Benjamin Franklin once played a practical joke that put England and France on the verge of war.

He was stuck in England as ambassador for some time and was bored. He wrote a letter to the biggest newspaper under a fictitious name, complaining that France needs to stop sending over all their prisoners, and England needs to stop accepting them. The British were outraged to learn this was happening, but of course it wasn’t. At some point the French caught wind of the rumor, and took on the attitude that they could do that if they wanted to. “You think your country is too good for our prisoners?” It escalated through both governments and the military until leaders on both sides had to unilaterally convince the populations that none of this was true.

The only person who enjoyed the whole thing from beginning to end was Ben Franklin.