Top 20 Countries That No Longer Exist

This region has changed hands many times throughout its long history. It belonged to ancient Carthage before falling to the Roman Empire, then came under the control of the Vandals and later the Byzantine Empire. It eventually became part of the Ottoman Empire, but enjoyed independence under the Karamanl dynasty from 1711 until 1835. After it was captured by Italy, it declared independence again as the short-lived Tripolitanian Republic from 1918 to 1922. However, Italy soon reasserted control, and Tripolitania was an Italian colony until 1934. Today, the area is part of Libya, with Tripoli serving as the nation’s capital.

The official classification of this republic was always dubious. The ISR was an Italian fascist state and a puppet regime of Nazi Germany. In 1943 during World War II, Italy switched allegiances, signing an armistice with the Allies. German forces reacted by freeing the deposed Italian Prime Minister Benito Mussolini, who worked with the Nazi Empire and established the Italian Social Republic on September 23. Its power was limited, and it wasn’t recognized by most countries. The republic collapsed towards the end of April, 1945, when the Italian resistance movement captured Mussolini and a number of his ministers. Mussolini was executed the next day, and the Republic’s Minister of Defense quickly surrendered.

In the medieval period, the Principality of Catalonia was an autonomous region ruled by a composite monarchy called the Crown of Aragon, which controlled territory throughout the Mediterranean. Catalonia revolted and became a republic in 1641, although it was short-lived. In 1714, Philip V won the War of the Spanish Succession and made Catalonia part of Spain. While it regained some autonomy in the early 20th century, Catalonia was crushed again under the dictatorship of Francisco Franco. It’s remained under Spanish control ever since, although it regained self-government in the late 1970s with Spain’s transition to democracy. Nonetheless, the Catalan independence movement continues to fight for Catalonia’s secession.

Today, Texas is the second-largest and second-most populous US state. But the region was originally colonized by the Spanish, becoming part of Mexico in 1821 after the Mexican War of Independence. Over the next decade, American colonists and Tejanos clashed with the Mexican government. One bone of contention was the government’s increasing centralization; another was what American arrivals saw as their “right” to own slaves, despite Mexico banning the practice. In 1836 this led to the Texas Revolution, and independence as the Republic of Texas. The Mexican Congress refused to acknowledge the transition, with both sides arguing over borders, and the native Comanches literally caught in the middle. In 1845, the Republic of Texas was annexed by the United States, becoming its 28th state - and sparking the Mexican–American War.

In the early 19th century, Venezuelan military leader Simón Bolívar liberated much of South America from Spanish control. He dreamt of one great, unified country, which was founded in 1819 as “Colombia” - now known as “Gran Colombia” to distinguish it from the modern-day Republic of Colombia. It encompassed much of southern Central America and northern South America. For a short time, it was powerful and prosperous, but soon fell victim to political power plays. Bolívar and former war ally Francisco de Paula Santander became public rivals in a fight between centralism and federalism. Political instability resulted in the state’s dissolution in 1831, and the area was split into the modern countries of Colombia, Ecuador, Venezuela, and eventually, Panama.

Today, Bengal is an area encompassing West Bengal of India and Bangladesh. In ancient times however, a series of powerful kingdoms ruled the region, with strong militaries and extensive trade networks. The Greeks referred to the area as “Gangaridai”. In the 16h century the region became a part of the Mughal Empire and prospered as a rich trading power, described as the Paradise of the Nations. During this time, Bengal encompassed 12% of the entire world’s GDP. It then fell under British rule in 1757 and was split between India and Pakistan in 1946 in the wake of the Indian independence movement. Following the Bangladesh War of Independence, East Bengal of Pakistan became modern day Bangladesh.

In the years following World War II, colonial rule began to end worldwide, but not without a fight. In 1945, revolutionary Hồ Chí Minh declared independence from France, proclaiming the Democratic Republic of Vietnam. In response. France fought back tooth and nail to hold onto its territory. With France’s support, the State of Vietnam was established in the south in 1949; in 1955 it became the Republic of Vietnam. The conflict culminated in the Vietnam War, with the US backing the south against the north’s communist government. The north won, and the Fall of Saigon in 1975 signalled the end of the Republic.

In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the Austro-Hungarian Empire ruled much of Central Europe. A dual monarchy between the Austrian Empire and the Kingdom of Hungary, the multinational state began with the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of 1867 and was ruled by the House of Habsburg. It was a major global exporter of the time, building and shipping industrial appliances and components for power plants. While unpopular with Hungarians, Austria-Hungary flourished until it declared war on the Kingdom of Serbia on July 28, 1914. This officially started World War I, and Austria-Hungary fought as a Central Power. They obviously lost, and the empire was dissolved into the Kingdom of Hungary and the First Austrian Republic.

To the north of West Bengal is the Indian state of Sikkim, with a population of just 610,000 people. Back in 1642, Sikkim was a hereditary monarchy known as Dremoshong. It was founded by the Namgyal dynasty and ruled by Buddhist monarchs known as Chogyal. In the late 19th century, it became a British protectorate, then in 1950 an Indian one with India’s independence from Britain. Over the next decades, it became one of the richest regions of the Himalayas. However, political turmoil upheaved the kingdom in the early 1970s, and on April 14, 1975, a near-unanimous referendum abolished the monarchy and turned Sikkim into an Indian state.

From 1919-33, Germany was unofficially called the Weimar Republic, and officially Deutsches Reich. Formed between the Second and Third Reichs, this attempt at a republic was doomed from the start. At the end of the First World War, the Treaty of Versailles imposed harsh penalties on Germany, which contributed to issues with hyperinflation and warring Communist and right-wing nationalist paramilitary movements. It wasn’t all bad, though, as the government ended up helping German currency and railways, and got out of most of the imposed restrictions from the Treaty. But it was all for naught, however, because after the Reichstag fire, a certain Chancellor influenced the government to call a state of emergency, effectively ending the republic and beginning Germany’s Nazi period.

The area of Tibet was once held by the short-lived Tibetan Empire, which was established in the early 7th century and dissolved in 842. Following its collapse, Tibet became a series of smaller territories, with the central portion of the country run by various forms of Tibetan governments. The Chinese Qing dynasty took control over the area in the 1720s, but Tibet won back its independence with the Xinhai Revolution in 1911. However, that only lasted until October 24, 1950, when China invaded and annexed Tibet. The native Tibetan government remained in place, but this was squashed following the failed uprising of 1959. Ever since, Tibet has remained under Chinese control.

After World War II, Germany was reeling from their losses, and their territory was divided up by the Allies. West Germany ultimately stayed connected with the rest of Western Europe. East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic, or GDR, was snatched up by the USSR as a Soviet Satellite state, and occupied by Soviet forces for decades. They built the infamous Berlin Wall in 1961 to stop emigration, and killed many defectors. Despite having the best economy of the Eastern Bloc states, it was a grim situation. The Berlin Wall finally came down in 1989, and a year later, as the USSR was dying, the GDR was absorbed into a unified democratic Germany.

Wow, Germany’s had more names than Puff Daddy. This iteration was called Prussia. Starting out as a duchy, it became a kingdom in 1701 under Frederick I, and became famous for its military strength, most notably under Frederick the Great and Otto von Bismarck. At its peak, Prussia covered parts of what are now 8 European countries. After German unification in 1871, Prussia was the largest state in the German Empire, but ceased to be a kingdom after WWI. It later lost independence after the Weimar Republic dismissed Prussia’s cabinet, and by 1934, their powers had been completely stripped by the Nazis. After WWII, the Allies effectively dissolved Prussia, with Poland and the USSR taking the spoils and kicking the Germans out.

This ill-fated project was a union between Egypt and Syria. The United Arab Republic, or UAR, was the first move towards eventually forming a larger pan-Arab state. It was also an attempt to subdue that pesky Communist influence in the area. The project was short-lived though, as Syria became independent again in 1961 after a coup d’état. Egypt kept the name UAR for another 10 years before realizing they weren’t united with anyone. They officially changed back to Egypt in 1971, shortly after the death of their president and founder of the UAR, Gamal Abdel Nasser.

Just off the coast of India, Ceylon was the converted name given to Sri Lanka after the Portuguese landed there in the early 16th century. Like a lot of countries during the Age of Discovery and New Imperialism, Ceylon went through its fair share of European overlords, ending with the British, who consolidated rule over the island starting in 1815. Fast-forward to 1948, and Ceylon became a dominion, fully independent of Britain, but still recognizing the British monarch. It stayed this way until 1972, when it became a republic and its name was changed to Sri Lanka. Today, parliament plans to erase most references to the country’s old name.

After the Central Powers were defeated at the end of WWI, the Austro-Hungarian Empire was dissolved and split into a bunch of successor states. One of these was Czechoslovakia, one of the few countries in Europe that was a democratic republic at the time. They had a good thing going until the Nazis gobbled it up, and later, of course, the Soviets. During the Velvet Revolution in 1989, the Czechs deposed their government and restored their democracy, but things weren’t all rosy. By 1993, nationalist tensions between Czechs and Slovaks caused the country to peacefully split into two: the Czech Republic in the West, and Slovakia in the East, effectively making them... Czechmates.

Starting out as the British colony of Southern Rhodesia and named after Cecil Rhodes, the British businessman who exploited the region, this southeast African state had a history mired in blood. In 1965, the minority whites signed a declaration of independence from the UK, which was declared illegal, as Britain only allowed the majority to make such a declaration. After British sanctions, and a 15 year civil war between Robert Mugabe’s ZANU, Joshua Nkomo’s ZAPU, and Ian Smith’s Rhodesian government, Rhodesia buckled: universal suffrage was granted and the state was named Zimbabwe Rhodesia. Elections were held in 1980, and Robert Mugabe and ZANU won. The European name of Rhodesia was replaced with just Zimbabwe, and Mugabe has been in control, first as Prime Minister and now as President, ever since.

With an over 600-year existence, the Ottoman Empire’s run was one of the longest in history. They officially ended the Byzantine or Eastern Roman Empire by taking Constantinople, annexed much of the Middle East under Suleiman I, dominated the lands surrounding the Mediterranean Sea, and were instrumental in causing European nations to modernize their weaponry. They had a good run, barring multiple genocides, but political ineptitude, internal revolts, and the sheer vastness of the Empire caused it to decline. Allied with Germany during WWI, the loss saw the Empire dismantled. With the Turkish War of Independence, the sultanate was abolished and the Republic of Turkey took the Empire’s place, while its legacy was whittled down.

Along with Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia was another remnant of the old Austro-Hungarian Empire. Unlike its peer, which adopted democracy, Yugoslavia became a Kingdom. That kingdom was invaded by the Nazis in 1941, as was the trend in Europe. At the end of WWII, it became a socialist federal republic unaffiliated with the USSR, under the leadership of Josip Tito. It was a federation of 6 different republics that, after Tito’s death in 1980, wanted independence because of ethnic differences. Some republics declared independence in the early 1990s, effectively dissolving Yugoslavia into what is today 7 different countries, including Croatia, and Serbia. The story doesn’t end there though, as the Yugoslav Wars unfortunately continued throughout the 1990s.

The latter half of the 20th century saw the planet turn into a chessboard with America on one side and the Soviet Union, the largest state in the world, on the other – and that division still exists today. Along with the United States, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics or the USSR influenced world politics to such an extent that the effects can still be felt in our modern world, with areas like Asia, South America, the Middle East, North Africa, and the Caribbean all feeling the effects. Ultimately, because of economic failure, most Soviet satellite states in Eastern Europe replaced their Communist governments, and eventually the USSR’s republics followed suit in the ‘90s. They are now 15 independent states, including the territory that is Russia, or the Russian Federation, which is the USSR’s legal successor.