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Huescar is a small village in the province of Granada. Sleepy and cozy. The kind of community where a house break-in is big news. The roughly 7,000 inhabitants welcome tourists, but for a reason. Huescar is one of six stops on the Granada Geopark route. This 143-kilometer route for walkers and cyclists teaches them about the remains of the earliest inhabitants of the area. This brings some tourist overnight stays to the village.
But in the annals of Spanish history, Huescar holds a very peculiar place. The village is responsible for the longest war the country has ever been involved in. And as if that weren’t strange enough, the officials of Huescar weren’t even aware of it for 172 years.
To understand this, we need to go back to the period 1803–1815, when the Napoleonic Wars raged across Europe. A confusing time, because there were actually seven different violent conflicts. During those years, alliances shifted frequently. Friends of Napoleon’s France became enemies – and vice versa. Thus, in 1809, 13,000 Spanish soldiers in then-friendly Denmark suddenly found themselves in enemy territory. Some fled the country, but 5,000 ended up in a Danish prison.
The Spanish government was furious and broke all ties with Denmark. But the officials of Huescar went a step further and declared war on the country.
When 1815 arrived and Napoleon was defeated, the Napoleonic Wars ended. But Huescar completely forgot its declaration of war against Denmark. Result: the village with an “army” of eight (!) guards officially remained at war. It wasn’t until 1981, when a local historian accidentally discovered the declaration of war in the municipal archives, that this 172-year-long “war” could be ended.
This was done in a playful way when a Danish delegation dressed as Vikings was welcomed in Huescar with banners carrying the threatening, but obviously humorous, message: “You are entering enemy territory. Be aware of the consequences.” Everyone laughed when peace was finally officially declared.
