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Rubbing It In: History’s Greatest Flexes and Ownages

Khalid Elhassan June 3, 2025 17 min

5. When Any Excuse Would do to Go to War

Ownage - Soldiers from Modena steal a bucket from Bolognese territory — Soldiers from Modena steal a bucket from Bolognese territory. Wikimedia

The Italian Peninsula was riven by strife for centuries during the Middle Ages. Holy Roman Emperors competed with popes for dominance, and the locals split into factions and picked sides. There were two main parties: the Ghibellines supported the emperors, while the Guelphs championed the popes. In such a tense environment, anything could trigger a war. That explains the otherwise inexplicable War of the Bucket between the cities of Bologna and Modena.

The bigger Bologna was Guelph and supported the pope, while Modena was Ghibelline and backed the emperor. Hostilities reportedly started when some soldiers from Modena dashed into Bolognese territory, and took an oaken bucket from a well. To be fair, the bucket in of itself did not cause the war. However, it became the war’s symbol. The Bolognese demanded the bucket’s return, only for Modena to refuse.

Written by

Khalid Elhassan

A lifelong history buff, I developed a particular passion for WW2 history as a child, when I spent hours listening to my grandfather, enraptured, as he recounted his wartime experiences in the British East African Campaign and with the British 8th Army in North Africa.

I graduated with a history BA from George Mason University, then went on to get a JD from the University of Virginia School of Law. After lawyering for a decade, I moved to sunny Rio de Janeiro and a less demanding career, opening a tourism agency in Copacabana.

A big chunk of my free time is spent blogging (you can follow me on Quora https://www.quora.com/profile/Khalid-Elhassan ) or freelance writing, mostly about my favorite subject, history.