British VS Iceland War: The Cod Wars
62Howdy Folks. Today we will be covering one of the lesser known yet interesting conflicts that occurred in our recent history. The Cod Wars was one of those odd geo political bouts against two major nations, yet, nearly caused a major rift within NATO, and the overall alliance. Cod wars
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ut in the lead-up to the Second World War, Icelandic fishermen grew concerned about the amount of British ships in their waters, which affected how much cod they could catch themselves. Anxiety mounted until, in 1952, they announced new rules, limiting the Icelandic waters where British fishermen could trawl, and expanding Icelandic fishery zones from three to four nautical miles from the shore.
The United Kingdom, retaliated by imposing a ban on Icelandic fish in British ports. It was a costly sanction to the small nation, as the U.K was Iceland’s largest export market. It backfired, however, when the USSR took up the export for the Icelandic fish. In the midst of the Cold War, the U.S. followed suit, fearing greater Soviet influence in the vitally located state, and encouraged its European allies to do the same. The sanctions from the UK minimized and Iceland could maintain their new limits. Eventually, in 1956, Britain capitulated in the first Cod War, in the wake of a decision from the Organization of European Economic Co-operation that sided with Iceland.
That might have been that, but in September 1958, Iceland expanded its national waters still further, from four nautical miles to 12, deep into waters that had previously belonged to no one. NATO, the Western military alliance, was up in arms, and Britain refused to cooperate. With the backing of virtually every western European country, Britain insisted they would continue to fish where they had before, under the protection of Royal Navy warships if necessary.
An altercation occurred in November of 1958, when an Icelandic gunboat fired warning shots at a British trawler. Eventually, a British ship The HMS Russell, intervened, and pointed out that the gunboat was well outside the four-mile limit that the British recognized, and were thus in international waters. The Icelandic captain refused to leave, and ordered his men to man their guns and approach the trawler with the intent to capture or sink the vessel. Russell, a comparable titan, made it clear that they would sink the boat if it shot the trawler. A brief stalemate followed, upon the arrival of more British ships the Icelandic captain backed down.
By early 1961, clashes such as these made the situation more and more untenable. Diplomatic relations were worsening and the chaperones for the British fishing vessels were getting expensive. With Iceland threatening to leave NATO, a compromise was drawn up: The United Kingdom would recognize the 12-mile waters limit, with certain concessions in the first three years for British fishermen. A new rule was also imposed, that any further fights over cod between the two countries were to be sent directly to the International Court of Justice.