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Podcast: Plausibly Live - The Dave Bowman Show
Episode: A Comedic Opera?
Description: Wars often evoke images of grim battlefields, valorous deeds, and tragic losses. Yet, there was one war in American history where the most significant injury was a sheriff’s deputy stabbed with a penknife, and the fiercest “battles” featured taunts shouted across a river. This was the Toledo War—a boundary dispute between Michigan Territory and Ohio in 1835 and 1836, which historians aptly describe as a “comic opera.”
The Toledo War wasn’t fought over grand ideals or clashing empires. Instead, it revolved around 468 square miles of disputed land known as the Toledo Strip, a narrow ribbon of territory alon...