# Any wars with battles, but no or little losses? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 25, 2017, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-wars-with-battles-but-no-or-little-losses/802683 "2017-11-25T16:32:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![JakeRS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/3ab097/32.png) [@JakeRS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JakeRS)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2017, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-wars-with-battles-but-no-or-little-losses/802683/1 "2017-11-25T16:32:39Z")
There is the “Kettle war” where the only loss was a soup kettle and there is the Emu war with humans vs Emus (which the emus won), however, was there a real war, with at least one real battle, where either no one was killed or the total death total was really, really small, both sides combined? Small terrorist attacks/counter-terrorist ops and few hour long wars don’t count, also wars that were just declared, but without any actual fighting don’t count, only real wars with at least one real battle count. ---
**Author:** ![Horatius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/horatius/32/3572_2.png) [@Horatius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatius)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2017, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-wars-with-battles-but-no-or-little-losses/802683/2 "2017-11-25T17:03:53Z")
Well, they didn’t exactly have “battles”, but there’s the [Pig War](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pig_War_(1859)) and the [Aroostook War.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aroostook_War) Both involved mobilization of troops, but no actual fighting between the troops. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2017, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-wars-with-battles-but-no-or-little-losses/802683/3 "2017-11-25T17:05:04Z")
Here’s a list of [bloodless wars.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_bloodless_wars)The question would be which of them had battles. Conflicts without casualties are usually called “wars” only jocularly. ---
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2017, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-wars-with-battles-but-no-or-little-losses/802683/4 "2017-11-25T17:14:34Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > Conflicts without casualties are usually called “wars” only jocularly. For sure. The list has the Three Hundred and Thirty Five Years’ War, where nobody died. I’m not sure why they don’t call it the 335 Years Peace instead. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2017, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-wars-with-battles-but-no-or-little-losses/802683/5 "2017-11-25T18:57:42Z")
The man with the biggest set of balls in the history of the world: Consul Gaius Popillius Laenas > **[Gaius Popillius Laenas](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaius_Popillius_Laenas)** > > Gaius Popillius Laenas (fl. 172–158 BC) twice served as one of the two consuls of the Roman Republic, in 172 and 158 BC. > He was sent as an envoy to prevent a war between Antiochus IV Epiphanes of the Seleucid Empire and Ptolemaic Egypt. On being confronted with the Roman demands that he abort his attack on Alexandria, Antiochus played for time; Popillius Laenas is supposed to have drawn a circle around the king in the sand with his cane, and ordered him not to move out of it until a firm answer ... ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2017, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-wars-with-battles-but-no-or-little-losses/802683/6 "2017-11-25T19:55:44Z")
The Six Days War was a real war, with real battles, but I imagine the casualty count was unusually low. ---
**Author:** ![StusBlues](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dc4da7/32.png) [@StusBlues](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StusBlues)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2017, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-wars-with-battles-but-no-or-little-losses/802683/7 "2017-11-25T20:06:20Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > The Six Days War was a real war, with real battles, but I imagine the casualty count was unusually low. [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Six-Day_War) puts the death toll north of 18,500 on the Arab side, with 776–983 Israeli deaths. That’s more than the combined losses in the Mexican-American War. ---
**Author:** ![mattm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c89c15/32.png) [@mattm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mattm)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2017, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-wars-with-battles-but-no-or-little-losses/802683/8 "2017-11-25T20:38:18Z")
A good but dry recap [here](http://www.historylink.org/File/9321). Scroll down to \*\*A Battle Ground Without a Battle \*\*TLDR Some hysterical (and quite possibly drunk) townsfolk and militia chased after some local natives who decided to skip out on the local hospitality. They parlayed and the runaways decided to return peacefully. In the ensuing celebration the Chief was accidentally killed. 60 years later, the area was named for the non-existent battle. ==== Sitting out a rainy day.