Petrich stray dog war: Unleashing conflict between Greece and Bulgaria

Can you ever imagine that a dog can start a war between two countries? Well, that’s exactly what happened between Greece and Bulgaria. The incident at Petrich, also known as the War of the Stray Dog, was a Greek-Bulgarian crisis in 1995 that resulted in a brief invasion of Bulgaria by Greece near the town of Petrich.

Both countries, Greece and Bulgaria, were already under a state of tension for a long time due to territorial disputes. One day, a Greek soldier stationed at the border with his dog faced an unexpected situation. The dog ran away and, unfortunately, crossed the Bulgarian border. The Greek soldier, in a panic and without thinking twice, entered the Bulgarian border to bring his dog back.

As soon as the Bulgarian soldiers noticed this, they immediately started firing at the Greek soldier. In response, the Greek guard opened fire on the Bulgarians. Given the existing tension between these two countries, this small incident escalated into a significant conflict.

Both armies engaged in this war for almost 10 days, with 10,000 Bulgarian and 20,000 Greek soldiers participating. The conflict resulted in 50 Bulgarian and 125 Greek casualties and losses.

There are two versions of how the incident started. In the first version, the conflict began on October 18 when a Greek soldier chased after his dog, hence the name “War of the Stray Dog.” In the second version, the incident was caused on October 18 by Bulgarian soldiers who crossed the Greek border, attacked a Greek outpost captain, and a sentry.

Finally, after 10 days of war from October 19 to 29, 1995, this incident came to an end after a decision by the League of Nations.