- [Voiceover] Have you ever wondered what the
shortest lived country in all of history is?
Although you may think you know,
you may be surprised to see
what number one is on this list.
These are the 10 shortest lived countries in all of history.
Number 10 is the Bavarian Soviet Republic,
which survived for a mere 25 days in 1919.
May people don't know this,
but after the conclusion of the First World War,
Germany was on the verge of a civil war.
As Germany fell apart, communist revolutionaries in Bavaria
saw their chance to establish
a socialist workers state in Bavaria.
As time went on, the soldiers of this
fledging Soviet Republic,
who were mainly playwrights and intellectuals,
struggled to govern their territory.
While they did manage to form a red army,
as well as confiscate luxury apartments,
their choices in ministers certainly left
a great deal to be desired.
For example, the minister of foreign affairs
in the Bavarian Soviet Republic has been admitted
to psychiatric hospitals on numerous occasions
before his appointment.
He once even informed fellow communist revolutionary,
Vladimir Lenin, via telegraph cable,
that the minister president of the Bavarian Soviet Republic
has stolen the key to the ministry toilet.
After a grand 25 days in Marxist experimentation,
the Bavarian Soviet Republic saw its red army crushed
by German loyalists.
Number nine is the California Republic,
which is a short-lived and unrecognized nation
that had total military control over most of the
modern day state of California.
The Republic of California,
which would only exist for the better part of 25 days,
was founded in the spirit of revolution and gun powder.
Before this, however, California was merely a province
of the first Mexican empire.
During the later years of the Mexican empire,
many Americans has illegally immigrated to California.
The Mexican government was very wary
of the ever-increasing number of American illegals,
and passed laws banning all undocumented Americans
from owning, or even renting, property.
As a result, the American settlers decided
that they should seize California for themselves
and launched the now-famous Bear Revolt.
The revolt was extremely successful
and even a new flag was commissioned for the republic,
which bore the now-iconic California grizzly bear.
Unfortunately, however, for the rebels,
most of their time was spent distributing flags
rather than governing.
And after forces from the United States navy arrived,
the California Republic immediately surrendered
and it became a territory of the United States of America.
Number eight is the Republic of Kuwait,
which existed for just 24 days in the year 1990.
The Republic of Kuwait was created in the aftermath
of the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait in 1990.
It was a puppet state of the Ba'athist Iraq,
and as a result, it was also a Ba'athist state.
The republic of Kuwait was led by prime minister
Alaa Hussein Ali, who unfortunately,
did not have very much time to distinguish himself
as the leader of this short-lived nation.
However, he is noted for accepting, and even granting,
full citizenship to non-Kuwaiti Arabs
who had come to Kuwait before the fall of its monarchy.
He also created a national holiday knows as
the day of the call,
which was to celebrate Iraq's liberation
of the Kuwaiti people.
The Republic of Kuwait received
only international condemnation
and the only country that even recognized it
was its occupier, Iraq,
and after the conclusion of the First Gulf War,
the Republic of Kuwait was dissolved.
Number seven is the Republic of Connacht,
which was forged in the fires of the great Irish rebellions
of 1798,
but it only ever received recognition
from the French First Republic.
During this year, the Napoleonic Wars were in full swing
and the French desired to undermine the British Empire.
To accomplish this, it dispatched an expeditionary force
to liberate the Irish from English rule.
This led to the creation of the Republic of Connacht,
which had it's capital in the town of Castlebar
and was led by its first and only president, John Moore.
After the British counterattacked the French,
the forces loyal to the Republic of Connacht surrendered
after just 30 minutes of fighting.
Number five is East Timor,
which declared independence from Portugal in 1975,
but would persist for just a mere nine days.
What happened was that a military coup in Lisbon
that same year cause the Portuguese empire
to fall into disarray.
Seeing their opportunity, the revolutionary front
for an independent East Timor seized power.
However, Indonesia feared that East Timor was too
sympathetic to communist ideas
and quickly invaded with untold brutality.
East Timor fought on for a little over a week,
but was eventually forced to capitulate,
bringing a brief, but not permanent, end to the idea
of independence for East Timor.
Number five is the state of Somaliland,
which existed for just five days in 1960.
What happened was that the protectorate
of British Somaliland was granted independence
as part of the United Kingdom's decolonization program.
During these five days, Somaliland even received recognition
from countries including China, France, Isreal,
and the Soviet Union.
Queen Elizabeth the second even sent a letter
of congratulations stating,
"I, my government, and my people, in the United Kingdom,
"wish you well on this day of independence.
"I look forward to a continuing and enduring friendship
"between our two countries."
However, just five days later, Somaliland voluntarily
united with the rest of Somalia,
and as a result, ceased to officially exist.
Number four is the Faroe Islands.
After the conclusion of the Second World War,
Denmark was liberated from German occupation
and it was unclear what was going to become
of the far-flung provinces of the Kingdom of Denmark,
which, at the time, included Greenland, Iceland,
as well as the Faroe Islands.
The residents of the Faroe Islands
took matters into their own hands,
voting 50.74% in favor of independence from Denmark.
And for a whole two days, that referendum stood.
But, the declaration was later annulled
by King Christian X of Denmark.
Later, a compromise was reached, and it was determined
the Faroe Islands would be granted home rule.
And for a brief time, two days to be exact,
the Island was fully independent.
Number three is the nation of Carpatho-Ukraine,
which declared itself as an independent republic
just after Nazi Germany annexed the western-most portion
of Czechoslovakia that same day.
The self-proclaimed Carpatho-Ukrainian government
was headed by president Avgustyn Ivanovych Voloshyn
who barely had any time to get
his new foundation's affairs in order.
Law and order broke down almost immediately,
and Carpatho-Ukrain came to an abrupt end
after less than 24 hours when Hungary annexed it.
Number two is the Republic of Crimea,
which was a very modern, yet just as short-lived nation.
On March 17th of 2014, the Republic of Crimea
unilaterally declared its independence from Ukraine
during the earliest days of the Ukrainian Civil War.
The Republic of Crimea was recognized quickly
by the Russian Federation and its allies,
which Ukraine authorities continued to insist
that Crimea was still just a province of Ukraine.
During its existence, the Republic of Crimea
switched its timezone to Moscow time,
seized Ukrainian state property,
and adopted the Russian Rule as its official currency.
The governing body of the Republic of Crimea,
which was the Crimean State Council,
decided that its final act would be a formal request
to become a federal subject of Russia.
This request was almost immediately granted.
Today, Crimea remains under the de-facto control
of the Russian Federation, but for a day,
it did enjoy its own independence.
And number one is the Russian Democratic Federative Republic
which was established by the democratically elected
Russian Constituent Assembly.
This assembly was led by Victor Chernov
of the Socialist Revolutionary Party
on the 19th of January, in 1918.
However, the Russian Democratic Federative Republic
would go on to be dissolved just 13 hours later
by the all Russian Central Executive Committee,
which was led by the un-elected Vladimir Lenin.
During its 13 hours of existence,
there was ample time to design the structure of
the government of the Russian Democratic Federative Republic
as well as draft a constitution.
Under these plan, Russia was to become
a representative democracy.
Universal suffrage was to be granted to all citizens
above the age of 20, and a duel system of legislatures
was to govern Russia.
During its 13 hours of legal existence,
the Russian Federative Republic still held on
to a great deal of the territory of the Russian Empire,
but instead, history brought us the Russian Civil War,
and the Soviet Union,
leaving this quirk of a nation relegated
to the footnotes of history.
For more topics just like this,
be sure to leave a like and subscribe if you haven't already
and don't forget to check out our other lists.
And thanks for watching, and thanks for learning.