The Silly Dutch-Scilly War, History’s Longest War, Lasted So Long Because Nobody Remembered to Sign a Peace Treaty
History’s longest war, admittedly not a very violent one, reportedly lasted for 335 years. It pitted the Isles of Scilly off England’s southwest coast against the Netherlands. The origins of the dispute date to the English Civil War, when the Parliamentarians forced the Royalist Navy to retreat to the Isles of Scilly. The Netherlands were allied with the Parliamentarians, so the Royalists preyed upon Dutch ships. Dutch Admiral Maarten Tromp arrived in Scilly to demand reparations, but the Royalists failed to offer satisfaction. So he declared war on April 17th, 1651. Since most of England was in the hands of their Parliamentarian allies, the Dutch declaration was limited specifically to the Isles of Scilly.
Shortly thereafter, and before the Dutch had fired a shot, the Parliamentarians forced the Royalist fleet to surrender, and took over Scilly. However, the Dutch never got around to a peace declaration, so technically, a state of war continued to exist between the Netherlands and the Isles of Scilly. In 1986, a historian contacted the Dutch Embassy in London to double check if a peace had ever been signed. None had been. So the Dutch ambassador visited Scilly on April 17th, 1986, the 335th anniversary of the declaration of war, to officially end the bloodless dispute.