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
Hmmm.
When were Holland, Belgium, France, Germany, Spain , Portugal, Italy, Switzerland, Austria or Romania invaded by the British?
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.
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”
Maybe they are counting any wars where the British fought? If so, the two world wars would account for a lot of it.
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.
