- to list those many modern European states
which have never threatened their neighbours :-
Albania
Iceland
Ireland*
Macedonia
Bosnia-Herzegovina
Finland
Norway
Estonia
Latvia
Ukraine
Moldova
Slovakia
Portugal**
Belgium
Switzerland
Slovenia
Montenegro
Malta
Cyprus
* Though its inhabitants enthusiastically helped to wipe out various peoples from Tasmania to Texas to California
** Though of course it was the first European colonial power (in Africa), and inventor of the trans-Atlantic slave trade. Nevertheless, it was never a threat to Spain...
5 comments:
I'm not too sure if you can claim that Norway has never been threatened by a neighbouring state. Not too long ago, Norway was part of the Danish Kingdom, which had quite frequent battles with the Swedish, if I'm not too mistaken.
Please read the post again - I said that these states did not threaten their neighbours, not that they were never threatened by their neighbours.
It is a dubious list, however. The Vikings invaded the whole of Northern Europe and Russia, the Irish invaded Scotland, and until the First World War Albanian was spoken right down the coast to Piraeus.
I am surprised that Czechs didn't make that list.
Well, Jindra, you may remember that the Czechs not only took over Slovakia after WW1 but also expelled all Germans after WW2. Slovakia had less independence than Scotland.
I'm surprised that no-one has noticed that Luxembourg is not on the list. I don't think any Grand Dukes of the past did any invading, but there is the question of the province of Belgium which is, confusingly, called Luxembourg. In which case Belgium would be an aggressor.
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