336 A Positive Century (1815–1914)po liti cal controversy in Britain, but it had the intended eff ect. Th e Greek
government agreed to arbitration, to quantify the losses suff ered by Don
Pacifi co. Th e arbitral commission, however, valued the losses at only
£150— as against the original claim of over £21,000.
Less famous, but perhaps more entertaining, was the “Pastry War” be-
tween France and Mexico in 1838. Aft er a French pastry cook claimed that
his shop had been looted by Mexican soldiers, his government demanded an
indemnifi cation of 600,000 pesos. When this was not forthcoming, a French
fl eet blockaded the Ca rib be an ports of Mexico, bombarded a fort, and even
briefl y occupied the city of Veracruz. Far from giving in, the Mexican gov-
ernment escalated the crisis by declaring war. Th e dispute was eventually
resolved the following year, with a peace treaty that provided for the sought-
aft er compensation.
One of the largest- scale Eu ro pe an interventions, by Britain in Egypt in
1882, was similarly justifi ed by protection of nationals. Aft er a nationalist
government took power in Egypt, there was widespread antiforeigner riot-
ing, with some fi ft y deaths. Th e British responded initially with a daylong
naval bombardment of Alexandria, followed up by a full- scale military in-
vasion that toppled the unfriendly government. Th e longer- term eff ect was
to turn Egypt into a de facto protectorate of Britain.
Debt defaults by developing countries were frequent causes of forcible ac-
tion by the more powerful states. Th is was the case in the single most impor-
tant of all of the incidents short of war for the period, from the legal stand-
point: the joint naval action taken against Venezuela in 1902– 3 by Britain,
Germany, and Italy. Th is succeeded in persuading the Venezuelan govern-
ment to agree to have the various claims against it quantifi ed by a series of
mixed- claims commissions. (Th e commission dealing with the U.S. claims
disallowed 99.5 percent of them.) An unseemly squabble then ensued among
the creditor states as to whether the three blockading powers were entitled to
receive preference in payment. A P.C.A. arbitral panel (which included Mar-
tens and Lammasch as members) held, controversially, that they were.
Armed interventions short of war sometimes occurred in slightly diff er-
ent contexts, too, such as the rescue of nationals. A classic instance of this
occurred in 1868, when several British nationals, including a consular offi -
cial, were held captive at the court of Emperor Th eodore of Ethiopia. A Brit-
ish force went to their rescue— in the pro cess, destroying Th eodore’s capital