The Spanish-American War, while obviously notable for many reasons was largely a colonial/localized war. Neither side made any clear intention to attack the other nation's actual home territories, and the conflict was largely small in scale, and scattered over relevant colonies.
The distance between the United States and Spain might have been the largest factor in this, so I am interested if it is possible for a minor (say under 20,000 casualties) conflict to be fought between imperial powers in the later 19th century without expanding into a full blown multi-state conflict? I suppose the borders in Europe make continental fighting hard to avoid, but bonus points if you can do it.