All the Countries We've Ever Invaded: And the Few We Never Got Round To - Hardcover

Laycock, Stuart

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0752479695 ISBN 13: 9780752479699

Publisher: The History Press, 2012

Synopsis

Out of 193 countries that are currently UN member states, we’ve invaded or fought conflicts in the territory of 171. That’s not far off a massive, jaw-dropping 90 per cent.

Not too many Britons know that we invaded Iran in the Second World War with the Soviets. You can be fairly sure a lot more Iranians do.

Or what about the time we arrived with elephants to invade Ethiopia?

Every summer, hordes of British tourists now occupy Corfu and the other Ionian islands. Find out how we first invaded them armed with cannon instead of camera and set up the United States of the Ionian Islands.

Think the Philippines have always been outside our zone of influence? Think again. Read the surprising story of our eighteenth-century occupation of Manila and how we demanded a ransom of millions of dollars for the city.

This book takes a look at some of the truly awe-inspiring ways our country has been a force, for good and for bad, right across the world. A lot of people are vaguely aware that a quarter of the globe was once pink, but that’s not even half the story. We’re a stroppy, dynamic, irrepressible nation and this is how we changed the world, often when it didn’t ask to be changed!

About this title

Review:

Some of the places we need to invade are hard to get at. Some are also extremely hard to spell. --Robert Crampton - The Times

[This] study shows [Britain's] true global reach was far more extensive than maps would suggest. --Ryan Kisiel - The Daily Mail

Britain has invaded all but 22...several offer inviting pretexts for a little light invading. Paraguay, I'm told, is lovely at this time of year. --Samuel Muston - The Independent

About the Author:

STUART LAYCOCK is an author and historian. He studied Classics at Jesus College, Cambridge, and has written a number of history books including Britannia: The Failed State (nominated for Current Archaeology Book of the Year), Warlords: The Struggle for Power in Post-Roman Britain, and UnRoman Britain: Exposing the Myth of Britannia (described in The Sunday Times as thrillingly provocative ). From looking at people invading Britain, he now turns his attention to Britain invading other people.

About this edition

• Publisher: The History Press
• Publication date: 2012
• ISBN 10: 0752479695
• ISBN 13: 9780752479699
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 251