Uploaded August 2023 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
What is a country? Technically, every territory that declares itself “a country” can be counted as such, though many don’t get recognized internationally and effectively stop being “countries” almost instantaneously.
Here are some prime examples:
3. Sultanate Of Zanzibar – the small island sultanate lasted less than a day after declaring independence from the British Empire, before merging with Tanganyika to form the United Republic of Tanzania.
2. Russian Democratic Federative Republic – after overthrowing the Tzars in 1918, Russia was first a democratic federative republic. Just 6 hours later, however, the Soviets took control and renamed it the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic.
1. The Independent State of Catalonia – it lasted just about 8 seconds after its independence declaration, before the Spanish government declared it illegal and called for new elections.
What is a country? Technically, every territory that declares itself “a country” can be counted as such, though many don’t get recognized internationally and effectively stop being “countries” almost instantaneously.
Here are some prime examples:
3. Sultanate Of Zanzibar – the small island sultanate lasted less than a day after declaring independence from the British Empire, before merging with Tanganyika to form the United Republic of Tanzania.
2. Russian Democratic Federative Republic – after overthrowing the Tzars in 1918, Russia was first a democratic federative republic. Just 6 hours later, however, the Soviets took control and renamed it the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic.
1. The Independent State of Catalonia – it lasted just about 8 seconds after its independence declaration, before the Spanish government declared it illegal and called for new elections.
