ITT: Little-known conflicts

The seven years war of 1756-63 had begun in skirmishes with the French in America. France was expanding from Canada south down the Ohio and Mississippi rivers, threatening to encircle the 13 New England colonies along the east coast. In India, the collapse of the Mogul empire enabled a French general, Joseph Dupleix, to capture Madras from the British East India Company and thus control most of South India. With rich possessions in the Caribbean, France was set on Europe's greatest global empire.

In 1758, British units in America returned to the Ohio valley, where French lines were cut and the principal fort, Duquesne, captured and renamed Pittsburgh after the British statesman, William Pitt. The following year, General James Wolfe advanced up the St Lawrence and seized the French colony of Quebec, scaling the adjacent cliffs, known as the Heights of Abraham, reputedly reciting Gray's Elegy as he climbed. French posts in the Caribbean were also captured. Horace Walpole remarked of 1759 that "our bells are worn threadbare ringing for victories".

File: Ethiopia_empress_zauditu.jpg (35KB, 195x286px) Image search: [Google]

35KB, 195x286px

>The Ethiopian coup d'état of 1928 was an attempt by supporters of Empress Zewditu to rid her of the heir apparent and Crown Prince, Ras Tafari Makonnen. With Tafari gone, Zewditu would be the sole ruler of the Ethiopian Empire (Mangista Ityop'p'ya).
>When confronted by Tafari and a company of troops, the ringleaders of the coup took refuge on the palace grounds in Menilek's mausoleum. Tafari and his men surrounded them only to be surrounded themselves by the personal guard of Zewditu. More of Tafari's khaki clad soldiers arrived and surrounded Zewditu's guard. Tafari's soldiers were equipped with newly imported rifles, machine guns, small cannon, and an obsolete but menacing tank. The tank, a Fiat 3000, had been a gift to Empress Zewditu from the Duke of Abruzzi of Italy during a visit some years earlier.

>https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fenian_raids
Ireland invades Canada

File: 491_BC_-_1902_AD_-_A_Long_Time_Between_Drinks.jpg (2MB, 1471x1998px) Image search: [Google]

2MB, 1471x1998px

>>2270536
There's actually a bunch of these.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_wars_extended_by_diplomatic_irregularity

>>2269359
Saltpeter War

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saltpeter_War_(Mexico)

>>2269359
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lobster_War

File: 1408074298045.jpg (65KB, 700x525px) Image search: [Google]

65KB, 700x525px

>>2271318
>French fishing vessels to catch spiny lobsters 100 miles off the Brazilian northeast coast,[5] arguing that lobsters "crawl along the continental shelf", while the French sustained that "lobsters swim" and that therefore, they might be caught by any fishing vessel from any country.