Only 22 countries have never been invaded by Britain
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
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Wait, when did Britain invade most of Europe? Are we counting WW2, because that doesn't seem fair, since most of the invaded countries either didn't exist at that time, or if you want to count the governments-in-exile, requested it.
From reviews it sounds like it counts all sorts of things
Lastly and most importantly, the facts are just wrong. A naval blockade is not an invasion. A bombing campaign is not an invasion. A uprising in the Roman empire does not count as Britain invading Croatia and Slovenia just because an army originating in the Roman province of Britannia landed in the region which, 16 centuries later, is controlled by these two countries. But hey, never let the facts get in the way of a good story!
A lot of the reviews seemed to indicate the book wasn't being entirely serious but either the reviewers were or they just didn't find it funny.
If you accept the concept of territorial waters a naval blockage actually is an invasion, but that's irrelevant, because beyond all that bullshit this map reveals the only nation capable of defeating the British once and for all:
Sweden. The only nation to have invaded Britain but not been invaded by Britain.
Get your goddamn longships out of storage, Sweden, you must finish the job your ancestors left undone.
I don't think people typically understand coming into other country's territorial waters as invasion. I guess it can be that but personally wouldn't include it. Modern day equivalent could be air incursions, which I wouldn't really count. Boots on the ground is what I think most expect when they hear "invasion".
A uprising in the Roman empire does not count as Britain invading Croatia and Slovenia just because an army originating in the Roman province of Britannia landed in the region which, 16 centuries later, is controlled by these two countries.
You can find an epub of the book on Library Genesis. It is organized by current nation states but is (obviously) referring to historical invasions of their present-day territory.
For Croatia, it does mention events in the fourth century, but also the 19th (when they built a base on the island of Vis) and 20th (when they reoccupied it). Slovenia it admits they "have come perilously close to not invading at all" but points out that (in addition to that fourth-century Roman campaign) the UK did occupy an area including the present-day Slovenian town of Sežana from 1945 to 1947.
I was about to check it myself but due to the bad reviews and general laziness went with just what the reviews said.
It did seem like it was somewhat tongue in cheek and not supposed to be taken quite as seriously as some of the reviewers or those citing it for their infographics did.
They're counting everything they can, and a lot of things they can't, just to manipulate your perceptions of world history for their own reasons