though some estimates put that number even higher. 

1. Battle Of Singapore

When WW2 broke out in the east, Singapore was easily one of the most heavily-defended British strongholds in the region. They had spent much of the inter-war period strengthening its defenses, especially in the navy department, as it was vulnerable to attacks from the rapidly-militarizing Japanese empire. When the Japanese did attack, however, all that would do little to stop it.

The assault began on February 8, 1942, when Japanese forces – numbering over 23,000 – landed on the island and established a beachhead. While the British outnumbered them by over 3:1, the Japanese had almost complete air superiority over the region, thanks to their earlier territorial gains in Malaysia. The infantry divisions were no match for the elite Japanese units, either, and by February 15, the entire British-led force was forced to surrender. Over 90,000 allied combatants were taken prisoner that day, many of whom would later succumb to the horrors of a Japanese POW camp.

French efforts to expand its overseas empire go as far back as the 16th century, though it wasn’t until 1605 that a settled outpost was established in what is now Nova Scotia, Canada. Throughout the 17th and 18th centuries, it would grow to be one of the largest and wealthiest empires in history, with colonies spread across the Americas, Africa, Middle East, Indian subcontinent, and southeast Asia at its peak. Much of that was made possible by military conquest, as the French army was also a potent and formidable military force, often equipped with state-of-the-art technology and made up of conscripts from around the world.

Of course, the French imperial army also went through its fair share of military defeats, much like every other empire in history. Despite its technological superiority and vast numbers, the French empire faced many worthy enemies throughout its existence. That includes two large wars of independence in Indochina – now Vietnam – and Algeria, and the largest slave rebellion ever in Haiti, among other lesser-known conflicts fought around the world.

10. Korea

The French invasion of Korea in 1866 was triggered by the persecution of Christians ongoing across the country at that time. In February, seven French Catholic missionaries were executed on the orders of the imperial regent of Korea, drawing a disproportionate response from the French forces stationed in the Far East.

Fighting was largely limited to Ganghwa island – a strategic location on the Han river en route to Seoul. For six weeks beginning in October, the French forces occupying the island made multiple attempts to advance towards the heavily-fortified capital, though to little success. The Korean army was better-equipped and numerically-superior, with the added ‘home ground’ advantage. The invasion resulted in a humiliating defeat for the French, which massively reduced its influence in the region for years to come. 

9. Austria

The Battle of Neerwinden was fought on March 18, 1793 between France and an Austrian army led by the Habsburg Prince Frederick Josias. While not a major battle on its own, it was an important engagement in the larger French Revolutionary wars – a series of conflicts between post-revolution France and a coalition of European monarchies. 

It was the first French defeat in the otherwise-successful invasion of the Austrian Netherlands, setting the stage for further setbacks against the Habsburgs during the following year. Despite the revolutionary morale and numerical superiority of the French troops, they were no match for the trained, experienced army wielded by Austria. By the end of it, the French army was forced to retreat with losses of over 4,000 soldiers, compared to about 2,000 lives lost on the Austrian side. 

8. China

The 1859 Battle of Taku Forts in China happened in the backdrop of the Opium Wars – a decades-long war that pitted the British and French empire against imperial China. It was a large-scale conflict occasionally involving other European powers, fought primarily over trading rights in China. While the western nations ultimately won the war, the battle at Taku Forts was a huge setback for both Britain and France, forcing them to retreat and return with a much larger force. 

On June 25, allied forces began bombarding the forts – a strategic location on the way to the capital city of Peking, now Beijing. A contingent of soldiers was also sent to overrun the garrison, though the combined attack was soon halted and repulsed by the heavily-fortified defensive positions of the Chinese. Out of 1,100 invading soldiers, 434 were killed or wounded that day, with four of their gunboats sunk.  

7. Mexico

Cinco de Mayo is often confused with Mexico’s independence day, though it’s actually the date of a major Mexican victory against French forces back in 1862. Known as the Battle of Puebla, it was one of the many small and large-scale battles fought during the Second French Intervention in Mexico – an invasion launched by Napoleon III to replace the nascent Mexican republic with a conservative French puppet state. 

At the time, Puebla was the second largest Mexican city, located at a strategic location on the way to the capital. The French – emboldened by earlier victories in the campaign and the overwhelming technological and military superiority of their forces – attacked the city on May 5. While the defending army was made up of volunteers and poorly-trained militias armed with basic weapons like machetes, they were able to hold off the French advance, eventually forcing them to retreat. 

The victory at Puebla galvanized Mexican resistance against colonialism. While France did take Puebla and Mexico City in 1863, they could never hold the territory due to irregular warfare waged by Mexican rebels across the countryside. After nearly six years of fighting, French forces completely withdrew from Mexico in March, 1867. 

6. Japan

When France was successfully invaded and occupied by Germany during the early phases of the Second World War, many of its overseas properties were still controlled by imperial French troops. Sensing an opportunity, Japan signed a pact with the collaborationist Vichy government to station more than 6,000 troops in French Indochina – a colonial-era name for the countries of Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos. 

Without warning, a full-scale Japanese invasion was launched on September 22, 1940, as infantry columns breached the border at three places. For close to five days, colonial French troops and Foreign Legionaires fought the Imperial Japanese Army for control of major strategic points, though they were eventually defeated by the superior Japanese airpower and armor.

5. Prussia

The Franco-Prussian War began in July 1870, when the French emperor Napoleon III ordered his troops to mount a full-scale invasion of Prussia – then a loose confederation of German states under the leadership of Otto von Bismarck. While the immediate cause was a dispute regarding the Spanish throne, the war was fought in the backdrop of a larger rivalry between Prussia and France – at that point two of the most powerful states in Europe. 

The war ended in disaster for France. Despite being evenly matched in terms of numbers, Prussia was able to deploy a large number of troops to the battlefield within a few days’ time. French soldiers, on the other hand, were usually unequipped or late to the front, resulting in catastrophic losses for one of the most technologically-advanced military forces of the time.

The war ended with the Siege of Paris and eventual French defeat in 1971, and it would have lasting consequences for Europe in the years to come. In France, it ended Napoleon’s reign and established the French Third Republic. In Germany, it reinforced popular faith in German militarism and united the previously-separate Prussian states into a singular German empire. 

4. Vietnam

The First Indochina war between France and communist rebels in Vietnam – then Indochina – began almost as soon as the end of WW2. As Japan signed the surrender terms on September 2, 1945, an independent Democratic Republic of Vietnam was declared by the Viet Minh leader Ho Chi Minh on the same day, setting the stage for a years-long conflict that would significantly erode the strength of the French colonial empire.

While fighting was limited to small-scale, low-intensity skirmishes in the early years, all that changed in 1949 after the successful revolution in China. The Viet Minh deployed increasingly aggressive guerrilla tactics across North Vietnam and parts of South Vietnam, prompting the United States and other western powers to get involved. 

The war came to an end with the siege of Dien Bien Phu – a mountain outpost near the Laotian border occupied by France. While heavily fortified and regularly supplied from air, the garrison couldn’t withstand the overwhelming assault by Viet Minh forces. The garrison was overrun within two months beginning in March, 1954, bringing a decisive and bloody end to the French colonial empire in Asia. 

3. Algeria

The Algerian War of Independence against colonial French rule was one of the largest conflicts of the 20th century. Beginning in 1954 and lasting until 1962, more than 1.5 million Algerians may have died throughout the war, though the real numbers could be far higher. Much of the violence could be attributed to French retaliation against revolutionary activities by the Algerians, particularly those allied with the National Liberation Front (FLN), including summary executions, rape, and torture against the native civilian population.

The most intense phase of the war was the Battle of Algiers in 1956-57, where Algerian rebels deployed increasingly-brutal combat techniques to break the French will to fight. While retaliation was often swift and disproportionate, the ferocity of the fighting quickly turned the French citizenry against the war. France did make some breakthroughs from 1958 and 1959, though growing anti-war pressure at home and abroad forced Charles de Gaulle to sign a peace agreement in 1962, ending more than 132 years of French rule in Algeria. 

2. Russia