What wars were started when an indebted country refused to pay?
score:14
According to this link, there are a few examples:
- France vs Mexico, 1863
- Britain vs Egypt, 1882
- Germany/Britain/Italy vs Venezuela, 1902-03 (naval blockade)
- US vs Dominican Republic, 1905 (revenue arrestment)
- US vs Nicaragua, 1911 (revenue arrestment)
In a handful of famous cases, official intervention went beyond diplomatic pressure or threat of sanctions (Lipson 1985, 1989; Suter 1992; Suter and Stamm 1992; Mitchener and Weidenmier 2005). In 1863, France, initially supported by Spain and Britain, invaded Mexico after the republican regime of Benito Juarez refused to honor Mexico’s debt service obligations, briefly installing the Austrian archduke Maximilian as emperor. (Maximilian was dethroned and executed in 1867, after which Mexico repudiated for good.) In 1882, Britain invaded Egypt, which had defaulted in 1876 and whose public finances were already under the control of a Franco-British debt administration council. Venezuela suffered a maritime blockade by Germany, Britain, and Italy in 1902–1903 after Venezuela did not resume debt service payments after the end of its civil war. Finally, U.S. Marines were sent to the Dominican Republic (1905) and Nicaragua (1911) to take over customs revenues following attempted defaults.
It is worth reading further, particularly around the points that these state inteventions had wider political motives than just about enforcing private debt repayments.
Upvote:2
Invasion of Kuwait by Iraq may be the most recent example of a war, between 2 countries due to non-payment.
In 1982–1983, Kuwait began sending significant financial aid to Iraq. However, after the war ended, the friendly relations between the two neighbouring Arab countries turned sour
By the time the Iran–Iraq War ended, Iraq was not in a financial position to repay the US$14 billion it borrowed from Kuwait and requested that Kuwait forgive the debt.
However, Kuwait's reluctance to pardon the debt created strains in the relationship between the two countries, which ultimately lead to war.
Of course, there are other reasons too due to which Iraq went to War, beside the non-payment.
Iraq alleged that Kuwait was slant-drilling across the international border into Iraq's Rumaila field.
In 1989, Iraq accused Kuwait of using "advanced drilling techniques" to exploit oil from its share of the Rumaila field, although several foreign firms working in the Rumaila field dismissed Iraq's slant-drilling claims
Upvote:10
In 1923 the French and the Belgians occupied the Ruhr in Germany as a direct result of Germany repeatedly (and perhaps deliberately, to test French will) defaulting on reparation payments which were written into the Versailles Treaty.
Although not a "war", German civilians conducted a policy of passive resistance and several dozen were killed.
The occupation lasted two years, during which new terms were hammered out. In terms of its effectiveness, it rather backfired.
Upvote:11
That's roughly how Egypt ended up part of the British Empire. They owed a bunch of money to England, didn't like being forced to pay, and tried to depose the government. The Brits didn't like that, and invaded. Note this is a rather simplistic (and thus eminiently debatable) explanation. See Wikipedia's entry on the 1882 Anglo-Egyptian War for a deeper discussion.
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