0:00 In October 1925, a Greek soldier chased his dog across the Bulgarian border.0:05 He was shot by Bulgarian guards, and that incident started a war.0:09 Mm-hm.0:09 Last week on the show, we talked about the Great Moon Hoax—a story that was deliberately, brilliantly fake.0:17 This week, we have a story that sounds just as absurd, but is one hundred percent true.0:22 It’s known as the War of the Stray Dog.0:25 Right.0:25 And to understand it, you have to picture the Greek-Bulgarian border in the 1920s.0:31 It was not a calm place.0:33 Tensions were incredibly high after World War One and the Balkan Wars.0:37 There were constant disputes over territory, especially Macedonia.0:42 So this wasn't really about a dog.0:44 The dog was just the spark.0:46 The formal name is the Incident at Petrich.0:49 On October 18th, 1925, at a pass on the Belasitsa mountain, a Greek soldier’s dog supposedly ran into Bulgarian territory.0:57 The soldier ran after it.0:59 Bulgarian sentries on the other side shot and killed him.1:02 And that was it?1:03 That’s what kicked it all off?1:06 That’s the most common account.1:08 There are others—one version claims Bulgarian soldiers crossed into Greece first.1:13 But the dog story is the one that stuck.1:16 After the initial shooting, things escalated.1:19 A Greek captain who went to the border under a white flag to try and de-escalate was also shot and killed.1:26 So Greece’s reaction must have been… strong.1:29 Extremely.1:30 The Greek government, led by General Theodoros Pangalos, issued an ultimatum to Bulgaria.1:35 They demanded a formal apology, punishment for the soldiers responsible, and two million French francs in compensation.1:43 Two million francs.1:45 For an incident that started with a dog.1:47 Uh, yeah.1:48 And when Bulgaria didn’t immediately comply, Greece invaded.1:52 On October 22nd, about twenty thousand Greek soldiers crossed the border and began occupying villages on their way to the town of Petrich.2:01 Okay, so this is a full-scale invasion.2:04 How did Bulgaria respond?2:06 They were outnumbered.2:07 They had about ten thousand soldiers to defend the area.2:11 But they did two things.2:13 First, they organized a defense with their army and local volunteers.2:17 Second, and this is the crucial part, they immediately appealed to the League of Nations in Geneva.2:24 Which feels like a move that… almost never works.2:27 Right.2:28 You file a protest and expect nothing to happen.2:31 But this is the thing that makes this story different.2:34 It’s a pattern we see all the time—a small incident in a tense region triggers a war.2:40 Think of the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand in 1914.2:44 The spark in the powder keg.2:46 Exactly.2:47 But in 1914, the international system of alliances fanned the flames.2:51 Here, in 1925, a different system tried to put them out.2:55 Bulgaria invoked Articles 10 and 11 of the League Covenant, basically asking for an emergency intervention to stop a war.3:03 And the League actually did something?3:06 It did.3:06 The head of the League Council, a French statesman named Aristide Briand, acted immediately.3:12 He convened the Council, ordered both sides to stop fighting, and demanded Greece withdraw its troops from Bulgaria.3:20 Wait—he just… ordered them?3:22 And they listened?3:23 They did.3:24 Greece complained, but they complied.3:26 The invasion lasted about ten days.3:29 More than fifty people were killed, mostly Bulgarian civilians.3:33 But a wider war was avoided.3:35 So the League’s order had real teeth.3:37 In this case, yes.3:39 The League then sent an inquiry.3:41 It found that while both sides shared some blame, Greece was primarily responsible for the escalation.3:48 And it ordered Greece to pay forty-five thousand pounds in compensation to Bulgaria.3:53 Hold on.3:54 So Greece invaded, and then Greece had to pay a fine?3:57 Correct.3:58 They paid the fine, their troops withdrew, and the border went back to exactly where it was before.4:05 No territory changed hands.4:06 The whole affair is remembered as one of the few real successes of the League of Nations.4:12 It showed that, under the right conditions, international mediation could actually work.4:18 So the war that started over a stray dog ended with the aggressor paying damages.4:24 It's a strange case study in conflict resolution.4:27 The trigger was absurd, but the response, for once, was surprisingly rational.4:32 It's a reminder that even when things seem completely out of control, there's sometimes a mechanism to pull them back from the brink.4:41 It just requires someone to use it.
