Why Do Europes Dumbest Countries Exist At All?

[@lycos94]

san marino's story is so fun tho, this dude climbs a mountain and declares it his country, and the pope is just like ''ok sure, why not''

[@drixtrix]

I also find it funny how the british in ww2 “accidentally bombed it” maybe in general its history isnt very straight forward

[@daisybrain9423]

Yeah, it basically started out like Sealand or any other micronation, but they eventually recognised it because everything was fragmented anyway due to feudalism. This is not to question the legitimacy of San Marino, just a thought I had...

[@Wompwompwomp.ny1]

Damn I should try that

[@lixobounce6588]

@@drixtrix bruh "accidental bombings" are common and if it happens on a small country it isn't as funny as the us accidentally bomb zurich with 6 bombers

[@yespls6260]

@@drixtrix well it's in the middle of Italy (at the time a fascist state) so kind of understandable during WW2

[@RileysFilms]

'The president of Moldova thinks covid is bad' I trust Toycat to keep me informed on the real issues.

[@nataliekennedy4646]

hell yeah

[@damn9424]

dang he really thinks that?

[@LucasNorden05]

@@damn9424 She

[@matthew-qu2mn]

"and she thinks other stuff is good"

[@Mr.Nichan]

Wow, heads of state have such strange beliefs: Gaddafi and Trump both thought Obama is a Kenyan Muslim, Erdoğan thinks lowering interest rates reduces inflation, and now we hear Sandu thinks COVID is bad, when everyone knows it's healthy for you because it trains your immune system and separates your mind from worldly attatchments like the taste of food? What will they say next?

[@diogovieira845]

"Why did no one ever invade Portugal?" Portugal: They tried

[@ruialmeida818]

Several times... laughs in Brites de Almeida (the baker of Aljubarrota) :D

[@camiblack1]

I mean, sure they tried, but you did have that 80 year period where Both Empires were together.

[@diogovieira845]

@@camiblack1 We don't talk about that in this household

[@AleaRandomAm]

@@camiblack1 It's 60 years and it happened because the king of Spain became king of Portugal after defeating the other pretendant, not due to a military invasion.

[@novedad4468]

@@AleaRandomAm well, in order to defeat the pretender, he had to militarily invade the country.

[@DanMan5000]

Fun fact: Liechenstein was formed by the union of two even smaller countries

[@PhilfreezeCH]

Most European countries (especially German speaking ones) were for through a union of smaller principalities. Other examples would be Germany or Switzerland.

[@oteragard8077]

ooo! what were the names? (I know I can google it but answering me here is more fun :P )

[@DanMan5000]

@@oteragard8077 The Lordship of Schellenberg and the County of Vaduz

[@oteragard8077]

@@DanMan5000 thank youuuuu

[@randomstuff2733]

Wasn’t there also the Holy Roman Empire that all Germans lived in and every German country was founded from there

[@eax2010EA]

Belgium exists for chocolate, obviously

[@irishtaco57]

And waffles

[@cllego]

and fries

[@romainsavioz5466]

For belgium people only

[@Eburon]

And beer

[@finn950]

Swiss chocolate better anyways 😌

[@lightsoda7445]

Fun fact about Andorra: there is a legend/historic story of a man who, when visiting Japan, had a legitimately made passport with the country name "Taured" on it (a non-existent nation). When Japanese officials asked him to point out the country on the map, he pointed to where Andorra was. After being held in a room with no windows for the purpose of later questioning, guards entered only to find him missing, which lead to the theory that the man was in fact from an alternate universe version of Andorra.

[@k.a263]

Did he really disappear like that, I mean can this story be officially confirmed?

[@HorsesArePeople2]

@@k.a263 No, the real story is that the guy was a conman who managed to get his obviously fake passport stamped and was arrested in Japan and later fled iirc

[@blanco7726]

@@k.a263 yeah he fled, happens a lot in places where people are kept

[@wizzotizzo]

@@blanco7726 sounds like sarcasm

[@justarandomguy337]

Andorra? More like KZbinrland.

[@Draxis32]

Some random dude: "Why does Portugal exists" Portugal: "Bro I was a major powerhouse rich nation back in the 1500's!"

[@blanco7726]

And now we have Cristiano😂

[@dcs4947]

Some random dude: "Why didn't Spain invaded Portugal?" Portugal: "Oh they tried...and they got their ass handed to them every time"

[@martijnb5887]

@@dcs4947 But not fast enough not to loose an empire to one of the enemies of Spain.

[@somerandomdude409]

Ayo

[@derekp6166]

@@dcs4947 As a Portuguese descendant I am glad Portugal exists. If this guys argument is that Portugal is small, then why is the UK a thing...

[@bisko3543]

"Why does Belgium exist?" Hitler asked calmly.

[@doggerlander]

"I know, right?" Wilhelm II responded

[@dadolphinplayz]

as a highway for germany

[@TheSmartestManonEarth]

Why does Spain have a lisp? Lol Just one of those proverbial questions

[@louhenber]

Reasons why Portugal exists: -it was a powerful empire -it was a country before Spain was a thing -they did try conquering us but failed all of them -different culture and language

[@guillermohita6347]

Olivenza...

[@ptafonsofm]

@@guillermohita6347 *IT'S OURS*

[@miguelpimentel2911]

Finalmente alguém inteligente

[@gamermapper]

The last isn't really a reason when it's also true for Catalonia and Basque country

[@kosinusify]

6:05 "How does a country exist when it doesn't have a language?" Austria: Oh no, it's Anschluss time again

[@peterlustig6888]

Tbf Austria only exists because the allies and entente didn't want it to unite with Germany

[@MartianCZ]

@@peterlustig6888 Austria had own empire for centuries

[@peterlustig6888]

@@MartianCZ The other german states too

[@news_oftheweek]

How does a country exist when it doesn't have a language? Bold of you to assume it needs a language. Of course, a language usually provides better stability and communication, but there are multiple examples of multi-ethnic countries. If we look at it the way Toy Cat did, even USA doesn't have its own language, because American is only an accent of English

[@kosinusify]

@@news_oftheweek I didn't assume that, I just quoted a funny sentence for a quick joke.

[@okapijohn4351]

Spain tried multiple times, they just simply failed and couldn't. Portugal exists since 1139 while Spain only exists since 1479, it is just nearly 350 years in between.

[@Eburon]

Why does Belgium exist? Don't know, and I'm from the Flanders region (about 5km from the Wallonia border). I've got no problems with the French speaking part of the country, but it does seem to make more sense to me to just call it a day and divide the regions between France, the Netherlands and Germany. Not that I am actively pursuing this goal myself. The truth is that Belgium has too many governments and money is being squandered left and right. There are people who advocate for an independent Flanders, but for me that's the least desirable outcome

[@jordanskene3243]

Belgium exists for Chocolate of course haha

[@Roozyj]

Do you know Zondag met Lubach? It's a Dutch satirical news show. They made an item about their worries about Belgium and their answer was to add Wallonia to the Netherlands. Their reasoning was that Wallonia wants to be part of something, Flanders wants to be independent and we get the Ardennes xD

[@piotrarturklos]

This is the problem. One belgian guy wants to divide Belgium, another wants Flanders independent, yet another one wants to stay united. You've locked yourselves in this conundrum.

[@Nicky_TM]

Here’s the average Dutch person waiting for our Flemish brothers to reunite with us

[@julianshepherd2038]

Belgium is there to separate the Netherlands and France and stop German access to the sea. Its a v successful country.

[@Daoland-Everywhere]

Ghana is a country but it has 27 languages. Moroccans claim every street has its own language. China has 52 languages. So one language isn't really require one language.

[@moderatemapper9440]

I think it's pretty obvious why most African countries exist.

[@ecurewitz]

Laughs in Papua New Guinean

[@lucaslevinsky8802]

In china most people speak sinic languages And what about Tibet and Uighuristan? Should be free

[@theblackryvius6613]

​@@moderatemapper9440 Same thing I was thinking. The idea that each country should have it's own language seems to only apply to Europe and parts of Asia. Though, even in these places, there are actually quite a lot of languages spoken just like anywhere else.

[@moderatemapper9440]

@@theblackryvius6613 Yes. In Africa, majority of the places that are unsettled in their current country is because of the domination of 1 or two ethnic groups, or religion. It would be better if the countries were split in an equal manner. For example, Nigeria, Yourbas and Igbos get along but don't get along with people from the North, because of religious and cultural incompatibility, as well as the domination of the north over government. Even so, languages are different to ethnic groups, as for example, Han Chinese are the same ethnic group but speak different languages.

[@princeneko9103]

“Why does Portugal exist?” Portugal being a powerful empire in history: 🙃

[@hansberger4939]

Also the USA once been powerful and they still exist today.

[@miguelfrancisco7325]

As a Portuguese person, i am very glad the question became why does Spain exist :)

[@VistaMaps]

And Belgium

[@mistersir7882]

Reason people give: "Portugal was powerful empire🙃"(🤡) Spain be like: Am I a joke to you?

[@mastersingleton]

Belgium exists simply because of its famous beers, chocolates and waffles.

[@myra0224]

Don't forget our yummy fries and terrible weather ☺️

[@mastersingleton]

@@myra0224 Thanks for the friendly reminder of the famous Belgian Fries.

[@20jumps]

@@mastersingleton French fries are belgian .

[@ewoudalliet1734]

The beer, chocolate and waffles in this region as well as their place in the region's culinary culture all (not all beers, but you know what I mean) predate the country. So, no.

[@purbattle2282]

The weather is real xd, Always grey weather with rain

[@SalvatoreBabones]

As a supporter of this channel, I am quite upset to see my money going to pay for professional editing instead of for "a strange drink that will probably taste bad."

[@JPprivate1]

Actually, the really fun fact re San Marino is that it's continued existence is based on the fact that Garibaldi (the guy who united Italy) and fought for the different Italian states to join had to flee anti-unification forces and hid in San Marino. As thanks, he told them they could remain independent.

[@meneither3834]

Belgium exists because England didn't want France to annex it (cause let's be honest, they make a very poor job at being a buffer state.)

[@matthings4133]

Nah ww1 was a entente victory because of the delay of belgium

[@meneither3834]

@@matthings4133 Had Belgium been in french hands Germany would have never gotten through it that easily. In fact Belgium's existence is a vital threat to France whenever there is an eastern threat.

[@matthings4133]

@@meneither3834 that is the case yes. But if belgium would have let through the germans as they asked to the war would be over by christmas and won by the germans. If it was in feench hands they would become partly german because of the franco prussian war. There was also a thing called the belgian revolution were belgians revolted for independance...

[@Woeringen]

Wrong.

[@b.g.r.andreverbrugghe4207]

I think England would be fine if Belgium and The Netherlands would have remained one country. A stronger bufferstate. However, there were revolutions and violence. Belgium became independent. (And in future campaingns to remain independent other countries like France helped Belgium against The Netherlands until The Netherlands finaly recognised the new country and the borders were agreed upon. Well, almost. We still had to finetune the borders in the Baarle region, but this was postponed to be done in the future. ;) (But now it's nice, also for tourism, so the unique borders will stay.)

[@Roozyj]

Toycat: "This is why Belgium and indeed also Luxembourg split from the Kingdom of the Netherlands." Subtitles: "This is why Belgium and indeed also Luxembourg split from the Kingdom of Belevolence." Me, a Dutch person: YES

[@space__idklmao]

Benevolent Benelux

[@renderproductions1032]

|-O-|

[@sebastianrose6248]

,,How does belgium exist, surrownded by so many other mayor powers and not get taken up by one of them“ Well me as a german can say u atleast, we tried it, and that not only once lol

[@trueriver1950]

With great respect I disagree. The German armies on several occasions used Belgium as an autobahn to bypass certain obstructions, but never took Belgium to be a country as such ;)

[@myra0224]

@@trueriver1950 We did fight back though! Didn't succeed too well... But we got part of Germany afterwards so who cares 😂 Our politics don't... Literally, they ignore that whole part of Belgium, it's quite sad 😬

[@blanco7726]

@@myra0224 your politics generally disregard anything south of Charleroi-Namur-Liege

[@cookie856]

@@blanco7726 As someone living there, kinda. But at least local politics don't? XD

[@Typhyr]

Belgium is held together by the incredibly tangled political mess it is and can’t be untangled.

[@goncalolauret2039]

I´m portuguese and the Spanish tryed to conquer us lots of times during History, but we always managed to maintain our independence. There was even a time when Spain controled Portugal because our king died without having descendants but we recovered our independence after 60 years.

[@luismarques9280]

It was a union

[@joaofernandes2827]

The King of Spain become also king of Portugal by right , and it become two countries under the same king.

[@argeuventurini]

Only Napoleon managed to do that. And this helped Brazil to grow :) Thanks Napoleon

[@luismarques9280]

@@argeuventurini Do what?

[@argeuventurini]

@@luismarques9280 conquer Portugal, making Don João VI run to Brazil

[@Sophie-dt3ck]

Not simply cultural consistence. But also consistence of time. Portugal has been a unified and official country much longer than Spain. Indeed, even the language and its precursors came before Spain's. Among its reasons for existing, well. It just always has existed, put simply.

[@miguelpadeiro762]

Spain (actually its predecessor Castille) is also to thank for that, since the Castillian invasion in the 1383-1385 sowed the seeds of Portuguese nationality

[@ActualGoatUnicorn]

Another reason Belarus exists is because Lukashenko is one of the only people Putin can rely on as aconsistent yesman

[@Nooticus]

THIS

[@ronaldweasly7020]

Yeah, so we're completely gonna ignore the fact that it's a former successor of the Great Duchy of Lithuania which got rid of the crusaders influence in Southern Europe, or that we saved Austria's butt from Turkey in the Battle of Vienna in 1683 just to have our territories divided among Austria, Prussia and Russia. We deserve to exist, but ya'll were all ignoring us when we asked to support us against Soviet Russia.

[@unifiedhorizons2663]

@@ronaldweasly7020 i know right belrus guys we existense

[@malaxes]

@@ronaldweasly7020 You could have been part of Poland but you turned against Poland and chose to be part of Soviet Union so you get what you people wanted. If you thought you will be independent so as you see you have been fooled. You have a place on the map but your car will be deciding about your future. Anyway I wish you that this will change somewhere in the future.

[@ronaldweasly7020]

@@malaxes what kind of bs is this? We were never part of Poland, we were part of the commonwealth!!! And even so, we didn't have full consent in this, our delegation protested against, but it was still decided for us in the end. The same with the Soviet Union- we tried creating a separate country BNR, but no one accepted us and the Soviets created their own BSSR in response. We had Slutsk rebellion against the Poles and the Soviets during the war of 1919-1921. Mere peasantry fought for freedom, but were soon ended by the Soviets. It was never our choice to begin with, stop acting like you know everything.

[@HD82345]

“Why does a country exist when it doesn’t have its own language” *Me sitting here like* Americans speak English Canadians speak English. Like all of Central America and most of South America speak Spanish. Bunch of countries in Africa speak French… all the countries in the Middle East speak Arabic (sure different dialects but still technically all Arabic)

[@will7922]

not "most", less than half of South Americans speak Spanish.

[@will7922]

@@GGdL08 Português e espanhol não são as únicas línguas faladas na América do Sul.

[@Liggliluff]

He kinda changed that argument to "Why does a country exist when it doesn't have a single unifying language". But there's still Switzerland so.

[@rhythmicmusicswap4173]

you have point,though in europe the idea that a country doesn't have its own language it's considered lot of time weird

[@ADMICKEY]

@@Liggliluff and the u.s doesn't have an official language

[@daringdare5078]

Honestly, I’m surprised Hungary still exists after all the punishment it’s been through.

[@cannonfodder9248]

We will never die

[@gamermapper]

Mongol genes

[@randomstuff2733]

Treaty of Trianon really effected them

[@peddakiller4777]

Yeah.... hungary.... "german noises" yeah....

[@stevemonkey6666]

Woo! Hungary!

[@soumitrade010]

So are we going to ignore the fact that the picture literally states why does France speak French?

[@Hodoss]

I still can’t wrap my head around it.

[@johnlockeac7288]

Keep up these great geography videos man. I absolutely heckin love them. Your format is simple and easy to digest. no cuts or anything. Great work!

[@johnlockeac7288]

Perfect. I mean it

[@renderproductions1032]

@@johnlockeac7288 agreed

[@kotsunia]

1:01 It's simple we haven't been annexed by Spain yet. Wooden spoons, baker woman, somehow being more powerful than your enemy even though you're out numbered, Heróis do mar, nationalist Feeling (no clue what name is), and England

[@thearousedeunuch]

Patriotism?

[@quatreunhuit]

8:42 They always talk about the Congo when it comes to belgian imperialism, but everyone always leaves out Rwanda and (especially) Burundi.

[@Akrilloth]

People usually don't get that far into the atrocities of king douchebagpold before having "seen enough"

[@BamBamGT1]

@@Akrilloth The king didn't actually do anything. He was thousands of kilometers away and leased lands in congo to various companies. These companies are the ones who did the shitty stuff.

[@lieselotdevos9253]

@@Akrilloth Rwanda and Burundi only became under Belgian rule after WWI, king Leopold II was dead by that time.

[@lordmctheobalt]

6:38 "Belgium is Catholic, while the Netherlands is one of those other weird sects" - absolutely based ibxtoycat goes full on DEUS VULT! lol

[@GermanK13]

As a latin american, I have never heard someone here asking why Portugal isn't part of Spain, only north americans and europeans ask that, and that is as ignorant as say "why Caucasian people don't create just one unified country", "why the Central America don't unify with Mexico" or "why the -stans aren't united".

[@sauronsmundwinkel]

Tbh, as a european i'd say we are living in the 21st century and making countrys based on ethnicity is such a 20th century thing. Ethnocountrys should be a thingnof the past.

[@max__pain]

@@sauronsmundwinkel Why?

[@sauronsmundwinkel]

@@max__pain because we had enough wars about who is what and who isnt. and they just a huge waste of everything

[@nartworks557]

@@skoochoo5851 💀💀 bro what

[@nartworks557]

honestly i don’t see the point in making central america unite with mexico but like it would make sense, wether people wanna admit it or not all the countries in central america are near culturally identical compared to countries in south america

[@cry0genic784]

"Sweden is filled with Swedish people." Damn what year did you record this in?

[@MaestroBlur]

based

[@blanco7726]

Depends on what you mean with Swedish doesnt it.

[@hansberger4939]

The large majority is sweedish but "filled"? there are only 10 mio people.

[@MasonGreenWeed]

From future when Sweden really contain people instead bunch wood on cold wasteland

[@Spacemongerr]

80% of people in sweden are born in sweden. More have swedish citizenship. 75% of everyone there has a Swedish parent. Top immigrant countries are Syria, Finland, Iraq and Poland.

[@liamfarrell2215]

Belguim exists for waffles and without belguim there would be no waffles. And people say we live in the darkest timeline

[@Bananaman-hk6qw]

The Netherlands has waffles wtf yoy mean 😂 and we make better belgian waffles honestly

[@peterlustig6888]

Different version of waffles exists. We have them in the German Rhineland too. But the Belgian once are thicker.

[@lieselotdevos9253]

@@Bananaman-hk6qw The waffles that we know of today where invented in Belgium

[@lieselotdevos9253]

You forget our chocolate and beer

[@Bananaman-hk6qw]

@@lieselotdevos9253 duh, but dutch waffles are better

[@lars9255]

As a Belgian, some extra (political) insights. The top part wants to split from the bottom (french side) because they differ massively politicaly. Flanders is mainly right leaning while Wallonia is basically entirely left. The percentage of people on welfare benefits in Wallonia is also massive compared to Flanders so they feel like they are paying for Wallonian people 'not working' and are angry about it. While a lot of Wallonian people feel like the Flemish are antisocial. Politicaly each part already has its own government with the Belgian government overseeing the major stuff. To illustrate how different each part is in opinions, the Flemish government is usually formed within days as well as the Wallonian. The Belgian government needs a majority to 'be formed' this has set records every election of being the longest formation ever, basically every time we vote it takes 1-2 years before an actual government is formed. As for seeing us split, I do think politically we will get rid of the Belgian overarching government and basically stay a country with each part governing themselves. So we will basically be a country but only in name. The reason we will never split entirely is because Wallonia just doesn't want to and you need a 2/3 majority to have a political chance at doing this. More than half of Flemish would be open to splitting up entirely but considering our entire population that's still nowhere near enough. Only scenario is if the biggest flemish national party gets a Flemish majority (which is near impossible in our political system) there's no chance of this ever happening, and even then, rules will need to be bent a lot. Me personally, I am for splitting politically as the gap in opinions between the two sides is just to enormous and this would solve most of the tention so we can stay 'together' in name only. Keeping close economical bonds.

[@paggity977]

why do i enjoy this channel more than his main channel

[@PurPurDot]

Geography is nice (👍≖‿‿≖)👍

[@trueriver1950]

@@PurPurDot ...and Minecraft is boring ???

[@michelleken.]

Actually 60% op Belgian population speaks Dutch (Flemish) as their first language. And as you can see Flemish people speak way more French as a second language than Walloons speak Dutch as a second language, while Dutch is clearly the biggest language in Belgium. This is one of the reasons there are frustrations in Belgium.

[@myra0224]

I feel like people think Belgium is French because of Brussels and the majority speaking French there

[@michelleken.]

@@myra0224 yes indeed, unfortunately the majoruty of Brussel's population speaks French, altough originally being a Flemish city that only spoke Flemish (Dutch). But the vast majority of the Belgian population in total speaks Flemish (Dutch).

[@carthkaras6449]

@@michelleken. and before that we spoke the gaulish language of our ancestor the eburons... a least the french kept some gaulish words and phonology from our ancestors.

[@carthkaras6449]

the "they speak a lot more French" is really relative ... And if the Walloons don't like to speak Flemish it is because, and it is a shared feeling, they think that the Flemings don't like them. And they have every reason to think so with the Flemish politicians and media who when they show Wallonia present random hobo.

[@myra0224]

@@carthkaras6449 Honestly, Wallonia doesn't like Flanders either. I feel like it's because they're kinda stuck in time and can't grow a lot anymore. Which is sad, because they just need some help with it and I wish Belgium as a whole could work on that. In Brussels, it's mainly French that gets spoken but Flanders has more population than Wallonia so there would be more Dutch-speakers

[@baum7275]

To clear up the language situation a bit: most people do not speak Walloon in Belgium, they generally speak French that has been influenced by Walloon. It is somewhat just semantics but generally linguists would say it’s the Walloon dialect of Standard French. It‘s similar to how most Germans speak “dialects“ of standard German that have been heavily influenced by the local German ”idioms“, not the historic idioms themselves, but often laypeople don’t make a difference but for linguistics it is important. Particularly in the North, where Low German (a language closer to Dutch than Standard German) was traditionally the local language, only few people actually speak the historic idiom today, with others speaking a High German based dialect with Low German features (ich > ik, das > dit, kaufen > koofen) but when you compare this to historic Low German texts, you see a clear break from tradition, explained by a transition to High German, when it became the political, economic prestige language. This is quite different to, say, Swiss German or Austro-Bavarian, where a lot of people speak dialects that that may have been influenced by Standard German but they still show a clear unbroken tradition from the idioms spoken before the advent of Standard German. Of course a lot of this is debatable bc dialect / language is only loosely defined. However, one major difference I think you can see is a young child from Walloon will have no trouble understanding Standard French without training, whereas for example there are really villages in Austria where young children will struggle to understand Standard German until they are trained in it at school. Also I have never heard of somebody learning French and saying it is difficult to get by in Belgium, but many German learners will have a hard time in Austria and Switzerland, until they learn enough of the dialect bc it is that different and common enough to cause problems to those who don’t understand

[@lightsoda7445]

Without going off-topic, blaming the Congo 'Free' State on just the king is kind of like blaming the fuhrer of Germany for WWII and absconding from regret. You can't orchestrate both without the participation of soldiers, envoys and tradesmen - and both resulted in not just deaths/atrocities but also a syphoning of resources, which made it's way to Belgium's society. You don't have to take responsibility but to not acknowledge it as an error in your country's shared history is kind of a cop-out tbh.

[@thorvanheghe4023]

Who says we don't acknowledge it?

[@BamBamGT1]

Except the Fuhrer did orchestrate these things, while the Belgian king didn't do anything. He owned lands thousands of kilometers away, and leased it to companies. These companies committed the atrocities. It is so completely dishonoust when you see those lists of most evil people placing the king among the likes of Hitler.

[@blanco7726]

That money made its way into building palaces and cathedrals, not into society

[@lieselotdevos9253]

We recognise what happened under the reign of King Leopold II. But you should know that until recently historians did not have access to all the documents of that period. So before these documents, we simply did not know what exactly happened in Congo Free State when it was privately owned by the king. Now we learn at school what really happened and why Congo was donated to the state of Belgium by its king. Of course, the state of Belgium must take responsibility for the misdeeds that happened under the regime of the Belgian government. However, these outrages are similar to other European countries and their colonies' policies. But you cannot say that Belgium does not admit what happened under the policy of King Leopold II. After all, it was he who allowed all those trading companies in Congo. The soldiers, the ordinary people, did not have much choice but to follow the orders of their king. Before Congo became Belgian property, there were no Belgians living there. This only happened when Congo came into the hands of the state of Belgium.

[@blanco7726]

@@lieselotdevos9253 'donate' under international pressure, because it was an absolute fuckery

[@estraume]

Fun fact: Russia tried to sell Alaska to Liechtenstein before they sold it to USA.

[@RosePencil]

0:54 “the Belgian person editing this video can confirm this” Me: Wait, this video is EDITED?!

[@kniddelliz7512]

As a national of one of those countries that "shouldn't exist," I find this a very creative video. Why do we exist? Impossible to answer. Most likely a combination of money, politics, strategic alliances, and frankly it would just be undiplomatic to come invade us now after all this time. And then Europe is still living with the memories of WW2, so peace is important.

[@charles727727]

3 Essential reasons why Belgium exists: It is the country who invented "French" Fries , makes the best chocolate on the planet and brews best beer in the world bar none.

[@Delta_47]

Q: Why is Portugal so small A: The Portuguese king died without heir. The Spanish Crown got a personal union over Portugal, controlling Portugal to a certain extent, but still keeping Portugal as an independent country and not really part of Spain. Spain was having some trouble as well and took Portugal down the line, losing a lot of colonies and overseas territory.

[@luismarques9280]

Portugal is not small in Europe. As matter fact at some point, Portugal controlled a vry large part of the world!

[@jfrancobelge]

Living where I live really makes me feel European - and I love that. I am a Frenchman, originally from Western France, who lives in Eastern Belgium, close to the borders with Luxembourg (20 minutes drive) and Germany (30 minutes drive). I live in a French-speaking town but our neighbors in the next town speak German though still in Belgium, and many of them are actually bilingual German-French. And of course the Luxemburgers have their own language which is basically a Germanic idiom with some French influence; in practice they are trilingual Luxemburgish-French-German, and these actually are the three official languages of the country. And I'm personally fluent in French (mother tongue) and English, I get along pretty well in German, and I'm at least able to read basic Luxemburgish and Dutch, plus notions of Spanish and Italian. Let's not forget to mention the tourists who come visit us from Flanders and the Netherlands, these ones speak Dutch (though Flemish Dutch and Dutch Dutch are kind of different) so that's a fourth language and a fourth country commonly in the area. So, for me normal life is about three/four countries and three/four languages, not to mention English and my native country, France. When I go visit my family in France, hundreds of kilometers away from the closest border, and for some time live in a French-only environment, that is weird to me.

[@blanco7726]

Wou wunns de?

[@jacquesm.6392]

@@blanco7726 Vielsalm

[@Mothyave]

As a Polish person, I very much don't want Belarus to be officially swallowed by Russia, it's bad enough as it is. Case an point: current Poland-Belarus border situation.

[@Vescilla]

Not only for our benefit, people of Belarus want democracy and other countries should support them. I live in Białystok, which is like 60 km from the Poland-Belarus border and we had a couple of big protests supporting Belarussians protesting against Lukashenka.

[@haroeneissa790]

Russia will allow Belarus to exist for as long as the government stays pro-russia. Russia is definitely going to support a coup or organise another sketchy referendum if Belarus becomes a pro-EU country in the future. Russia doesnt want a pro-EU country right next to Moscow and other big cities in the surrounding areas.

[@haroeneissa790]

@clouds yeah. But the government is not. And they make the decisions.

[@Seriona1]

If Alex had a choice with Belarus, Belarus would of been annexed by Russia. The problem is that the Russian government won't annex it because they would have to dump money into the region to upgrade it to Russian standards and Alex already follows Putin's orders anyways so it's better off being its own nation plus with the current bullshit off invading Ukraine to keep it out of NATO, Belarus buffers Russia from this problem on some spots.

[@chibar]

I love how niche this channel is and it's always a must click

[@NautyCat]

7:12 The man on the left was the chancellor-candidate for the CDU in Germany. He lost the election.

[@neyte7313]

Also, when we talk about Belarus, it's very important to separate the government and literally everyone else. Unification with Russia is the worst nightmare for everyone I know, and even the government only uses the unification as a THREAT to intimidate the society. Basically very few people want Russians to take over, (and we are also easily offended when called white Russians - it's the same as if Scottish people were called North English).

[@pavelandel1538]

do people speak predominantly Belorussian or Russian in Belarus in everyday life?

[@ronaldweasly7020]

@@pavelandel1538 Russian, unfortunately, because we have bean assimilated for more than 200 years by Russia's constant propaganda

[@nicholas3435]

By the way, as far as European central figures go, given how Maia Sandu is also 48, she is impressively attractive. Just need to throw that out there so that toycat doesn't mention it.

[@lb2kxx]

kinda true

[@giacomomariomenegola2036]

2:27 “Spain is the weirder country to exist rather than Portugal” ‘cause of them having been separate and having different languages. Meanwhile Italians: *have 20 different Regions due to the same (almost) reasons, 1 of which speaks French and another speaks German*

[@geosophik9369]

You forgot to include United Kingdom. Equally dumb to exist given the fact that it's a union of 4 kingdoms: Wales, Scotland, Ireland (north) and England. Each still has their own language and culture (although in decay). The people in Spain, Switzerland and Belgium are just better at keeping their identities ;)

[@oteragard8077]

"The quality of these videos won't get any better" I mean sure, but you kinda accidentally stumbled upon some great content here. I know it's sarcastic and it's obviously biased by the experience of someone living in the UK, but you're open and up front about it all and yet there's some quite specific facts about each place you still manage to pull that most of us don't know. I heard that bit about Andorra once but completely forgot it. I don't think I'm gonna forget this time lol In short, thank you I really appreciate this channel

[@liamgriffin218]

7:12 My 1st thought was "Why are the Germans included in that picture of the Benelux?" My 2nd thought was "Oh yeah... Germany loves meddling in Benelux affairs."

[@tonymatic1704]

14:12 map is innacurae bc yugoslavia didn't obey stalin, it's actualy a saying in the balkans when Tito told Stalin Niet

[@thespookprod]

i think i could listen to you for hours. This never happened to me with a youtuber. You have real talent, keep up the good work man!

[@Titan55555]

As a Romanian, i see Moldova as a sibling stolen from us by Russia. It would be awesome if we were reunited

[@HTS_Editor_Jack]

ibx2cat, so low budget that there aren’t any apostrophes in the title.

[@Potatotenkopf]

Don't bully him he's trying his best :(

[@111michiel]

You're a cappy! Wanna pet!

[@Potatotenkopf]

@@111michiel yuh

[@DeKevers]

No

[@DeKevers]

@@111michiel no

[@DeKevers]

@@Potatotenkopf no

[@PhilfreezeCH]

10:50 Switzerland and Lichtenstein could theoretically merge but there really is no reason to do so. We share almost everything already and it Lichtenstein would have to give up some tax and banking shenanigans if they were to join Switzerland. Nobody, not even Switzerlands, really wants that though.

[@Juanthar]

As a Belgian, we don't know

[@MaestroBlur]

Then our education system has failed you...

[@nietaiden4436]

@@MaestroBlur r/wooooooosh

[@stagnatedsand6609]

Denmark exists for the sole purpose of Lego and Windmills, also getting made fun of by the rest of Scandinavia for being flat

[@VTX_G]

Portugal exists because during the reconquest, a knight stood out and the king of Spain gave him portugal. Then they wanted independence, and they fought for it, in a very important battle.

[@Frang14998]

Great topic toycat, Belgium grinds my gears and doesn't make sense at all!! I love your content!

[@Bananaman-hk6qw]

JOIN. THE. EFFING. DUTCH.

[@tomw4637]

I’ve never considered using patreon to give money to anyone. Toycat tells me he will waste it and we shouldn’t give it to him Now I want to donate

[@ronaldweasly7020]

Belarusian IS NOT similar to Russian. It's a historical fact that during the 1654-1667 war the Russian delegation needed an interpreter because they couldn't understand old Belarusian language. + Our ancestors were Baltic+ Slavic tribes whereas Russia's ancestors were predominantly Finno-Ugric tribes. WE ARE AN ABSOLUTELY DIFFERENT ETHNIC GROUP .The reason for us to speak mostly Russian is because we were intensely assimilated during the last 200 years.

[@GlitterendeEenhoorn]

Luxemburg exists because of sexism/patriarchy. They were part of the Dutch Kingdom, but when the Netherlands got a queen (Wilhelmina) The Luxemburgers were like omg a woman that’s against our law and they split of and went on with the nephew or something something.

[@max__pain]

Based

[@andreakopyan9714]

the best channel right before bed, it’s gonna be a good night

[@WindrunnerB4]

My favorite part of the “why does [country name] ...?” Is “why does France speak French?” Edit: maybe “why does Austria have a navy?”

[@TYsdrawkcaB]

Hello! I’m (not) toycat, and welcome back to (what is not) a second channel video! This is (probably not) everyone’s favourite series where we talk about geography and the WORLD **does hand-signal-movement-thingy** and stuff!

[@PowerHamster]

Slight correction on Montenegro, Serbia and Montenegro were always inhabited by Serbs but because of the constant wars in Balkans they couldn't really merge together until Yugoslavia. Ever before that Montenegro's most wanted wish was to unite with Serbia. It got seperated in 2006. by referendum after their dictator Djukanović (former pro-Serb) decided "Montenegrin" is a term and brainwashed people into thinking like that. Luckily, new president was elected last year and people are proud of their origin and wast majority of Montenegro people call themselves Serbs. If it was to the people, they would probably be united by now but we will se what comes of it.

[@abhabh6896]

It wasnt president but prime minister and he sucks too. Its like people living here font have an opinion because our government behaves contrary to our brliefs. Example. Government likes NATO....people hate it. World thinks of us as pri west ehole people are strongly pro east.

[@aminadabbrulle8252]

Fun fact, Belarus still has government in exile back from its 1919 incarnation, residing in Canada.

[@jerrodbroholm4338]

The Maginot Line memes were on point. Got a solid chuckle out of me.

[@pedrothevenard]

The proper question should be, why does any country in Europe exist? Every single country in the last 1000 years changed size or name or language dozens of times, actually Portugal is the absolute most rock solid contry in Europe, almost never changing anything (geographically speaking in the continent), France changed so many times that it's impossible to count, Germany was dozens of different countries, Austria, Spain, Italy, even Greece or every single other big or small country is the same, England (which is reasonably stable) changed size many times, specially gaining our losing half of France, I'm not even gonna start on Croatia or Slovakia or Serbia or anything close to them, there's no reason for any country to exist, other than they exist BECAUSE THEY CAN, they fought, defended or bought enough to exist, that's it.

[@luismarques9280]

Exactly, Portugal is the oldest Europe's nation state with unchanged borders

[@itsarnieho]

Whenever toy cat tells me not to pay for his patreon the more I want to do it

[@thearousedeunuch]

Reverse psychology works.

[@blufferfish0896]

5:18 “I *had* to speak with my girlfriend recently” This does not sound like a healthy relationship

[@niti7ks]

Of all the European countries whose existence could be questioned, you really left Kosovo out which would make the greatest discussion of them all. It's like talking about football and not mentioning Ronaldo or Messi. On one side, Serbia claims Kosovo to be its own territory although Kosovo declared independence after a referendum and a brutal war. On the other hand, the population consists of 90% Albanians of which some want to join the neighbouring Albania.

[@speedyhamburger]

Ssshhhhh you anger the Serbs 🤣🤣🤣

[@abhabh6896]

To lose independence Kosovo would have to be independent first. UN resolution 1244 prevents Kosovo from being independent without a war.

[@niti7ks]

@@abhabh6896 UN Res. 1244 specified UNMIK (Kosovo Interim Government 1999-2008) until Kosovo declared independence in 2008 which the International Court of Justice ruled as lawful. Therefore, Res. 1244 is overruled by a UN court.

[@chao3948]

> Why doesn't Belgium split? They speak diferent languages! > Why isn't Portugal and Spain one country? bruh

[@GPXBrent]

Religion isn't actually the main reason for the splitting of Belgium. King Willem van Oranje often neglected the people of the so-called Southern Netherlands, mainly for speaking French. After an opera, the Belgian people came on the streets, demanding Willem to go away. Belgium was allowed to be a country, as long as they stayed neutral. The irony is that for many years until a little after WWII, the Dutch-speaking people in Belgium got oppressed by the French-speaking people.

[@myra0224]

Why doesn't this have more likes?? Like honestly, thank you for educating a bit more about our history 💖 It's ironic how the tables turned so much about who's more powerful/rich in Belgium, Flanders or Wallonia

[@BamBamGT1]

AAnd then people are like: why did so many Flemish side with the Germans during the wars... well yeah, the Germans offered the Flemish a better deal than what the Frenchies we formed a country with offered. Why on earth should the Flemish people have stayed loyal to a country that looked down on them.

[@gamemasteroffun]

I assume this willem van oranje is the same person as William of Orange the English monarch correct?

[@lieselotdevos9253]

@@gamemasteroffun No the Dutch monarch, from the Netherlands

[@MasonGreenWeed]

Ew French 🤮🤮🤮🤮- Konig Willem van Oranje

[@Mr.Nichan]

6:06 I guess that's true for a lot of Eurasian countries, but not in Africa or the Americas. Also not very clearly in the Southern half of Asia (since so many share Arabic, Farsi, Dari, and Tajik are mutually intelligible, Afghanistan has a multiple languages, as do Pakistan and India, Bangladesh shares a language with India, SE Asian countries each are centered around one language, but have a zillion minority languages, Malay and Indonesian are mutually intelligible, and most Indonesians don't even speak Indonesian natively anyway, and while we're at it, China doesn't ACTUALLY speak a single language natively, and Korea is split in two despite sharing language, I also have doubts about how different central Asian Turkic languages are from each other, but I guess the same applies to some Romance, Germanic, and Slavic languages in Europe, too).

[@dudamonas2450]

You forgot to say that Portugal was “incorporated” for like 70 years in the 1400’s

[@goganii]

you mean 1500s and 1600s ?

[@dudamonas2450]

@@goganii yeah yeah, sorry for the mistake mate, I got confused and actually didn't know where the 3rd dinasty was located in time

[@carlosmagalhaes7109]

1580-1640

[@easytiger6570]

A union is different from being incorporated

[@dudamonas2450]

@@easytiger6570 eh, at the time Portugal was basically annexed by Spain, so I think it counts

[@viloxy]

The way toycat pronounces Lukashenko is hilarious

[@Langharig_Tuig]

Reminder that under their own guarantee of independence Belgium should be returned to the Netherlands Article 7 of the Treat of London 1839, never forget

[@WarriorPNG]

Belgium exists so sabaton could make a cool song about the Chasseurs Ardennais's motto

[@rejereal42623]

Mumbo once asked "Is belgium actually a real country"

[@ihavenonamederp3013]

really when

[@nautilusstopmotion8304]

Geopolitics with minecrafters

[@RockBrentwood]

"Why do Europe's dumbest countries exist" - backup countries in case the other ones fail and fall apart again; all set to germinate like tiny seeds for future empires, like that itty bitty city state in the 700BC's known as Rome. So ... that would be San Marino, today: the Minas Tirith of a future Gondor, because its capital hill actually *does* look like Minas Tirith.

[@wedonteatbears]

Calling European countries' existence dumb makes the most Anschluss statement ever

[@thelobsterperson]

There was actually a time where Spain "took over" to use the term generously, Portugal, in the Iberian Union of 1580, taking advantage of a Portuguese succession crisis. It only lasted 60 years until 1640 when Portugal got a new royal dynasty. Even then it wasn't so much a case of mighty Spain taking over little Portugal because Portugal had its own sprawling mercantile empire all over the world, hardly a small country.

[@luismarques9280]

Not true, Spain never took Portugal

[@randomstuff2733]

I’m watching this video even tho I have school at 1 am lol love the content

[@Bismarck-S]

wow, who goes to school at 1am?

[@randomstuff2733]

I meant I have school and it’s 1 am

[@randomstuff2733]

I said it wrong

[@PurPurDot]

@@Bismarck-S you should probably sleep more if you have school

[@randomstuff2733]

@@PurPurDot he meant to me and also I really should I get sleep deprived at night

[@lfwynn5230]

Yes the true questions of Belgium: Why do we exist? Why are fries called french fries? we have invented them!

[@chrisg8680]

Its a speedbump for Germany

[@MurdokEXTRA]

Saying Belarus is the same thing as White Russia is like saying Corwall is basically Eastern Wales. Belarus and Russia take their name from Kievian Rus and the general region of Ruthenia. Rus isn't the same as Russia and it never was.

[@MrTohawk]

A language is just a dialect with an army and a flag. That's so true

[@mikeberkshire8579]

Iceland and Costa Rica would like a word with you.

[@aayushsharma4857]

There's Belgium for having trouble with 2 languages and then there's India with 26 recognized languages and hundred's of dialects still managed to be united

[@krealyesitisbeta5642]

“I don’t know if we have historical examples of that.” Belgians: 😡 Germans: 😶

[@D0MiN0ChAn]

HONESTLY!

[@xcoder1122]

You are turning things around here: People don't live in the same country because they used to speak the same language, if they speak the same language, it's because they used to live in the same country for long enough and at some point either one of the languages spoken there became dominant or the language we know today is a mixture of the languages people used to speak before that language was formed. Countries where this is not the case are countries that don't exist long enough as a country or are filled with people that don't feel like being an integral part of that country and prefer to focus on how they differ from the rest of the country and may one day even want to separate from it again. In Switzerland there are still 4 official languages, but one of them is slowly dying out, so in several hundred years, there may be only 3 left.

[@the12th68]

Religion is only one reason for Belgium becoming a country. Before The united kingdom of the Netherlands, Belgium and the Netherlands where seperated for a long time. When The Netherlands got independance Belgium stayed part of Spain and later Austria. So that already creates a divide between the two countries. Belgium also existed for a short period in 1789-1790 after a revolt against the Austrians. Belgium became a short lived republic until Austrians reconqoured it. After the napoleonic wars the European powers wanted to create a buffer stare between France and Germany so they added Belgium to the Netherlands and created the united kingdom of the Netherlands. This was a very unhappy union as the aristocraxy in Belgium wanted a independant country or remain with Austria, The clergy didn't like the protestant Dutch, the liberals in Belgium didn't like the Dutch king and that he ruled as a absolute monarch and nobody liked the Dutch policys as all government spending went in to the Netherlands even tough 60% of the budget came from Belgium. Then in 1830 there was a failed harvest so the prices of bread increased so the 15% unimployed hungry belgians started a riot. So the upper classes in Belgium saw this as a opportunity to improve Belgiums possition in The united kingdom of The Netherlands but as the durch king didn't make any consessions the riot became a revolt and after the dutch send the army it became a full blown rebelion. So religion was just a part of it but then again just a second channel video who cares.

[@lieselotdevos9253]

Fun fact about Belgium, The Netherlands and Luxembourgh. Their union (Benelux) is literally the foundation of the EU. So why do these countries exist again?

[@josefranco4739]

Actually Spain tried countless times to invade Portugal, but they always lost those wars!

[@tomfrazier1103]

As someone said "When you don't set the parking brakes on your tank."