Countries Britain HAS NOT been to war with?

Interesting question I've just been posed by my brother, but how many and which countries has Britain never been to war/fought with?

A mate of his says theres only 3 and so hes looking for an extensive list to prove him wrong.

Obviously this brings up a complication of countries who don't exist any more/have only existed recently so perhaps if we try and relate newer countries to their older geographical counterparts or something for some kind of continuance (ie Yugoslavia doesn't count as we fought in Bosnia)? Anyway lets see what we can come up with?

The 3 named in the question are Luxembourg, Switzerland and Morocco.

Reply 1

Flux

I'm sure there must be more than three but I wounld't like to name them.

Reply 2

Nisko

OP

Well I've had quite a few names from another board but I'm only going on peoples words that we haven't been to war with them, definitely more than three though.

Reply 3

SuperhansFavouriteAlsatian

Does "Africa" count as a country? Since when it was colonised, it wasn't strictly speaking a country. Or does it count as all the separate countries that now exist there? Even so, there are many areas that Britain didn't go to in Africa, likewise in Asia.

North Vietnam, South Vietnam, for example. Have we ever been at war with Iceland? Denmark? Greenland? Norway? Sweden? Australia? Canada? The USA (since it became the US)? Cuba? Venezuala? Bolivia?

There's a lot more too.

Reply 4

Carl

14

If we're talking in terms of actual, political nation states, I could reel you off a huge list, yes.

Reply 5

Robob

17

Errr, well as far as I am aware Britain has never been at war with britain (since it became the UK obviously...)

Reply 6

2026

15

Britains never been in a war with Canada, modern Turkey, Liechtenstein, Brazil, Australia, New Zealand.

Reply 7

Arminius

14

DanGrover

Does "Africa" count as a country? Since when it was colonised, it wasn't strictly speaking a country. Or does it count as all the separate countries that now exist there? Even so, there are many areas that Britain didn't go to in Africa, likewise in Asia.

North Vietnam, South Vietnam, for example. Have we ever been at war with Iceland? Denmark? Greenland? Norway? Sweden? Australia? Canada? The USA (since it became the US)? Cuba? Venezuala? Bolivia?

There's a lot more too.

We have been at War with Denmark, at some point i think.

I think it would be best that territory's occupied by another (denmark occupied modern norway and iceland) not count as countries... for the sake of this debate.

Bit complicated really. We havn't been at way with quite a few i'd say, but considering most of africa/south america are countries formally part of european empires it gets more complicated.

Tuvalu.

Nisko

Interesting question I've just been posed by my brother, but how many and which countries has Britain never been to war/fought with?

A mate of his says theres only 3 and so hes looking for an extensive list to prove him wrong.

Obviously this brings up a complication of countries who don't exist any more/have only existed recently so perhaps if we try and relate newer countries to their older geographical counterparts or something for some kind of continuance (ie Yugoslavia doesn't count as we fought in Bosnia)? Anyway lets see what we can come up with?

The 3 named in the question are Luxembourg, Switzerland and Morocco.

That's blatantly wrong. Over a hundred new countries have been created since WWII, and Britain hasn't invaded a vast majority of them. Off the top of my head, there's Vanuatu, Tuvalu, Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea, Sao Tome and Principe, etc.

Reply 10

Tw!stEd

2

That's blatantly wrong. Over a hundred new countries have been created since WWII, and Britain hasn't invaded a vast majority of them. Off the top of my head, there's Vanuatu, Tuvalu, Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea, Sao Tome and Principe, etc.

He said about relating countries to their historic geographical counterparts...
I dont think we've warred with austrialia?

Reply 11

Arminius

14

We can't answer this without agreeing which countries count...

Australia cannot count because it was created by us and was our colony.

You could say we were at war with the aborigenes but they were never a country, so... don't count.

Reply 12

Bismarck

13

Tw!stEd

He said about relating countries to their historic geographical counterparts...
I dont think we've warred with austrialia?

Britain would have no need to ever invade those tiny islands. And you're right, Britain was never at war with Australia, New Zealand, or Canada. It has also never fought a war with Mexico, Bolivia, Paraguay, and Brazil. It also never fought a war against the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Belarus, Ukraine, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Macedonia, Croatia, Bosnia, Slovenia, etc.

Reply 13

Ferrus

19

1984198419841984

Britains never been in a war with ... modern Turkey, Liechtenstein

Wrong, Britain was at war with Turkey 1920-22, and Liechtenstein was originally a principality in the holy Roman Empire, and England was at war with the Empire a fair few times.

Reply 14

L i b

19

rpotter

Errr, well as far as I am aware Britain has never been at war with britain (since it became the UK obviously...)

It's had a few rebellions and civil wars in its time. The Jacobite Risings, the Southern Irish problem in 1922...

I'm assuming this thing doesn't include countries we've colonised - so Australia would be out (although I imagine we've fought their natives once or twice)

Reply 15

Ferrus

19

LibertineNorth

(although I imagine we've fought their natives once or twice)

There was the Black War in Tasmania...

Reply 16

Segat1

16

There are plenty of people who see Britian's colonisation of Australia as a war, which is still ongoing. To say it wasn't a country is only true in the sense that it was undefendable by the occupants and had no law in the modern sense (writing things on paper). As Ferrus pointed out, the Black War in Tassie (my home state - a part of Australia!) resulted in the genocide of many Tasmanian Aborginals (who are diff to bog std Aboroginals).

And there were plenty of anti-British uprisings in Australia's history. See Eureka Stockade etc. So technically there were wars between England and Aus.

Reply 17

pendragon

13

We conquered a 1/4 of the globe and have been to war with most major European powers.

So I am guessing Thailand, Switzerland, Congo and Peru? :biggrin:

It probably depends whether you count the territorial wars as covering land surface or you are simply naming states that we haven’t been to war with because they no longer exist or they came into being relatively recently. We didn’t go to war with the Confederate States of America for example, or the People's Republic of China, but we did have wars with the United States of America and Imperial China. And if you are at war with Spain and technically at war with her colonies (Cuba, Argentina and Mexico) do you count that as having been to war with these countries even though they had not achieved independence as sovereign states at that time? Interesting question! :smile:

Reply 18

ESBay

8

Ferrus

Wrong, Britain was at war with Turkey 1920-22, and Liechtenstein was originally a principality in the holy Roman Empire, and England was at war with the Empire a fair few times.

Hence the fact that the person stated 'Modern Turkey'. By modern Turkey, I expect that he was referring to the Republic of Turkey formed in 1923, not the Ottoman Empire.

Reply 19

Ferrus

19

ESBay

Hence the fact that the person stated 'Modern Turkey'. By modern Turkey, I expect that he was referring to the Republic of Turkey formed in 1923, not the Ottoman Empire.

Yes, I'm not an idiot, but modern turkey I meant that created after the Paris Peace conference. By 1923 Turkey had already overthrown the sultan, and Turkey was run by Kemal Ataturk.

Countries Britain HAS NOT been to war with?

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