Most Forgotten or Over Looked Wars in History

[Xen]

I'm not talking about Byzantines war against the Seljuk Turks, thus not about the battle of Manzikert.

I'm talking about the war between The Roman Empire (or the Byzantine Empire, whatever you prefer) and the Sassanian Persian Empire. It was a huge war, but was overshadowed by the Arab conquests a few decades later (where the Arabs conquered the most prosperous areas of the Byzantine empire, not all of the Byzantine empire).

P.S. If you're confused the richest part of the Roman empire has always been Syria and Egypt.

I agree somewhat with your opinion; the war is very well known to people who study the period, and, in fact, is considered to be the actual turning point when the Eastern Roman empire ends, and the Byzantine empire begins.

that said, over the cours eof roman history, various provinces outshone egypt (wasnt hard otoutshine the levant actually; most of the regions major land trade routes went though "neutral" city states on the very cusp of the arabian desert (AKA; Palmyra), and more land trade went directlly to Anatolia, and thus Byzantium/Constantinople by land, and by red sea, to the ports of egypt, to be transferred to Alexandria.

 

[Verbose]

Maybe this thread shoud be titled "the most barely remebered war"?

And there have been quite a few really obscure ones. These I remeber solely for their names:

The War of Clubs (Finland 16th c.)

The War over Jenkin's Ear (British 18th c.)

The Football War (Central America 1970's.)

 

[luiz]

The Football War (Central America 1970's.)

The Football War happened in 1969.
Many people think it was in 1970, because the two matches that triggered it were qualifying ones for the 1970 World Cup. However the matches, like the conflict, took place in 1969.

The conflict only lasted 6 days, from July 14 to July 20, when the cease-fire was signed. A peace treaty, though, was only signed in 1980.

That war is very well known here in Brazil, where it is classical bar talk

 

[Damnyankee]

lets see, you have the spanish american war, the korean war, obviously the war of 1812, the barbary wars, various wars with indians, the Phillipine Insurrection(for the us), our mexican american war, and the sino-vietnamise war to name some obscure wars

 

[greekguy]

the korean war

everyone knows about the korean war. everyone of the past 50 years was obsessed with the cold war and every major battle is remembered very vividly.

 

[YNCS]

The War over Jenkin's Ear (British 18th c.)

The War of Jenkin's Ear (1739-41) was mainly a maritime struggle between Britain and Spain, but it soon expanded into a Franco-British conflict that merged into the War of the Austrian Succession (1740-1749).

BTW, in 1730 Robert Jenkins was an English merchant ship captain who was attempting to smuggle goods into Cuba. His ship was halted and searched by the Spanish Navy. Jenkins had an argument with the Spanish lieutenant making the search, and the lieutenant cut off Jenkin's left ear with his sword.

For years, Jenkins would wander around London, showing his infamous ear to anyone he could and trying to get the British government to demand compensation from the Spanish government for mutilating him. Finally, in 1739, the British prime minister, Robert Walpole, wanting an excuse to start a war with Spain, used Jenkin's Ear as a point of honor to declare war.

 

[Verbose]

luiz and YNCS: Thanx for fleshing those wars out.

Adding the Club War: A peasant uprising in Finland in the winter of 1596-97. The revolting peasants were mostly too poor to be able afford proper weapons. Instead they would walk out into the forest and cut themselves a decent club.
And then they fought the well armed govt forces. Not much luck there. It lasted four or five months. I've seen estimates of casualties run up to 20.000. At the time Finland's population has been estimated at approx. 200.000.

 

[Tank_Guy#3]

I'm talking about the war between The Roman Empire (or the Byzantine Empire, whatever you prefer) and the Sassanian Persian Empire. It was a huge war, but was overshadowed by the Arab conquests a few decades later (where the Arabs conquered the most prosperous areas of the Byzantine empire, not all of the Byzantine empire).

P.S. If you're confused the richest part of the Roman empire has always been Syria and Egypt.

I see, I am thinking a little later in history, also I completely agree with you that the richest part of the empire was Syria and Egypt. It was the true center of the empire.

Depend if you mean spoken by the native tongue or what languages that can be understood. Because if it is about being able to speak and understand a language, English wins hands down.

I mean spoken, which would be Chinese/Mandarin.

 

[Serutan]

Ah, new war! Can you guide me to more info?

Afraid not. Probably you could get info by googling on
"Idi Amin". It happened in the late 70's IIRC (maybe
early '80s), and I know about it from memory, not from
a book.

 

[privatehudson]

hmmm, so has anyone heard of the IRA invasions of Canada?

 

[Verbose]

Err, no?

Enlighten us, will you.

 

[privatehudson]

http://www.bivouacbooks.com/bbv2i3s6.htm

Copy and paste that into your browser and you should see an article on the topic

Short form: Irish immigrants who fought in the US civil war formed themselves into the IRA and IRB and proceeded to attempt to invade Canada. After 4 or so failed attempts, some of which were supported by the USA and some not, they disbanded and gave up.

 

[Verbose]

http://www.bivouacbooks.com/bbv2i3s6.htm

Amazing!

 

[Constantine]

hmmm, so has anyone heard of the IRA invasions of Canada?

I have, they called out the Milita, and they fought a battle against the Fenians that was poorly conducted on both sides.

But I'm Canadiand, and it wasnt an IRA job I think it was the United Fennian Brotherhood or Fennians is what I've seen in textbooks here.

 

[Atlas14]

Spanish American War mainly because its significance is thought to be minor, despite the large number of technological advancements made during the war. Spain was already in rapid decline and its fleet was already pretty crappy, so the US destroying it was of no surprise. US gains in the war were good though, with Philipines, Hawaii, and liberation of Cuba from Spain.

 

[Dolemitetornado]

The war in the Congo(Zaire) from 1998-2002 would rank pretty highly, at least amoung modern conflicts. The war involved seven countries, Congo, Rwanda, Burundi, Uganda, Zimbabwe, Angola, and Namibia, and led to over 3 million people dead. It causes included the Rwandan genocide (Rwandas government claims to have been attacking the perpetraors of the genoside hiding out in eastern Congo), internal political conflict in the Congo, numerous ethnic wars, and the looting of the congos resources by the above mentioned participating states. A brutal and tragic many-sided war, reminiscent of some of Europes mideval/early modern wars, and barely a scrap of reporting about it the west, or anywhere outside of africa, really...

 

[Doc Tsiolkovski]

The war in the Congo(Zaire) from 1998-2002 would rank pretty highly, at least amoung modern conflicts. The war involved seven countries, Congo, Rwanda, Burundi, Uganda, Zimbabwe, Angola, and Namibia, and led to over 3 million people dead. It causes included the Rwandan genocide (Rwandas government claims to have been attacking the perpetraors of the genoside hiding out in eastern Congo), internal political conflict in the Congo, numerous ethnic wars, and the looting of the congos resources by the above mentioned participating states. A brutal and tragic many-sided war, reminiscent of some of Europes mideval/early modern wars, and barely a scrap of reporting about it the west, or anywhere outside of africa, really...

Don't know where you locate, but here in Germany it was always called 'The African WW1', and pretty much recognized. Not as much as Gulf/Afghanistan/Czechenia, but still a lot more than any other war in the last decade.

 

[Kweli]

What do you think is the most overlooked, forgotten or underappreciated war in the recorded history? I believe it to be the Soviet-Polish War of 1920-21. Had the Poles lost this war, the Soviets would have been free to march almost unchallenged through Germany, because teh Germans were so crippled by the Treaty of Versailles. They may also have been able to continue on thru France because the Maginot Line, I believe, was not even in the works at this time, and also theirs and the British army were in bad shape after WW1.

in my opinion there are lots of forgotten wars even in present time. well, just look what's going on in africa, there are lots of wars, poverty, and even genocids. but what does the usa & europe to solve this conflicts, next to nothing. it's really a disgrace.

the thing which makes me really sad is that european states caused nowaydays issues in africa with their imperialism, they made the africans slaves.

where is the morale? nowhere!!!

i think a country needs oil or similiar things to get help from the western states.

 

[blindside]

Don't know where you locate, but here in Germany it was always called 'The African WW1', and pretty much recognized. Not as much as Gulf/Afghanistan/Czechenia, but still a lot more than any other war in the last decade.

In the US (atleast in my experience) it's barely known or recognized. I think the Europeans are more aware since quite alot of the violence in Africa is a result of European imperialism (there's a sense of guilt).

 

[Hotpoint]

Not really a war as such as more of a threatening deployment of military force but I think more people in the UK at least, should have heard of the "Don Pacifico Affair".

David (Don) Pacifico was a Portugese Jew who lived in Athens. During anti-semetic riots in 1847 his house was looted and burned. He asked for compensation for his losses but was refused several times. Fortunately for him he had actually been born in Gibraltar and so he appealed to the British government for help.

The British Foreign Secretary at the time was Lord Palmerston who was not a man to mess around and so after various requests by the British Government to Athens to pay the compensation were ignored he ordered the Royal Navy to blockade Greece until they paid up.

Palmerston made a speech in the House of Commons which I've always liked. Here is the conclusion:

"I therefore fearlessly challenge the verdict which this House, as representing a political, a commercial, a constitutional country, is to give on the question now brought before it; whether the principles on which the foreign policy of Her Majesty's Government has been conducted, and the sense of duty which has led us to think ourselves bound to afford protection to our fellow subjects abroad, are proper and fitting guides for those who are charged with the Government of England; and whether, as the Roman, in days of old, held himself free from indignity, when he could say Civis Romanus sum; so also a British subject, in whatever land he may be, shall feel confident that the watchful eye and the strong arm of England, will protect him against injustice and wrong.

The absolute epitome of gunboat diplomacy in my opinion