The politest war was fought with bottles

Between Greenland and Canada lies a bare islet barely a kilometre across called Hans Island: no water, no trees, no inhabitants. When Canada and Denmark drew their maritime border in the 1970s, nobody could decide whose it was, and it remained in dispute.

What followed is perhaps the most civilised territorial conflict in history. Whenever a Canadian ship visited the islet, it planted its flag and left a bottle of Canadian whisky. When the Danes arrived, they swapped the flag and left Danish schnapps with a note welcoming visitors to Danish soil. Decades of warfare waged with liquor and courtesy.

In 2022 came the armistice: the two countries agreed to split the islet roughly down the middle, creating a land border between Canada and Denmark where none had existed.

It may be the only war in history in which both sides toasted with the enemy's weapons.