Friday 16 November 2012

Who Britain Hasn't Invaded

Back in the day when we believed that ruling over an Empire was a good thing, almost a quarter of the world map atlas was coloured pink, showing the extent of British rule.
Putting to one side the horror and damage we forced upon other nations, Britain did punch way above its weight for a tiny little island off the coast of France but a new book has found that at one time or another, the British have invaded almost 90% of the countries around the globe.
Only 22 countries have not heard the sound of British boots upon their soil, countries such as Guatemala, Tajikistan and the Marshall Islands, as well some we missed a bit closer to home, such as Sweden and Luxembourg.
It may look worse than it actually is because included are countries that the British were found to have achieved some sort of military presence in the territory either through force, the threat of force, negotiation or payment and the book includes incursions by British pirates, privateers or armed explorers, provided they were operating with the approval of their government.
Not that it is anything to be proud of but anyone else would be hard pressed to match our record although America seems to be having a  good go at it.

The countries never invaded by the British:
Andorra, Belarus, Bolivia, Burundi, Central African Republic, Chad, Congo, Republic of, Guatemala, Ivory Coast, Kyrgyzstan, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Mali, Marshall Islands, Monaco, Mongolia, Paraguay, Sao Tome and Principe, Sweden, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Vatican City.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Texas. You did not invade Texas while it was a nation.

q

Lucy said...

When was that? I would guess the author counted y'all as America.

Anonymous said...

May be, but circa 1840 to 1860 Texas was a nation.

q

Nog said...

No no. 1836 to 1845.

Anonymous said...

Nog,

thanks for the exact dates - though i don't care about such detail...

q