Why Did England and Spain Go to War Over an Ear?

In the 1700s, a war was (technically) started over a lost ear. Learn about the War of Jenkins' Ear in this episode of BrainStuff, based on this article: https://history.howstuffworks.com/history-vs-myth/jenkins-ear.htm

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to Brainstuff, a production of I Heart Radio, Hey
brain Stuff Lauren Vogelbaum here. Sometime around seventeen thirty eight,
an unattached ear made a serious splash in the British
House of Commons. The man who claimed to be its
owner presented it. Had he not pickled it, the ear

(00:22):
would have been mummified by this time. It had been
separated from his head for more than seven years by
the time he carried it into the House of Commons
to lodge his complaint. His name was Robert Jenkins had
been the captain of a commercial trading vessel named the Rebecca.
On April ninth of seventeen thirty one, the Spanish Coastguard
from Havana, Cuba boarded the vessel. They suspected that the

(00:45):
Rebecca was carrying smuggled goods and demanded it to inspect
the ship's cargo and manifest. Once they did, they found
that there was indeed contraband aboard the ship. As punishment,
the Spanish captain drew his sword and severed Captain jenkins
ear from his head. According to Jenkins, the captain claimed
were the King of England here and also in violation

(01:07):
of the laws, I would do the same for him,
and a year after jenkins testimony, England declared war on Spain.
It's not entirely clear why Jenkins waited seven years, or
why he was carrying the ear in question around with him,
but this conflict came to be known as the War

(01:28):
of jenkins Ear. However, relations between Spain and England were
already strained long before jenkins mishap. Back in the sixteen nineties,
Spain's King, Charles the Second, was dying and he had
no clear heir to his throne. The superpowers of France
and Austria both had claims of lineage on the Spanish throne,

(01:50):
though dynastic families often married into one another, so that
the royal board in one country could very well end
up ruling a foreign nation. This was the circumstance at
the end of Charles the second reign. Even though he
was still alive. France and Spain didn't waste any time.
The nations set about plotting to get a family member

(02:11):
who was sympathetic to both nations onto the Spanish throne.
The Emperor of Austria and the King of France also
divvied up the Spanish territory of Italy between them. Out
of spite, Charles willed his throne to a French prince. Suddenly,
France had trouble remembering the alliance that had just made
with Austria. In retaliation, Austria declared war on France and

(02:35):
Europe was plunged into the War of Spanish Succession. The
alliances that developed are important because the combatants of the
War of Jenkins Ear Spain and England came to disdain
each other during the War of Spanish Succession, even though
both were only proxy players. The Treaty of you Tract,

(02:56):
which ended the War of Spanish Succession in seventeen th
as to, published some ground rules for Spain and England,
which were dominating adjacent areas in the so called New
World of the America's. Primarily, the treaty set guidelines over trade,
allowing the English to operate commercial roots into these Spanish
American territories. To ensure that English commercial ambitions didn't exceed

(03:21):
what was granted to them by the treaty, the Spanish
increased their naval presence around Florida, but smuggling was rampant
among all nations operating in the Americas at the time,
and the Spanish regularly intercepted English vessels, harassed their crews
and confiscated cargo, regardless of whether the ships were functioning legally.

(03:42):
It was on one of those stops that Robert Jenkins
had his unfortunate encounter with these Spanish captains sword. When
Jenkins lodged his complaint against the Spanish to Parliament, his
firebrand called arms was justification enough for England to declare
war on Spain in America's In addition to the harassment

(04:02):
England endured from the Spanish on the high seas, there
had been an ongoing dispute over the border between the
Spanish colony of Florida and the English colony of Georgia.
The ear was simply the last straw. The War of
jenkins Ear lasted three years, from seventeen thirty nine to
seventeen forty one, but it didn't amount to much. Most

(04:24):
of the war was composed of British naval retaliation against
continued Spanish attacks on its ships. The battles on the
ground took place largely in Florida and Georgia, but the
war did rally other people's as well. The French Spanish
alliance was still strong, and France had a presence to
the west of Georgia what would later be included in
the Louisiana Purchase. But the French were kept from entering

(04:48):
the war in Earnest by the Creek, Cherokee, and Chickasaw tribes,
all of whom allied with the English and formed a
barrier between the French colonies to the west and the
Spanish and British colonies to the east. On the ground,
the founder of the Georgia colony, James Oglethorpe, led an
invasion of Florida, attacking St. Augustine, but he eventually retreated.

(05:09):
The Spanish retaliated off the Georgia coast, attacking a forth there.
The governor of St. Augustine led an attack on Fort
Frederica in July of seventeen forty two, two years after
Oglethorpe attacked this. The Battle of Bloody Marsh ended in
Oglethorpe's defeat of the Spanish. If you're beginning to notice
a tit for tat pattern that produced few results for

(05:31):
either side, then you've got a grasp on the War
of Jenkins's ear In fact, history doesn't name a clear
victor in the war, it was simply absorbed into the
larger King George's War, which broke out in seventeen forty.
This war resulted from revived animosity between the French and
the English, a larger rivalry than that between the Spanish

(05:52):
and the English. Today's episode is based on the article
why did England in Spain fight over an ear on
how stuff works dot Com written by Josh Clark. Brain
Stuff is production of iHeart Radio in partnership with how
stuff Works dot Com and is produced by Tyler Clang.
Four more podcasts my heart Radio, visit the iHeart Radio app,

(06:14):
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