Why Does Europe Have So Many Microstates?

Ever looked at a map of Europe and wondered just why some of the countries are so small? Well, that's what this video's here to answer!

MUSIC:
"The Wild West" by Ross Bugden
"Lord of the Land" by Kevin Macleod
"Crusaders" by Adriel Fair*
"Village Consort" by Kevin Macleod
"Midnight Tale" by Kevin Macleod
"Arriving in Ancient Rome" by Kikoru*
"A Celtic Blessing" by Bonnie Grace*
"Working It" by Jingle Punks
(*via EpidemicSound)

👕 MERCH!

📖 SOURCES:

CONTACT:

SPONSORSHIP INQUIRIES:

THANK YOU, BRONZE AGE+ PATRONS!
Adri Cortesia, Anonymous Freak, Mikkel R P Wilson, Nif Lindsay, Larry Burch, Rebanics, Tobi Burch-Rates, Up and Atom

[KhAnubis]

To all those of you saying that Europe doesn't have states, I swear to god...

*State (noun) A nation or territory considered as an organized political community under one government.*
In other words, "state" can also refer to countries (i.e. "the member states of the European Union")

[eukarya_]

Fun fact, Andorra's border is the oldest in the world, not having changed a little bit since 1278.

[Levi-dnhf]

Because of the Vatican City’s small size it technically has two popes per square kilometre.

[Zwhsnduiwmsnxjsl]

Two micro-countries go to war. Due to bad weather conditions, that war has been scheduled to take place indoors.

[wbotktx]

Funny story: Lichtenstein got invaded by his neighbors serval times by accident. Due bad weather condition as example. But everyone in Lichtenstein was pretty chill about it. The solidiers got greeted with flowers and chocolate.

[SpaghettiRoad]

Great video! The funniest thing about these countries is that unremarkable amateur football teams gets status as a national team and gets to play the big countries. Though the results are often not too balanced.

[crypt_ed]

in case you're wondering why these states were never truly occupied and made to assimilate, most of them are very mountainous (difficult to invade) and have few natural resources (nothing to exploit anyway). The cost - benefit just isn't there. Many of these little nations were very poor until they became tax havens, tourist hotspots or established a casino.

[mykolanankin]

2021’s Europe: has a lot of micro states
1500’s Europe: hold my beer

[kwnjir]

The words in the thumbnail “why so small” is what I ask myself every day

[ZetaFuzzMachine]

Came for the feudalism, stayed for the tax haven

[Kenruli]

Simple answer: that is what over 1000 years of war does

[mattwho]

Historically the big countries, Britain France, Spain, Italy, Prussia spent a lot of centuries scraping it out and realised they could chip away at their rivals by supporting smaller states to keep independent. Belgium basically exists so Britain France and Germany can have a neutral ground to meet up without going to war.

[thDoctorWhoovez]

Liechtenstein? More like Switzerland's Switzerland.

[marcopanzironi]

Fun fact: Rome is the only city to have a country inside of its territories

[rxmbo]

The secret to surviving as a small nation: neutrality

[simonworsley]

I’ve ticked off every micro nation in Europe in the last few years. San Marino exceeded expectations - a very scenic place to visit

[paulhk]

Meanwhile Russia:
"Why does Europe only have microstates?" **drops mic**

[edp-xoon]

Did this dude just call Luxembourg a micro state

[Optidorf]

As a European I already knew the answer. We spent two frigging years in history class to study this shizzle. And this is just the tip of the iceberg.

[odyssey.studios]

Would love to see an Africa edition featuring the likes of: Gambia, Equatorial Guinea, Rwanda & Burundi, Djibouti and Eswatini and Lesotho.