A study by the British historian Stuart Laycock showed that the British military invaded almost 90 percent of the countries around the world and only 22 of the 193 UN countries did not survive the British invasion …
The result of this analysis is described in the new book All Countries We Have Ever Invaded: And Only A Few We Didn't Get to.
The author of the book, Stuart Laycock, studied all the countries of the world in alphabetical order, and studied the histories of these countries to find out if they survived the invasion of Britain at some point in their history. Only a relatively small fraction of the total number of countries on Laycock's list that the British invaded constituted the official part of the empire. The rest were included because there was a British military presence on their territory to one degree or another - by force, the threat of force, negotiation or payment.
The map above shows that 90% of the world at one time or another, to one degree or another, experienced the presence of British troops.
Raids by British pirates, privateers, or armed discoverers were also included as they were approved by the British government.
As the author himself says, after two years of careful study of the issue, he himself was shocked by the answer. “I was completely shocked when I put together the complete list. I thought I had a fairly good general level of knowledge. I was just shocked."
“Other countries could write similar books - but they would be much shorter. I don't think anyone can compare with this, although Americans in the 20th century worked hard on their list."
Promotional video:
Laycock, however, explains that it was not always the invasion of the British army itself. For example, in the case of the states of the Caribbean and Central America, these were often British pirates, but almost always their raids were inspired by the "crown".
In some cases, the "raids" were relatively peaceful - as was the case with Iceland in 1940, when, despite the protests of the Icelandic government, the first 745 British Marines landed on the island.
Laycock believes the real numbers could be even higher and invites the public to let him know about evidence of other incursions.
In the case of Mongolia, for example - one of 22 countries that the British supposedly did not invade - he believes that a British invasion may have taken place, but he could not find direct evidence of this.
The country fell into turmoil caused by the Russian Revolution, which involved Britain and other powers. Laycock found evidence of military operations in Russia about 50 miles from the border with Mongolia, but was unable to establish whether they approached Mongolia closer than this distance.
Here is a complete list of countries where an English soldier has never set foot:
And what about America?
In pursuit of global hegemony and to showcase military power to the benefit of corporations, America has intervened in at least 50 countries over 130 times in 121 years.
Research and calculations by The News show America's ongoing pursuit of supremacy since its first intervention in Argentina in 1890.
American troops intervened in Panama's affairs 8 times (1895, 1901-14, 1908, 1912, 1918-20, 1958, 1964 and 1989), they invaded Nicaragua, (1894, 1896, 1898, 1899, 1907, 1910, 1912- 33), Honduras (1903, 1907, 1911, 1912, 1919, 1924-25, 1983-89) and China (1894-95, 1898-1900, 1911-14, 1922-27, 1927-34, 1948-49, 1958), about seven times to each country under one pretext, or another, within the time period in question.
American troops entered Cuba 6 times (1898-1902, 1906-1909, 1912, 1917-33, 1961, 1962), were in Iran 5 times (1946, 1953, 1980, 1984, 1987-88), and 4 different cases interfered in the affairs of Haiti (1891,1914-34, 1987-94, 2004-05).
Dominican Republic (1903-04,1914,1916-24,1963-66), Yugoslavia (1919,1946,1992-94, 1991-93), Iraq (1958, 1963, 1990-91, 1991-93) and the Philippines (1898-1910, 1948-54, 1989, 2002).
Three times American troops were sent to Korea (1894-96, 1904-05, 1945-53), Libya (1981, 1986-89, 2011), Guatemala (1920, 1954, 1966-67), Yemen (2000, 2002, 2004) and Liberia (1990, 1997, 2003).
They twice went on foreign missions to countries such as Chile (1891, 1964-73), Mexico (1913, 1914-18), Puerto Rico (1898, 1950), El Salvador (1932, 1981-82), Germany (1948, 1961), Laos (1962, 1971-73), Somalia (1992-94, 2006) and Afghanistan (1998, 2001).
In addition to a prominent place in the First and Second World War, American combat units at least once were active in countries such as Argentina, Samoa, Russia, Guam, Turkey, Uruguay, Greece, Vietnam, Indonesia, Cambodia, Oman, Macedonia, Syria, Pakistan, Bolivia, Virgin Islands, Zaire (Congo), Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Lebanon, Grenada, Angola, Sudan, Albania, Bosnia and Colombia.
Further in his article, Dr. Grossman writes: “The media constantly tells us that some people in the Middle East hate the US only because of our 'freedom' and 'prosperity'. Omitting in their accusations the historical context of the US role in the Middle East and the rest of the world. This is to inform readers who have not followed the history of US foreign affairs or the country's military interventions very closely, but who are concerned about the direction in which the country is heading towards a new war in the name of "freedom" and "protection of civilians."
Dr. Grossman argues, “The US Army has long been intervening in other countries. In 1898, they captured the Philippines, Cuba and Puerto Rico from Spain, and in 1917-1918 they were involved in the First World War in Europe. In the first half of the 20th century, they repeatedly sent the marines as "defenders" to Nicaragua, Honduras, Panama, Haiti and the Dominican Republic. All of these interventions served directly in the interests of corporations, and many of them resulted in heavy casualties among civilians, insurgents and soldiers."
He goes on to say: “In the early 1960s, the United States reverted to its pre-World War I intervention in the Caribbean, leading the disastrous Bay of Pig landings in Cuba, and in 1965 bombing and invading the Dominican Republic with the help of the Marine Corps during elections. The CIA trained and sheltered groups of Cubans in Miami who then carried out terrorist attacks against Cuba. During the Cold War, the US also helped establish pro-American dictatorships in Iran, Chile, Guatemala, Indonesia and many other countries around the world.”
He argues that “Even when the US military initially pursued defensive motives, it ended up attacking the wrong targets. After the 1998 bombing of two embassies in East Africa, the US retaliated not only against Bin Laden's training camps in Afghanistan, but also against a pharmaceutical plant in Sudan, which was mistaken for a chemical weapons plant. Bin Laden responded with an attack on a US Navy vessel docked in Yemen in 2000. After the terrorist attacks of 2001, the US military was again ready to bomb Afghanistan, and to oppose other states, which they accused of "complicity" in terrorism, in particular, Iraq and Sudan.
In one of the closing paragraphs of his article quoted above, Dr. Grossman sets out his views, “Such campaigns certainly only intensify the cycle of violence, provoking the repetitive responses that are a hallmark of conflicts in the Middle East.
Afghanistan, like Yugoslavia, is a multinational state that can easily be divided into parts, creating a catastrophic regional war. And it is almost certain that in this tit-for-tat war, far more people will die than the 3,000 civilians killed in the September 11 attacks.”