You should’ve added Romania and Moldova. The two did unite in 1918 - Bessarabia, annexed from Moldavia (and, at this point, the remaining Moldavia had created Romania) gained independence as the ‘Democratic Republic of Moldavia’. The land was re-annexed by Soviets in WW2, and in the following 1990-1992 ‘Transnistria War’ would Moldova’s fate be decided. They hence, failed to unite/unionise.
Interestingly, while the BENELUX union failed originally, it does live on. In 1958 they formed an economic union which laid the groundwork for the structure and functioning of the EU. Additionally, Article 350 of the TFEU specifically protects the existence of BENELUX within the EU. Many features of the EU start in BENELUX before being adopted by the EU as a whole.
The kingdom also didn't cease to exist. The Kingdom of the Netherlands is the same entity as the one in the "United" Kingdom of the Netherlands. Historians just add the "united" to differentiate.
1:14 I'll add that Belgium inspired Poland to rebel against Russian Empire and November Uprising broke out. This uprising was one of the reasons why Belgium's rebellion succeed.
Question is if it was the Belgian revolution that did that. The July Revolution in France triggered a lot of revolutionary sentiment and was certainly the trigger for the Belgian one.
You forgot to add , that after sovietization Moscow created Transcaucasus soviet federative socialistic republic with a federation of 3 countries. It existed until 1936 , wben the fake country was dissolved and the 3 countries became just part of USSR, instead part of TSFSR , inside USSR.
Wonderful review of a fascinating subject, with very helpful graphics! History shows us the difficulty in uniting different religious and ethnic populations.
I've always found Singapore's creation fascinating. It became independent against its will and its now far more developed than the "mother country". Are there any other countries that became independent against their own will? I can't think of any.
If you do another of these, you might include the Central African Federation, aka the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland, now Zimbabwe, Zambia, and Malawi.
The Australian constitution was written to allow New Zealand and Fiji to join the new federation. Both wisely chose to forgo the offer. Western Australia almost chose to not join but were eventually convinced to do it. There's been been low level grumbling about secession on and off ever since
The Benelux countries are politically very connected. Since November 5, 1955, there has also been a Benelux Parliament. The Benelux Parliament consists of 49 members from the parliaments of the three countries: 21 Belgian, 21 Dutch and seven Luxembourgish members. The main language is Dutch and French. The Benelux parliament discusses whether there are matters that can be simplified within the three countries, such as all Dutch, Belgian and Luxembourg diplomas that are automatically valid in the Benelux countries. Matters about justice, tax and security, or whether they are conducting a joint foreign policy or trade mission.
Excellent summary of an intriguing topic with incredibly useful illustrations! History demonstrates how difficult it is to bring disparate religious and ethnic groups together.
5:17 - glad you named this one!!!! We should mention the Malaya-Indonesia union Sukarno proposed which led to the Malaysia concept because the British wanted to stop the rise of communism in the region.
Thank you. Most of the Central America ountries joined into a union longer than most on your list. It lasted for 15 years, starting in 1823. It was named The Federal Republic of South America.
I'll add some proposals: Poland and Hungary (1370-1382 and again 1440-1444) Serbia and Montenegro (2003-2006) Ethiopia and Eritrea (1952-1991) Sudan and South Sudan (1956-2011) Indonesia and Timor-Leste (1976-1999)
@@whyareyoureadingmynickname8158 But at beginning they were together in a single country and after that one part secessed and created independent country. Presented in this video United Kingdom of The Netherlands also doesn't fit in this because Belgium wasn't union partner. Belgium was territory annexed by the Netherlands only Luxembourg was semi independent, but still it was in personal union with The Netherlands.
In that case, let us not forget the Personal Union of Hungary and the HRE under Sigismund of Luxembourg. Personal Unions were pretty common in the Middle Ages and Early Modern Era.
6:04 In its time it was simply the Republic of Colombia, the name "Gran Colombia" was retroactively given by historians to differentiate it from the current Colombia. Basically when they declared the independence they joined, but later the constituent parts started leaving. Just like what happened in the South with Argentina, which initially had a lot more territory that later went to other nations.
Very interesting video, with a lot of things I didn't know. What I DO know is you had the wrong flag for Germany. You had the Dutch flag in the Livonia part.
@@jhapethlloydciron3185 I would assume the commenter is of slavic origin of the country that was part of Yugoslavia, and in all the languages they used J not Y. Yugoslavia is an English name. The countries name is from Serbo-Croatian Jugoslavija, in turn from jug (“south”) and slavija (“Slavia, the land of the Slavs”). Literally, the land of the South Slavs.
As a Flemish person, I'd love for us to do that. But it's not gonna happen. The current public support for such a reunification to happen is simply way to low in both countries
@@AreigelSjtolsa dutch confederacy like in the 17th century but in modern ways might pull it off and keep the cultures intact maybe even thriving more.
*2:29* Worth noting, after the capturing of the Caucasus by the Soviet Union, Transcaucasia was reborn now as an SSR, and lasted until the late 1930s until the three once again split into three Soviet Socialist Republics - Georgian, Armenian and Azerbaijan SSRs. Transcaucasia was short-lived both times, but under the Soviet rule it lasted for far longer. Also I find it cool that Tbilisi was the capital of the whole of South Caucasia both times :>
I guess if you showed Gran Colombia you could have shown The First Mexican Empire which included some US States and central american countries (Guatemala, Belize, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua and Costa Rica). Still pretty interesting and well done video, cheers mate!
It was an artificial union to begin with. The South was awarded to the North after Napoleon to create a buffer between France and Prussia. The South had no real reason to be a part of the same country as the North. Nationalism wasn't really a thing back then and most economic power was in the South whilst political power was in the North.
Germany wanting Lithuania and Lativa to unite as one country reminds me of that one meme where a big stick figure is trying to push two smaller stick figures together and saying "Now kiss"
Here's a couple more: Denmark-Norway Sweden-Norway Poland-Lithuania Austria-Hungary Germany-Austria Yugoslavia United Central America United Arab Republic (Egypt-Syria) Ethiopia-Eritrea
A lot of these lasted for long enough to not count as ''failed unions,'' ESPECIALLY Austria-Hungary, that lasted for a very long time and can be considered a genuine powerful union that simply couldn't stand the test of time... Thanks to the 1st World War.
A bit strange to see the South Africa's occupation of Namibia as 'countries trying to unite', but omitting Senegal+Mali, Senegal+The Ghambia or the classical case of the United Arab Republic.
When I saw the low lands in the thumbnail I immediately thought of the United Kingdom of the Netherlands which made sense why it failed But after I saw Benelux I began reworking my thoughts on why That failed
Peru-Bolivia confederation Federal Republic of Central America United Provinces of the Río de la Plata Yugoslavia USSR Pakistan (at first included Bangladesh)
The UAE almost included Qatar and Bahrain post independence. West Indies Federation was a short lived collection of former British territories in the Caribbean. There were plans for a united New Guinea that fell through. The union of Tanganyika and Zanzibar into Tanzania actually worked somehow. There's the ongoing messes that are Libya and Yemen, both having long histories as divided regions that were combined for a while and are currently breaking up again. You could do a whole video on Somalia's unity issues. Belarus almost untied with Russia and it might still happen. Romania and Moldova have history. Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth was a thing for a while. Portugal & Spain were briefly united. Ireland used to be part of the UK. Partition of India and Pakistan, and then Bangladesh independence from Pakistan was a whole thing. Central Asian Union has had some starts and stops and is basically still a pipe dream. There were a couple of short lived unions in the wake of the independence of French West Africa. Federal Republic of Central America was briefly a thing. Basically, you can look anywhere there used to be colonialism and find a brief attempt at unity among neighboring colonies before they end up going their separate ways due to regional differences. USA is really the odd one out here, and even that almost didn't work out.
It is one thing for two or three groups or ethnicities to not be able to get along and form a country. It is something else completely different if you are kicked out. Singapore was kicked out. The Malaysian, Indians, and Malay Chinese did not want them.
@@General.Knowledge The jokes on Malaysia now. Singapore is the wealthiest country in Southeast Asia based on GDP per capita and third overall in total wealth.
@@General.KnowledgeFrom what I remember, it can be due to the fact that the PAP (Singapore’s government representative in the Malaysian Parliament), was very against the Bumiputera Policy (Favour on Malays) and hence faced much opposition from other Malay majority states. It also didn’t help that the PAP actually were growing in popularity outside of Singapore. So the rest of Malaysia feared that the country would be less and less Malay. Overall it is due to political friction between the PAP and other Malay political parties. So they decided to kick us out..(maybe hoping to see us fail and come back into Malaysia with less disobedience)
In spite of obvious cultural similarities and common languages with, respectively the Netherlands and France, most Flemish don't want to be Dutch and most Wallooons don't want to be French.
United Arab Republic 🇪🇬🇸🇾 British Raj 🇮🇳🇧🇩🇲🇲🇵🇰🇳🇵 Yugoslavia 🇧🇦🇭🇷🇷🇸🇸🇮🇲🇰🇲🇪🇽🇰 Cezchslovakia 🇨🇿🇸🇰 Iberian Union 🇪🇦🇵🇹 1960 Pakistan 🇧🇩🇵🇰 1970 Iran 🇮🇷🇧🇭 1970 Indonesia 🇮🇩🇹🇱
@@General.Knowledge I'm not super deep into Caucasus politics so I don't know Georgia's relationship with its southern neighbors, but I just saw "Armenia" and "Azerbaijan" in one country and said, "well there's your problem why it didn't work out."
@@12jswilsontranscaucasia was an administrative region within the Russian empire. So it became a country simply because the russian state disintegrated during the revolution, leaving this administrative region independent. It only lasted for one month, because it became clear pretty quickly things weren't working out when the ottomans invaded and the azerbaijanis were okay with the fact. So it was quickly disbanded, then Azerbaijan allied with the Ottomans and Georgia surrendered itself to Germany, only leaving Armenia fighting
Catholicism wasn't the only issue in the united kingdom of the Netherlands.... Belgium was also forced to pay for the Dutch debt and were underrepresented in the government
Economically Georgia does more trade with Azerbaijan and Turkiye (than with Armenia). Also when Russia invaded Georgia in 2008, the Russian forces used air bases in Armenia. Read Ali and Nino, some of which is set in the time of Transcaucasian Federation to get a glimpse of the internal conflict in the region. Transcaucasia would be like Yugoslavia all over again.
@@jimsbooksreadingandstuffthe airbase use is a myth. Armenia made sure that didn't happen. In fact, Armenia was the most-often-chosen refuge for people in Georgia during the attack. Also, Ali and Nino is a work of fiction and shouldn't be used for understanding the inter-ethnic dynamics of the south Caucasus.
@@pilisopa I live in Georgia. Georgia, Armeina, Azerbaijan are works of fiction, too as is TransCaucasia, Like all nations. Humans tell stories to unite large groups of people. They make out their nation is noble and their leaders are great and the neighboring nation is terrible and the leaders are awful and the neighboring nations are telling their people the same in reverse. The Russians using Armenian airbases could well be a fiction but a lot of Georgian people believe it. A lot of Georgians don't like Armenians or Azerbaijanis but e have an Armenian church and theatre in Avlabari (Tbilisi) there is also a park dedicated to Aliyev. The Georgians elected party called "Georgian Dream" which is now enacting Russian style policies like the Foreign Agents law. the whole region is like a high school drama... like the former Yugoslavia...
@@jimsbooksreadingandstuff If you discount the geopolitical scheming of the three outside powers (Russia, Turkey and Iran), a Georgia/Armenia union could have worked. Both cultures lived under the rule of the other at one point or another at multiple points in the last two and a half millennia - there is a part of Georgia which remains majority ethnically Armenian - and intermarriage between Georgians and Armenians is not uncommon.
5:40 Almost blurt out the coffee drink i just bought out of my nose when i hear the phrase lol If anything it was Singapore who wanted equality among the ethnic groups, Something that Malaysia wouldn't want to entertain or care more as the Malaysian government tend to focus more on the Malay (or Bumiputera) people than the other ethnic groups by giving the Malays generous financial and social benefits at the expense of the country and the rest of the people under the 'Ketuanan Melayu' principle. Something that Lee Kuan Yew was heavily against which resulted in him being booted out of the Federation as the result Needed to up your game @General.Knowledge , this mistake could've been easily avoided
Video subject idea: 'other' post-colonial Empire organisations similar to the Commonwealth re. the UK. Successful examples include: >The (British) Commonwealth >The Commonwealth of Independent States >The Ibero-American Union. Failed examples include: *French Union/French Community (largely superseded by the Francophonie) *The Netherlands-Indonesian Union.
The Kalmar union ended when Sweden broke away in 1523 and choose Gustav Eriksson (of the noble house of Vasa) as our king. He ruled as "Gustav I", not as "Gustav Vasa". That rather weird (since that is not how neither noblemen nor kings where named in those days) name was given to him by his descendant Gustav III over 250 years later. But for some reason it seems to have stuck in the history books.
I think the title could maybe change a little. The BeNeLux was not a union between countries but Dutch expansion Soutwards after Napoleon. You worded it correct in the video so I don't really understand why the title is wrong for that specific example Also please excuse the errors that may be present in this message, I am very tired rn
May I ask for source map of Livonia is taken from? This map is inaccurate to say the least. In 13- th century established Livonian confederation included all teritory of Latvia, including eastern part, missing in this map. Administrative division is also incorrect.
I have a follow up question on the Benelux union. If they were 1 country with one King, where did the Belgium monarchy come from as they have their own King now.
Fun fact: Finland almost became a monarchy and even picked a random german noble to be their King, but then germany lost ww1 and everyone thought it would be silly idea now and became a republic
The Confederacy of the West Indies is a good example of something good on paper and bad in practice. It's greater Hispanic Antillies counterpart was the Antillean Confederation that proposed in the 1870's and never materialized.
Just a couple of notes: Following Belgium's independence from the Netherlands in 1830, Luxembourg remained a part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands for another 60 years, despite also being part of the German Confederation and later a part of the Zollverein, a customs union of German states (Luxembourg would declare full sovereignty in 1890 when Wilhelmina was proclaimed as Queen of the Netherlands while Luxembourgish law at the time prohibited women from the throne of Luxembourg, something which would only be undone a little more than a decade ago). As to the South Africa/Namibia situation, I'm not sure why the graphic showed 1961 when Namibia didn't become independent until 1991. Southwest Africa had been awarded to South Africa as a League of Nations mandate; however, following WW2, South Africa refused to convert its mandate to a UN "Trust Territory" as South Africa refused to abide by the rules for the new status (which meant a provision to prepare the territory for full independence). The *Union* of South Africa was replaced by the *Republic* of South Africa in 1961 but South Africa retained its control over Southwest Africa which would lead, a few years later, to the onset of a military faction of SWAPO to begin a guerilla war for independence (which would end in 1989 prior to the territory's independence in 1990).
Singapur was state of Malaysia, there a lot of Chinese workers in malaysia but mostly in singapour, every state have a sultan at the top like governors in usa and to make president of malaysia from a malay people they gave freedom to singapour. Brunei was also state of malaysia but state sultan wanted all petrol to himself and declarate independance. Endonasia and philipine people are also malay people. But each was colony of differenrçt country. Aftar malaysia took name of malay philipines gave the name of portagese commander who colonized the lands , and forget where the name endonasia comes from
To me Estonia and Latvia doesn't sound like a working couple. Maybe Latvia and Lithuania could have worked better as a federal republic but who knows 🤷♂
Yes, indeed. Although Estonia and Latvia have had somewhat similar histories (German nobility's dominance) the cultures and languages are very different from each other. I don't know if it's the best comparison, but it's like Austria and Hungary, which share a common history but are very different from each other linguistically, culturally and even mentality wise. Estonia is a Finnic nation, culturally and linguistically most related to Finland, while Latvia is a Baltic nation, linguistically closest to Lithuania. Culturally I don't actually know because Lithuania is culturally Catholic while Latvia is a mix of Lutheran and Catholic. So maybe even the Latvian and Lithuanian wouldn't have worked out.
*What are some other attempted unions you know about?*
You should’ve added Romania and Moldova. The two did unite in 1918 - Bessarabia, annexed from Moldavia (and, at this point, the remaining Moldavia had created Romania) gained independence as the ‘Democratic Republic of Moldavia’. The land was re-annexed by Soviets in WW2, and in the following 1990-1992 ‘Transnistria War’ would Moldova’s fate be decided. They hence, failed to unite/unionise.
Central Asian Union
Kazakhstan Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan could unite
Arab league
You could have mentioned Kosovo and Albania. I personally don't recognize "Kosovo" though
Interestingly, while the BENELUX union failed originally, it does live on. In 1958 they formed an economic union which laid the groundwork for the structure and functioning of the EU. Additionally, Article 350 of the TFEU specifically protects the existence of BENELUX within the EU. Many features of the EU start in BENELUX before being adopted by the EU as a whole.
indeed
The kingdom also didn't cease to exist. The Kingdom of the Netherlands is the same entity as the one in the "United" Kingdom of the Netherlands. Historians just add the "united" to differentiate.
The United Kingdom of the Netherlands is now the Kingdom of the United Netherlands, it just refers to other netherlands
Greece + Cyprus and also Kalmar Union are the only ones which I could ever see being even remotely workable in modern times.
Norway: ahh shit, here we go again
Agreed! Although I'd doubt the Kalmar Union would work very well - unless it was some federation type thing.
I'd say SA and Namibia too, Namibia's population and economy is insignificant compared to SA it could easy function as a province
@@sodapop1794uuuh chief we did occupy it for most of the 20th century
@@Shiptoast0 uuuh bro I think he wants south africa to get back namibia
You left out the United Arab Republics, one of which was Egypt and Syria (1958-1961). The one with Egypt and Libya may have been abortive.
I'm pretty sure he talked about it before
@PeterPichler-xt1il racist
He mentions it in the first video loosely I believe
It was a bit meaningless as they're not contiguous
Actually, Egypt, which had de facto annexed Gaza, forced Gaza into the UAR.
1:14 I'll add that Belgium inspired Poland to rebel against Russian Empire and November Uprising broke out. This uprising was one of the reasons why Belgium's rebellion succeed.
Question is if it was the Belgian revolution that did that. The July Revolution in France triggered a lot of revolutionary sentiment and was certainly the trigger for the Belgian one.
Should have gotten help from the French. Belgium wouldn’t exist without their military intervention
You forgot to add , that after sovietization Moscow created Transcaucasus soviet federative socialistic republic with a federation of 3 countries. It existed until 1936 , wben the fake country was dissolved and the 3 countries became just part of USSR, instead part of TSFSR , inside USSR.
Exactly. It did last for quite a long while the second time around though.
Wonderful review of a fascinating subject, with very helpful graphics! History shows us the difficulty in uniting different religious and ethnic populations.
I've always found Singapore's creation fascinating. It became independent against its will and its now far more developed than the "mother country". Are there any other countries that became independent against their own will? I can't think of any.
If you do another of these, you might include the Central African Federation, aka the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland, now Zimbabwe, Zambia, and Malawi.
Absolutely. The CAF and its dissolution tells an interesting story.
I don't know why he did South Africa/Namibia - it never was a union.
Could you do an "opposite" video on failed rebellion nations, eg Confederate States of America?
Republic of the Rio Grande and the Republic of Yucatan.
@@johndelagarza361 Acre!
This is such a great idea! Thank you. Starting to work on it immediately!
Biafra in Nigeria
Or Catalunia in Spain, or The Basque country in Spain, or Galicia in Spain, or Andalucia in Spain, or Asturias in Spain... I could go on...
The Australian constitution was written to allow New Zealand and Fiji to join the new federation. Both wisely chose to forgo the offer. Western Australia almost chose to not join but were eventually convinced to do it. There's been been low level grumbling about secession on and off ever since
Finally a sponsor that is actually interesting - the game is on my wishlist now!😊
The Benelux countries are politically very connected. Since November 5, 1955, there has also been a Benelux Parliament. The Benelux Parliament consists of 49 members from the parliaments of the three countries: 21 Belgian, 21 Dutch and seven Luxembourgish members. The main language is Dutch and French. The Benelux parliament discusses whether there are matters that can be simplified within the three countries, such as all Dutch, Belgian and Luxembourg diplomas that are automatically valid in the Benelux countries. Matters about justice, tax and security, or whether they are conducting a joint foreign policy or trade mission.
Excellent summary of an intriguing topic with incredibly useful illustrations! History demonstrates how difficult it is to bring disparate religious and ethnic groups together.
5:17 - glad you named this one!!!! We should mention the Malaya-Indonesia union Sukarno proposed which led to the Malaysia concept because the British wanted to stop the rise of communism in the region.
United States carried out hundreds of secret assassinations in Indonesia to stop communism from rising there
But that didn’t materialise because Malaysia wasn’t interested. If he were to include ideas for unions, this video is going to be very long.
Great video!
Thank you.
Most of the Central America ountries joined into a union longer than most on your list. It lasted for 15 years, starting in 1823.
It was named The Federal Republic of South America.
He did it in the first part
I'll add some proposals:
Poland and Hungary (1370-1382 and again 1440-1444)
Serbia and Montenegro (2003-2006)
Ethiopia and Eritrea (1952-1991)
Sudan and South Sudan (1956-2011)
Indonesia and Timor-Leste (1976-1999)
A lot of these listed weren't really unions.
@@whyareyoureadingmynickname8158 But at beginning they were together in a single country and after that one part secessed and created independent country. Presented in this video United Kingdom of The Netherlands also doesn't fit in this because Belgium wasn't union partner. Belgium was territory annexed by the Netherlands only Luxembourg was semi independent, but still it was in personal union with The Netherlands.
In that case, let us not forget the Personal Union of Hungary and the HRE under Sigismund of Luxembourg. Personal Unions were pretty common in the Middle Ages and Early Modern Era.
6:04 In its time it was simply the Republic of Colombia, the name "Gran Colombia" was retroactively given by historians to differentiate it from the current Colombia. Basically when they declared the independence they joined, but later the constituent parts started leaving. Just like what happened in the South with Argentina, which initially had a lot more territory that later went to other nations.
Very interesting video, with a lot of things I didn't know. What I DO know is you had the wrong flag for Germany. You had the Dutch flag in the Livonia part.
Great video
Jugoslavia is missing - it was alive pretty long but finally fall apart
Wasn't really a union,more of a weird federation thing.
It's well known union already, you could say czechoslovakia or soviet union also
Jugolavia? You mean yugoslavia?
@@jhapethlloydciron3185 I would assume the commenter is of slavic origin of the country that was part of Yugoslavia, and in all the languages they used J not Y. Yugoslavia is an English name. The countries name is from Serbo-Croatian Jugoslavija, in turn from jug (“south”) and slavija (“Slavia, the land of the Slavs”). Literally, the land of the South Slavs.
@@blindmarian make sense
I can see the Netherlands and northern (Flemish) Belgium reunite sometime in the future.
It would make a lot of sense.
As a Flemish person, I'd love for us to do that. But it's not gonna happen. The current public support for such a reunification to happen is simply way to low in both countries
Stupid sexy Flanders!!
GEKOLONISEERD
@@AreigelSjtolsa dutch confederacy like in the 17th century but in modern ways might pull it off and keep the cultures intact maybe even thriving more.
There was also a project called “Intermarium”
You forgot to add the The Federal Republic of Central America from 1823 to 1839/1841 with Guatemala, Salvador, Nicaragua, Honduras
*2:29* Worth noting, after the capturing of the Caucasus by the Soviet Union, Transcaucasia was reborn now as an SSR, and lasted until the late 1930s until the three once again split into three Soviet Socialist Republics - Georgian, Armenian and Azerbaijan SSRs. Transcaucasia was short-lived both times, but under the Soviet rule it lasted for far longer. Also I find it cool that Tbilisi was the capital of the whole of South Caucasia both times :>
5:36 The pronunciation of Malay is not ma-LIE but mə-LAY. However overall good explanation.
Thanks for the correction :)
World before this information: 🌍
World after this information: 🌍
Good video.
I guess if you showed Gran Colombia you could have shown The First Mexican Empire which included some US States and central american countries (Guatemala, Belize, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua and Costa Rica).
Still pretty interesting and well done video, cheers mate!
He will probably make a part 3 to this series.
Underestimating how stubborn the Dutch can be, and how fractious the French can be? Benelux was doomed from the start!
It was an artificial union to begin with. The South was awarded to the North after Napoleon to create a buffer between France and Prussia. The South had no real reason to be a part of the same country as the North. Nationalism wasn't really a thing back then and most economic power was in the South whilst political power was in the North.
"Benelux was doomed from the start!"
Do some research before posting anything! The Benelux still exists!!!
It was only doomed because the French intervened militarily
That's awesome
Germany wanting Lithuania and Lativa to unite as one country reminds me of that one meme where a big stick figure is trying to push two smaller stick figures together and saying "Now kiss"
It's actually latvia and estonia. Lithuania was to have It's own state
Here's a couple more:
Denmark-Norway
Sweden-Norway
Poland-Lithuania
Austria-Hungary
Germany-Austria
Yugoslavia
United Central America
United Arab Republic (Egypt-Syria)
Ethiopia-Eritrea
A lot of these lasted for long enough to not count as ''failed unions,'' ESPECIALLY Austria-Hungary, that lasted for a very long time and can be considered a genuine powerful union that simply couldn't stand the test of time... Thanks to the 1st World War.
A bit strange to see the South Africa's occupation of Namibia as 'countries trying to unite', but omitting Senegal+Mali, Senegal+The Ghambia or the classical case of the United Arab Republic.
When I saw the low lands in the thumbnail I immediately thought of the United Kingdom of the Netherlands which made sense why it failed
But after I saw Benelux I began reworking my thoughts on why That failed
What if Austria-Hungary and Poland-Lithuania united?
Lithuania would never unite with anyone
@@tomastomastomas1521
Poland-Lithuanian Union: 💀
Soviet Union: 💀
European Union: 💀
Ostland: 💀
Both lasted for many centuries. This is about countries that failed.
@@khazman. Again. Would never unite again into one country. Btw soviet union occupied Lithuania
8:20
I wouldn’t call almost 130 years “brief”…
If you ever do a part 3 it would be cool to cover the proposed union of yugoslavia and greece.
The map of Cyprus wrongly depicts Ayia Napa as occupied.
Thank you
Peru-Bolivia confederation
Federal Republic of Central America
United Provinces of the Río de la Plata
Yugoslavia
USSR
Pakistan (at first included Bangladesh)
The UAE almost included Qatar and Bahrain post independence. West Indies Federation was a short lived collection of former British territories in the Caribbean. There were plans for a united New Guinea that fell through. The union of Tanganyika and Zanzibar into Tanzania actually worked somehow. There's the ongoing messes that are Libya and Yemen, both having long histories as divided regions that were combined for a while and are currently breaking up again. You could do a whole video on Somalia's unity issues. Belarus almost untied with Russia and it might still happen. Romania and Moldova have history. Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth was a thing for a while. Portugal & Spain were briefly united. Ireland used to be part of the UK. Partition of India and Pakistan, and then Bangladesh independence from Pakistan was a whole thing. Central Asian Union has had some starts and stops and is basically still a pipe dream. There were a couple of short lived unions in the wake of the independence of French West Africa. Federal Republic of Central America was briefly a thing.
Basically, you can look anywhere there used to be colonialism and find a brief attempt at unity among neighboring colonies before they end up going their separate ways due to regional differences. USA is really the odd one out here, and even that almost didn't work out.
It is one thing for two or three groups or ethnicities to not be able to get along and form a country. It is something else completely different if you are kicked out. Singapore was kicked out. The Malaysian, Indians, and Malay Chinese did not want them.
It's a really odd situation; I've never been able to undestand it. Why were they so decided to kick them out specifically?
@@General.Knowledge The jokes on Malaysia now. Singapore is the wealthiest country in Southeast Asia based on GDP per capita and third overall in total wealth.
@@General.KnowledgeFrom what I remember, it can be due to the fact that the PAP (Singapore’s government representative in the Malaysian Parliament), was very against the Bumiputera Policy (Favour on Malays) and hence faced much opposition from other Malay majority states. It also didn’t help that the PAP actually were growing in popularity outside of Singapore. So the rest of Malaysia feared that the country would be less and less Malay. Overall it is due to political friction between the PAP and other Malay political parties. So they decided to kick us out..(maybe hoping to see us fail and come back into Malaysia with less disobedience)
What’s a ‘Belgium’? It’s just The Netherlands, France, Germany, and Luxembourg in that area
don't embaress yourself
Belgium kinda look like a buffer state between France and Netherlands
@LehiDavis-lb2dh Belgium is a country LOL
In spite of obvious cultural similarities and common languages with, respectively the Netherlands and France, most Flemish don't want to be Dutch and most Wallooons don't want to be French.
United Arab Republic 🇪🇬🇸🇾
British Raj 🇮🇳🇧🇩🇲🇲🇵🇰🇳🇵
Yugoslavia 🇧🇦🇭🇷🇷🇸🇸🇮🇲🇰🇲🇪🇽🇰
Cezchslovakia 🇨🇿🇸🇰
Iberian Union 🇪🇦🇵🇹
1960 Pakistan 🇧🇩🇵🇰
1970 Iran 🇮🇷🇧🇭
1970 Indonesia 🇮🇩🇹🇱
In the 1950s, there was a plan to connect the island of Cyprus to Turkey, a Taksim plan
Can you make video about that were successfully United as one
Armenia and Az in one country lmao, very funny. Even Georgia.
Georgia would just be the middle child watching their brothers fight all the time
@@General.Knowledge I'm not super deep into Caucasus politics so I don't know Georgia's relationship with its southern neighbors, but I just saw "Armenia" and "Azerbaijan" in one country and said, "well there's your problem why it didn't work out."
Armenia and Georgia could actually work but azerbajan is just a foreign conqueror
@@12jswilsontranscaucasia was an administrative region within the Russian empire. So it became a country simply because the russian state disintegrated during the revolution, leaving this administrative region independent. It only lasted for one month, because it became clear pretty quickly things weren't working out when the ottomans invaded and the azerbaijanis were okay with the fact. So it was quickly disbanded, then Azerbaijan allied with the Ottomans and Georgia surrendered itself to Germany, only leaving Armenia fighting
In anofher world, the thirteen republics on the east coast of north america would be included in this video
Catholicism wasn't the only issue in the united kingdom of the Netherlands.... Belgium was also forced to pay for the Dutch debt and were underrepresented in the government
Try Ireland and Britain. That was a disaster.
2 answers Estonia isn't religious and Latvia is religious
Senegambia has always intrigued me
I love your voice
Armenia and Georgia have a longer history than all of the other countries combined. I think they would get together if it made sense.
Economically Georgia does more trade with Azerbaijan and Turkiye (than with Armenia). Also when Russia invaded Georgia in 2008, the Russian forces used air bases in Armenia. Read Ali and Nino, some of which is set in the time of Transcaucasian Federation to get a glimpse of the internal conflict in the region. Transcaucasia would be like Yugoslavia all over again.
@@jimsbooksreadingandstuffthe airbase use is a myth. Armenia made sure that didn't happen. In fact, Armenia was the most-often-chosen refuge for people in Georgia during the attack. Also, Ali and Nino is a work of fiction and shouldn't be used for understanding the inter-ethnic dynamics of the south Caucasus.
@@pilisopa I live in Georgia. Georgia, Armeina, Azerbaijan are works of fiction, too as is TransCaucasia, Like all nations. Humans tell stories to unite large groups of people. They make out their nation is noble and their leaders are great and the neighboring nation is terrible and the leaders are awful and the neighboring nations are telling their people the same in reverse. The Russians using Armenian airbases could well be a fiction but a lot of Georgian people believe it. A lot of Georgians don't like Armenians or Azerbaijanis but e have an Armenian church and theatre in Avlabari (Tbilisi) there is also a park dedicated to Aliyev. The Georgians elected party called "Georgian Dream" which is now enacting Russian style policies like the Foreign Agents law. the whole region is like a high school drama... like the former Yugoslavia...
@@jimsbooksreadingandstuff If you discount the geopolitical scheming of the three outside powers (Russia, Turkey and Iran), a Georgia/Armenia union could have worked. Both cultures lived under the rule of the other at one point or another at multiple points in the last two and a half millennia - there is a part of Georgia which remains majority ethnically Armenian - and intermarriage between Georgians and Armenians is not uncommon.
@@AVV_Beats My wife's aunt lives in Yerevan married to an Armenian.
If you do another one, you should include the united Arab Republic (Syria and Egypt).
Have you mentioned the wider Bolivar republic comprised of modern day Colombia, Panama, Peru and Ecuador, Venezuela?
I have not! Costa Rica was a part of it too?!
@@General.Knowledge Sorry I meant Panama*. Corrected now. Also had Peru and Ecuador.
3W
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One you missed (twice technically) is the Federal Republic of Central America
5:40 Almost blurt out the coffee drink i just bought out of my nose when i hear the phrase lol
If anything it was Singapore who wanted equality among the ethnic groups, Something that Malaysia wouldn't want to entertain or care more as the Malaysian government tend to focus more on the Malay (or Bumiputera) people than the other ethnic groups by giving the Malays generous financial and social benefits at the expense of the country and the rest of the people under the 'Ketuanan Melayu' principle. Something that Lee Kuan Yew was heavily against which resulted in him being booted out of the Federation as the result
Needed to up your game @General.Knowledge , this mistake could've been easily avoided
I’ve never seen Greenland so tilted like that!
To think I was wondering just yesterday why the flags of Columbia, equador and Venezuela were so similar. 😂
Video subject idea: 'other' post-colonial Empire organisations similar to the Commonwealth re. the UK.
Successful examples include:
>The (British) Commonwealth
>The Commonwealth of Independent States
>The Ibero-American Union.
Failed examples include:
*French Union/French Community (largely superseded by the Francophonie)
*The Netherlands-Indonesian Union.
The Kalmar union ended when Sweden broke away in 1523 and choose Gustav Eriksson (of the noble house of Vasa) as our king. He ruled as "Gustav I", not as "Gustav Vasa". That rather weird (since that is not how neither noblemen nor kings where named in those days) name was given to him by his descendant Gustav III over 250 years later. But for some reason it seems to have stuck in the history books.
I think the title could maybe change a little. The BeNeLux was not a union between countries but Dutch expansion Soutwards after Napoleon. You worded it correct in the video so I don't really understand why the title is wrong for that specific example
Also please excuse the errors that may be present in this message, I am very tired rn
And you typed that on an Android mobile phone. 🙂
True, how could you tell?
@@Katzenheimer007 Because it happens to me all the time that I type an 'm' instead of a '.'
What about the ones that succeeded?
May I ask for source map of Livonia is taken from? This map is inaccurate to say the least. In 13- th century established Livonian confederation included all teritory of Latvia, including eastern part, missing in this map. Administrative division is also incorrect.
Cool
I have a follow up question on the Benelux union. If they were 1 country with one King, where did the Belgium monarchy come from as they have their own King now.
German import.
@@robert-janthuis9927Via the British. Leopold was Queen Victoria’s uncle
Fun fact: Finland almost became a monarchy and even picked a random german noble to be their King, but then germany lost ww1 and everyone thought it would be silly idea now and became a republic
What If Quebec was a British 🇬🇧 colony
This is not an alt-history channel
malaysia kicking Singapore out of the federation is there biggest regret today
Singapore is military economically stronger than them
10:28 I can’t 😂 good joke,I mean it’s the truth
Interesting
The Confederacy of the West Indies is a good example of something good on paper and bad in practice.
It's greater Hispanic Antillies counterpart was the Antillean Confederation that proposed in the 1870's and never materialized.
France that propose to join the UK failed too.
Transcaucasia looks like something that could have existed but now is just a vague concept of the past due to modern actions…
10:35 "turkish occupation/ invasion of Cyprus "
02:40 - Estonia can one day be a Baltic Kingdom! 🙂
Ireland and UK
Note that Estonians are NOT a Baltic people, but a Finnic people.
What about the Soviet Union they also lasted very shortly
yugoslavia and central america
Remember Lithuanian-Belarusian Republic in 1919
W TÜRKIYE 🇹🇷❤️🔥
LOVE FROM KOSOVA (NORTHERN ALBANIA)🇦🇱
Transcaucasia - none of these countries would want trans in their name.
Hi
Hi
Britain and Ireland, 1800 to 1921 ....
🇬🇷 🤝 🇨🇾
The name BENELUX is only the name for the customs union after WW 2.
Australia and New Zealand were supposed to be one country and Australia even has something in their constitution that includes as a state
Namibia remained occupied by South Africa until 1990. It did not gain independence in 1961.
There is a city called Livonia in the US!😭😭
Just a couple of notes: Following Belgium's independence from the Netherlands in 1830, Luxembourg remained a part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands for another 60 years, despite also being part of the German Confederation and later a part of the Zollverein, a customs union of German states (Luxembourg would declare full sovereignty in 1890 when Wilhelmina was proclaimed as Queen of the Netherlands while Luxembourgish law at the time prohibited women from the throne of Luxembourg, something which would only be undone a little more than a decade ago).
As to the South Africa/Namibia situation, I'm not sure why the graphic showed 1961 when Namibia didn't become independent until 1991. Southwest Africa had been awarded to South Africa as a League of Nations mandate; however, following WW2, South Africa refused to convert its mandate to a UN "Trust Territory" as South Africa refused to abide by the rules for the new status (which meant a provision to prepare the territory for full independence). The *Union* of South Africa was replaced by the *Republic* of South Africa in 1961 but South Africa retained its control over Southwest Africa which would lead, a few years later, to the onset of a military faction of SWAPO to begin a guerilla war for independence (which would end in 1989 prior to the territory's independence in 1990).
@@josephwest124 I like to add that it wasn't the Luxembourgish law ..but The Salic law. 😅
You're wrong in the beginning.... Luxembourg remained part of Belgium until 1839.
@@imwinningthisone7613 Hey we meet again ! 😂
I thought Namibia didn’t become independent till apartheid ended…
I think there was a Norway-Sweden Union in the 20th Century and i think around WW1, but i'm not sure
Singapur was state of Malaysia, there a lot of Chinese workers in malaysia but mostly in singapour, every state have a sultan at the top like governors in usa and to make president of malaysia from a malay people they gave freedom to singapour. Brunei was also state of malaysia but state sultan wanted all petrol to himself and declarate independance. Endonasia and philipine people are also malay people. But each was colony of differenrçt country. Aftar malaysia took name of malay philipines gave the name of portagese commander who colonized the lands , and forget where the name endonasia comes from
Livonia failed because its' mail kept getting sent to the Detroit suburb of the same name.
To me Estonia and Latvia doesn't sound like a working couple. Maybe Latvia and Lithuania could have worked better as a federal republic but who knows 🤷♂
Yes, indeed. Although Estonia and Latvia have had somewhat similar histories (German nobility's dominance) the cultures and languages are very different from each other. I don't know if it's the best comparison, but it's like Austria and Hungary, which share a common history but are very different from each other linguistically, culturally and even mentality wise. Estonia is a Finnic nation, culturally and linguistically most related to Finland, while Latvia is a Baltic nation, linguistically closest to Lithuania. Culturally I don't actually know because Lithuania is culturally Catholic while Latvia is a mix of Lutheran and Catholic. So maybe even the Latvian and Lithuanian wouldn't have worked out.
Benelux still exists and works. But the EU's increasing power makes it less and less al effective
Ethiopia and Eritrea.