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From vast empires to short-lived states, history is filled with fascinating nations that have disappeared from modern maps. Join us as we explore the most notable countries that ceased to exist! From mighty empires to small kingdoms, we'll discover how these nations shaped our world before their dissolution.
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00:00The army and artillery are coming to the night.
00:04We are with the men in front of the night.
00:30South American independence went through many stages.
00:33New Granada was originally part of the Viceroyalty of Peru before becoming a Viceroyalty itself.
00:38Designated as the New Kingdom of Granada, the country corresponded primarily with modern-day Colombia,
00:43though it also extended into current Venezuela and Panama at various points.
00:47Independence movements had New Granada declare itself a republic at one time,
00:51as well as calling themselves the United Provinces of New Granada.
00:54However, frequent infighting led to New Granada being reconquered by Spain several times.
01:00With the final time in 1816, they would achieve their independence soon afterwards,
01:04but under a different name.
01:06More on that later.
01:07Number 29. El Estranato.
01:10In Paraguay, the past not only explains the present, but seems very much part of it.
01:15For there's a remarkable consistency in the national story in this parade of war and poverty.
01:20From 1954 to 1989, Paraguay was dominated by a dictatorship run by Alfredo Stroessner.
01:27Paraguay had suffered under dictatorships before, four in fact, but this was the longest.
01:32Stroessner's rule, known as El Estranato or El Estranismo, was marked by extreme wealth inequality,
01:38oppression, and the extrajudicial killing of his enemies.
01:42El Estranato lasted for so long in part due to Stroessner's political savvy,
01:46as well as his alliances with powerful backers, like Brazil and the United States,
01:50with the latter supporting him due to his anti-communist sentiments.
01:53Stroessner was overthrown in a military coup in 1989, led by General Andrés RodrÃguez,
01:59who was later elected president and instituted sweeping reforms.
02:03President Stroessner's no Hitler, no spellbinder, though neither is he a bloodthirsty fanatic.
02:09He just believes stability only follows strong one-man rule, his rule.
02:15Number 28. The Corsican Republic.
02:18Given that it's an island in the Mediterranean, Corsica has been ruled by a lot of countries over the centuries.
02:23In the mid-18th century, the Corsicans, led by Pasquale Paoli, declared independence from the Republic of Genoa.
02:29The Corsicans formed their own government, created a university and army, and minted their own coinage.
02:35However, after only around 14 years of self-rule, Genoa sold their claim over the island to France,
02:41leading to the French conquest of Corsica.
02:43I want to open things up. We're a Mediterranean people, and here in the region there are many different cultures.
02:49The Corsican Republic may have been short-lived, but calls for Corsican independence continued today.
02:55Additionally, its Enlightenment-inspired Republican ideals also helped inspire other independence movements,
03:00including certain British colonists in North America.
03:03We're standing here only a few feet from the governor's palace.
03:06This was the heart of Corsica.
03:08Over the centuries, Corsicans lived according to the laws and decrees that emanated from this palace.
03:13You have to remember that.
03:16Number 27. The Kingdom of Two Sicilies
03:19We can hear you asking, how do you get a kingdom with more than one Sicily?
03:23Well, this 19th century nation was formed from the union of the Kingdom of Sicily and the Kingdom of Naples.
03:29However, the Kingdom of Naples, which consisted of most of southern Italy,
03:33was still officially known as the Kingdom of Sicily, hence the name.
03:36Confusing moniker aside, the Kingdom of Two Sicilies was prosperous in its time,
03:41being the largest of the Italian states before the peninsula was unified.
03:45However, the king was overthrown in 1860 and a referendum was held to join the Kingdom of Sardinia,
03:50creating the Kingdom of Italy.
03:52Number 26. The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth
03:55For over 200 years, much of Eastern Europe was united into the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.
04:01Formed from the union of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Kingdom of Poland,
04:05Poland-Lithuania was ahead of its time in several ways.
04:08It had a forerunner to modern constitutional monarchy
04:11and enjoyed greater religious tolerance and diversity
04:13than most European states during the 16th through 18th centuries.
04:25However, the Commonwealth ultimately met its end after a period of decline.
04:32Its attempts to strengthen itself with democratic reforms
04:34only caused its neighbors to invade and carve it up to act against what one Russian statesman
04:39called, quote,
04:40Contagion of democratic ideas.
04:42Number 25. The Hawaiian Kingdom
04:44Native Hawaiians are Polynesians.
04:47They come from a land they call Kahiki, which is the homeland,
04:50and many believe that to be Tahiti or the Marquesas.
04:53Established in 1795,
04:55the Hawaiian Kingdom was created after King Kamehameha I of the island of Hawaii
05:00conquered most of the other islands in the Hawaiian archipelago.
05:02The kingdom immediately found itself as the waypoint between both sides of the Pacific.
05:07Foreign influence came with both upsides and downsides.
05:11Mostly downsides.
05:12In the 19th century,
05:13the term Hawaiian was an indicator of citizenship or membership to the Hawaiian kingdom,
05:19which throughout the 19th century was an independent country, independent state.
05:23Although the Hawaiians getting their own written language and greater rights for women were nice,
05:27the introduction of a host of new diseases killing off most of the native Hawaiians
05:32and foreigners buying up all the land were not.
05:35In 1893, the Kingdom of Hawaii was dissolved after a U.S.-backed coup led to a brief republic,
05:41and then the United States annexing the islands entirely.
05:44By mid-century, however, Hawaii's sovereignty was threatened by American interests that favored annexation.
05:52Missionaries, shipping tycoons, and plantation owners began to exert increasing influence over control of the islands.
05:59Number 24,
06:00The Kingdom of Bora Bora
06:01Bora Bora has nurtured its inhabitants with a bountiful song since the 3rd century,
06:07when the earliest Polynesian mariners arrived on these shores.
06:11The island that bears the name Bora Bora once ruled over a group of its neighboring islands,
06:16including Malpelia, Maupiti, Tupai, Motuone, and Munawai.
06:20The kingdom was created in the early 19th century and lasted until 1888.
06:25That year, Bora Bora was annexed by France after some of their neighboring islands sought to become French protectorates.
06:31Hmm, a group of Pacific islands annexed by a Western power.
06:35That sounds awfully familiar.
06:37Anyway, the kingdom technically persisted until 1895,
06:40when its final ruler, Terim Mevarua III, abdicated and Bora Bora became part of French Polynesia.
06:46Number 23,
06:48The Union of Burma
06:49You've probably heard of Burma, but don't panic if you can't remember where.
06:53In addition to their famous pythons, Burma was well known as a British protectorate.
06:57Originally a province of the larger British India,
06:59Burma obtained its independence in 1948, becoming the Union of Burma.
07:04A former British colony, Burma saw an opportunity for independence at the outset of World War II.
07:10Initially a parliamentary republic, Burma became a socialist republic in 1968,
07:14before becoming the modern, military-ruled Republic of Myanmar in 1989.
07:19Throughout the Union of Burma's history, and indeed continuing today as Myanmar,
07:23the country has been marred by an almost constant state of civil war.
07:27So, while the Union of Burma may be gone,
07:29the internal strife that began during its inception has remained long after it.
07:33Number 22,
07:35Newfoundland
07:35The fishermen from Europe landed on the coast,
07:38only to make repairs and take on fresh water for their voyage home.
07:43It was not until the 19th century that the island's potential was seen.
07:48As any Canadian will tell you, Newfoundland and its history are a bit odd.
07:52Originally a British colony, Newfoundland obtained self-governing status in 1854.
07:57Unlike its neighbors to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador, which is on the mainland,
08:01elected not to join Canada, at first.
08:04They remained a self-governing colony until 1907,
08:07when they were reclassified as a dominion of the British Empire.
08:10They continued to remain relatively independent before the Great Depression ruined everything,
08:15because of course it did.
08:16Newfoundland's economy got so bad, in fact,
08:18that they elected to give up self-governance in 1934 to have the British do it instead,
08:22making them the only country to ever give up democracy on purpose.
08:27They did elect to join Canada finally in 1949, though.
08:31In 1947, Newfoundlanders were given the choice of self-government,
08:36British rule, or union with Canada.
08:39Their final choice was confederation,
08:43and Newfoundland with Labrador became Canada's 10th province in 1949.
08:49Number 21,
08:50The Ethiopian Empire, also known as Abyssinia.
08:53So what am I looking at here?
08:54You'll see a real African cast.
08:57Despite coming to an end in 1974,
08:59the Ethiopian Empire, historically called Abyssinia,
09:02had existed since the 13th century.
09:05This Christian African nation's longevity is incredibly impressive,
09:08considering its hostile neighbors and the interest of European colonial powers in the last few centuries.
09:13The Ethiopian Empire fought two wars with Italy,
09:16one of which it won, and the other it lost.
09:18However, that wasn't the end of the empire,
09:20as its lands and emperor returned following Italy's defeat in World War II.
09:24The country remained until its government was toppled in 1974 in a military coup,
09:29which established a socialist government under the Derg, a military junta.
09:33Ethiopia's emperors may have died out,
09:35but the kingdom in many senses still survives,
09:39and the language, and the people, and the history, and the traditions.
09:43Number 20,
09:44Tripolatania
09:44This region has changed hands many times throughout its long history.
09:48It belonged to ancient Carthage before falling to the Roman Empire,
09:52then came under the control of the Vandals,
09:55and later the Byzantine Empire.
09:57It eventually became part of the Ottoman Empire,
10:00but enjoyed independence under the Karamanli Dynasty from 1711 until 1835.
10:05After it was captured by Italy,
10:07it declared independence again as the short-lived Tripolatania Republic from 1918 to 1922.
10:14However, Italy soon reasserted control,
10:17and Tripolatania was an Italian colony until 1934.
10:21Today, the area is part of Libya,
10:23with Tripoli serving as the nation's capital.
10:26Number 19,
10:27The Italian Social Republic,
10:30or the Republic of Salo.
10:32For two years, the country was split in half,
10:34divided into two countries,
10:36one led by King Victor Emmanuel and occupied by the Allies,
10:39the other a Nazi puppet state,
10:41with Benito Mussolini at its helm.
10:43The official classification of this republic was always dubious.
10:47The ISR was an Italian fascist state,
10:50and a puppet regime of Nazi Germany.
10:52In 1943, during World War II,
10:55Italy switched allegiances,
10:57signing an armistice with the Allies.
10:59German forces reacted by freeing the deposed Italian Prime Minister Benito Mussolini,
11:04who worked with the Nazi Empire,
11:06and established the Italian Social Republic on September 23.
11:09Its power was limited,
11:11and it wasn't recognized by most countries.
11:13The republic collapsed towards the end of April 1945,
11:17when the Italian resistance movement captured Mussolini and a number of his ministers.
11:22Mussolini was executed the next day,
11:24and the republic's minister of defense quickly surrendered.
11:28Number 18,
11:29Catalonia.
11:30In the medieval period,
11:32the principality of Catalonia was an autonomous region,
11:35ruled by a composite monarchy called the Crown of Aragon,
11:38which controlled territory throughout the Mediterranean.
11:41Catalonia revolted and became a republic in 1641,
11:45although it was short-lived.
11:47In 1714,
11:48Philip V won the War of the Spanish Succession,
11:51and made Catalonia part of Spain.
11:53While it regained some autonomy in the early 20th century,
11:57Catalonia was crushed again under the dictatorship of Francisco Franco.
12:01It's remained under Spanish control ever since,
12:04although it regained self-government in the late 1970s
12:07with Spain's transition to democracy.
12:10Nonetheless,
12:10the Catalan independence movement continues to fight for Catalonia's secession.
12:17We are a territory with a strong national personality.
12:22We need our independence.
12:24Number 17,
12:26the Republic of Texas.
12:28Today,
12:29Texas is the second largest and second most populous U.S. state.
12:33But,
12:33the region was originally colonized by the Spanish,
12:36becoming part of Mexico in 1821,
12:38after the Mexican War of Independence.
12:41Over the next decade,
12:42American colonists and Tejanos clashed with the Mexican government.
12:46One bone of contention was the government's increasing centralization.
12:49Another was what American arrivals saw as their,
12:52quote,
12:52right to own slaves,
12:54despite Mexico banning the practice.
12:57In 1836,
12:58this led to the Texas Revolution
13:00and independence as the Republic of Texas.
13:03The Mexican Congress refused to acknowledge the transition,
13:06with both sides arguing over borders,
13:08and the native Comanches literally caught in the middle.
13:11In 1845,
13:13the Republic of Texas was annexed by the United States,
13:16becoming its 28th state,
13:18and sparking the Mexican-American War.
13:20Hang on,
13:21conquering the West was America's manifest destiny, right?
13:25So,
13:25Polk wouldn't take no for an answer.
13:27He picked a fight,
13:28sending troops to occupy a disputed area of the Texas and Mexico border.
13:32Number 16,
13:33Gran Colombia.
13:34In the early 19th century,
13:42Venezuelan military leader,
13:43Simón BolÃvar,
13:44liberated much of South America from Spanish control.
13:47He dreamt of one great unified country,
13:50which was founded in 1819 as Colombia,
13:53now known as Gran Colombia,
13:55to distinguish it from the modern-day Republic of Colombia.
13:57It encompassed much of Southern Central America,
14:00and Northern South America.
14:02For a short time,
14:03it was powerful and prosperous,
14:05but soon fell victim to political power plays.
14:08When the state existed,
14:10it was widely respected,
14:12and viewed as one of,
14:13if not the most important,
14:15and esteemed nations in the Spanish Americas.
14:18BolÃvar and former war ally,
14:20Francisco de Paula Santander,
14:22became public rivals in a fight between centralism and federalism.
14:26Political instability resulted in the state's dissolution in 1831,
14:30and the area was split into the modern countries of Colombia,
14:34Ecuador,
14:34Venezuela,
14:35and eventually Panama.
14:37Number 15,
14:38Bengal.
14:39Today,
14:40Bengal is an area encompassing West Bengal of India and Bangladesh.
14:44In ancient times, however,
14:46a series of powerful kingdoms ruled the region,
14:49with strong militaries and extensive trade networks.
14:53The Greeks referred to the area as Gangaride.
14:55In the 16th century,
14:56the region became a part of the Mughal Empire,
14:59and prospered as a rich trading power,
15:01described as the paradise of the nations.
15:04During this time,
15:05Bengal encompassed 12% of the entire world's GDP.
15:09It then fell under British rule in 1757,
15:12and was split between India and Pakistan in 1946,
15:16in the wake of the Indian independence movement.
15:19Following the Bangladesh War of Independence,
15:21East Bengal of Pakistan became modern-day Bangladesh.
15:24In the 20th century,
15:29Vietnam had endured invasion from France and China.
15:33It had seen the creation of Indochina under French rule,
15:36and the development of French culture and influence in the coming years.
15:40In the years following World War II,
15:42colonial rule began to end worldwide,
15:45but not without a fight.
15:46In 1945,
15:48revolutionary Ho Chi Minh declared independence from France,
15:51proclaiming the Democratic Republic of Vietnam.
15:54In response,
15:55France fought back tooth and nail to hold onto its territory.
15:59With France's support,
16:00the state of Vietnam was established in the South in 1949.
16:03In 1955,
16:05it became the Republic of Vietnam.
16:07Finally,
16:07on June 14th,
16:091949,
16:10the independent state of Vietnam,
16:13under Bao Dai,
16:14former emperor of Annam,
16:16was recognized by the French as independent,
16:19but existing within the French Union.
16:22The conflict culminated in the Vietnam War,
16:24with the U.S. backing the South against the North's communist government.
16:30What do you think?
16:31Wow,
16:32that's really exciting.
16:33The North won,
16:34and the fall of Saigon in 1975 signaled the end of the Republic.
16:39Number 13,
16:40Austria-Hungary.
16:42In the late 19th and early 20th centuries,
16:44the Austro-Hungarian Empire ruled much of Central Europe.
16:48A dual monarchy between the Austrian Empire and the Kingdom of Hungary,
16:51the multinational state began with the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of 1867,
16:56and was ruled by the House of Habsburg.
16:58It was a major global exporter of the time,
17:01building and shipping industrial appliances and components for power plants.
17:05While unpopular with Hungarians,
17:07Austria-Hungary flourished until it declared war on the Kingdom of Serbia on July 28th, 1914.
17:14From a pistol shot at Sarajevo,
17:16the first of the great modern world wars exploded.
17:20And almost overnight, all of Europe was engulfed in conflict.
17:24This officially started World War I,
17:26and Austria-Hungary fought as a central power.
17:29They obviously lost,
17:31and the empire was dissolved into the Kingdom of Hungary,
17:34and the first Austrian Republic.
17:36Number 12.
17:37The Kingdom of Sikkim
17:39To the north of West Bengal is the Indian state of Sikkim,
17:42with a population of just 610,000 people.
17:46Back in 1642,
17:48Sikkim was a hereditary monarchy known as Dremoshong.
17:51It was founded by the Namgyal dynasty,
17:53and ruled by Buddhist monarchs known as Chogyal.
17:56In the late 19th century,
17:57it became a British protectorate.
18:00Then, in 1950, an Indian one,
18:02with India's independence from Britain.
18:04Over the next decades,
18:05it became one of the richest regions of the Himalayas.
18:08However, political turmoil upheaved the Kingdom in the early 1970s,
18:13and on April 14th, 1975,
18:15a near-unanimous referendum abolished the monarchy
18:19and turned Sikkim into an Indian state.
18:22Number 11.
18:22From 1919 to 1933,
18:27Germany was unofficially called the Weimar Republic,
18:30and officially Deutsches Reich.
18:33Formed between the Second and Third Reichs,
18:35this attempt at a republic was doomed from the start.
18:38At the end of the First World War,
18:40the Treaty of Versailles imposed harsh penalties on Germany,
18:43which contributed to issues with hyperinflation
18:45and warring communist and right-wing nationalist paramilitary movements.
18:50It wasn't all bad, though,
18:52as the government ended up helping German currency and railways,
18:55and got out of most of the imposed restrictions from the treaty.
18:59But it was all for naught, however,
19:01because after the Reichstag fire,
19:02a certain chancellor influenced the government to call a state of emergency,
19:06effectively ending the republic,
19:08and beginning Germany's Nazi period.
19:10Number 10.
19:12Tibet
19:12The area of Tibet was once held by the short-lived Tibetan Empire,
19:17which was established in the early 7th century and dissolved in 842.
19:21Following its collapse,
19:22Tibet became a series of smaller territories,
19:25with the central portion of the country run by various forms of Tibetan governments.
19:29The Chinese Qing Dynasty took control over the area in the 1720s,
19:33but Tibet won back its independence with the Xinhai Revolution in 1911.
19:37However, that only lasted until October 24, 1950,
19:41when China invaded and annexed Tibet.
19:44The native Tibetan government remained in place,
19:47but this was quashed following the failed uprising of 1959.
19:51Ever since, Tibet has remained under Chinese control.
19:55Number 9.
19:56East Germany
19:57After World War II,
19:59Germany was reeling from their losses,
20:01and their territory was divided up by the Allies.
20:04West Germany ultimately stayed connected with the rest of Western Europe.
20:08East Germany,
20:09officially the German Democratic Republic, or GDR,
20:12was snatched up by the USSR as a Soviet satellite state,
20:17and was occupied by Soviet forces for decades.
20:20They built the infamous Berlin Wall in 1961 to stop emigration,
20:25and killed many defectors.
20:27Despite having the best economy of the Eastern Bloc states,
20:31it was a grim situation.
20:32The Berlin Wall finally came down in 1989,
20:36and a year later,
20:37as the USSR was dying,
20:39the GDR was absorbed into a unified democratic Germany.
20:44Number 8.
20:45Prussia
20:45Wow, Germany's had a lot of names.
20:48This iteration was called Prussia.
20:50Starting out as a duchy,
20:51it became a kingdom in 1701 under Frederick I,
20:55and became famous for its military strength,
20:57most notably under Frederick the Great and Otto von Bismarck.
21:01At its peak,
21:02Prussia covered parts of what are now eight European countries.
21:06After German unification in 1871,
21:09Prussia was the largest state in the German Empire,
21:12but ceased to be a kingdom after World War I.
21:15It later lost independence after the Weimar Republic dismissed Prussia's cabinet,
21:19and by 1934,
21:21their powers had been completely stripped by the Nazis.
21:25After World War II,
21:26the Allies effectively dissolved Prussia,
21:29with Poland and the USSR taking the spoils,
21:31and kicking the Germans out.
21:34Number 7.
21:35The United Arab Republic
21:36This ill-fated project was a union between Egypt and Syria.
21:41The United Arab Republic, or UAR,
21:43was the first move towards eventually forming a larger pan-Arab state.
21:48It was also an attempt to subdue that pesky communist influence in the area.
21:52The project was short-lived, though,
21:54as Syria became independent again in 1961 after a coup d'etat.
21:59Egypt kept the name UAR for another 10 years
22:02before realizing they weren't united with anyone.
22:05They officially changed back to Egypt in 1971,
22:08shortly after the death of their president and founder of the UAR,
22:12Gamal Abdel Nasser.
22:14Number 6.
22:15Ceylon
22:15Just off the coast of India,
22:17Ceylon was the converted name given to Sri Lanka
22:20after the Portuguese landed there in the early 16th century.
22:24Like a lot of countries during the Age of Discovery and New Imperialism,
22:28Ceylon went through its fair share of European overlords,
22:31ending with the British,
22:32who consolidated rule over the island starting in 1815.
22:36Fast forward to 1948,
22:38and Ceylon became a dominion,
22:40fully independent of Britain,
22:42but still recognizing the British monarch.
22:45It stayed this way until 1972,
22:47when it became a republic,
22:48and its name was changed to Sri Lanka.
22:51Today, Parliament plans to erase most references to the country's old name.
22:55Number 5.
22:57Czechoslovakia
22:57After the Central Powers were defeated at the end of World War I,
23:01the Austro-Hungarian Empire was dissolved
23:04and split into a bunch of successor states.
23:07One of these was Czechoslovakia,
23:09one of the few countries in Europe that was a democratic republic at the time.
23:12They had a good thing going until the Nazis gobbled it up,
23:16and later, of course, the Soviets.
23:18During the Velvet Revolution in 1989,
23:21the Czechs deposed their government,
23:23and restored their democracy,
23:25but things weren't all rosy.
23:27By 1993,
23:28nationalist tensions between Czechs and Slovaks
23:31caused the country to peacefully split into two,
23:34the Czech Republic in the west,
23:35and Slovakia in the east,
23:38effectively making them Czech mates.
23:40Number 4.
23:44Rhodesia
23:45Starting out as the British colony of southern Rhodesia,
23:49and named after Cecil Rhodes,
23:51the British businessman who exploited the region,
23:53this southeast African state had a history mired in blood.
23:57In 1965,
23:58the minority whites signed a Declaration of Independence from the UK,
24:02which was declared illegal,
24:04as Britain only allowed the majority to make such a declaration.
24:07After British sanctions and a 15-year civil war
24:10between Robert Mugabe's ZANU,
24:12Joshua Nkomo's Zappu,
24:14and Ian Smith's Rhodesian government,
24:16Rhodesia buckled.
24:18Universal suffrage was granted,
24:20and the state was named Zimbabwe-Rhodesia.
24:23Elections were held in 1980,
24:25and Robert Mugabe and ZANU won.
24:28The European name of Rhodesia was replaced with just Zimbabwe,
24:31and Mugabe dominated the country's politics for decades,
24:34first as prime minister, and then as president.
24:37Number 3.
24:38The Ottoman Empire
24:39With an over 600-year existence,
24:42the Ottoman Empire's run was one of the longest in history.
24:46The Ottoman Empire.
24:47Ah, I could get used to this.
24:49You know what?
24:50This is what I want our empire to be about.
24:52They officially ended the Byzantine,
24:54or Eastern Roman Empire,
24:55by taking Constantinople.
24:57They annexed much of the Middle East under Suleiman I,
25:00dominated the land surrounding the Mediterranean Sea,
25:03and were instrumental in causing European nations to modernize their weaponry.
25:08They had a good run, barring multiple genocides,
25:11but political ineptitude, internal revolts,
25:13and the sheer vastness of the empire caused it to decline.
25:17Allied with Germany during World War I,
25:20the loss saw the empire dismantled.
25:22With the Turkish War of Independence,
25:24the Sultanate was abolished,
25:26and the Republic of Turkey took the empire's place,
25:29while its legacy was whittled down.
25:31Number 2. Yugoslavia
25:33Along with Czechoslovakia,
25:36Yugoslavia was another remnant of the old Austro-Hungarian Empire.
25:40Unlike its peer, which adopted democracy,
25:43Yugoslavia became a kingdom.
25:45That kingdom was invaded by the Nazis in 1941,
25:49as was the trend in Europe.
25:51At the end of World War II,
25:52it became a socialist federal republic unaffiliated with the USSR,
25:57under the leadership of Josip Tito.
25:59It was a federation of six different republics that,
26:02after Tito's death in 1980,
26:04wanted independence because of ethnic differences.
26:07Some republics declared independence in the early 1990s,
26:10effectively dissolving Yugoslavia
26:12into what is today seven different countries,
26:15including Croatia and Serbia.
26:17The story doesn't end there, though,
26:19as the Yugoslav Wars unfortunately continued throughout the 1990s.
26:23Before we continue,
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26:34make sure you go into your settings and switch on notifications.
26:39Number 1. The Soviet Union
26:41The latter half of the 20th century
26:44saw the planet turn into a chessboard,
26:47with America on one side
26:48and the Soviet Union,
26:49the largest state in the world, on the other.
26:52All these famous cities
26:54and the populations around them
26:56lie in what I must call the Soviet sphere.
27:01And that division still exists today.
27:04Along with the United States,
27:06the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics,
27:08or the USSR,
27:10influenced world politics to such an extent
27:12that the effects can still be felt in our modern world,
27:15with areas like Asia, South America,
27:18the Middle East, North Africa,
27:19and the Caribbean all feeling the effects.
27:23Ultimately, because of economic failure,
27:25most Soviet satellite states in Eastern Europe
27:28replaced their communist governments,
27:30and eventually,
27:31the USSR's republics followed suit in the 90s.
27:34Instead, you treat us as stooges
27:36for the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.
27:37Can we just call them the Russians?
27:39It'll save time.
27:40There are now 15 independent states,
27:42including the territory that is Russia,
27:44or the Russian Federation,
27:46which is the USSR's legal successor.
27:50Is there an ex-country we forgot?
27:52Don't panic.
27:52Tell us your picks in the comments.
27:54In the Baltic,
27:56to Trieste in the Adriatic,
27:58an iron curtain has descended across the continent.
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