Who would have guessed?

So lately I've been playing a lot of Civilization V, mostly because it's a great game. But of course I can't play at work, mostly because my boss would get really mad.

The solution? Well, I don't have a good one yet, but I've been reading a lot of history instead and that's how I came across some really odd and bizarre things that have happened in war.

This being Eccentric Spheres I thought I'd entertain you with these fun facts.

In the realm of warfare there have always been certain rock-paper-scissors like truths. Like cavalry beats infantry, at least most of the time. But how about cavalry beats fleet?

Yupp, that's not a typo. In 1795 during the French Revolution, a group of french hussars advanced into what is now Netherlands (back then The United Provinces) in order to cut off the British from a vital strong point. What they found was much more interesting. The winter had been unusually harsh and a large part of the Dutch fleet had been frozen solid. Not too worried about the situation, they neglected to keep a proper lookout, and the french hussars simply rode out, surrounded the ships and demanded their surrender.

This is the only recorded case of a fleet being captured by anything else than another fleet. It is however worth mentioning that the Dutch claim that it never happened, and that it's all french propaganda. But consider this: if you were to concoct some black propaganda, wouldn't you choose a more convincing lie?

Lets stay with the Dutch for a moment. If someone were to ask you which the longest war was, what would you answer? The hundred years war? Genghis Khan's invasion? Well the answer is the three hundred and thirty five years war!

Don't feel bad if you never heard about this. Most haven't in fact, since nothing really happened in all that time.

It all started with the Second English Civil War, you know the one with Oliver Cromwell and his Parliamentarians versus Charles I and the Royalists.

Anyway, Cromwell had made an alliance with the Dutch which ticked off the Royalist Navy. They in turn decided to raid some Dutch ships which made the Dutch mad. The Royalist fleet had retreated to the Isles of Scilly off the Cornwall coast which is where the Dutch navy surrounded them. But before they could do anything, Cromwell's forces ended the conflict and the Royal Navy surrendered to the Parliamentarians. The Dutch then went home, but forgot to sign a peace treaty since their enemy technically didn't exist anymore.

Later on Cromwell died and Charles II became king. But everyone had now forgotten that technically the reinstated Royalists were at war with the Dutch. This little oversight wasn't discovered until 1986. So with no actual grievances, since no one was even killed, the Dutch happily signed a peace treaty with the Isles of Scilly and thus England on April 17^th 1986, 335 years later.

For the final part we are sticking with the British.

Back in 1917 as a part of the Great War, a.k.a. World War 1, the British Empire was busy beating up the Ottoman Empire. Tough going all around that. The Turks were stuck in a place called Sheria prepared for a hard fight when the British commander, Richard Meinertzhagen decided to send the Turks a little gift. A plane dropped pamphlets and cigarettes over the town urging the Turks to surrender. They thought nothing of it and happily lit up. Don't look a gift horse in the mouth, right?

The next day, the British marched in completely unopposed, due to the fact that the Turks were way to stoned to stand up, let alone fight. Meinertzhagen had laced all the cigarettes with large amounts of opium, you see.

Maybe a dirty tactic, but I for one would rather get stoned than shot...

See you next week!