AHC: Most Random Victorian War

Okay, I thought of an interesting idea: try to come up with a scenario where at least two western powers have an unbelievably random or unlikely (from OTL perspective) war in the Victorian era (preferably later era, 1865 - 1900, so no easy ACW involvements). Do whatever you need to do to make it work, but within reason.

Something like this:

On October 3rd, 1889, a Portuguese warship somehow accidentally sinks an American vessel. A very short, small war (mostly at sea and possibly undeclared) follows before international intervention ends the quarrel and everyone comes to their senses.

That's just the first thing that popped into my mind. Preferably, you should come up with something that actually is a bloody, large-scale war with strong feelings on both sides, but small-scale fights work, too.
 
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TFSmith121

Banned
Well, let's see:

  • France vs. Mexico
  • Spain vs. Chile and Peru
  • Spain vs. the Dominican Republic
  • Great Britain vs. the Orange Free State/Vrystaat
  • Great Britain vs. the Transvaal/South African Republic
  • Great Britain vs. the Transvaal/South African Republic AND Orange Free State/Vrystaat - again.
These all seem fairly random, from the perspective of a century to a century and a half later.

Best,
 
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Wasn't there one about an hour long between the UK and Zanzibar at some point?

Best,


Anglo-Zanzibar War of 1896. More precisely, the Anglo-Zanzibar War of (06:02 - 06:40 UTC, 27th August) 1896. Lasted all of 38 minutes, shortest war in recorded history.
 
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Redhand

Banned
Russia and Denmark somehow get in a fight over maritime boundaries and a particularly foolish Danish captain seizes a Russian merchant vessel. Tsar Nicholas and his advisors see a chance to gain some islands in the Baltic as well as some new trade posts. The Danish end up caving once a favor is called in with Cousin Willy for military access and the prospects of an invasion force the Danish to give in.

Sounds very Victoria II. That's off the top of my head.
 
How about this:

1) 1848. Hecker's uprising in Baden was met with force and his revolutionary army suffers a defeat in Kandern to the southwest of the country.

2) Unlike OTL, though, Badenese troops pursue the fleeing remnants into Switzerland, violating Swiss neutrality in the process.

3) Russia sees the 'Kandern Incident' as a perfect excuse to crush the 1848 Uprisings in Germany. On the pretext of upholding Switzerland's neutrality as recognized in the Treaty of Vienna, Russia presents demands to the Badenese government which roll back all gains made by the revolutionaries.

4) This sets off a powerful reaction amongst liberal Germans, most of whom were already itching for a fight with Russia over Poland. Baden defiantly refuses Russian demands and appeals to the Frankfurt Parliament for help.

5) Russia declares war on Baden, which causes the Frankfurt Parliament to declare war on Russia. (The remnant of) Austria follows a while later. Hungary (semi-independent at the time) maintains neutrality but maneuvers towards a benevolent stance with Russia.

So this would be a war that happens pretty much out of the blue (Russia vs. Baden) but is fuelled by long-term considerations and quickly escalates into a general Central European war, with lots of room for Italian/French input.

Alternatively, as you post in your OP you can just have some random fishing vessel get sunk by some other random warship.
 
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Russia and Denmark somehow get in a fight over maritime boundaries and a particularly foolish Danish captain seizes a Russian merchant vessel. Tsar Nicholas and his advisors see a chance to gain some islands in the Baltic as well as some new trade posts. The Danish end up caving once a favor is called in with Cousin Willy for military access and the prospects of an invasion force the Danish to give in.

Sounds very Victoria II. That's off the top of my head.

I also thought of such a scenario... perhaps during the 1857 Copenhagen Convention the Great Powers make the Oresund international waters but neglect to make provision for the others as well. Then one winter the Oresund freezes over, causing a Russian ship to divert to the Belts and get sunk by Denmark, which gives you the pretext for a Danish-Russian war.

To be honest, the most likely timeframe for that would be 1857-1866, the latter date being when Dagmar of Denmark marries Tsar Alexander III. It will definitely escalate into a larger war, since I don't think Britain will stand for Russian bullying of Denmark (since it would have pretty bad implications for the Dardanelles).
 
What about an on going war with landlocked Austria and Bolivia.

After the Brazilian colony of Portugal, rebels against the crown and declares war on their former masters in the Brazilian Revolutionary War, 1820.
Portugal uses her allies of Spain and Austria, while Brazil forms ties with Mexico, Peru and newly independent Bolivia.

this war goes on for 7 years in which time Austria looses its coast line to the Mediterannian to the Ottoman Empire and Bolivia see their coast line take away by Chile.

When the Republic of Brazil wins their Independence, Spain and Portugal signs a peace treaty with Brazil and the other nation, while Austria has only agreed peace informally instead of in writing, until Brazil sends a diplomat in 1854, Mexico in 1860 and Peru in 1882.

So still in 1900, Bolivia and Austria are at war for 80 years. :D
 
  • France vs. Mexico
  • Spain vs. Chile and Peru
  • Spain vs. the Dominican Republic
  • Great Britain vs. the Transvaal
  • Great Britain vs. the South African Republic
  • Great Britain vs. the Transvaal and the South African Republic - again.
These all seem fairly random, from the perspective of a century to a century and a half later.

Best,

Just a sticking point: Transvaal and the South African Republic (Z.A.R.) is the same place. It was the Z.A.R and the Orange Free State that went up against the British.
 
Well the Second Opium War was pretty odd in retrospect. France, Britain, and the USA invade part of China to protect England's right to sell drugs to the Chinese.
 
Well the Second Opium War was pretty odd in retrospect. France, Britain, and the USA invade part of China to protect England's right to sell drugs to the Chinese.
To protect freedom of trade.
Britain would have been quiet happy selling more conventional products to China, instead of opium, but the Chinese government forbade all such imports... and if you're going to have to resort to smuggling anyway, in order to obtain the local currency with which to purchase the exports that you want, then trading in a high-value/low-bulk product whose buyers can plausibly pass it off as domestically-produced rather than imported (because there was significant production of opium within China, too, and the authorities weren't really trying to stop that at that stage...) makes sense. Also, bear in mind that importing opium into Britain itself -- and I'm fairly sure into the USA too; not sure about France -- was perfectly legal in those days.
 

Morty Vicar

Banned
This is a bit out there, probably ASB, not an official war, but it occurred to me as a humorous interlude..

In [insert year] the commanding officer at the British Army base in [somewhere in canada] received an urgent message from one of his outposts. The message read simply 'overrun by caribou. Unable to rendezvous'. The commanding officer, Charles Fordyke a young and enthusiastic, if inexperienced man, of typically good education (as was common at the time, for young members of the aristocracy to go straight into the ranks of army officers) had been somewhat bored in his first few weeks at the post. He seized this chance for battle, and to make a name for himself. Gathering his forces, he set out immediately. Ever wary of spies and loose tongues, he kept the mission a secret, even from his fellow officers. And so they set out on their long mission, to protect the outpost from the attack by some vicious savages. Officer Fordyke had never met any of the natives before, he had only read of them in some adventure books he secretly still loved to read in the evenings. He was excited but also nervous of his first encounter. What would this mysterious Caribou tribe be like? Would they sacrifice their prisoners, maybe even eat them as some were said to do? Would they scalp them, burn them alive, or sacrifice them to some heathen demon?

After a few days, they reached the forlorn outpost. They remarked on the hoofprints in the snow, the bloodstains scattered here and there, some streaks of blood showed where bodies had been dragged away into cabins or over the hill. A lone smouldering fire showed where a small makeshift camp had been up to an hour beforehand. The soldiers shivered as they thought what meat had been cooked on this fire.

In an instant the cold north wind changed direction, and they presently became aware of distant screams and chants. Rising to the occasion and his rank, Fordyke led his small band of troops over the hill. As he reach the summit he gasped, then turned back quickly bidding his officers to follow suit. But before he had even turned back, a young private had also reached the summit, and burst into uproarious laughter. Despite Fordykes protestations, others came to see what was causing this great mirth, and behold, as far as the eye could see, were scores and scores of elk. Presently a voice surprised them "Aye Sir" said the man, "did you get my message? This lot here's only just done passing by our cabin, couldn't even open the door for a week! Lucky we had a couple shot early on or we'd have half starved to death! What brings you here then?"

And so ends the story of perhaps Britains most embarassing 'incident', told and retold by conscripts over many long, boring Canadian winters. The incident became somewhat of a running joke, with many incidents being blamed on the 'Caribou' tribe. Soon after Fordyke was reposted to the East Indies, where he led a quiet life but was still occasionally badgered by colleagues reminiscing on his now infamous sojourn. His former battalion was nicknamed the Caribou, and even took a Caribou as its mascot for a short period.
 
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