10 Wars That Were Started For Stupid Reasons
9. A Severed Ear (Britain Vs. Spain, 1739-1748)
In 1731, Robert Jenkins was happily pootling along in his ship returning from a trading voyage to the West Indies when a bunch of Spanish sailors boarded his ship on the grounds they thought he was smuggling. The Spanish commander, to show he meant business, cut off Jenkins' ear and handed it to him.
Skip forward eight years and Great Britain really wanted to get a better trading position in the Caribbean. Unfortunately those positions were already taken by Spain. The Brits were also worried the Spanish would do the ungentlemanly thing and stop them from selling slaves in South America.
Racking their bewigged brains for a reason to sail in there and get their swashbuckle on, the British parliament remembered that guy who had his ear cut off and voted to go to war in revenge for the excised extremity.
The War of Jenkins' Ear lasted nine years and might never have happened if a Spanish naval commander hadn't gone all Reservoir Dogs on Captain Jenkins.