Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Humanities/2022 December 28

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December 28

Limited Border Wars

Regarding the current Ukraine-Russia war, although the two countries share a long border, fighting is only going on over part of it currently (the eastern/southeastern border), as the northeast of their border is currently stable. Have there been other wars like this, where two warring countries have a segment where they border each other but aren't fighting?

User:Heyoostorm^_talk! 00:45, 28 December 2022 (UTC)

Off the top of my head, the Italian Wars between France and the Habsburg lasted around 60 years but the only times there were fightings near the France-Spain border were the Spanish conquest of Iberian Navarre and the Siege of Perpignan (1542). StellarHalo (talk) 01:56, 28 December 2022 (UTC)

The Sino-Soviet border conflict of 1969... AnonMoos (talk) 04:49, 28 December 2022 (UTC)

During the Phoney War, the French crossed the Maginot Line and invaded Nazi Germany but were forced to retreat.
Sleigh (talk) 10:12, 28 December 2022 (UTC)

In pre-modern warfare, the limited size of armies meant that campaigns tended to be conducted in a rather isolated way. For example, James IV invaded the northeast of England in 1514, beseiged a few castles, then hung around so that he could defeat the scratch English army that was on its way and then go home in triumph. It didn't work out that way because he was killed at the Battle of Flodden and the Scots went home under different conditions. As far as I can tell, there was no fighting anywhere else along the border, the young men went off to fight but everyone else just got on with their lives. Alansplodge (talk) 12:57, 28 December 2022 (UTC)

The OP's statement is only partly correct. While most of the fighting had indeed taken place in a few areas in the east of Ukraine, there have been skirmishes, bombings and other types of military actions in most border areas. These include the early failed attempt to send an invading column to Kyiv, the bombing of Odessa and neighboring port cities, skirmishes in the Black Sea region, and missiles lobbed at various Ukrainian cities for no reason other than terrorizing the local populations. It's not like other border regions are at peace. Xuxl (talk) 15:07, 28 December 2022 (UTC)

Where only part of a border is in dispute, fighting may be limited. Examples, the Russian invasion of Crimea and the fighting between India and Pakistan within and around the disputed state of Kashmir. 2.97.22.58 (talk) 16:25, 28 December 2022 (UTC)

Both are good examples. There was also limited fighting on the Morocco-Algeria border near the town of Figuig just after Algeria's independence, in 1963. See Sand War. Xuxl (talk) 17:47, 28 December 2022 (UTC)

From memory, the Green March did not involve Ceuta and Melilla, though I suppose the Spanish troops there went into alert. --Error (talk) 17:02, 29 December 2022 (UTC)