Through the course of history there have been a number of questionable conflicts that one could probably name easily, such as the Crusades or the Russo – Japanese war. However there is one particular conflict that stands out as unbelievable, like something out of a comedy sketch gone wrong. A war not for territory, not for money or gold, not for sea routes, resources,building of an empire, not even for crazy ethnic world domination like Nazi Germany or Imperial Japan, but a war…for a bucket. A wooden bucket. An oak one to be precise. A war for a bucket between two Italian city states, that costed the lives of roughly 2,000 people in a single battle. You surely have a lot of questions already, but let’s dive deeper into what caused this conflict…
It’s 1154, and the Holy Roman Empire (located in what is today Germany) led by Frederick Barbarossa decided to invade northern Italy out of spite to the Pope, believing that the pope wasn’t the one who was representative of god, but rather he was. The majority of Italy however disagreed with him, siding with the Pope. The Empire managed to take the city states of Milan, Tortona and Pavia, even making it to Rome where Fredrick actually meet the Pope (with nothing accomplished by said meeting), however in the battle of Legnano, against the Pope supporting Lombard League, the Holy Roman Empire was forced to retreat in 1176. They could pull back their soldiers, and their cavalry, but they couldn’t pull back their impact and influence on the areas they had occupied, and many of the city states actually turned toward their ideology against the Pope after being occupied for over 20 years .
This conflict created tensions between the two city states that would come to a head in 1325. The Guelphs (In which was the city state of Bologna) were the group who stayed loyal to the Pope, whilst the Ghibellines (in which was the city state Modena) supported the Holy Roman Emperor, and the two had feuded about it between each other ever since Frederick withdrew nearly 2 centuries earlier. Vague border disputes and changing loyalties only helped escalate things. Because of these border skirmishes between the two sides were a regular occurrence but a few in particular, against Bolognese territory by the Modenians, angered the current Pope who declared the region of Italy (Bologna) an enemy of the church; and people were willing to die horridly to crush that churches enemies. As a result increased border skirmishes occured, in particular Modenese farmers burned down and slaughtered various villages within their rivals territory. In July a rather smaller incident occurred, where in a small group of Modenese troops entered the very city of Bologna and stole a wooden bucket full of loot and money from the city’s main well. Feeling humiliated by the action, Bologna DEMANDED Modena to return the bucket immediately, and when the Modenians refused, Bologna officially declared war. Up to this point border skirmishes had been occurring, but only between the common people, nothing on a large scale. This declaration of war meant troops, cavalry and all, would become involved, truly all out warfare.
Bologna’s army was oned to be feared; they managed to gather a force of nearly 32,000 men, of them 2,000 were knights on horseback. The force consisted of many different groups, most being from Bologna and other allied city states such as Florence. Commanding the massive force was the Pope himself. On their way to Modenas main city they were met by an opposing force of Modenean’s. The Modenean force consisted of a mere 5,000 foot soldiers by comparison, but they were also supported by a 2,000 strong cavalry force, a total of 8,000 troops. That Modenean force was also made up of German Troops sent by the Holy Roman Empire that still supported the Pope hating city state.
The battle took place on November 15th, 1325. After taking the fort the Bolognaise were now positioned in a series of hills overlooking a vast flat plain, in which was the town of Zappolino. As the sun loomed low in the sky the Bolognese advanced down to the outskirts of the town where the Modenese met them. The two sides engaged in vicious close quarters combat, trying desperately to push the other out of the way. They stayed there, duking it out against one another for some time, resulting in a total of 2,00 casualties, unil something unexpected happened. The Modenese managed to create what is called a rout, or in other words they disrupted and essentially destroyed the Bolognese chain of command, leaving the Bogognians without any clear goal and causing them to retreat in a disorderly manner. Despite being outnumbered 6 to 1 the Modenese sent the Bogognians running back towards the city, chasing them the whole way there. The city was however very close by, and thus was quickly reached by the Modenians. In most cases of Medieval warfare the attacking army would lay siege to the city that they were attacking, but instead of doing that the Modenians breached the city walls, capturing nobles to bring back to their cities as hostages. With this very much humiliating defeat, the war was essentially over, but not officially. While fighting was very miniscule after that, it wouldn’t be officially ended until January of the next year that the Modeneans agreed to return captured territories to the Bolognians.
In the end the bucket was never returned to its original owners, and remains in Modena to this day and on display. While not the direct reason for the conflict, it was the spark that would light the fire of all out war. The warring city states also inspired certain pieces of literature, most notably standing as the foundation for the conflict between the two warring families in Romeo and Juliet. The title of this article is also slightly dishonest as it only accounts for military, and not civilian deaths of which an official record is not given. But whilst statistics are vague, one thing’s for certain; having all those other political and religious problems, no one really need to fight a war over a bucket.