Australian military forces officially declared war on a flock of emus in 1932 because the giant flightless birds were devastating the Western Australian wheat economy during the Great Depression.

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Australian military forces officially declared war on a flock of emus in 1932 because the giant flightless birds were devastating the Western Australian wheat economy during the Great Depression. The government deployed highly trained soldiers armed with Lewis machine guns and ten thousand rounds of ammunition to exterminate the avian threat and protect agricultural profits. In a stunning display of military incompetence, the emus employed chaotic guerrilla evasion tactics, easily outmaneuvering the slow human soldiers and their heavy weaponry. After weeks of embarrassing defeat and immense waste of taxpayer money, the military withdrew, leaving the birds victorious. It remains a hilarious historical testament to the fact that you can throw an unlimited defense budget and heavy artillery at an economic problem, but you still might lose to a bunch of stupidly fast birds