American Reacts to Every Country England Has Invaded 

Apologies to those parts of the globe we missed.

It just started as a pub crawl.😂😂😂🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿🇬🇧

As a Brit I'd like to say that I absolutely pissed myself laughing at that video. Best thing I've seen on YT. What can I say? We liked to keep busy lol

My Dad was in the Iceland invasion during WW2, the invasion's key moment consisted of putting up a notice in the post office in Reykjavik. How very British.

Most people take the saying " The sun never sets on the Empire" as meaning it would last forever. But actually it's literally just being accurate. Because the Empire spanned the globe it was always day time somewhere within it...

As an Englishman in Britain it always frustrates me when our entire island is referred to as England. All other countries in our union fought, it's Great Britain not just England. 🇬🇧

It’s called a commonwealth. Wealth for everyone. Thank you GREAT BRITAIN

I've looked more into this over the years and it's an incredible feat by such a small nation, england is the same size of one of our states Alabama. The british empire fought civil war and partisan warfare in over 40 countries at the same time, (including america ;P). Also defended its homeland and invaded the other 3 superpowers at the same time, 1 v 3 france/spain/holland. Not a single time was england invaded, England also controlled all waters across the globe, and was the biggest threat to pirates & slaves traders.. And of course they also hunted the french and spanish fleets. All this at the same time and also on conquest to find new land... How such a tiny place could accomplish this across the entire globe is beyond me. Wooden boats, swords and shields.. Later cannonballs and muskets! That is all they had to controll the entire planet. Incredible!

4:06 as a resident of Gibraltar 🇬🇮 yes. We are still very much British and proud to be! VIVA LOS LLANITO

It wasn’t just England it was Britain and the the UK. It was also with troops from Wales, Scotland and Ireland.

It's important to remember that Britain had been invaded and occupied relentlessly during its history. The vikings, saxons, Romans to name a few. It was put into the genetics of the people to innovate, explore and conquer from all the civilisations that bred themselves into us. Another important point is It's the only empire in history to end voluntarily and has a lasting legacy of trade along with the commonwealth.

During Queen Victoria’s reign the British Navy was twice as big as the rest of the world put together.

If you have ever seen the weather in UK you would understand why we went all over the world invading or as we like to call it out winter holidays

Every time I visit Australia, I am asked if I have a criminal record. I didn't know a record was still a requirement.

That's why there are so many countries who speak English. That's why the Commonwealth is so connected to the UK. These alliances & shared history is also about the Monarchy, shared culture, politics and experience. UK does not stand alone.

You have to recollect that Britain didn't "invade" most of these European countries as aggressors but as protectors during the course of wars. Britain is responsible for introducing the rule of law and infrastructural improvements to many backward countries and helped more than harm. And I'm South African btw not British. Yes there were some bad things here and there like the Opium Wars in Chins and the Boer War concentration camps here in SA but overall exercised beneficial rule. I'm a fan even though colonialism is a dirty word these days

When you realise the Galactic Empire officers have British accents...

When we were taught history at school it was around a thousand years of being invaded by more organised, warring nations like the Romans and the Normans and the many different Vikings. Then around about 1000 AD it was as if we just decided that enough was enough and spent the next thousand years showing everyone how it was done.

Britain invaded Afghanistan three times in the 19th century. It was to try to keep Russia out of it, in order to protect the Indian subcontinent, which was a colony - and included present-day India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka (then Ceylon), and Bangladesh.

Just love the expression on your face when you learn how brilliant we were

I once wished my friend from Portland Oregon a happy 4th July. He asked as an Englishman if a minded him celebrating the US independence from the UK. It shocked him when I replied, of course not, the US is just one of dozens of countries that have independence days from the UK. He had never realised that because 4th July is such a big thing to people in the US, that there are many other countries that one way and another got their independence too.

When you realise Britain set the table for modern civilisation

What makes it more amazing is that most of it was accomplished before the days of air travel or easy communication and when Britain had a relatively small population.Quite a few ‘invasions’ were not military so much as trading incursions.

That's part of the reason for we're so proud to be English

Fun fact: you asked how any of this was possible for such a small nation and the answer to that question is also the answer to your question on another of your vids about why British homes are mostly brick instead of wood. We chopped down most of our forests over many centuries to build ships. British naval power is the single reason any of these conquests were possible and how the Empire was maintained. We used our single greatest native resource (wood) to build an empire. Think of this as Empire 1.0. We then expanded further as Empire 2.0 when we won the race to initiate the industrial revolution and took advantage of mechanisation and automation to replace wood (now fast disappearing) as our next great asset.

What isn't mentioned is a lot of these invasions was to stabilise trade routes, hence a lot of short periods.

Makes me proud to be British !

The British Empire became known as 'The Empire where the sun never sets.' Because at its absolute peak no matter where you were in the British Empire the sun was always up, whether that be the most western tip of Canada or the most Eastern paet of New Zealand. Gibraltar I believe is classed as an overseas protectorate same as The Falkland Islands among so many others.

The fact he didn't know this already shows what a bubble most Americans live in

I'm surprised you weren't aware that Singapore was a British city. It didn't really exist before the British - it was pretty much founded by the UK (a guy called Raffles) as a trading post at a strategic military location. There were people living in the area before but not as a 'city' that was invaded as with say Indian cities. Singapore is basically a direct product of the British Empire.

He didn't mention the Falkland Islands. We still have them as a British colony and went to war with Argentina when Maggie Thatcher was Prime minister.

Also, even though they all pretty much have their independence, They still see the UK Royals as their monarch (Commonwealth) and a lot of them still have the British flag included as part of their own.

We also still have The Falklands which isn't mentioned in the video. Places like Gibraltar and The Falklands speak English and drive on the left hand side of the road. It's mind boggling to think that a tiny island that I live in has occupied more of the world at any one time than any other empire. There are technically other Countries that are still part of the "empire" but it's renamed as the commonwealth. They have the Queen (or now King) as head of state.

one of the first Americans I've heard pronounce "Iraq" correctly - rather than "eye-rack" :D Also, yes, Gibraltar are still technically British, as are the falkland islands. IIRC they were both recently allowed to vote for independance and both voted to stay british. and i believe youre right on the Australian thing being a giant prison colony too.

Love the energy keep up the awesome work

It's absolutely mental how tiny island 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 took over every corner of the earth on wooden boats with no technology. As an Englishman, im not proud of all the deaths, but like you said, it is unbelievably impressive. We kept being invaded for over 1000 years and thought fuck it, lets take over the world... Masters of the seas 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿

What's even crazier is that the population of Britain was only around 9 million in 1800. This rose to about 41 million by 1900. Such a small population were able to aggressively expand purely because they invested so much in a powerful navy.

Gibraltar is one of the 14 overseas territories that Britain owns today.

Britain may have brutalized some nations but as an Eritrean I thank Britain and her allies for liberating us from our oppressors the fascist Italians in 1941. Yes Britain occupied Eritrea for 10 years and in these short occupation year, for the first time in over 50 years of Italian colonization our democracy and indigenous constitutional law was resorted, they gave us freedom, free press and higher education which the Italians sadistically banned the natives from any types of education....And a lot more we as Eritreans grateful that Britain kicked Italian ass.

I am so glade you have us!!🇨🇦🇨🇦❤️🇬🇧

Don’t ever underestimate the British, a small island nation that just loves to punch above its weight.

Come on everyone. Be honest. Y'all miss us!

Oh my god I had to turn the sound as it was so upsetting and remembered the pain of labour poor darling! The lady was so lovely soothing and caring for her! She and the baby are so happy and beautiful 🥰

The thing i love about the British Empire was the fact that the British were so good at war that the Empire expanded to quickly. We controlled so many people and had so much territory that we just could afford or even mange it all which is basically why the Empire collapsed. Imagine being so good at something that it actually ends up working against you lol. RULE BRITANNIA !!!

Canadian Soldiers were considered British Soldiers in WW1. We weren't a country yet. Then WWII. Also Iraq, Somalia, Yugoslavia, Afghanistan to name a few. Peace from Canada 🇨🇦

No country has been perfect but overall the British Empire left the world a better place. I'm ending my days in the penal colony of Tasmania as a proud Brit.

I just wanted to praise you for your desire to learn

Hi Steve thank u for your kind comments,he dragged us through 1940 when we were basically defeated,he was sn iconic figure to us and had a state funrral. The dockers bowed the cranes heads in respect,though they would never have voted for him

as an Australian, I say this, God save the King!

Apologies, we'll get around to the rest as soon as we can, 😁 On a serious note when you look at the size of the UK what was achieved by such a small island stuck on the unfashionable edge of Western Europe its utterly amazing.

Well this explains why I get frosty receptions when I go on holiday 😂🇬🇧

My personal comment on the British Empire mainly consist of I can go to virtually any country in the world and somebody speaks my language unfortunately the Americans haven't quite figured out just how to speak English properly

My Mrs is Malaysian. Her dad was Malaysian and her mum is Singaporean. Her dad joined the Royal Navy during WW2 because Malaysia was British at that time. ✌️♥️🇬🇧

The saying “The Empire on which the sun never sets” has been used to explain the vastness of the British Empire.

Yes, Gibraltar is a British Overseas Territory. We will never let it go because it is the stronghold of the Gibraltar Strait which is the gateway to the Mediterranean Sea and one of the economically busiest stretches of water in the world.

If you use the narrator's own definitions I think there's at least another 6 countries to add to that, probably more. You should react to 'How did The British Empire rule the World?'. This explains how the empire was primarily a trading empire, rather than just controlling land for the sake of it or to piss off the French.

We Brits had Singapore for ages, HMS Terror the Royal Navy Base at Singapore was at least as large as Pearl Harbour on Oahu ! I grew up in Singapore in the 60's where my father was posted in the Royal Navy. I joined the RN in the early 80's & spent years trying to get posted to HMS Tamar, Hong Kong, yet ended up spending most of my Sea time out in the Persian Gulf, go figure ! BTW we used to rule the Hawaiian Islands too, hence the Union Flag on the 50th State Flag.

Your face at 4 minutes into the video 😂 you look in shock lol

Steve...I have to say that I completely just fold up with laughter at your reactions. Please keep in mind that I'm 71 years old ( young ! )...we used to get history lessons about this stuff...we grew up KNOWING IT ! So when people berate us we tend to get a kick out of it....we love this stuff !

Al Murray does a brilliant stand up routine about this ...definitely worth a watch and very funny.

British Empire covered a quarter of the globe, we once had the finest navy in the world

The “tiny dot” had the world’s greatest military, at the time dominated by naval exploits. and thats why English is essentially the universal language

The UK has given back independence to more places than any other country in the world, and more than any country has ever conquered. Bringing civilisation to the many. No mention of the Falklands... Gibraltar is still part of the UK lol.... Yes, a few were joint invasions but those are only relatively recent as the UK has turned it's back on imperialism and is more focussed on financial dominance. Most of these are solely UK/GB/England. Yes, some of the names of countries have changed since being occupied. With India, Sri Lanka and Pakistan...the 'British Raj' has been heavily criticised as being inhumane, and in some circumstances that is true, but not always. The British helped those countries with undertakings such as education for all, free health system, sewer systems, military training, commerce and I believe allowed citizens to become British and receive British passports, allowing travel within the Empire. Japan had already surrendered, but the British rocked up and stationed themselves in parts of the country at the end of the war to help with rebuilding, law enforcement, assessment and demilitarising the country. Battle of Agincourt (England invaded France....again) is a battle you might want to look up ;)

Fun fact the U.S state of Hawaii still has the union flag as part of its flag !

We were invaded many times in our history and learned about it the hard way. As a result we are a nation of mongrels including saxons, normans and vikings, aka we're a warrior people , it's in our blood and we like a ruck. Apologies to those we missed, we'll get round to you next time. 😉

The map shows that somewhere in the Empire it was daytime, hence the saying that "The sun never sets on the British Empire"

THIS VIDEO PHYSICALLY PAINED ME

the funny thing was that a lot of it was accidental, denying enemy trade, discovering new lands, gaining land in treaties etc, most countries Britain just intended to trade with whilst preventing their european enemies from trading there.

An interesting presentation. Thank you! I was born in 1950, and therefore am old enough to remember Empire Day, which was later renamed into Commonwealth Day. And because I had relatives living and working in the colonies (especially in West Africa and East Africa), I remember vividly when those countries became independent, mostly in the 1960s. Sorry that the following comment is essay-length - the subject needs it, and this is a good, well-informed forum for that. It's inevitable that a broad overview of this kind omits some subtle distinctions. But it is interesting that many of the comments here address those distinctions. So here's my shot at making them. Firstly it was the British Empire: Scottish, Welsh and Irish people were as involved in establishing it as were English. (I suppose "British Empire" is cleaner than "UK Empire", for Ireland is not part of Britain, but was part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Ambiguous, isn't it? I spent most of my life in Ireland, so have experienced the legacies of that ambiguity.) Secondly, and as several commentators here have pointed out, a huge proportion of the empire was acquired not primarily through direct military conquest, but by developing trading relationships with local rulers who were bought off with British money and thereby persuaded to cooperate with British rule. (Much of India, for example, was absorbed in that way.) That said, British military power came into play if there were attempts to break those arrangements, and if local people tried to develop policies that were seen (rightly or wrongly) as against British interests. Yet still, and as in the Indian Rebellion of 1857, it was often native, pro-British armies, that did much of the fighting. Thirdly, much of the empire (most obviously North America, Australia, New Zealand and Canada) was turned into nation states through settlement - settlement not confined to British subjects, but dominated by them. In that case military power of one sort or another might become involved, if the original inhabitants resisted such settlement. The USA and Canada are examples of that; but the military power tended to be exerted by the settler communities themselves and their armies, not by elements of the British army. Fourthly, the map does not include many other countries that were "invaded" not so much by conquest, as via alliance with the native regimes that were seeking to push out another invader - so the British were invited to invade. A striking example of this is the large number of European states that were supported by the British army during the Napoleonic Wars. Examples are the support of Portugal and (to a lesser extent) Spain during the Peninsular War of 1807-1814. Likewise there were "expeditions" into other countries to oppose Napoleonic power, in support of Britain's international interests. With the defeat of Napoleon at Waterloo (1815), the British withdrew from all those countries. Likewise, British control over countries of the middle-east, such as Jordan and many other Arab states came about because, following the fall of the Ottoman Empire, that empire was dismembered and handed over, under orders of the League of Nations, to be re-ordered by the then most powerful European colonial powers, France and the UK. Fifthly, it was naval power that made all this possible. For over 150 years, the Royal Navy was by far the most powerful in the world. Finally, I remember coming across a table in an academic historical journal that explored the following question. "Since 1600, which nations have been most involved in military conflicts outside their own national borders?" The British were top in that table by a VAST margin. I think my memory is correct when I say that over the last 400 years the number of years when British forces have NOT been involved outside the country's boundaries in some military operation or other (e.g. the "Malayan Emergency", an undeclared war of the 1950s) is in low double figures - less than 20, I seem to remember. (If someone can be more accurate than I, I'd appreciate it.) Thank you for such an engaging presentation. This, and your other "reaction" videos are always worth watching for their insight, interest and sensitivity. Subscribed!

France and Spain And Roman: I Want A Big Empire Uk: Hold My Empire..

Australia was indeed a prison colony. The harsh Sun, dangerous insects and distance from home created a nightmare for the incarcerated prisoners. Now we go on holiday there hahaha

its scary how little our counterparts know about us , brits are very proud to be brits and this is only a fraction of our full history

Singapore is also part of UK colony, the only Asian coutry where English is their main language together with their local tongue. Also Nepal is the only country being invaded, where the British forfeit in defeat because of the bravery of the Nepali warriors, instead they sign a treaty where they become allies for Centuries where UK recruits Nepalese to be part of the British Gurkha regiments.

Keep in mind that the British empire also introduced parliamentary democracy and things like trial by jury and even social etiquette and events to many of these countries that were essentially barbaric and unlawful at the time. To this day more than 50 countries have benifited from the civilized rules that Britain introduced to them. You can criticize many barbaric invasions over the course of history but Britain always did it with an offering of making them better people. Just look at India and Pakistan for example. Their populations have ONE single thing that their entire nations get behind and support when it comes to sports... Cricket! Who gave them Cricket? Without the British empire they would have no sporting interests at all. A civil sport. This also applies to almost every single other commonwealth nations. The caribean islands, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. We gave the gift of Cricket to ALL of them whilst we were there. And every single one of them has it as their national sport now. It's entirely possible that without our interventions they would be no better than places like Iran, North Korea and any other modern day despot nations that we had no part to play in. (Even most recently Hong Kong are regreting Britain handing back their country to China and their democracy being removed in favour for communism) We left civilized nations behind us. Think on that.

The UK , Franc, Spain and Holland were the main European colonialists due to their superior technologies at the time (their Navys). But these countries made the modern world.

Others invaded brtain too , but yes we did get about considering we are only a small island is pretty impressive, yes ... Britain really did rule the waves .

So many countries today have their legal system based on English common law, Including the US.

Anything after 1931 wouldn't really be British empire invading but the empire didn't start to fall till 1957 and didn't end till 1997 when Hong Kong was given back to China. Yes, we used to rule most of the world and no empire has ever been bigger

That’s why the Union Jack was referred to as the butchers apron

One of my favourite quotes is "Britains biggest export is Independence Days" :)

My dude, your reaction through this one was just priceless and totally worth watching it for.

A lot of contextual information left out of this synopsis. A lot of the ‘invasions’ referred to wouldn’t be considered as such, as war necessitated boots on the ground in most of those places to facilitate liberation by allied forces.

For context, the British Empire was the same as the Star Wars Empire 🤔😉

Steve, the fact that a nice guy like you speaks English is because, as you know, you were one of our colonies... under George 3rd of Britain. Many Americans really hate him!! You are a perfect example of an English speaking person from the old colonial days.

i've just watched the poppy video again and i hope you gave your family a hug after it as you look like you needed it. i'm learning as much about my own countries history as much as you are watching videos like yours mate. enjoy the journey...

The saying “the sun doesn’t set on the British empire” means it

that’s why we had the best navy in the word

Seems weird that they mention every country England has invaded, but leave out Scotland and Wales. Wales didn't fall to England until 1283. Scotland never did (it became one due to a Union of Crowns).

We have always liked foreign holidays. 🤣🤣👍👍

Check out some of the Al Murray videos when he looks at a lot of British war/history stuff. ATB regards from the UK

And that's why so many countries these day's seek the knowledge skills and advice of successful tactical deployment, Britain are the best at it by far, history has proved that time and again.🇬🇧🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿

Small Island, big attitude. Probably why the British Bulldog is so representative of us😂😂. On a kinder note, we did give the world the best Music, Art, Literature, invention etc so I still think we are the Greatest. 💖

Invaded means someone sends an army there with an objective. These are the pink areas. Conquered means ruled by the invader and are the red parts. After the American rebellion, The UK needed somewhere else to send its convicts. Australia seemed suitable so that's where they went. Interesting fact, On Tasmania (that's the island south of Australia) there was also a penal colony called Point Puer which was mainly for child convicts... It wasn't a nice place. To end with, the reason the UK was able to do this with only a relatively small standing army, was all down to the Royal Navy, which absolutely ruled the waves for a long long time.

He missed Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia (if he is including WW2 - which he is)

“American reacts to every country England has invaded” - Proceeds to talk about the “British” empire.

I know it's controversial to say nowadays but it's our amazing history that makes us proud. Lots of negative things as well but like you say, for such a tiny island, we've played a huge part in history for good and bad

Gibraltar is still British and the Gibraltans that I know are very proud of this. They often come to University over here, and think nothing of popping over to London for Christmas shopping.

Thats why you dont want to piss off the UK. Argentina were the last country to try that and look how that went for them! Not very well

the british empire was a very good thing for alot of those countrys many wanted to be ruled by the british. very proud to be british and theres no question that its history is impressive

The British spirit is very hard to break, we are a warrior people and have always been ahead of the curve in terms of military power, organisation, infrastructure and the desire to expand and conquer our enemies and neighbours. For the size of our small nation we are one of the most influential and impactful countries in the world