The Second World War is divided into many periods. At the very beginning of the conflict, despite the fact that Britain and France declared war on Germany, full-scale military action was never deployed. First in Western, and then in Russian historiography, this episode began to be called the "strange war."

The appearance of the term

The term "strange war" is a loose translation of the American journalistic cliché Phoney War. The phrase appeared in the US press in the early days of the European conflict. The literal translation of the phrase is fake, or fake war.

After Adolf Hitler came to power in Germany, he began a policy of uniting the lands in which the German-speaking majority lived. In 1938 it merged with Austria. A few months later, the Sudetenland in Czechoslovakia was occupied.

Hitler's aggressive actions frightened his neighbors. Poland was next under attack. But she received the former German provinces, which allowed the country to reach the Baltic Sea. The Fuhrer demanded the return of these lands. The Polish government refused to make concessions to its neighbor. For greater security, the Warsaw authorities entered into an alliance with France and England. According to the new document, these countries were to come to the aid of Poland in the event of German aggression.

The wait for the war did not take long. years Germany attacked Poland. Two days later, France and Great Britain declared war on the Third Reich in accordance with their agreements with Warsaw. In Poland, they hoped that the help of the Western Allies would divert as many German divisions as possible. In fact, everything turned out quite the opposite.

Siegfried Line

Polish diplomats in London and Paris called on the Allies to launch an immediate general offensive to prevent the Germans from seizing the strategic initiative. It soon became clear that Britain and France had not even prepared a plan of action in the event of a large-scale conflict. "Strange War" showed this in the most unattractive light.

At the beginning of September, the Allied generals decided that mobilization would be carried out for another two weeks, after which the French would begin an offensive on the Siegfried Line. This was the name of the large-scale fortification system that was erected in the western part of Germany. 630 kilometers of the line of defense were necessary in order to secure the country from the French offensive. There were concrete fortifications, as well as structures needed to protect against tanks and infantry.

Maginot Line

France also had its own line of defense, built in case of war with Germany. It was called the Maginot Line. It was on these lines that the troops were stationed while the "strange war" was waged. This ran counter to the promises to the Poles about active assistance in the fight against the Germans.

The German command redeployed 43 divisions to its western borders. They had to defend themselves until Poland surrendered. In Germany, they rightly decided that a war on two fronts would be too difficult for the country.

Thus, for France, the only way to help Poland was to launch an offensive on a narrow stretch of the border with the Third Reich. In Paris, they could not give the order to the troops to move through Belgium and the Netherlands, because in that case it violated their declared neutrality. Therefore, the Germans placed their main forces on a 144-kilometer stretch from to the Rhine. The Siegfried Line was surrounded here.It was an almost impregnable line.

Allied inaction

Until September 17, the "strange war" is local battles between two countries in limited areas. They arose almost spontaneously and did not in any way affect the general state of affairs at the front. The mobilization of France was delayed due to the general obsolescence of the conscription system. The recruits did not even have time to complete the initial fighter courses necessary to survive in battle. Another reason to delay the offensive for Paris was the inability of Great Britain to quickly transfer troops to the continent. The "strange war" continued while Poland surrendered city after city. The invasion of the USSR also began on September 17, after which the republic finally fell, sandwiched between two aggressors. During this time, the "strange war" on the Western Front did not bring any problems to Germany: the Third Reich was methodically engaged in conquering defenseless neighbors. After the occupation of Poland, operations began against Denmark and Norway.

Saar offensive

Meanwhile, the French finally launched an offensive that became known in historiography as the Saar. It was part of a campaign that was a "strange war". Determining the plan of the operation fell on the shoulders of Gustave Gamelin. French troops advanced only 20-30 kilometers in the first week.

The full-scale French offensive was to begin on 20 September. However, on the 17th, it was decided to postpone it due to the hopeless position of Poland. In fact, the Western allies capitulated without starting a serious war against the Reich, freeing the hands of Hitler, who could calmly bring his affairs in other regions to a logical end. This was the result of the "strange war". The definition of this indecisive campaign of the allies was given in the United States, where the press was outraged by the passivity of France and Great Britain.

Plan "Gelb"

The Germans launched their first counteroffensive on 16 October. In the course of this operation, the French left all the few occupied positions and again found themselves at the turn of the Maginot Line. Time passed, but the same "strange war" continued. What is this, many historians tried to answer already in peacetime. They all came to the conclusion that the situation at the front had changed when the Wehrmacht began to implement the Gelb plan. It was a large-scale invasion operation in Belgium, the Netherlands and France. On the day of the German offensive (May 10, 1940), the "strange war" ended. This definition was stuck behind several months of inaction of the Allies. During this time, Germany was able to capture several European countries and secure its rear in order to start decisive military actions against France, which ended on June 22, 1940 with the signing. According to this document, France was occupied.

Even if it lasts only a few minutes or hours or happens bloodlessly. Even if in the hours of alarming calm, when the guns are sleeping and the muses are awakening, the enemy soldiers go to visit the enemy, talk for life, drink and sing songs about the homeland, mothers and brides. As it was in Spain in the years of the Reconquista, when, each for his own, Muslim Moors, Sephardic Jews and Catholics from the north fought against each other. In that war, there were three days off per week: Friday for the faithful, Saturday for the Jewish Orthodox, and Sunday for the Christians. On the weekend, sectarian strife subsided, and the soldiers of the warring armies condescended to an international spree, since the Iberian Peninsula has always cooked well meat and wine. And, despite the Monday hangover, the white knights in the final still drove out from the lands of the future Spain those who were keen to swing a sword, but disdained to use a pig.

Or do you remember the anecdote of the late 1980s about how Estonia withdrew from the USSR, declared war on Finland and instantly surrendered?

Jokes are jokes, but such very unusual wars also happen. Moreover, very often history does not teach anyone anything, and repeats itself, like a stupid squirrel, playing kilometers in the wheel of Samsara.

Be equal! Attention! Let's fight?

1. Anglo-Zanzibar War of 1896

This is probably the shortest war between the two countries for all time, it lasted only ... 38 minutes and earned a mention in the Guinness Book of Records.

The conflict broke out like dry grass on a hot day on August 27, 1896. The British were upset by the sudden death of their favorite puppet toy - the Zanzibar sultan Hamad bin Tuwayni, whose throne was immediately taken by Khalid bin Barghash. The gentlemen did not like Khalid, the puppeteers from Albion saw Hamud bin Muhammad at the royal post. By law, the Zanzibari were required to consult the British Consul with the CIA before appointing a ruler. The disobedience of the islanders became a belli's case, Barghash was ordered by 9 o'clock in the morning on August 27 to collect his belongings and leave the palace. Instead, the "flabbergasted" monarch began to prepare for armed resistance with a single cannon on the only ship "Glasgow" and 2,800 personnel. By the indicated time, the British brought three cruisers to the island and began to shoot at the Sultan's palace. The Zanzibari ship was already swimming at the bottom by that time. After 38 minutes of frenzied shelling, the red flag was lowered over the palace as a sign of surrender. Khalid's supporters in the "breakfast war" lost 500 people killed and wounded, and the British lost one, and then by accident.

2. The Pig War of 1859

There was a time when the young USA, very young Canada, amazing Russian colonies and what remained of the former power of the United Kingdom - the so-called British North America (today it is part of the USA and Canada) - managed to get along on the North American mainland. In 1859, the Americans and the British decided to quarrel over the San Juan Islands in the Vancouver area. They were considered a draw, a mess, right?

On June 15, 1859, a resident of the disputed islands, an American farmer, Lyman Cutlar, shot a large black boar in his garden, which brazenly ate his potatoes, and not for the first time. It turned out that the boar was the property of a certain Griffin, an Irishman who received land from the British. Cutlar offered Griffin 10 bucks in compensation, he demanded a hundred in return. The following neighbor dialogue took place between the "limit":

Your pig ate my tubers!

These are your problems, how to hide your tubers from my pig!

In the course of swearing and gossip, the British tried to arrest Catlar, to which the American settlers reacted in a purely American way - they called on the army for help.

Brigadier General William Harney landed on San Juan Island with 66 soldiers. The British decided that the American self-willedists had decided to occupy the entire island for land, and sent three ships to help Griffin. Say, "we will avenge them for independence." By August 10, 461 Americans with 14 guns and 2,140 British with 70 naval guns were gazing at each other with fierce hostility. Everyone swore, spat, showed their asses to the enemy, but no one fired, waiting for an order. This is discipline, you have to learn!

The Governor of Vancouver was in a smart mood and ordered to defeat (literally!) The Americans and, if possible, capture them. But the British Admiral Robert Baines judged: "Really two great nations will be killed because of some pig !?" Independently of each other, both sides decided - to hold the defense, but not to shoot. The warring parties have one language, so curses and brutal banter rumbled back and forth for several days. So it was tempting to shoot at the swearing enemy ...

The fate of the stupid war was decided soon, when news of it reached Washington and London. The politicians are a little crazy about what is happening on the periphery. US President Bukanan and Governor Douglas met on a no-man's island and hushed up the case. As a result of the negotiations, it was decided to leave everything as it is. And only 12 years later, the disputed territories were finally divided between the predatory States and Canada, which was gaining power.

3. Stopitsot Three Hundred and Thirty-Five Years War

You have not been cleared, this war lasted 335 years and did not cause a single physical sacrifice.

In Dutch, the name of this bloodless conflict sounds like Driehonderdvijfendertigjarige Oorlog. This is the confrontation between the Kingdom of the Netherlands and the Scilly Archipelago, the southernmost point of England, located in the Irish Sea:

A stupid, unreal, lazy war lasted from 1651 to (you won't believe it!) 1986. A stagnant conflict began when, after the Second English Civil War, the remnants of the executed king's troops withdrew to the Isles of Scilly. The Dutch fleet acted as an ally of Cromwell's forces, and the royalists in the vicinity of the islands hunted by robbing peaceful Dutch ships with goods and girls. As soon as all of Britain, except for Scilly, was under parliamentarian friends, the Dutch decided to declare a decisive "fa" to the rebellious archipelago. In June 1651, the royalists were driven out of the islands by the revolutionaries, the Dutch fleet peacefully sailed home, and no one guessed to declare the war over.

In 1985, the chairman of the Isles of Scilly Council, historian scientist Roy Duncan, wrote a letter to the Dutch embassy in London, asking them to deal with the "myth" of unceasing war. The diplomats confirmed the discrepancy and on April 17, 1986, a Peace Treaty was signed on the islands.

But in fact, according to all legal norms, the Dutch at any moment could afford to drown the sweetest possessions of Scilly in blood ...

In the most peaceful conditions, in a soft armchair or warm bed, in the shadow of everyday life and the accompaniment of an anti-war beat, it is good to watch newsreels about the war on TV. Interesting, almost like the World Cup in football and ice hockey at the same time. Every day, if you switch channels diligently, you can see Hitler on a blue screen. Know that the moment he, the bastard, throws up his hand in the "zig hail", somewhere on the planet, someone's blood is pouring. This naked and proud black man with "Kalashnikov" came to the neighboring village to "fight" for his freedom. Dress up at the same time ...

The wars that burn and rot Africa, sorry for cynicism, are quite common - mountains of corpses, hunger, anger, unmotivated cruelty and meaninglessness of what is happening. We will continue the story about those armed conflicts, which are very - in their different realities and parameters.

4. War in Transnistria 1992

In this war, which lasted almost 5 months and took 1000 people to the graves, officers and soldiers of the warring parties fired at each other during the day, and drank together at night, profusely remembering those who were killed the day before. Local military and civilians called the Transnistrian conflict "Drunken War".

After the collapse of the USSR, centripetal whims seized, among others, and not particularly cold-blooded Moldova. Two-thirds of the population of the small republic, those who knew the Moldovan-Romanian language, wanted to join Romania: no, no, but the West. The slogan was: "Moldova - for Moldovans!" Those who did not know the language and worked in industrial cities and towns on the banks of the Dniester wanted to go to Russia or Ukraine. red and white, enough for everyone. So they quarreled, on an uncertain head. They shot, cut, bombed, and after sunset they figured out who respects whom more ...

The unrecognized Transnistrian Republic (PMR) took shape back in 1990. After the war, peacekeepers were brought into its territory, after which there were too many weapons left in the territories controlled by Tiraspol. Because of what one of the articles of the PMR's shadow export in the second half of the 90s became ... hired semi-wild killers with their "guns". But that's another topic and another pain.

5. The Great War Against Emu

Emu is a large flightless bird like an ostrich found in. In November 1932, in the west of the continent, unusually dry and hot weather stood out, the animals had practically nothing to eat, so 20 thousand emus went berserk. Hungry birds began to take over human settlements. The operation against the birds lasted a week and was led by an artilleryman, Major Meridith. The officer lifted the soldiers into his rifle, equipping each with two Lewis machine guns and 10,000 live rounds.

However, not particularly aimed, or even just drunken firing at packs of birds that are capable of running at a speed of 50 km / h, did not give the expected results. Even the wounded emus managed to escape beyond the horizon.

After a week of inhuman actions, the killed ostriches were counted, there were only about a thousand. The operation did not justify the costs, and Major Meridith, in a truly soldier-like manner, compared the birds to the courageous Zulu from South Africa and tried to assure the farmers that the "unbroken" emus were all dead from the bullet wounds they received. The progressive forces flared with indignation, and a few days later the Australian Secretary of Defense resigned. For they laughed at him too loudly. To the whole "Commonwealth", to the whole world.

6. The 1969 football war

"La Guerra del Football" lasted exactly 100 hours, and El Salvador fought in it with Honduras. The conflict was caused by political quarrels between the countries due to the active illegal migration of Salvadorans to Honduras. By 1969, 300 thousand citizens of El Salvador lived and worked in the neighboring country, they were oppressed and tried to deport, not hesitating in tactical methods. The powers snapped their teeth at each other and sharpened their claws, and the press enthusiastically added tar to the honey.

Belli's case was not political tensions, but sports. The national teams of El Salvador and Honduras contested participation in the Football World Cup (Mexico 1970). The first qualifying match was played in Tegucigalpa, Honduras won, 1: 0. Immediately after the match, an 18-year-old fan from San Salvador shot herself and was recognized as a martyr, followed by the entire country's football team in the procession, as well as the president himself. In the second game, in the capital of El Salvador, the hosts won 3-0, and the city was filled with fighting fans and burning cars.

10 days later, on June 26, 1969, a knockout match took place in Mexico City, and the Salvadorans won again, 3-2 in overtime. You can imagine what the people of Honduras did to the Salvadoran illegal immigrants. On the same evening, the state "Es" severed diplomatic relations with the country "Ge", and 17 thousand refugees from the burned villages of Honduras appeared on the Salvadoran border.

On 14 July, civilian aircraft bombers flew out of El Salvador to bomb neighboring airfields. By the evening of the next day, Salvadoran warriors occupied eight Honduran cities and felt themselves victors, but that was not the case. Real warplanes flew in from the north of Honduras and began to burn enemy bases with napalm. Nicaraguan dictator Somoza actively helped neighbors, El Salvador was virtually doomed ...

On July 20, under pressure from the Organization of American States, the bloodshed ended. El Salvador, who "first started" protested, for which he was punished with economic sanctions. Which subsequently led the power to a civil war involving American and Soviet weapons.

The total losses of the warring countries amounted to about 3 thousand people. El Salvador's team did not score a single goal at the 1970 World Cup, blowing dry to Belgium, Mexico and the Soviet Union.

7. War of 1812-1815 between the USA, England and Indians

This is the strangest war in the history of the United States and is remembered by Americans as "Mr. Madison's War." This conflict can also be dubbed "the war of the damaged telephone", i.e. idle telegraph. For two days before the outbreak of hostilities, the British government decided to revise the legislation that caused the war. If there were telegraph communication between England and America, bloody clashes could have been avoided. Here he is, the instigator of the war, President Madison, admire:

It turned out that Napoleon Bonaparte blocked British maritime trade in Europe, and that in response - French ports. Until then, when this happened in 1806, the United States grew rich in exports to Europe, supplying raw materials and goods to the warring parties. And that's bad luck ...

While the French did not allow American ships to enter ports in Europe, Britain continued to control the oceans. But the British sailors preferred not to fight, but to desert to America, so the British military department began to "hunt" the US merchant ships in search of native Englishmen who could be recruited or, if they "blather", hung on the yard. To which President Jefferson expelled all British warships from American harbors and banned the supply of British goods to the US markets, and vice versa. Relations between the great maritime powers began to clearly bitter, they began to look at the States as Napoleon's accomplices.

Five years later, the Americans attempted to negotiate with the British to lift the mutual embargo. There was silence in response, and President Madison decided to prepare for war. At the time, Congress was dominated by aggressive militarists from the southern and western states. They barely managed to win new lands from the Indians, and therefore they drove themselves and the voters into the heads that the aborigines were being helped ... by the disguised Englishmen.

On June 18, 1812, war was declared. Two days earlier, the British parliament lifted all economic sanctions against the United States, but Washington did not have time to find out about this. Needless to say, what offense was caused by the declaration of war in London?

Oddly enough, the struggle for freedom on the seas began with ... a land attack on Canada. The British and Indians fought back decisively and the operation failed. In 1814, Napoleon was pacified, and England was able to send 15 thousand soldiers to Canada. Fierce battles on the border continued, the British almost captured New York, and visited Washington, having gone and set on fire the White House and the Capitol. And on January 8, 1815, the most useless battle took place, near New Orleans. And again the slow mail was to blame - on New Year's, the British offered America a truce, but the dispatch was too late, which cost the lives of one and a half thousand British soldiers. In December of the same year, the countries exhausted by the war signed a peace treaty in Ghent (Belgium). They managed to forget about the true reasons for the confrontation and both sides began to consider themselves victors - and this against the backdrop of emaciated economies.

Ah, there would be a telegraph ...

As long as humanity exists, as much it fights with its own kind. They say that the history of the existence of civilization has about 6 thousand wars. Wars of the most varied: and serious, and not very, and funny, and awkward.

They all erupted for different reasons, had different durations, but they all were similar in one thing - human casualties. Fans of statistics, classifications, various comparisons and comparisons do not get tired of looking for common features in world wars and sorting out military conflicts "on the shelves."

On one shelf they have the shortest wars, on the other - the longest, on the third - absurd (such as a pig war, ostrich war, drunken war, football and other "funny" wars). On one of these shelves there are 10 wars that have broken out for the most frivolous reasons. These are the strangest wars in the entire history of human society.

War between Troy and Greece

It began, as you know, with the historical abduction of the beautiful Elena by Paris, and her export from Sparta to Troy. As a result of such a rash act by Paris, all of Elena's former suitors went to war against Troy. In the Trojan War, both sides fought “to the death”. The result of this confrontation was the huge loss of soldiers on both sides.

The Peach War

Once upon a time, the British peacefully coexisted in Manhattan next to the local Indians (a peace treaty was signed between them). But one fine day, for some reason, a high-ranking Englishman got tired of such a life, and he figured out how to get rid of such a neighborhood once and for all. Allegedly, this same Englishman caught an Indian girl stealing peaches in his garden. The final was a foregone conclusion: every one of the Indians was cut out.

4-year war between the Vikings

It was a 4-year war between two related Viking tribes (modern Norwegians and Swedes). The massacre was caused by the theft of a cheap pearl bridal necklace.

"Chronic" Spanish-French wars

There were at least four of them. These wars are "chronic" because they happened with enviable constancy and regularity because of women. The kings took turns seducing other people's wives or mistresses, and "blood" feuds began.

4-year confrontation against the Portuguese

For 4 years, the British and the Spaniards confronted the Portuguese. The "bone of contention" was a small island with a fortress, which the British fiercely defended. And the Portuguese, not knowing about the real size of the island (it was just the size of a besieged fortress, just the scale on the map was incorrectly plotted), for four whole years tried to conquer this piece of land!

Brazilian "war" between two high-ranking officials

They fought for 3.5 years over four boxes of Cuban smuggled cigars!

The bloodiest war over ... a beard

It was a bloody war that lasted three years in medieval China and killed 15 thousand soldiers and officers. The reason for this massacre was the thoughtless act of a Chinese aristocrat. He was so carried away by an argument with another aristocrat that he did not notice how he tugged at his beard. And this is the worst offense in China!

War over the cow that destroyed two African tribes

The war began in 1834 and lasted for two years. The reason for the massacre remained unclear. It seemed like a representative of one tribe argued with a representative of another over a cow, which, as it seemed to him, had drowned in a swamp, although he was not completely sure of this. He also had the idea that wild animals had eaten the cow. But the shaman, trying to resolve the dispute, assured the disputants that the cow had simply been stolen. While the leaders of the tribes littered, the tribes destroyed each other.

250-year war that killed 150,000 Japanese

The war was provoked by ignorance of the rules of etiquette during negotiations. Allegedly ignorant ambassadors, having brought a very influential shogun a gift in the form of brocade shoes embroidered with rubies, stopped in the wrong place (half a meter further from the throne), and got up from their knees not when necessary (half a minute earlier). And off we go: the samurai and representatives of the shogun fought for life and death, a blood grievance, after all! As a result, a mass of victims and two-thirds of the island of Hokkaido burned to the ground.

500-year turtle war

They say it began because one of the foreign guests of the Assyrian king did not bother to pick up the inlaid tortoiseshell comb dropped by the drunk queen.

This is what she is, a dozen of the most frivolous wars!

Wars were born simultaneously with the birth of human civilization. They began for a variety of reasons, lasted for different periods of time, and often, as a result, claimed the lives of entire nations. But sometimes the reason for the wars was events that were absolutely impossible in their absurdity. It is about such the most strange and the most ridiculous wars and we will tell.

1. War with the emu

Emu- large flightless birds of Australia, previously they were referred to as the ostrich. So, by 1932, the number of these birds on the continent reached 20 thousand individuals. For some reason, they were perceived by the Australian army as a threat, and the army declared war on the emu. For a week, groups of submachine gunners were running around the desert hunting for birds. During this time, 2.5 thousand emus were killed, after which the soldiers refused to kill the almost defenseless enemy. Although even after several hits, the emus could run much faster than the loaded submachine gunners.

2. Transnistrian conflict

The collapse of the USSR provoked many conflicts on its fragments. Transnistria became one of the hot spots in 1992. For 4 months, two armies fired at each other during the day, and at night the soldiers gathered on the no-man's land and drank to friendship. All participants considered this war the strangest and most ridiculous, although it claimed 1300 human lives.

3. El Salvador vs Honduras

In 1969, a football match took place between Honduras and El Salvador. The Salvadoran team lost, which was the last straw against the background of tense relations between the countries. On June 14, the losing side begins the invasion, which lasted 4 days before the intervention of the Organization of American States. During this time, 3 thousand people were killed, mainly the civilian population of Honduras.

4. The Long War

In 1651, the Netherlands declared war on the Isle of Scilly, which lies off the southwest coast of Great Britain. No one remembers the cause of the war, but the actual military action never began. Even the very state of war was remembered only in 1986, when it was officially completed. the most long war. And by the way, without a single sacrifice.

5. War over the pig

A British soldier shot a pig on American soil in 1859. The Americans were so imbued with what had happened that they declared war, which lasted 4 months. Military action did not take longer than the development of plans for a terrible revenge for the mumps, and everything ended with an apology from the British side.

6. War in Maine

After the hostilities of 1812, Maine remained in the hands of the British army, although there were practically no military there. But in 1838, American lumberjacks cut down a forest on British soil. This time, the British were offended and began to pull troops into the conflict area. The States also began to build up their military presence, which was strengthened by the supply service, sending a sea of ​​pork and the most the best beans. As a result, the British forces were subjected to regular "gas attacks" and "shelling". There were no other hostilities, but 550 people from both sides died from accidents and diseases in 11 months.

7. Bulgaria v. Greece

After the First World War, relations between Greece and Bulgaria could not be called warm. They were especially tense on the border in the Petrich area. It was here that on October 22, 1925, a disaster struck. In a race for a stray dog, a Greek soldier ran into Bulgarian territory, where he was shot by local troops. The Greeks declared war and invaded Petrich the next day, killing over 50 Bulgarian border guards. Under pressure from the League of Nations, Greece ended the war in 10 days, withdrew its troops and paid 45 thousand pounds to Bulgaria in compensation.

8. Paraguay against everyone

Francisco Solano Lopez - President of Paraguay - put his talents on an equal footing with Napoleon. He also considered himself an excellent military leader, to demonstrate which he declared war at the same time on Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay in 1864. For 6 years the most senseless war killed more than 400 thousand people, Paraguay lost almost 90% of the male population.

9. Battle of the bucket

In 1325, Modena soldiers stole a wooden bucket from one of the wells of Bologna during a raid. Thus began the twelve-year war between the city-states. By the way, the trophy bucket is still kept in Modena in the museum.

10. Lijard and France

During a visit to France in 1883, Alphonse XII, the Spanish king, was insulted with the connivance of the French government. This so hurt the inhabitants of Lijar, a village in the south of Spain, that all its 300 inhabitants, led by Mayor Don Miguel Garcia Saez, declared war on France.
93 years later, in 1981, the city council finally ended the war by agreeing to a peace treaty with France for its warm welcome to King Juan Carlos of Spain.

Incredible facts

Military history knows many cases of cruelty, treachery and treachery.

Some cases are striking in their scale, others - in their belief in absolute impunity, one thing is obvious: for some reason, some people who have fallen into harsh military conditions for some reason decide that the law is not written to them, and they have the right to dispose of other people's destinies, forcing people to suffer ...

Below are some of the most eerie realities that took place during wartime.

1. Nazi children's factories

The photo below shows the baptism ceremony of a small child who was "brought out" by Aryan selection.

During the ceremony, one of the SS men holds a dagger over the baby, and the newly-made mother gives the Nazis oath of allegiance.

It is important to note that this baby was one of the tens of thousands of babies who participated in the project. "Lebensborn". However, not all children received life in this children's factory, some were kidnapped, and they were only raised there.

Factory of true Aryans

The Nazis believed that there were few Aryans with blond hair and blue eyes in the world, so a decision was made, by the way, by the same people who were responsible for the Holocaust, to launch the "Lebensborn" project, which dealt with breeding purebred Aryans, which in the future were supposed to join the Nazi ranks.

It was planned to settle the children in beautiful houses, which were appropriated after the mass extermination of the Jews.

And it all started with the fact that after the occupation of Europe, mixing with the indigenous people was actively encouraged among the SS. The main thing that the number of the Nordic race grew.

Pregnant unmarried girls, within the framework of the Lebensborn program, were placed in houses with all amenities, where they gave birth and raised their children. Thanks to this care, between 16,000 and 20,000 Nazis were raised during the war years.

But, as it turned out later, this amount was not enough, so other measures were taken. The Nazis began to forcibly take away from mothers children with the right hair and eye color.

It is worth adding that many of the embezzled children were orphans... Of course, the light skin color and the absence of parents is not an excuse for the Nazis' activities, but, nevertheless, at that difficult time, the children had something to eat and a roof over their heads.

Some parents gave up their children in order not to end their lives in the gas chamber. Those who were most suitable for the given parameters were selected literally immediately, without unnecessary persuasion.

At the same time, no genetic examinations were carried out; children were selected based only on visual information. Those selected were included in the program, or they were sent to some kind of German family. Those who did not fit ended their lives in concentration camps.

Poles say that due to this program, the country has lost about 200,000 children. But it is unlikely that it will ever be possible to find out the exact figure, because many children have successfully settled in German families.

Cruelty during the war

2. Hungarian angels of death

Do not think that only the fascists committed atrocities during the war. The pedestal of perverted war nightmares was shared by ordinary Hungarian women.

It turns out that in order to commit crimes it is not at all necessary to serve in the army. These lovely keepers of the home front, joining forces, sent almost three hundred people to the next world.

It all started during the First World War. It was then that many women living in the village of Nagirev, whose husbands went to the front, began to take an interest in the prisoners of war of the allied armies who were stationed nearby.

Women liked this kind of affair, and the prisoners of war, apparently, too. But when their husbands started returning from the war, something abnormal began to happen. One by one the soldiers died... Because of this, the village was named the "killing area".

The murders began in 1911, when a midwife named Fuzekas appeared in the village. She taught women who were temporarily left without husbands, get rid of the consequences of contact with lovers.

After the soldiers began returning from the war, the midwife suggested that the wives boil sticky paper designed to kill flies in order to obtain arsenic, and then add it to food.

Arsenic

Thus, they were able to commit a huge number of murders, and women remained unpunished due to the fact that the village official was the midwife's brother, and in all the death certificates of the victims he wrote "not killed".

The method became so popular that almost any, even the most insignificant problem, began to be solved with the help of arsenic soup... When the neighboring settlements finally realized what was the matter, fifty criminals managed to kill three hundred people, including unwanted husbands, lovers, parents, children, relatives and neighbors.

Hunting for people

3. Parts of the human body as a trophy

It is important to say that during the war, many countries carried out propaganda among their soldiers, within the framework of which it was implanted in their brains that the enemy is not a man.

Distinguished in this regard and the American soldiers, whose psyche was influenced very actively. Among them, the so-called "hunting licenses ".

One of them sounded like this: Japanese hunting season is open! There are no restrictions! Hunters are rewarded! Free ammo and equipment! Join the ranks of the American Marine Corps!

Therefore, there is nothing surprising in the fact that American soldiers during the battle of Guadalcanal, killing the Japanese, cut off their ears and kept them as souvenirs.

Moreover, necklaces were made from the teeth of the slain, their skulls were sent home as mementos, and their ears were often worn around the neck or on a belt.

In 1942, the problem became so widespread that the command was forced to issue a decree which forbade the appropriation of enemy body parts in the form of a trophy. But the measures were belated, because the soldiers had already fully mastered the technology of cleaning and butchering skulls.

The soldiers loved to be photographed with them.

This "fun" is firmly entrenched. Even Roosevelt was forced to abandon the written knife, which was made from the bone of a Japanese man's leg. It seemed like the whole country is going crazy.

The light at the end of the tunnel came after a violent reaction from the readers of Life newspaper, who were angry and disgusted by the published photographs (and there were countless of them). The reaction of the Japanese was the same.

The most violent woman

4. Irma Grese - human (?) - hyena

What is it that can happen in a concentration camp that can terrify even a person who has seen a lot?

Irma Grese was a Nazi warden who experienced sexual arousal while torturing people.

According to external indicators, Irma was the ideal of an Aryan teenager, because she perfectly corresponded to the established standards of beauty, was physically strong and ideologically prepared.

Inside, it was a man - a time bomb.

This is Irma without her paraphernalia. However, she almost always walked with a gem-studded whip, a pistol, and several hungry dogs who were ready to obey her every order.

This woman could shoot at any person at her whim, whipped the prisoners and kicked them. From this she was very excited.

Irma loved her job very much. She received incredible physical pleasure, cutting the breasts of prisoners - women to the point of bleeding. The wounds became inflamed, as a rule, surgical intervention was required, which was performed without anesthesia.