1Bobby Fischer Rematch Fiasco
Reclusive Chess Master Bobby Fischer had a rematch with Spassky in 1992. The match was forbidden due to the embargo on Yugoslavia. The match and the events that followed led to Fischer's exile from the U.S.
2. The Hindenburg airship was forced to use hydrogen (as opposed to helium), because the USA, which produced more than 90% of all helium at that time, had a military embargo restricting its civilian use.
3. The United Nations General Assembly has condemned the United States embargo against Cuba as a violation of the UN Charter every year since 1992.
4. In 2012, Danish reseller named Torben Nødskouv paid $20,000 to legally purchase Cuban cigars from a German distributor. The bank transaction was automatically routed through the US, who confiscated the money for violating the US trade embargo with Cuba.
5. The "ABCD Encirclement" were a series of multinational embargoes against Japan that led to the war in the Pacific.
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6Fanta & Nazi Trade Embargo
Fanta was invented during World War 2 when Coca-Cola couldn't import its syrup into Nazi Germany due to a trade embargo. They instead invented a new drink called Fanta, just for Nazi Germany, using only the available ingredients.
7. In Ancient Rome, for particularly grievous offenses by public figures, the Roman Senate would pass a sanction of "Damnatio Memoriae", literally an order to erase that person from history.
8. In January 1979, Vietnamese army entered Phnom Penh to end the genocide that killed nearly quarter of all Cambodians. Shortly after, most of the UN denounced Vietnam and placed it under sanctions.
9. Despite the sanctions imposed on Iran, US exports more bull semen to Iran than any other country. In 2018 alone, the amount of semen exported from the US was more than the combined total of the next seven other countries exporting semen to Iran.
10. Danish company Lundbeck Inc. placed an embargo on the sale of its product, pentobarbital, to US prisons because of its moral stance on lethal injections.
11Finland Trade Embargo Threat
Nokia and the USSR used to have such a profitable relationship during the Cold War that America threatened Finland with trade embargoes and war if Nokia didn't stop its association with the USSR.
12. Serbian soldiers who dug the Sarajevo tunnel during the Bosnian War, which bypassed the international arms embargo, were only paid 1 pack of cigarettes per day.
13. From June 1948, the US Air Force and the Royal Air Force flew 280,000 flights in 12 months to help the citizens of Berlin with coal and food during the Blockade of Berlin as a gesture of kindness after the cruelty of war.
14. During the Leningrad Blockade of World War 2, citizens were only rationed 125 grams of stale bread a day, and in the first 2 months of the siege, 200,000 people died from cold and starvation.
15. During World War 1, no foreign coaling stations were available to Germany, and its coast was blockaded. So the Germans outfitted a sailing ship as a commerce raider and disguised it as a Norwegian wood carrier which sailed past the British blockade and captured 15 ships over the next two years.
16Japanese Occupation Of Wake Island
During the Japanese occupation of Wake Island, the American blockade made food so scarce that Japanese soldiers hunted a local species of bird to extinction.
17. The Battle of Chuenpi (First Opium War) started with British ships firing warning shots at other British ships. The British Superintendent of Trade in China, Charles Elliot, had ordered a blockade to prevent trade and other British ships attempted to defy that ban.
18. Most people in Cuba still drive old American cars from the 1950s. There are about 60,000 classic American cars in Cuba today and if the Cuban trade embargo were to be lifted, people there could make a fortune off of these "Yank Tanks."
19. President Jefferson was a slaveholder who refused to recognize Haiti after the Haitian Revolution and imposed a trade embargo on them to ensure their economic failure, for fear that a successful slave revolt in the West Indies would inspire slaves in the US.
20. During World War 2, the Dutch, British, and the US governments embargoed oil to Japan. Japan only had 1.5 years of reserve oil. The Pearl Harbor attack was an attempt to eliminate the US Pacific Fleet, so that Japan could have a clear path to conquer the East Indies and get more oil.
21US-Cuba Trade & Embargo
The US embargo on Cuba does not prohibit the trade of food and humanitarian supplies and the US is actually the fifth-largest exporter to Cuba.
22. After the Russians invaded Afghanistan, Jimmy Carter imposed a grain embargo on the Russians, boycotted the 80' Summer Olympics, and funneled cash and weapons to the Mujahideen who were fighting the Russians.
23. John F. Kennedy requested his head of press, Pierre Salinger, to get him 1,000 Cuban cigars. Seconds after he brought the president 1,200 cigars, Kennedy signed the Cuban trade embargo.
24. Pistachios in the US are no longer dyed red as a result of the Iran Hostage Crisis (sanctions against Iran). The red dye was used to cover the staining that picking methods in Iran left. US production increased after the sanctions and quicker harvesting eliminated the shell stains and the need for the dye.
25. In 1969, France embargoed Israel while navy ships sold to Israel were still in France. The Mossad set up a fake oil company that bought the ships from France and covertly sailed them to Israel. Upon discovering this, the French defense minister ordered an air strike to sink them, but his order was overruled.
