Jim, what’s the deal with you these days? Why haven’t you been up working out with me at 4 in the morning like we normally do?

Ah, Johnny, it’s the damn dogs. Wife thinks she’s got corona, so it’s been up to me to take ’em out for walks. No excuse, if you ask me, but sometimes you just have to take one for the team.

That’s what happens when you adopt wolves by mistake, Jimbo.

They’re basically the same thing, John! People get too bent out of shape about that kinda thing these days. Plus it’s just easier on the SPCA paperwork.

Everyone said it was a bad idea, Jim. Anything that detracts from time in the film room is a distraction.

I’d agree with you almost all the time, Johnny, but dogs are different. Uh, wolves. Dogs. Fuck it. My point is, people will go to great lengths for their pets. Sometimes people even start a war over it…

THE WAR OF THE STRAY DOG

Combatant 1: Greece

Combatant 2: Bulgaria

Location of Conflict: Petrich, southern Bulgaria

Reason for Conflict: Somebody chased after a dog.

What happened? In the early 20th century, tensions between Greece and neighboring Bulgaria were running high; the two nations had been clashing for decades over the issue of control of Macedonia and western Thrace. In 1913, the two countries fought a proper war over the area; later, widespread guerrilla warfare resulted in escalating animosity, as both countries regularly made expeditions across the border into each other. With Bulgaria losing World War I (having sided with Germany, Austria-Hungary, and the Ottoman Empire), they lost a lot of territory, including access to the Aegean Sea that became part of Greece, and areas to the northwest that were incorporated into the new Kingdom of Yugoslavia. Despite being part of official treaties, many Bulgarians refused to recognize their validity and continued to send troops into their neighbors to terrorize and pillage. By 1925, relations between the Greeks and Bulgarians were at an all-time low; rumors of Bulgarian-backed Macedonian freedom fighters were rankling the Greek military and political leadership.

On October 19th, so the story goes, a Greek soldier, stationed on the border near the Bulgarian village of Petrich, had his dog get loose and run across into Bulgarian territory. Despite taking only a few steps into Bulgaria in order to call his dog back, he was shot dead by a Bulgarian soldier. Outraged, Greeks fired upon Bulgarians, who returned the favor. When a Greek officer tried to run between both sides waving a white flag, pleading for calm, he was also shot dead by the Bulgarians.

When word officially got out about the incident, Bulgaria expressed “regret” for the affair in an effort to diffuse another full-scale war, but Greek president and general Theodoros Pangalos, who had just deposed King Constantine I in a military coup, saw a chance for glory. Pangalos, who was by all accounts a military dictator, wanted to capitalize on widespread anti-Bulgarian sentiment through Greece, and crush his Balkan neighbors once and for all. He demanded swift punishment from the Bulgarian government for those responsible, an official apology, and 2 million French francs as compensation for the unprovoked attack. When Bulgaria refused, the Greeks marched in.

The Aftermath: The Greek army swept into Bulgaria, overwhelming defences and advancing deep into the country, but ultimately bogged down. The Greeks appealed to the Serbs for aid, promising them a railway corridor to Thessaloniki as incentive. Bulgaria, realizing it had no friends left in the Balkans thanks to their insane overzealousness in both the Second Balkan War as well as the First World War, decided to call in the League of Nations to intervene.

With the League acting as a mediator, Greece and Bulgaria agreed to a ceasefire on October 29th. The League also demanded that the Greeks withdraw immediately, and that the Greek government pay an indemnity of 45,000 pounds to Bulgaria – a modest sum compared to the previous Greek demand of two million francs from the Bulgarians. Somewhere betweeen 20-50 Bulgarians died in the conflict, and 122 Greek soldiers.

This war didn’t really end up changing a whole geographically in the Balkans, but for General Pangalos, who had come into power partly due to his portrayal in the media as a military strongman, his reputation was shattered. Pangalos was ousted as president, and replaced with Pávlos Kountouriotis, the man who had preceded him as president before the military coup.

The two countries continued to hate each other’s guts until the end of World War II, when the fall of Nazi occupation in both nations resulted in newfound collaborative partnerships, which have lasted into the current era.

Gotta get my DB coach to do the grocery run again today. Damn dogs have been just plowing through the ribeyes this week. Not to mention all the damn paranoid suburban housewives out there.

No shit they’re hungry, Jim. They’re WOLVES.

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Information for this article found here, here, here, here, here, and here. Banner image by The Maestro.