The bucket that started a war
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War is terrible. Nobody can deny that. Throughout human history, we have accumulated quite an agenda when it comes to war. Countries and leaders go to war for different reasons, such as expanding territory, more power in the political stage, resources, and many more. But nobody would expect to go to war for petty reasons, right? Wrong. Have you guys heard of the Emu war in Australia in 1932? It was a war between man and flightless birds who migrated to a newly cultivated field, rendering wheat crops yield for the farmers. The Australians sent machine guns and fired at them, only to be jammed and overwhelmed by the emu, by birds, literally flightless birds. The birds won the war that lasted a month. A pretty ridiculous tale, isn't it? But, it was real and documented. There's a lot more like this. Have you guys heard the War of the Bucket?
As the name suggested, it was the war of bucket. This war was between two Italian city-states of Modena and Bologna. This was during a time of great turmoil that would span 300 years from 12th century to 15th century. In the 13th century, Italy was not united since the fall of the roman empire. It was split into two main factions, the Guelphs, who supports the Pope, and the Ghibellines supporting the holy roman emperor. In Italy, city-states had to choose between these two factions, ultimately splitting the once known remaining reminisced of a great empire. As much as like to cover the great 300 years of war in the Italy peninsula, this is where it gets juicy. Modena was in league with Ghibellines, while Bologna did the opposite.
On a serious note, war is terrible. To lose your life over an object shouldn't exist, yet the buckets' war proves it exists. The Modena and Bologna ended clashing in the fields of a village, between two cities of the south. Bologna had Modena outnumbered, but unfortunately, in a ridiculous fashion, they had terrible leadership that broke Bologna's forces. Modena pushed them back, and they scattered like rats. Now, the soldiers of Modena had a clear view of the Bologna; they continued their march to their city. They destroyed several small castles, did some vandalism here and there. To humiliate Bologna even further, they parade around the city, re-enactment the recent battle events, and they soon gleefully left the area; they also took the bucket to insult them.
After this conflict, the two city-states decided to end their aggression with each other. The two signed a peace treaty and returned to the status quo before the war started. Modena returned all the castles they conquered to Bologna, but unfortunately, no one could bring back the 2000 lives lost that day. And also, Modena didn't return the bucket; the bucket is still in Modena. The bucket is up in display in the basement of Torre della Ghirlandina. They also have a replica on display in Modena's Town Hall.
Thomas Arcilla
A 2nd professional writing student who loves video games and sushi. He writes a lot of novels but never finishes them. However, he promised to end them eventually, at least one of them.
