Bar: Colonial Battle/Campaign: Venezuela 1902/03

Oil rich Venezuela's corrupt government defaulted on foreign loans, prompting a European international fleet to blockade the coastline. Shots were fired from coastal forts, and the usual "banana republic" intervention occurred--

by French, Italian, and German naval forces while British ships stood by pretending (fairly accurately as it turned out) that nothing much was happening. The United States was NOT involved-- indeed this intervention provoked Monroe Doctrine objections.

Ten years later, when Germany created a generic Colonial Medal with bars for this sort of action (see other examples shown) they became the only one of the blockading nations to remember this awkward episode.

Ironically, half of the German "imperialists" were teenaged boys from the Crew 1902 intake on their "freshman year" sailing cruise in those normally warm and harmless waters. So large numbers of those who received these bars were Sea Cadets at the time.

Courtesy Noor.