Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1904-03-24
TRlvIkL CAUSES OF WARS.
Small Differences That Have Plunged
Nations Into Long and Bloody
Conflicts.

Conflicts.
Nothing is more amazing in the his
tory of nations than the absurdly triv-
ial causes which have been sufficient to
let loose the dogs of war and deluge con-
tinents in blood.
Many an American has started an in i
cipient riot in his household by appear
ing unannounced with a clean shave
after having worn a hirsute adornment
for a number of years, but it is almost
incredible at first glance that W great
nations should have plunged into an in
termittent warfare lasting 300 years
from the same cause. Yet nothing more
than this was the primary source OF
three centuries of war between England
and France, says the Chicago Tribune.
In order to please the archbishop of
Rouen, Louis VII. of France consented
to remove his besrd, in common with
his subjects, and present a clean shaven
face to the world. 1t was a disastrous
shave, for it led to so much friction
with his wife, who resented her hus-
bands changed appearance, that at last
the king divorced her, to become a few
months later the wife of Hen1y II. of
England. From this marriage of Henry
to the angry, discarded wife of Louis
centuries of bloodshed may be said to
have followed.
Inclosed in an iron case in the tower of
of Modena cathedral may be seen to-day
a bucket which, 900 years ago, was the
innocent cause of a terrible war. Some
soldiers of Modena, in a mood of mis-
chief, had stolen the bucket from a pub
lie well in Bologna and refused to give
it up on demand. Fights between the
soldiers of the rival and jealous states
ensued, and from this spark was kinled
a fire of war which devastated a large
part of Europe and led to the lifelong i'm
prisonment of the king of Sardinia, son
of the German emperor.
A wal in China two centuries and a
half ago, which involved the loss Of half
a million lives, sprang directly from a
broken teapot. The teapot was the
treasured possession of a dignitary high
in the favor and councils of the en-
peror, and when he was travelling
through the lawless provinces in the
northwest of China some of his retinue,
who had fallen behind the main body,
were intercepted by a band of robbers
and among the spoil the teapot was
found and contemptuously flung on the
ground and broken. The matter was re-
ported to the emperor by the Indignant
. mandarin, a punitive force was sent out
and a long and terrible war ensued.
Lord Palmerston used to say %thatonly
three men had ever known the nature
of the troubles in Schleswig-Holsteir
which led to two great wars-two o.
. them had died before war broke out
, and he, the third of the trinity, had com
pletely forgotten what it was all about
, 1t is now we'll known, however, that
, slight manipulation by Bismarck of
telegram set France and Germany fiyin'
at each others threats a generation ago
with results too appalling to contem
plate.
The war of the Spanish succession, il
which the great duke of Marlborough
played so conspicuous and brilliant
part, was, it is said, the outcome of
split glass of water at a Tuileries bal
One of the court ladies had expressed
wish for a glass of water in the hearin
= of the British and Spanish ambassadors
- who forthwith FASTENED to fetch 1t.
- On returning, each holding a tumblel
: they found that the fair bird had flow
! and was dancing with a French states
man; and to crown their discomfitur
:. the English diplomat cannoned agains
the Spanish and upset the water he wa
). carrying-an accident which led to a
apology and an exchange of courtesie'
A trivial, ridiculous incident enough, br
=, it served to inflame jealousies and CT
~ ment sympathies and thus to turn til
. balance in the direction of war.
=. The seven years war was largely du
~ according to his W confession, to tt
. vanity of Frederick the Great in wan
-, ing to see his name figure largely in tt
~ sazettes; the Indian mutiny was pr
~, cipitated by the cartridges, served o,
!, to the Sepoys, which they believed wei
- creased with the fat of animals unclea
- alike to Hindu and Mohammedan; ar
~ the Turko-Russian war, in the opinic
'.e of thousands. was started by the blacl
smiths hammer with which a Herzeg'
~ vinian blacksmith killed a tax collectt
~ who had insulted his daughter.
Among other ludicrous causes fro
which wars have sprung are the stealth
~ If a laced petticoat of a CASTLE lady
/ Moor, which, with the vendetta tn
~ followed the theft, led to many years
", lerce warfare between the Spaniar
"a and the Moors; and the emptying Of
bucket by a Florentine citizen or Il
Il head Of a man of Milan who was passir
W. underneath the window.
Borrowing a tobacco pipe and failil
81 TO return it kindled civil war for yea
among the rival races in the Pamirs al
40 Afghanistan; a dispute as to the relati
al attractions of snails and vipers as fo'
ne gave rise to so years of fighting betwe'
ne Milan and Pisa: and it is said two &c
ne man states fought for years out of ri
airy as to their respective powers of be
}" drinking.
W,
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