We have seen some really long wars but one of the longest wars in history is the Three Hundred and Thirty Five Years War. Yes, you read it right! The war lasted for 335 years. Now you must have started thinking about the colossal loss of life that took place during those 335 years and you must also be wondering which countries were involved in the war! Your will find answers to all your questions in the list of 20 interesting Three Hundred and Thirty Five Years War facts below.
Interesting Three Hundred and Thirty Five Years War Facts: 1-5
1. The first thing you need to know about this 335 years’ war (1651-1986) is that the very authenticity of the war is disputed. It is more like a folklore passed over from generation to generation.
2. This war was one of the bloodless wars in history of mankind. Yes! There wasn’t even a single casualty and not even a single shot was fired.
3. The war supposedly took place between Isles of Scilly and Netherlands
4. The war stretched for so long simply because no peace treaty was ever signed.
5. A peace treaty was eventually signed between the Isles of Scilly and Netherlands in 1986, thereby formally ending the hypothetical war. It is called hypothetical simply because the declaration of war cannot be validated and neither can anyone validate whether a state of war even existed or not!
Interesting Three Hundred and Thirty Five Years War Facts: 6-10
6. This 335 years’ war originated out of the Second English Civil War that began in 1642 and lasted till 1652. This Second English Civil War was fought between the Parliamentarians and the Royalists.
7. Parliamentarian Oliver Cromwell fought the Royalists to the far edges of England, cornering them in Cornwall, which that the last known Royalists’ stronghold to the west of England.
8. In 1648 however, Cromwell managed to capture mainland Cornwall and the Royalist Navy retreated to the Isles of Scilly (located off Great Britain’s southwest coast). The Isles of Scilly was owned by John Granville who was a Royalist.
9. The United Provinces of Netherlands’ navy was allied to Parliamentarians and since Great Britain helped Netherlands during the Eight Years’ War and aided in Dutch independence from Spain, Netherlands decided to keep alliance with Britain and eventually took sides with the Parliamentarians who were more likely to win the Second Civil War.
10. The Royalist fleet that was stationed in Scilly managed to inflict heavy damage on the Dutch Navy. This forced Admiral Maarten Harpertszoon Tromp of the Dutch Navy to go to Scilly on March 30, 1651 and demand reparations for the damage caused to Dutch Ships. He also asked the Royalists to return the goods they had taken from the Dutch Navy.
Interesting Three Hundred and Thirty Five Years War Facts: 11-15
11. Tromp’s attempts failed simply because the Royalists did not give a clear answer. Tromp wasn’t happy about this and declared a war specifically against Isles of Scilly because rest of England was under the control of the Parliamentarians.
12. It was not long after the declaration of war that the Parliamentarian forces commanded by Admiral Robert Blake overpowered the Royalist fleet and forced them to surrender. The surrender took place in June 1651.
13. After the surrender of the Royalist fleet, the Dutch Navy left without firing a single shot because it was no longer under any threat from the Royal fleet.
14. The problem was that Netherlands never officially declared peace because the declaration of war against a small portion of another country was obscure.
15. Over 3 centuries later, Isles of Scilly’s chairman and historian, Mr. Roy Duncan sent a letter to Dutch Embassy in London, asking Netherlands to get rid of the myth that Netherlands and Isles of Sicily was still in a state of war.
Interesting Three Hundred and Thirty Five Years War Facts: 16-20
16. The Dutch Embassy staff probed a little and found that the myth was indeed true and that it was stilled believed by the Scillonians that they were in a state of war with Netherlands for past 335 years!
17. Dutch Ambassador Mr. Jonkheer Rein Huydecoper asked Roy Duncan to visit Netherlands and sign a peace treaty that would formally put an end to the Three Hundred and Thirty Five Years’ War.
18. Duncan accepted the invitation and eventually on April 17, 1986, a peace treaty was signed between Isles of Scilly and Netherlands.
19. The authenticity of the war was questioned by Graeme Donald in his book titled ‘Loose Cannons: 101 Myths, Mishaps and Misadventures of Military History’.
20. Graeme puts forward an argument that Three Hundred and Thirty Five Years’ War can never exist because Isles of Scilly were never an independent nation and that Netherlands declaring war on just a small part of entire England and eventually signing a peace treaty with only a part of United Kingdom is simply not possible.