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Today Luxembourg is known for neutrality and prosperity. In the past, it was different.
From Wikipedia: "Luxembourg's fortress, [...], was steadily enlarged and strengthened over the years by successive owners, [...], which made it one of the strongest fortresses on the European continent. Its formidable defences and strategic location caused it to become known as the ‘Gibraltar of the North’."
You left out France...hard to believe with their hands in surrender all the time but, it's true..that little guy Napolean new a thing or two about overcoming odds...for awhile anyway........also, don't forget the Spanish in their day...they weren't always malingering on the social dime.....Greece/Greeks? Whoa! Who knew they could ever grow to be this lazy? From Argonauts to workmenots....
And how about those Huns...what they lack in a winning record they more than make up for in trying harder..truly a close second.....Avis Rental Cars would be proud.....and who could forget the Japanese? These crazy a$$ fools almost got away with it....so committed to their cause that they were willing to fly perfectly good airplanes into ships...we even dropped 2 minor nukes on them and they STILL had to debate it....amazing....
But the list keeps growing....
The Egyptians, Indians (with a dot, not feather), and even the Dutch have had their day.....wooden shoes and all....tis true what the Italian proverb says....at some point everyone is a king and other points, a slave...or words to that effect.....
You left out France...hard to believe with their hands in surrender all the time but...
Makes you wonder where this canard comes from because outside of WW2 both France and Italy have a pretty impressive win/loss record when it comes to warfare. And one would think that Americans of all people would be more cognizant of that fact because without the French, there would never have been a United States.
Not really considering that both at one time controlled not only the Hudson and Delaware Valley's and in the case of the Dutch a pretty formidable global military presence in South America, Africa, Indian and the Pacific.
You can add Switzerland whose mercenary - they do nothing for free - were the Blackwater of their day until the Germans came along and underbid them.
And the Danes, Hungarians, and even the Bulgarians all had their days as powers... The Portuguese had the first colonial European empire. Poland-Lithuania was once the largest state and one of the biggest military powers of Europe. And so on and so on...
And the Danes, Hungarians, and even the Bulgarians all had their days as powers... The Portuguese had the first colonial European empire. Poland-Lithuania was once the largest state and one of the biggest military powers of Europe. And so on and so on...
Of course the thread so far completely ignores the armies of India, Cambodia, Thailand, Vietnam, Korea, or China to say nothing of the indigenous people of the Americas or Africa.
Of course the thread so far completely ignores the armies of India, Cambodia, Thailand, Vietnam, Korea, or China to say nothing of the indigenous people of the Americas or Africa.
You're free to add whatever you want... India, Japan, Egyptians were mentioned by Caleb...
I was going to mention the Umayyads and Almoravids in Spain and Morroco and the kingdoms of Mali and so on, but I figured the discussion was starting with a discussion of former European powers...
Though I don't really know what this thread is getting at... One who is fairly knowledgeable about history could just name hundreds of formerly great world or regional powers that are basically fairly small states currently.
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