War of the Stray Dog

The War of the Stray Dog occurred in 1925 when a Greek soldier ran after his dog, which had strayed across the border into Macedonia. The border was guarded by Bulgarian sentries, and one of them shot the Greek soldier. Given the tense political climate, escalation was inevitable; in response, the Greeks sent soldiers into Bulgaria. Bulgaria ordered its troops to provide only token resistance, trusting the League of Nations to settle the dispute.

The League did indeed condemn the Greek invasion, and called for both Greek withdrawal and compensation to Bulgaria. Over 50 people were killed before Greece complied. Greece complained about the disparity between its treatment and that of Italy in the Corfu Incident in 1923, when the Italian armed forces occupied the Greek island of Corfu in retaliation for the murder of Italian general Enrico Tellini while surveying the Greek border with Albania.