These Countries No Longer Exist...

throughout history countries have come and gone empires have risen and fallen and different systems and ideologies have been tested to uh well varying degrees of success so today we'll explore some countries that no longer exist starting with the good old Union of Soviet Socialist republics the Soviet Union was formed in December 1922 following a Civil War and Communist Revolution by the Bolsheviks the USSR was the largest country in the world by far being bigger than both the United States and Canada combined its capital was Moscow and it was home to 289.50 once stood as one of the most formidable nations in human history with the 1950s 60s '70s and 80s being defined by the bipolar World Order of the Soviet Union and its eastern communist allies and the United States and its Allied Western democracies the United States and Soviet Union had a well let's just say a turbulent relationship to say the least the United States practically LED NATO while the Soviet Union led the Warsaw pack both Nations hid behind the Iron Curtain as their ideological differences fueled the Cold War which involved them competing in basically everything possible space athletic proxy wars like Vietnam and Korea Espionage propaganda and my personal favorite nuclear weapons woohoo basically if you can name it they probably fought over it but thankfully they never decided to blow each other off the face of the Earth which is why I can make these videos the collapse of the Soviet Union was really a culmination of a bunch of bad things all happening at the same time for one the planned Soviet economy was really lagging behind those of Western Europe and the United States because uh well communism this meant that the Cold War arms race was getting pretty expensive for the USSR the Soviets were spending over double what the Americans were on defense in terms of percentage of gross national product and to make matters worse widespread corruption was plaguing the Soviet government so when Mikel gorbachov came to power in 1985 he knew he needed to do something to get his Nation back on track and so the reforms of glasnost and perista were born glasnost meaning openness aimed at expanding Soviet freedom of speech and expression by reducing State censorship of speech and media some political dissidents were released from prison State persecution of churches was ceased and some bans on foreign communication and broadcasting as well as travel restrictions were lifted as ABC's Walter Rogers reports from Moscow tonight people are talking more freely I think that uh grossness is a first step towards real democracy in our society perista was intended to promote economic growth by allowing for increased freedoms while maintaining a predominantly planned economy according to history.com gorbachov's parista program loosens centralized control of many businesses allowing some farmers and manufacturers to decide for themselves which products to make how many to produce and what to charge for them on April 26th 1986 corruption in the Soviet government would be exposed like never 4 with the nuclear meltdown at Chernobyl on that day an explosion and subsequent fire at reactor number four would cause the worst nuclear accident in history with increased radiation levels being felt all over Europe according to NBC News overwhelming Western criticism following an attempted cover up of a meltdown forced gorbachov to order Soviet officials to open up like never before the media started running stories about the disaster which would have never been allowed before trust me straight to the gong an official announcement from the Council of ministers there has been an accident at the cherille atomic power station and following the events at Chernobyl more and more negative reporting would begin to appear in the Soviet media with shortcomings like the ussr's horrendous invasion of Afghanistan and the rough state of the Soviet economy becoming common subjects but all of that is dwarfed by the events of January 31st 1990 on that day the very first McDonald's opened its doors for business in Moscow today finally McDonald's threw open the doors to its first restaurant in Moscow gorbachov himself even later appeared in a Pizza Hut ad making fun of him basically no one in the Pizza Hut can agree on whether or not they like gorbachov so amidst the chaos the power of Pizza Hut comes in and unites everyone how nice sometimes nothing brings people together like a nice hot pizza I'm telling you this was a weird time man you just had to be there I guess say that like I was there even with increased Freedom the people of the Soviet Union and its satellite states were not happy with their government with the cracks growing in the foundation of the Soviet Union so too were they in the satellite States in June of 198 9 communism fell in Poland with the peaceful election of Poland's solidarity Trade union later in November the Berlin Wall was torn down and the Velvet Revolution began in Czechoslovakia and in November Romanian dictator Nikolai chesu was executed by capital punishment the Romanians did not like him basically the Warsaw Pact was ripping at the seams and demonstrated what was to come for the Soviet Union on March 11th 1990 Lithuania became the first Soviet Socialist Republic to declare its independence from the USSR and one by one all the rest of the republics followed suit until from December 12th to 16th the Soviet Union was basically just Kazakhstan and on Christmas day of 1991 the Soviet flag was lowered from the Kremlin in Moscow for the final time being replaced by the flag of the new Russian Federation and with the end of the Soviet Union came 15 new countries entering the world stage you know I wonder how they're getting along today now that you understand the fall of the Soviet Union and communism in Europe more broadly let's take a look at some other communist countries that cease to exist starting with the German Democratic Republic or East Germany East Germany was located in the uh the eastern part of Germany I know you didn't see that one coming its capital was East Berlin and it was home to 16.4 million people in 1989 following the conclusion of World War II Germany found itself occupied by the Allied Powers France Britain the United States and the USSR who divided the nation into four zones with each Zone being occupied by a different country France the UK and US looked at each other and said hey you want to make Germany again and so after 1949 there were two germanies the capitalist Federal Republic of Germany in the west comprising the American British and French occupied areas and the Communist German Democratic Republic in the East comprising the Soviet occupied area to make matters even more complicated the city of Berlin itself was divided East and West so when the Soviets decided to blockade the City by land the US and UK coordinated the infamous Berlin airlift thousands of tons of supplies were airlifted from the Allies to West Berlin every single day the so-called candy bombers made Chocolate Rain from the sky to the Delight of all the German children and dentists at the height of the operation Allied planes would reach West Berlin every 30 seconds it was frankly a bit of an embarrassment for the Soviets as you can imagine causing them to lift the blockade as the years progressed East Germany remained significantly poorer than West Germany with a lower GDP per capita higher rate of unemployment and lower income but still in 1961 the East German government decided that it needed to build a wall we need to build a wall to keep all the desperate West berliners from entering the Glorious communist East Berlin wait what you're saying that the wall was built to keep all of the east berliners from fleeing West no no no no that can't be right the government said that it was an anti-fascist protective rampar what's that oh you're saying by 1961 millions of East Germans had already fled West oh life was frankly pretty crappy in the gdr and the Berlin Wall became a staple of the Iron Curtain and the Cold War but this was no ordinary wall the Berlin Wall actually consisted of 2 155 km long walls separated by the death strip which was heavily fortified and anyone who tried to escape the East was promptly uh eliminated as mentioned earlier the policies of glasnost and perista implemented by Soviet leader Mikel gorbachov in the mid 1980s had a ripple effect across Eastern Europe including East Germany East Germans were tired of falling behind their West German counterparts and calls for Unity of the two Germany grew by 1989 those calls had become so strong that they culminated in the peaceful Revolution and the fall of the Socialist Unity party the East Germans protested protested and protested some more they were sick and tired of not being able to travel freely and Western pressure especially from the US President Ronald Reagan really added to the East German government struggles Mr gorbachov tear down this war on October 18th Secretary General of the Socialist Unity party Eric coniker was removed after 18 years of being in power and on November 9th gter Bowski the secretary for information of the Central Committee Secretariat of the Socialist Unity party that title is atrociously long mistakenly announced that East Germans would be allowed to cross the border freely the announcement was intended to be a part of a gradual reform plan but was misinterpreted as being an immediate change as a result thousands of Germans rushed to the border crossings overwhelming the guards being overwhelmed by the sheer number of people demanding to cross the border guards eventually gave up and allowed everyone to pass through freely and the people of East and West Berlin came together to tear down the ugly wall that had divided them for decades the fall of the Berlin Wall signified the beginning of the end of the Cold War and laid the foundation for the reunification of Germany and in 1990 the five states of the gdr were officially integrated into the Federal Republic of Germany so that was the end of East Germany so now let's jump across the world to a beacon of freedom and democracy a place where there are more bies gas stations and Highway Lanes than Blades of grass and where mobility scooters roam free under the fluorescent glow of Walmart ceilings I'm of course talking about the great state of Texas Texas was for a Time its own country before joining the United States the Republic of Texas declared its independence from Mexico on March 2nd 1836 and was admitted into the United States as the state of Texas on December 29th 1845 however the formal governmental transfer of power did not happen until February 19th 1846 Texas's capital was Austin as it is today and was home to about 125,000 people before the Republic of Texas came into existence the region was a part of the Spanish Empire so when Mexico gained its independence from Spain and became the first Mexican Empire in 1821 Texas became a part of Mexico however tension soon Rose between the Mexican government and the anglo-american English-speaking Settlers of Texas Texan desires for independence from Mexico ultimately led to the Texas Revolution beginning in 1835 with the Battle of Gonzalez and today Texans still remember the alamoo I think by 1836 Texas officially declared its independence claiming all of this area but really only controlling the area in dark green upon declaring independence Texas applied to join the United States but was rejected for two main reasons first of all Texas wanted to join as a slave state which went against Northern anti-slavery political interests at the time slavery was a huge political issue in the United States with northern states opposing it and Southern States defending it so the introduction of another slave state would have really thrown off the balance of power in the US I wonder if this issue might cause some problems at some point the Civil War the second major reason Texas was initially declined was to avoid provoking Mexico throughout the entire existence of Texas as an independent country Mexico refused to recognize it however in 1845 Texas was admitted as a US state with the support of its citizens then following the Mexican-American War War and the Compromise of 1850 Texas's borders were readjusted to what they are today well I guess there goes the whole let's not provoke Mexico thing and Texas continued as a happy American state forever and ever uh that is until they joined the Confederacy and the whole Civil War thing happened but they haven't tried anything ever since so there's that chances are you've probably heard of Texas being an independent country before joining the US but I bet you didn't know that Vermont was also its own country from 1777 to 1791 and was recognized by literally no one the Vermont Republic was home to about 85,500 people in 1790 and its capital was Castleton which has a population of just 900 people today uh in case you were wondering probably not in January 1777 delegates from 28 Vermont towns met in Windsor and declared their independence from the British many Vermont ties Vermont Vermont Vermont people helped the colonists fight for American independence in the Revolutionary War however the Continental Congress didn't recognize Vermont because of land disputes with New York because of this Vermont Representatives began negotiations to join the British province of Quebec instead of the new United States which the British were quite happy about because as history shows uh they really like having more land but as the inevitability of American independence became clear coupled by the fact that Vermont was almost totally surrounded by Freedom land Vermont decided to cease negotiations with the British and instead seek admission into the US the New York legislature consented to Vermont's St hood on March 6th 1790 and its land disputes were settled a year later with a payment of $30,000 and the things money could buy back then and on March 4th 1791 Vermont was officially admitted into the us as the 14th state keeping it in the Americas our next dead country is the federal republic of Central America the F frca was a union of Guatemala El Salvador Honduras Nicaragua and Costa Rica it was founded in 1823 but began to dissolve in 1838 after declaring independence from a Napoleonic War weakened Spain in 1821 the Central American provinces initially joined the first Mexican Empire however dissatisfaction with Mexican Rule and a desire for greater autonomy led to the formation of the federal republic of Central America in 1823 the nation's capital was Guatemala City until 1834 when it was moved to San Salvador it had a federal system of government with three branches legislative executive and judicial wait a second that sounds a little familiar indeed the government of the F frca was heavily inspired by that of the United States but the F frca struggled with division which is why It ultimately fell like a house of cards the liberals who advocated for a weaker central government and separation of church and state clashed with the conservatives who wanted a stronger central government and a union between church and state from 1827 to 1829 the frca descended into the First Central American Civil War implying that there's going to be another one between the conservatives who back the nation's first president Manuel Jose AR and the liberals who opposed him and his government president AR was initially a liberal but did the old switcher Roo according to the Duke University press after his election AR is thought to have deserted the Liberals and to have supported a conservative plan to subvert the federal system of government by causing the dissolution of the Congress enforcing the collapse of the liberal government of Guatemala actions that led to the outbreak of the Civil War in 1827 I was running out of breath ultimately the Liberals came out on top in the Civil War and elected Francisco Moran as president in 1830 in 1834 Moran had the nation's capital City moved from Guatemala City to the Salvadorian city of San Salvador to really rub in the liberal victory over the conservatives ultimately a second civil war broke out in 1838 really leading to the end of the nation Nicaragua was the first to declare independence followed by the rest until Al Salvador was the last one standing what's interesting is most Central American countries still have flags that were inspired by the original F frca flag with Nicaragua pretty much just copy pasting the code of arms and so that was the fall of the federal republic of Central America so we've covered communism the Texas Revolution communism the American Revolution liberals and communism so now let's talk about some more communism specifically in drum roll please uh Yugoslavia what a fun country the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was founded in 1945 however Yugoslavia had existed as a country since 1918 its capital was Belgrade and it was home to about 24 million people in 1991 Yugoslavia was established following World War I and the collapse of the austr Hungarian and ottoman Empires which will actually cover in part two of this video but as you know we call it World War I for a reason and in the second world war Yugoslavia found found itself occupied by the Axis powers during this occupation one particular resistance group gained quite a bit of traction having 800,000 members by 1945 the partisans had the goal of fighting off the Axis powers and establishing a socialist Yugoslavia so when the war came to an end in 1945 Yugoslavia was reestablished under the Communist rule of Joseph bro Tito I mean just look at how scary he is the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia comprised the Socialist republics of Bosnia and heroina Croatia Macedonia Montenegro Serbia and Slovenia Yugoslavia was a unique communist country because in 1948 it sort of split away from the Soviet Union unlike most communist countries Yugoslavia never joined the Warsaw Pact and pursued a policy of non-alignment so even though they were a communist country they distanced themselves from the USSR but Yugoslavia much like its fellow communist Nations was a onep party dictatorship Joseph Bros Tito Ruled The Nation Under a unique form of Socialism often called titoism playing both sides Yugoslavia actually received aid from both the West and East things were going splendidly in Yugoslavia with amazing products like the Yugo car proving just how fantastic socialism is Yugoslavia was practically held together by Tito and some duct tape so after he died in 1980 things were not looking so good for the country with lots of ethnic diversity often comes lots of division ethnic groups in the country began to clash with the Yugoslav wars beginning in 1990 you can actually learn more about how the Yugoslav wars led to Kosovo becoming a country in my previous video ultimately Slovenia was the first to declare independence followed by Croatia Macedonia and Bosnia and heroina until it was just Serbia and Montenegro in a new bootleg Yugoslavia called uh well Serbia and Montenegro that is until Montenegro up and left in 2006 and so that was the death of Yugoslavia stay tuned for part two of this video and until next time goodbye Minnesota

Channel: Global Things

Views: 229,419

Keywords: geography, countries

Id: 0IixwUzizs4

Length: 15min 38sec (938 seconds)

Published: Fri May 17 2024