You know, there are just some governments that shouldn't have the authority to go to war. We're talking all throughout history, not just today. The Kettle War is the perfect example of that.
For over 100 years, the northern portion of the Netherlands was an independent republic, while the southern Netherlands was dominated by the Holy Roman Empire.
On one particular day in 1784, the Holy Roman emperor decided, despite dozens of authorities begging him not to, to push to have southern ports open in the north to trade via the River Scheldt. This was an undeniably northern territory, and it had been for over 100 years.
Much like how the Holy Roman Empire operated throughout their historical existence (also the reason why Christianity is so powerful and oppressive in today's world of religious diversity) instead of asking the North if they could use their ports, they just built a war fleet and sent them out to claim the land.
This fleet was concocted to intimidate the independent republic of the north, and it included one of the modern marvels at the time, a fully stocked war-ship that was far more advanced than anything that the northern republic had.
The North saw this coming, and they sent out only one ship. One sailor on that tiny vessel fired one singular shot at the warship. It didn't hit anyone, but it did knock over a soup kettle. The south surrendered immediately, and the north got to claim their cool ship. Nobody was killed, except for the peasants that the Holy Roman emperor executed out of anger towards the situation.
This just goes to show that some things in history happen for a very good reason, and sometimes the good guys win just because they're right.