"The three Chicken Wars, and their (less than) lasting impacts"

From MetaFilter:

In the records of human conflicts, there are at least three Chicken Wars. Two left little mark on the world at large, and the third resulted in some strange work-arounds for heavy tariffs.

The first was Wojna kokosza, the Chicken or Hen War of 1537, when an anti-royalist and anti-absolutist rokosz (rebellion) by the Polish nobility resulted in near-extinction of local "kokosz" (an egg laying hen), but little else. The second was an odd spin-off of the more serious War of the Quarduple Alliance that lasted from 1717 to 1720. Though most of the activity happened in Europe, there were some battles in North America. The Texas manifestation was the capture of some chickens by French forces from a Spanish mission, and a costly overreaction by Spanish religious and military men. The third Chicken War was a duel of tariffs during the Cold War, with the only lasting casualty being the availability of foreign-made light trucks in the United States.

There aren't many resources in English on the Polish Chicken War of 1537, beyond Wikipedia (linked above) and a less than serious retelling of events.

There is much more documentation and description of The War of the Quadruple Alliance, including the French capture of the settlement of Pensacola in the Spanish colony of Florida in 1719, and the efforts the Spanish to keep the French out of New Mexico, and the story of the Chicken War of 1719 is short in duration and detail.

The lasting impact came from the 1963 "Chicken War" or more appropriately, the "Chicken Tax." Plentiful poultry from the US was flooding Europe, France and West Germany responded by placing a significant tariff on chickens from the US. The discussions of chickens started under President Kennedy, but it was President Lyndon B. Johnson who issued the proclamation that would amend the tariff schedule on potato starch, brandy, dextrine and soluble or chemically treated starches, and automobile trucks.... 

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