The 335-Year War Nobody Fought #shorts

Added: 2026-05-22

[00:00:00]The answer to this question is quite intriguing.

[00:00:03]The parties forgot the war because it was never a real war to begin with.

[00:00:07]This 335 year war occurred between the Netherlands and the Scilly Isles, southwest of England. It ended without a single shot fired or a single casualty.

[00:00:17]The story of its length and forgetfulness goes like this.

[00:00:21]How did it begin? The story dates back to the English Civil War in 1651.

[00:00:26]Royalists, supporters of the monarch, were defeated and retreated with their fleet to the Scilly Isles.

[00:00:32]From there, the Royalist fleet began attacking Dutch merchant ships.

[00:00:36]Consequently, [music] Dutch Admiral Martin Tromp demanded compensation from the islands. When his demand was rejected, he declared war on the Scilly Isles in March 1651.

[00:00:47]How was the war forgotten?

[00:00:49]Just weeks after the declaration, [music] English Parliamentarian forces forced the Royalists to surrender. With the threat on the islands gone, the Dutch fleet also withdrew. Haste and confusion. Everyone moved so quickly that signing a peace treaty [music] was completely overlooked.

[00:01:04]Legal ambiguities. This war [music] was declared not on a country, but on a group of islands. This was legally invalid and no one bothered to rectify this exotic situation.

[00:01:15]Fading into oblivion. As [music] time passed, this event faded from the memory of both sides. It only circulated as a legend [music] by word of mouth in the Scilly Isles. How was it remembered and ended?

[00:01:26]Centuries later, in 1985, Roy Duncan, the island's [music] council chairman and amateur historian, decided to investigate this legend.

[00:01:35]Duncan wrote to the Dutch Embassy [music] in London asking if the story was true.

[00:01:39]Discovery. Embassy officials searched their [music] archives and indeed found no peace treaty.

[00:01:44]Symbolic peace. On April 17th, 1986, the Dutch ambassador visited the Scilly Isles and [music] signed a peace treaty after 335 years. During the ceremony, the ambassador humorously remarked that it was terrible [music] to think that the islanders had lived for centuries in dread of being attacked at any moment.

[00:02:05]He thus put an end to this strange [music] war.

[00:02:07]So, this 335-year war lasted so long because the parties themselves [music] forgot its existence.

[00:02:14]And no official action was taken.

[00:02:16]Ultimately, it was concluded thanks to the research of a history enthusiast.