Only 22 Countries Have Never Been Invaded By Britain?

[interestrateripoff]

http://www.statista.com/chart/3441/countries-never-invaded-by-britain/

Our old leaders certainly enjoyed action, although won't some of these be because of WWII where it was an invasion to remove Nazi's?

[Si1]

Let's invade Sweden!

[MrPin]

Let's invade Sweden!

You beat me to it! Why should they get let off?

[ntb]

For most of them you could substitute invaded with created.

[MrPin]

For most of them you could substitute invaded with created.

Yes, let's us British create a new British border just here. As the French are coming from that way, and the Belgians from the other. Who cares whether it cuts a tribe in half? This has made Africa the dodgy pool of conflict that some of it is today.

[SpectrumFX]

For most of them you could substitute invaded with created.

Yeah. We've never invaded Australia or Canada it's ********.

[MrPin]

Yeah. We've never invaded Australia or Canada it's ********.

I think the native people possibly might disagree.

[SpectrumFX]

I think the native people possibly might disagree.

Fair point.To my mind there's a difference between settling a landmass that may have a few hunter gatherers scratching about the place and invading a country.

[Kurt Barlow]

Fair point.To my mind there's a difference between settling a landmass that may have a few hunter gatherers scratching about the place and invading a country.

Quite. I have to laugh at the Aboriginals here going on about the British Invasion as if China, Indonesia, Japan, Holland, France etc would have just ignored the Country.

I'm sure had the Japanese colonised Australia they would have been far more sympathetic to Aboriginal rights than the British.

[ccc]

Let's invade the Vatican and burn it to the ground. Its one nasty depraved place.

[MrPin]

Quite. I have to laugh at the Aboriginals here going on about the British Invasion as if China, Indonesia, Japan, Holland, France etc would have just ignored the Country.

I'm sure had the Japanese colonised Australia they would have been far more sympathetic to Aboriginal rights than the British.

I think when some African tribes saw three European armies coming from all sides, being British was the least bad option.

I was in India a few years back and I asked an Indian colleaugue what the Indians thought about the British Empire, and what it was all about.

Even I am too young to remember it. But their grandfathers will.

The general consensus, after 1947, is they are quite fond of the British.

I never had a problem down there, and random women used to smile at me, in the supermarket.

Although my Scawtish colleague, with the orange hair always got looked at a bit more. He did stand out a bit, being 6'3. He should have worn a kilt, and carried bagpipes with him.

[MrPin]

Let's invade the Vatican and burn it to the ground. Its one nasty depraved place.

I think you may be a Protestant? Have you ever been tested for it?

Cardinal Pin.

[Nuggets Mahoney]

Yeah. We've never invaded Australia or Canada it's ********.

Once known as New Holland and New France respectively.

Even if you don't count colonisation and displacement of existing inhabitants as 'invasion', the Seven Years war supports a case that Britain did invade a fair chunk of what is now Canada.

[EUBanana]

It doesn't really mean a whole lot. The UK/England has been around a long time, and it's been a great power for most of that time. Over such a long history a country with a global reach is obviously going to have left its mark.

Some of those 'invasions' are pretty tenuous as well, or happened as small parts of greater conflicts. The invasions of Argentina happened as part of the Napoleonic Wars, fighting in Quebec was part of the global Seven Years War, etc. So really we invaded Spain and France - a lot.

[Nuggets Mahoney]

Yes, let's us British create a new British border just here. As the French are coming from that way, and the Belgians from the other. Who cares whether it cuts a tribe in half? This has made Africa the dodgy pool of conflict that some of it is today.

Verification of the quote is hard to pin down but de Gaulle allegedly described Belgium as a country invented by the British to annoy the French.

[The Masked Tulip]

Seems everyone else is getting their own back by now 'invading' the UK.

[SpectrumFX]

Once known as New Holland and New France respectively.

Even if you don't count colonisation and displacement of existing inhabitants as 'invasion', the Seven Years war supports a case that Britain did invade a fair chunk of what is now Canada.

That's not the same thing as having actually invaded Canada though is it.

The Dutch never claimed Australia, so that's a red herring.

[Nuggets Mahoney]

The 18th and 19th centuries included a fair smattering of private enterprise 'invasions'; not necessarily encouraged by the British government. I'm thinking the East India Company, the opium barons in the Far East, Cecil Rhodes and his crew, and semi-autonomous viceroys and governors who were halfway into places like Zululand before their higher ups knew about it.

[MrPin]

Verification of the quote is hard to pin down but de Gaulle allegedly described Belgium as a country invented by the British to annoy the French.

With chocolate and beer?

[The Masked Tulip]

Finally, all that time spent in school on the Seven Year's War finally finds a use in a HPC Off-topic thread.

[The Masked Tulip]

The 18th and 19th centuries included a fair smattering of private enterprise 'invasions'; not necessarily encouraged by the British government. I'm thinking the East India Company, the opium barons in the Far East, Cecil Rhodes and his crew, and semi-independent viceroys and governors who were halfway into places like Zululand before their higher ups knew about it.

No different to what the US does nowadays with those various companies - Blackwater? Blackrock? Black something? And all the rest.

[Nuggets Mahoney]

That's not the same thing as having actually invaded Canada though is it.

A French Canadian might disagree. I'm not particularly enamoured with the list. So I'm not going to argue the toss with any passion either way.

It's a silly list for several reasons. One of them being that several of the 'countries' allegedly 'invaded' by Britain didn't exist in anything like their present form when they were rolled over.

[porca misèria]

When did the British invade Britain?

It's a bit disingenuous, because it blurs a lot of history. Both of what is or was Britain, and what is or was the various countries.

Simple example: are they arguing that we invaded Russia but not Belarus since 1989? Or are they rewriting history to suggest the distinction existed before 1989?

Come to that, when did we last invade Russia? Crimean war?

[The Masked Tulip]

When did the British invade Britain?

It's a bit disingenuous, because it blurs a lot of history. Both of what is or was Britain, and what is or was the various countries.

Simple example: are they arguing that we invaded Russia but not Belarus since 1989? Or are they rewriting history to suggest the distinction existed before 1989?

Come to that, when did we last invade Russia? Crimean war?

1919 I believe.

Edit:

And we were doing some seriously Cold War fly-overs in the 50s through to the 80s.

[erat_forte]

Well the English first invaded England, and then proceeded to invade the rest of Britain...

When did the British invade Britain?

It's a bit disingenuous, because it blurs a lot of history. Both of what is or was Britain, and what is or was the various countries.

Simple example: are they arguing that we invaded Russia but not Belarus since 1989? Or are they rewriting history to suggest the distinction existed before 1989?

Come to that, when did we last invade Russia? Crimean war?