List of bloodless wars

A bloodless war is generally a small conflict, crisis, or dispute between rival groups that is resolved without human death or injury, though the threat of violence may seem likely at the time. Intentional property damage, however, may still occur. Such events may be referred to as wars, though the term "war" generally implies violence. Therefore, the term "bloodless war" is somewhat of an oxymoron.

Bloodless wars

The following is a list of bloodless wars:

Name	Location	Start	End	Belligerents		References
Huéscar-Danish War, as part of the Peninsular War	Huéscar	11 November 1809	11 November 1981	Huéscar municipality, Spain	Denmark	[1]
McGowan's War	Yale, British Columbia	1858		Colony of British Columbia	American gold miners
Kettle War	River Scheldt	8 October 1784		Habsburg monarchy	Dutch Republic	[2]
Aroostook War	Maine–New Brunswick border	1838	1839	Maine	New Brunswick	[2]
Dodge City War	Dodge City, Kansas, United States	June 1883		Luke Short	Mayor Lawrence E. Deger
Red River Bridge War	Texas–Oklahoma border	1931		Texas	Oklahoma
Lobster War	Waters of Pernambuco, Brazil	1961	1963	Fourth Brazilian Republic	Fifth French Republic	[2]
Honey War	Iowa–Missouri border	1839		Iowa Territory	Missouri
Anglo-Swedish War	—	17 November 1810	18 July 1812	United Kingdom	Sweden
Three Hundred and Thirty Five Years' War	—	30 March 1651	17 April 1986	Dutch Republic	Isles of Scilly
Pig War (1859)	San Juan Islands, United States	15 June 1859	October 1859	Washington Territory	Colony of Vancouver Island
Sumdorong Chu standoff	Sumdorong Chu valley	1986	May 1987	India	China	[2]
Turbot War	Grand Banks of Newfoundland; English Channel	1994	1996	Canada	Spain
Whisky War	Hans Island	1973 [3]	2022	Canada	Denmark

Incorrectly categorized wars

The following wars are often labelled incorrectly as bloodless wars:

• Cold War: unknown number of killed
• Cod Wars: one man killed, one man wounded
• Toledo War: one man wounded
• Battle of Athens (1946): several wounded
• Conquest of New Netherland: three killed
• Invasion of the Gambia: initial invasion was bloodless, first casualties were reported during the occupation and stabilization period ^{[4] [5]}

See also

• Non-violent revolution
• Frozen conflict
• Cod Wars

References

Notes

1. "The Spanish town that was two centuries at war with Denmark".
2. Griffith, Alex (20 March 2023). "Fighting Over Lobsters, Pigs, and Kettles: Here Are the Top 10 Bloodless Wars in Human History". HistoryNet. Retrieved 10 January 2025.
3. "Whisky Wars: Denmark and Canada strike deal to end 50-year row over Arctic island". www.bbc.com. 14 June 2022. Retrieved 26 May 2024.
4. "Gambia soldiers, regional forces clash outside Jammeh home". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on 2017-04-21.
5. "Protest against ECOWAS forces in Jammeh's village claims one life". Africa News. 4 June 2017. Archived from the original on 2022-03-14.

Sources

• Gray, Ezio Maria (1917). The Bloodless War. Hodder and Stoughton. Retrieved 7 October 2017.
• Mandel, Robert (2004). Security, Strategy, and the Quest for Bloodless War. Lynne Rienner Publishers. ISBN   9781588262691 . Retrieved 7 October 2017.
• Powers, Thomas (2004). Intelligence Wars: American Secret History from Hitler to Al-Qaeda. New York Review of Books. p. Chapter 8. ISBN   9781590170984 . Retrieved 7 October 2017.
• Krauthammer, Charles (1999). "The Short, Unhappy Life of Humanitarian War". The National Interest (57): 5–8. JSTOR   42897194.