Countries Britain has not invaded

There is a claim that the British have invaded all but 22 countries of the world.

The question is: did they ever invade territory which is *now* part of that country?

This is an attempt to set the record straight, look up every country and summarize what military involvement Britain had there. If you have any knowledge that can improve this, feel free to let me know in the comments - I look on it as a work in progress.

Invaded.

Never invaded. Ships helped to evacuate retreating Serbians in WW1, and some naval action has occurred off the Albanian coast.

Allies attacked and took Axis-controlled territory here in WW2.

Some naval action including bombardment has also taken place.

Never invaded. Some UN peacekeeping troops were present in 1995.

England colonised (unknown if any military action was necessary).

Invaded, although were repelled after a few weeks, in 1806-07.

Never invaded.

Colonised.

Never invaded. UK and allies temporarily occupied it at the end of WW2.

A small British force fought against the Ottomans here in WW1. Probably best to file under "invaded".

England colonised (there was some conflict with the Spanish).

Invaded in 1860s.

Colonised.

England colonised.

England invaded (Siege of Tournai, 1340).

Invaded.

Never invaded. (The 1897 invasion was in Benin City, Nigeria.)

Part of a UN peacekeeping force and NATO action to repel Serbian aggression.

Never invaded. The Tswana asked Britain to protect them from Boer attacks, so Britain created the Bechuanaland Protectorate.

Never invaded. The River Plate conflict did not involve territory which is Brazilian today.

Invaded in 1846.

Invaded (failed attack in WW1).

Uncertain. Can't find any hard evidence of a military incursion. A civilian, George Ekem Ferguson, in 1894, attempted to secure treaties of protection with local communities.

Never invaded. Allies temporarily occupied it at end of WW2.

Invaded German Kamerun in WW1.

Colonised.

Raided by Drake and other privateers, but not as an attempt to occupy.

Never invaded.

Raided by Drake and other corsairs, but not as an attempt to occupy.

Britain assisted the Chileans' fight for independence in the 1810s, led by Lord Cochrane. 

Invaded,

Invaded. Cartagena, 1741, during the War of Jenkins' Ear.

WW2, invaded as they were pro-Vichy France.

One of the 22.

Raided, Matina, 1747, during the War of Jenkins' Ear.

Occupied temporarily as Italian territory included a small part of it, at the end of WW2.

Invaded. Guantanamo, 1741, during the War of Jenkins' Ear, and Havana, 1762, during the Seven Years' War.

Never invaded. In 1878, the British agreed to defend the Ottoman Empire from Russia in exchange for administrative control of Cyprus.

Never invaded. Bombing in WW2.

Never invaded.

Invaded, 1807, Napoleonic Wars.

WW2, invaded as they were pro-Vichy France.

Colonised. Britain were granted the land in a negotiation with France.

England invaded, 1655.

A Dutch-Australian force occupied it (Portuguese Timor) in WW2 to guard against Japanese attack; some British units were among the defenders. The Portuguese and British governments reached an agreement that established the withdrawal of the Allied forces in exchange for the sending, by Portugal, of a military force to replace them; the Japanese invaded before this could happen.

Never invaded. British volunteers fought there for the Ecuadorians in the war of independence.

Invaded in 1882 and 1956.

Never invaded. Provided military equipment for their government.

Never invaded. Fernando Po, under Spanish administration, was entrusted to Britain from 1827 to 1834 as a naval base for action against the slave trade.

British special forces also stole Italian and German ships at sea in a harbour here in WW2.

Invaded it as part of Italian East Africa in WW2 and administered it until 1951.

Invaded. British troops occupied the island of Naissaare in Estonia during the Crimean war.

British protectorate. Troops were sent in 1963 to quell a strike.

The army was sent in to rescue hostages in 1868. After victory in battle, they burned and looted the place and then left.

The ruler offered to cede Fiji to Britain, which accepted, so it became a colony.

Invaded, Åland War, 1854-56

Invaded in 1813

Never invaded. Participated in a naval blockade to aid the Free French in taking Gabon in WW2.

Colonised.

Never invaded. Was a German protectorate. However, after the German defeat in World War I, the country was partially occupied, with the permission of the Georgian government, by British troops, who were sent there to counter a proposed Bolshevik invasion.

Britain fought with Prussia in the Seven Years' War; appears to have been a defensive effort against France. Also WW2.

Invaded.

Invaded. When Russia attacked the Ottoman Empire in 1853, Greek leaders saw an opportunity to expand into Ottoman areas. The French and British seized its major port and effectively neutralized the Greek army.

Invaded. Britain captured it from France during the Seven Years War (although no shots were fired).

Never invaded.

British philanthropists set up an anti-slavery colony on an uninhabited island here in 1792. The Portuguese took it, commenced trading in slaves, and the British attacked and took it back.

Invaded.

Invaded in 1793

Brief raid of Trujillo in 1849 to demand compensation for the seizure of mahogany from Belizean lumber companies.

Never invaded.

Invaded in 1940 (it was neutral and in a union with Denmark) to deny it to Germany. There was no military resistance.

Invaded.

Invaded Java in 1811 (Napoleonic Wars). Also fought there (Borneo) on the Malaysian side in the 1963-66 incursions and skirmishes launched by Indonesia.

Invaded in 1941.

Invaded in 2003. Invaded in WW1 (Ottoman territory). Bombed rebels in 1920.

Invaded.

Invaded (Ottoman territory) in WW1.

Defeated in WW2.

England invaded in 1655.

Never invaded.

Invaded (Ottoman territory) in WW1.

Can't find any evidence of an invasion, including during the Crimean War.

Invaded.

Colonised.

NATO operations in 1999 to defend Kosovo from Serbia.

UN force retook it from Iraq in 1991. Also Kuwait was previously a British protectorate, with good relations.

Never invaded. There some unofficial information which claims that British transport planes assisted the Americans with airdrops here in 1962.

Fought here after WW1 against the Russian communists, supporting Latvian independence.

Invaded (Ottoman territory) in WW1. Taken by British Empire forces in WW2 as it was part of Vichy France.

Annexed, rather than invaded.

Annexed the disputed Gallinas territory in 1885, following a show of force by British warships.

Fought there in WW1 against the Senussi tribe (German/Ottoman allies), against the Axis in WW2, and against Gaddafi in 2011.

Fought here after WW1 against the Russian communists, supporting Lithuanian independence.

Invaded in WW2 as it was controlled by Vichy France.

Colonised. Also fought a counter-insurgency campaign to suppress the communist rebellion (1948-60).

Colonised. Malawi was initially the British Central Africa Protectorate, later Nyasaland.

Became a British protectorate in 1887, in agreement with the Maldivian king

Recaptured it after a hostile French invasion, in 1800.

Invaded it in 1810, during the Napoleonic Wars.

Never invaded. Can't find any evidence of British military involvement.

n 1861, a combined British, Spanish, and French fleet took Veracruz to enforce Mexican debt payments. Once they realized the French intended to conquer Mexico, British and Spanish troops left.

Never invaded; fought at Truk Atoll in WW2.

Apparently British forces attacked the north bank of the Danube during the Crimean War.

An Anglo-Montenegrin force took Kotor from France in 1813-14. Also WW2. Also bombed it (part of Yugoslavia) during the Kosovo operation by NATO.

England acquired Tangier (peacefully) in 1661. The Moroccans reacted (not peacefully).

Can't find any evidence of British forces there. Had some non-combat border disputes with Portugal.

Invaded in 1885.

Annexed Walvis Bay (no combat) in 1878. South Africa, acting on behalf on Britain, invaded the German colony of Namibia in WW1.

Never invaded. The UK was at times a "trustee" of the island.

Invaded in 1814.

Anglo-Russian invasion in 1799 during the Napoleonic Wars. Also attacked it in the Walcheren Campaign of 1809.

Colonized, leading to war with the natives.

Invaded during the American War of Independence - San Juan Expedition (1780), when Nelson landed here.

Never invaded. Can't find any evidence of British military involvement.

Invaded.

Fought in the Korean War.

Invaded in WW1 and lost to Bulgaria at the Battle of Doiran, 1917.

Fought against Germany there in WW2.

Fought with the Sultan of Oman's forces during the Dhofar War, a rebellion against his rule.

Helped the Sultan's son overthrow him in the 1970 coup d'état.

Operation Intrados, 1970-71: raid on an area where there were suspected insurgents.

Invaded

Never invaded or colonised

In 1739, during the War of Jenkins' Ear, Britain attacked and captured Portobelo, a Spanish port in Panama. The British briefly occupied the town, destroyed its fortifications, and then withdrew.

Also worth noting Scotland's failed attempt to colonise Darien in 1698.

Fearing that Germany would annex the south (already having colonised the north), Britain created a protectorate of the south in 1884 and annexed the south in 1888.

One of the 22.

Never invaded. Britain were neutral during the Peruvian independence struggle, but some individuals and ship commanders chose to fight on the Peruvian side. Some British pirates have also raided the territory.

Invaded the Manila area in 1762 and held it until 1764 (part of the Seven Years' War between Britain and France).

Never invaded.

Never invaded. British forces, under the command of Arthur Wellesley (later the Duke of Wellington), did land in Portugal in 1808 to fight against the occupying French.

Was a British protectorate. There was some military action: as punishment for piracy committed by the inhabitants of Doha, an East India Company vessel bombarded and razed the town in 1821.

Never invaded. Axis Romania declared war on Britain, whose special forces conducted some sabotage against oil pipelines in 1940. Can't find any evidence of British forces ever fighting there, although the Americans bombed it during the war and the document mentions 31 British airmen having been taken prisoner during the air campaign.

Invaded Crimea in the Crimean War.

In the Anglo-Russian War of 1807, the British Navy attacked the island of Kildin in the Barents Sea and made landing at the town of Kola.

Also supported the White Russians against the Bolsheviks, fighting against them in Murmansk, Archangel, E. Siberia and on the Kama river.

Not a British colony and I can't find any evidence of the British fighting there. The Allies did fight the German Empire in Africa in WW1; all I can find is that the Belgians defeated the Germans in Rwanda.

Invaded.

Surprisingly, Samoan rebels then fought back and defeated a combined British-American-Samoan force.

It was agreed in the aftermath, strangely, that Western Samoa would be given to Germany.

One of the 22.

British forces fought in the battle of San Marino in 1944.

Lawrence of Arabia fought there with Arabs against the Ottomans in WW1. Britain later gave support to Ibn Saud, who formed the country.

The RAF bombed German-occupied Belgrade in 1944 and bombed Serbia again as part of the NATO action related to Kosovo in 1999. Troops also fought there in the Salonika campaign in WW1, to liberate Serbia.

Invaded French-held territories in Senegal during the Seven Years' War (1756-1763) and again in the early 1800s.

Colonised.

British abolitionists established a settlement in Freetown for repatriated and rescued slaves; it became a crown colony. British forces also participated in combat with rebels during the war in 2000, as part of the UN peacekeeping mission.

Colonised.

The RAF bombed some targets in Axis-controlled Slovakia during WW2.

Never invaded; some British forces were present here at the end of WW2, Yugoslavia having been taken by the Axis powers.

British protectorate.

Invaded.

Invaded. Attacked and took over the Dutch colony at the Cape of Good Hope in 1795. Annexed the Transvaal (First Boer War) in 1880.

Fought on the UN side in the Korean War.

Invaded; Sudan had been taken by Egypt, which was controlled by the UK, who attacked Egypt to reassert control over the Suez Canal (although Egypt was nominally a vassal of the Ottoman Empire). British forces quelled the Mahdist revolt (1881-1899), reconquering Sudan.

Invaded - captured Gibraltar in 1704.

Some English forces briefly occupied parts of Coruña in the unsuccessful English Armada invasion of 1589.

Fought there to liberate Spain from Napoleonic France in the Peninsular War (1808-1814).

Invaded both the Dutch colony there and the Kingdom of Kandy.

Invaded (took the French colony by force).

Invaded; similar story to St. Lucia.

Invaded. The First Carib War (1769–1773) was fought over British attempts to extend colonial settlements into Black Carib territories.

Invaded, as per South Sudan.

Invaded in 1804, as the Dutch came under Napoleonic French control.

One of the 22.

Never invaded. Can't find any evidence of British forces ever having been there.

Invaded in 1941 as it was held by Vichy France.

Never invaded.

One of the 22.

Invaded. Attacked Zanzibar in the 1896 Anglo-Zanzibar War, and the German colony at the 1914 Battle of Tanga.

Bombed Bangkok in WW2 and invaded the south, as Thailand was under Japanese control.

There was also combat between the English colony and the Thais here in the 1600s.

Invaded German Togoland in 1914, during WW1.

Never invaded. In 1900, Tonga entered into a Treaty of Friendship with the UK, making it a British protectorate.

Invaded in 1797 (Spanish colony).

Fought the Axis there in 1943.

Attempted invasion at Gallipoli in WW1. Occupied part of Istanbul in 1918.

Entered the territory and fought the Bolsheviks in 1918-19.

British protectorate.

Colonised, leading to later violent conflict and colonial war.

Not invaded, as far as I can find. Invaded Crimea during the Crimean War, but that is now part of Russia. During the Russian Civil War, an allied force fought here but it was led by France and did not include the UK. Did British forces on the Danube in the Crimean War possibly fight in Ukraine?

Was effectively under British protection in the 1800s. Some combat occurred, undertaken by the British as anti-piracy measures.

Invaded.

Invaded and occupied Montevideo in 1807.

One of the 22.

Not invaded; controlled jointly with France in a "condominium".

One of the 22.

Not an invasion but there were one or two naval attacks on ports, eg. in 1743. There was also a British naval blockade in 1902-03 over the Guyana border dispute.

Some British units were present here at the end of WW2 as an ally of France and had clashes with the Vietnamese, who resisted French occupation.

Colonisation leading to violent rebellion by the natives.

Colonised.

Colonised, leading to the Rhodesian Bush War.