Military history of Iceland called the Icelandic Cod Wars (Icelandic: "Þorskastríðin", "the cod war", or "Landhelgisstríðin", "the war for the territorial waters"), were a series of three confrontations from the 1950s to the 1970s between the United Kingdom and Iceland over fishing rights in the North Atlantic. The First Cod War lasted from 1 September until 12 November 1958. It began as soon as a new Icelandic law that expanded the Icelandic fishery zone from , came into force at midnight of 1 September. After a number of rammings and a few shots fired between the Royal Navy and Icelandic patrol boats, Britain and
Cod Wars fishing communities lost access to rich areas and were devastated, with thousands of jobs lost. Since 1982, a exclusive economic zone has been the United Nations standard. The term "cod war" was coined by a British journalist in early September 1958. None of the Cod Wars met any of the common thresholds for a conventional war, and they may more accurately be described as militarised interstate disputes. There is only one confirmed death during the Cod Wars: an Icelandic engineer, who was accidentally killed in the Second Cod War. While he was repairing damage on the Icelandic gunboat "Ægir" after