Totally unexpected wars

[RedRalph]

Are there any examples of wars that came completely out of the clear blue sky? Between reasonably friendly countries? Lets say, an equivalent of France attacking Spain tomorrow?

 

[Bugfatty300]

Soviet Union invading Afghanistan?
North Korea crossing the 38th Parallel in 1950?
Argentina occupying the Falklands?

 

[holy king]

i think of those only the falklands qualify.

the soviet uniun trying to expand into an important region was hardly "out of the blue".
neither was the attack on the fortified 38th parallel.
dont confuse "element of surprise" with "out of the blue".

now, argentina fighting over some island to distract it's population wasnt totally out of the blue, but seriously, why the hell pick a british island.

 

[RedRalph]

Yeah actually the Falklands was pretty much out of the clear blue sky... they must be few and far between though

 

[REDY]

Romanian declaration of war in ww1 was IMHO suprising.

 

[Eretz Yisrael]

the falklands war was excepted............

 

[luiz]

the falklands war was excepted............

Kind of. The british knew of the argentinian claims, but they never imagined that they would invade. The argentinians, OTOH, never imagined that the british would actually send a taskforce to expell them.

The british underestimated the populistic power of invading the Falklands from the POV of the unpopular argentine government, and the porteños underestimated the british resolve to keep a piece of ice.

 

[Eran of Arcadia]

Romanian declaration of war in ww1 was IMHO suprising.

Not really; they stood to gain from an Allied victory but really only if they participated. Every neutral country in Europe was being courted by one or both sides.

Does the Spanish Inquisition count as a war?

 

[RedwallFortress]

Don't now if this even counts, but... Operation Barbarossa.
Nazi Germany's invasion of the Soviet Union caught Stalin totally by surprise.

 

[Azale]

Iraq invading Kuwait was pretty unexpected right? Even for someone as unstable as Saddam?

 

[RedRalph]

Don't now if this even counts, but... Operation Barbarossa.
Nazi Germany's invasion of the Soviet Union caught Stalin totally by surprise.

but he was the only person who it did surprise.

 

[RedRalph]

Iraq invading Kuwait was pretty unexpected right? Even for someone as unstable as Saddam?

Not at all. Sure people werent counting down to it, but it looked possible for weeks beforehand

 

[Lockesdonkey]

Vietnam wasn't out of the clear blue sky, but what was unexpected was how deeply involved the United States was. It's similar, but different: rather than waking up one morning and saying "Why is that friendly country poking a gun through my window?" it's "Wait a minute, I've been fighting a war for six years? What the [expletive deleted], man! What the [expletive deleted]!"

 

[Cheezy the Wiz]

I doubt many saw the Third Indochina War coming.

 

[sydhe]

Switzerland accidentally invaded Liechtenstein a while back.

 

[Azale]

Not at all. Sure people werent counting down to it, but it looked possible for weeks beforehand

Yea but, the whole situation itself between Kuwait-Iraq probably would not have been prognosticated the year before right?

 

[philippe]

the football war between bolivia and uruguay.

 

[Bugfatty300]

You mean El Salvador and Honduras? Meh. They were at each other's throats for quite a while. The football game in question was just a pawn of the fray and not really a causing factor.

 

[luiz]

You mean El Salvador and Honduras? Meh. They were at each other's throats for quite a while. The football game in question was just a pawn of the fray and not really a causing factor.

Indeed. Most misunderstood war ever.

Now a war between Bolivia and Uruguay would be interesting, especially given the lack of a border.

 

[TheLastOne36]

I'd like to nominate the Soviet invasion of Poland in WWII.

Basically this is how it goes...

*on Western Front*
"got a german"
"watch out grenade!!!"
"i threw it back"
"BOOM Headshot" *spits rasperry*
"we need more assistance, we can't hold of the nazi's forever"
"LOOK LOOK Over there!!!"
"is that ... YES IT IS YES YES The RUSSIANS CAME TO HELP US!!! YES"
"WOOOOOOO- ghuhg"
"hey what's wrong?"
"i'm shot! damn ru-ss-ians"

then the whole polish side of the front goes from "WOOO" to "THOSE DAMNED SONS OF B*TCHES" and are caught in a double sided war fighting the germans on one side and the russians on the other.

So as you can see, the Russian invasion was pretty unexpecting.. Nobody really thought that Russia would make an agreement with the Germans.