Sometimes, even a small thing can be the trigger for the outbreak of war. Just like not long ago, britain, which redivided its fishing area with France because of Brexit, almost broke out into a military conflict with France. At the height of the tension, the warships of the two countries were already facing each other in the air.
In fact, this is not the first time that the United Kingdom has caused a military storm over fishing problems. Just as 64 years ago, because of fishing problems, Britain and another European country erupted in a 18-year military and diplomatic conflict. For European countries, Britain, which came out of World War II, is synonymous with strength, not only strong military equipment, but also very rich in war experience.
So why did a small European country dare to show its sword to Britain, and three wars broke out with Britain in 18 years? So why didn't the mighty British navy dare to attack its opponent's wooden boats and bird guns, and fought very badly in all three wars?
This also comes to the year before the end of World War II, when Iceland, which was still a Danish dependency, took the opportunity to become independent at the end of World War II and officially broke away from the control of the Danish royal family. However, the newly independent Iceland has only 300,000 people.
At the same time, Iceland has no formal army, let alone a navy, and can only rely on a number of policemen who have not undergone systematic military training, and the people to spontaneously go to sea to defend the coastline. It is worth mentioning that Iceland at that time did not even have a decent modern ship, and could only cope with old fishing boats.
It can be said that the newly independent Iceland wants nothing, but it also makes Icelanders determined to establish themselves as a modern country in the world. Just as the so-called patron eats the mountains and relies on the water, Iceland, which is surrounded by the sea, has set its sights on marine resources and intends to use the cod, which is very popular among Europeans, to leverage economic development.
Interestingly, Iceland intends to eat solitary food and does not intend to have other European countries catch cod around Iceland, trying to achieve sustainability on cod. In this way, Iceland has expanded the scope of its territorial waters several times, once expanding the sea to 12 nautical miles.
The last day of August 1958 was the deadline iceland gave to other countries for fishing boats to withdraw from Icelandic territorial waters. Before this day, most of the fishing boats of other countries had left, and the iron-headed British had been reluctant to evacuate. The British government at the time was also very tough, relying on its own powerful military weapons, and Britain never took the newly independent Iceland seriously.
Since the British fishing boats did not withdraw, they were driven away by force. Iceland then expelled the British ships by force, not thinking that it would stab the honeycomb. A large number of British navies and warships rushed around Iceland in an attempt to bring it to its knees. The Icelanders' response was to "fire". In this way, the military war, which was named "Cod War", began.
However, the British never dared to give a heavy hand to Iceland. Because Iceland is also a member of NATO, once britain moves, then NATO will definitely intervene and give the United States a reason to intervene in European affairs. In this way, the first cod war ended with the withdrawal of British troops.
Over the next 17 years, Iceland expanded its territorial waters several times, even to 200 nautical miles at one point, which once again provoked a war between Britain and Iceland. Only in the next two wars, Britain was interfered with by NATO and the European Community, and had to recognize the territorial waters of Iceland. It can be said that in the three cod wars, the British fought harder and harder each time.