5d ago

Only 22 countries have never been invaded by Britain

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/26015783

source: https://www.statista.com/chart/3441/countries-never-invaded-by-britain/
source's source: https://archive.org/details/allcountriesweve0000layc/mode/2up

British History @feddit.uk

Arthur Besse @lemmy.ml

5d ago

Only 22 countries have never been invaded by Britain

25 7

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland @lemmy.ml

Arthur Besse @lemmy.ml

5d ago

Only 22 countries have never been invaded by Britain

1 0

48 comments

The map is bullshit tbh. It includes countries where the brits actually helped achieve independence (the Baltics after WWII).
The definition of invasion according to the book is apparently "has fought in conflicts in territory".
E.g Sweden is uninvaded according to this map. If Norway invades Sweden and the UK goes to help Sweden, it'll count as the brits having invaded Sweden for this map.
- Yup, when did Britain invade Poland, Lithuania, Estonia or Latvia?

To clarify a lot of confusion I see in the comments. This book considers a country to be invaded when:
At any point during the history of England, Whales, northern Ireland, Scotland, and or significant predecessors any army of theirs "invaded",
Counting any part of the land that is now considered part of the UN country. So not only from when the country existed,
And being invaded meaning they had some control over, or fought conflicts in the territory.

22 countries have never been invaded by the British yet.

They saw the Flag of Ivory Coast and thought they allready invaded it.

Looks like the US is going to try to break this record

At first I thought that it was a bit of a stretch to include Brazil there, but I think that you can say that if you consider the English corsairs/pirates activity during the early period of Portuguese colonization.
Edit: also, probably that's the reason why the indland countries in South America are out of this list.

Hmmm.
When were Holland, Belgium, France, Germany, Spain , Portugal, Italy, Switzerland, Austria or Romania invaded by the British?
- Netherlands - Holmes’ Bonfire, 1666, 1944
  Belgium - Napoleonic wars — Waterloo
  France - (as England) 1230, 1337-60, 1369-89, 1373, 1415-53, 1562, (as Britain) 1794, 1795, 1813, 1815, 1944
  Germany - 1914-18, 1944-5
  Spain - 1808-13
  Italy - 1944-45
  Austria - 1945
- Rampjaar. 1672. We where the dutch republic back then so it included belgium, Luxembourg. We had a lot of wars before and after between us and the English in which the english took a lot of our colonies by fotce.
  Belgium was "invaded" during WW1 and again during WW2.
  Spain: ever heard of Gibraltar?
  The English fucked with everyone who had a ship back then.
- France and Britain have a long history of warfare.
  
  I think it would be easier to list the periods where France and Britain were NOT at war which each other rather than the opposite.
  
  Warfare and invasion are not the same thing.
- Germany, and probably Austria: World War 2
  At the time the Netherlands and Belgium were occupied by Germany. Don’t know if that counts.
  France: Probably during the Hundred Years’ war.
  
  Weird to exclude Luxembourg from that as they were also occupied by Germany and freed by the Allied forces
  Edit: checked the book and:
  Netherlands, The: it counts the Battle of the Sluys and other various navel battles fought on Dutch territory as valid examples
  Belgium: it counts the battles that were fought on the land that is now Belgium, so not counting from its creation. It also counts assisting the local people, so for example fighting off the French in defense together with the Flemish
  So the book is taking "invasion" more lenient than the comment section:
  The act of invading, especially the entrance of an armed force into a territory to conquer.
  The introduction also states "invasion, had some control over, or fought conflicts in the territory"
  
  Italy, probably WW2 too (operation dragoon)
- Maybe they are counting any wars where the British fought? If so, the two world wars would account for a lot of it.
  
  Yeah, they are. It's bullshit.
  
  Still Switzerland? We weren’t invaded in WW2 or WW1.
- Parts of probably, e.g. Gibraltar

Rule #1 to not get invaded: Hide your country as centrally as possible in your continent.

The Britain's invaded Britain. Power move.
- I guess the civil war counts?
- That's the American Revolution.
- So many times depending on who you trace modern Brits to. Romans invaded the Celts. Saxons invaded the Romans. Normans invaded the Saxons. And that's just England. Wales and Scotland could probably come up with another dozen plus examples between them

Horseshit, half the countries in the world didn't even bother getting around to existing until long after the British put the great project on pause

To distinguish Chad and Romania, Romania should add the UK flag in a corner (like New Zealand)

Finland, as we were part of the non-invaded Sweden

Their politics still sucks to this day.

US?
Edit: I am incorrect. I didn't see the "never" in the title.

Well, The British? What do you have to say for yourselves?!
- Please calm down and would the outstanding 22 form an orderly queue.
- Loves me empire, hates immigrants, simple as.

Pretty sure the British never invaded South Sudan…
- Beware of wikihole: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anglo-Egyptian_Sudan

The Brit fears the Mongolian

I don't think they ever invaded the entirety of the Arabian Peninsula, they had protectorates: Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, Oman, South Yemen, and the seven emirates that later formed UAE.