History can be surprising and hilarious sometimes. And this is exactly one of these times. The story of how a tiny Spanish town single-handedly declared war on Denmark and forgot about it. Causing the entire country to have an open war front for almost two centuries, that a mediatic dry spell blew out of proportion in the 80′s!
*A LITTLE BIT OF CONTEXT*
Everybody hated Napoleon (except Denmark, apparently), but in 1796, Spain reluctantly signed a treaty with France against Britain, by then enemy of both. Which is why in 1807 Spain sent an expedition to Denmark to participate in the Danish-Swedish war and prevent the British ships form reaching Jutland.
However, a year later the Spanish king abdicated, Napoleon tried to crown his brother, but Spain wouldn’t have none of it. That gave way to the beginning of a massive rebellion: the Peninsular War (Or the Spanish War of Independence). The former British enemies became allies and the Spanish troops in Denmark turned into a rebel squadron that Napoleon blocked from leaving Denmark. Some left anyway on English ships, some waited off and drank mead for a few months.
In any case, the Spanish new government put Denmark on the list of no-no countries for a while.
*THE ENEMY OF MY... FRIEND? ENEMY? ENEMY OF SOME OF MY FRIENDS AND FRIEND SOME OF MY..??? WELL, SCREW IT, IT’S MY ENEMY ANYWAY!!*
And here is where Huescar comes in. That tiny Andalusian town, composed by goat shepherds and farmers, somehow managed to get their hands on this information and either misinterpreted it or gave it a very weird lecture. And of course instead of reacting like any other normal human beings would, in the city hall, for some reason, decided that they were cool and macho enough to go ahead and valiantly DECLARE A FULL ON WAR ON DENMARK. For... some reason...
Never mind it was a country that most of their simple townsfolk never even heard of! That all happened on November 11, 1809
But of course, it was in the context of the Peninsular war. So the good inhabitants of Huescar soon discovered that it was way more satisfying to fight the French troops that were stealing their potatoes than urging plans to send their army of teenagers with pitchforks to Denmark. So they kinda... forgot about their war declaration.
Needless to say, Denmark never found out in the first place.
*CUE IN 1981 AND AN ARMY OF BORED JOURNALISTS*
In the last stages of the Spanish Transition to Democracy, an investigator from Granada was digging through old documents int he city hall of Huescar and discovered the open war declaration. He published the hilarious news piece in a local magazine, that a newspaper from Granada picked up, from where it got snatched up by the Spanish National News Agency (EFE) - (bear in mind, it was august 1981, there was literally nothing else to write about) - so when the Danish correspondent in Madrid heard about it and stopped peeing himself from laughter, he notified the Danish news network.
Obviously the discovery that a tiny town in the Spanish mountains had been “waging war” with them for almost two centuries couldn’t have been more adored by the Dane folk!! (and the rest of the world) 😂😂😂
*THE PEACE TREATY ft. DRUNK VIKINGS*
The profound desire for peace from the inhabitants of Huescar, that swore to be “exhausted from so many centuries of warring” gave way to a formal declaration of the peace treaty, that November.
But of course we are talking about Denmark and Spain now. So instead of making this simple, they threw A GIANT PARTY!!
Hundreds of Danes migrated to Huescar... DRESSED AS VIKINGS!!
The roads accessing the town put up signs: Attention Danish! You are entering enemy territory, beware of the consequences.
The Danish Ambassador and his delegation, as well as dozens of media correspondents, assisted to the symbolic declaration of peace. The entire town and people from all around Spain participated too. The town was covered in Spanish and Danish flags, songs were sung, a parade took place.
And of course after that almost tree days of banquet, dances and celebrations followed. There was Spanish wine, and there was Danish mead, and there was roasted lamb and cake!
But the slogan of the party is the best part: “Afortunadamente, siempre habrá una paz que declarar, una copa con que brindar y unos amigos a quienes abrazar”. Aka:
“Fortunatedly, there will always be a peace to declare, a drink to toast and friends to embrace.”
Ref & photos: (x) (x)
Written for: @hetaliafandomhub Country embassy: Spain
