Why These Countries Are Impossible To Invade

When it comes to military action, there are certain countries that almost nobody wants to invade. But why? It could be due to the strength of their armed forces, rugged and defensible terrain, the presence of nuclear weapons, or many other factors making them notoriously tough. And while some have been successfully invaded, their conquest by outside powers has often proved to be even more impossible, giving them a global reputation. In this video, we'll take a closer look at 5 of the hardest countries to invade, and some of the unsuccessful attempts to do so over the years. While there are obviously many more countries which deserve a spot on this list, we can't even come close to fitting them all in. So when our military experts have had their say, let us know what else you'd like to see featured in future videos. Let's dive in. 5. Vietnam At number 5 on our list is Vietnam. While the country has been successfully invaded by foreign powers, most recently France and the United States, each has found the country impossible to pacify or control for very long. The reasons have a lot to do with both geography and national character. Many Vietnamese place modern Western conquest in the longer perspective of their defeat of earlier invasions by Chinese and Mongolian empires. These bitter and bloody experiences have created an intense national consciousness that has helped Vietnam become incredibly resistant to invasion. This was most obvious during the Vietnam War of 1955-1975, when the US invaded to try and keep Vietnam from falling under communist control, under the so-called domino effect. While the eventual US defeat was related to the war's ambiguous aims and lack of solid policy planning, it also had much to do with the character of Vietnam itself. For one thing, Vietnam's subtropical climate, terrain, and fauna took an enormous toll on American troops. The 90 degree plus heat, humidity, monsoonal rain, and groundwater meant that American troops were almost constantly drenched with water or sweat. Patrols into rural areas often had to cut through thick jungle, sharp vines, and foliage, up and down steep rises and ditches, through swamps, and across flooded rice paddies. Vietnam's wildlife is also dangerous to invaders. American soldiers encountered malarial mosquitoes, leeches, ticks, fire ants, and 30 different kinds of venomous snakes. One historian estimates that between 150 and 300 US personnel died in Vietnam from the effect of snakebites alone. The resourcefulness of the Vietnamese people has also made invasions extremely difficult. During the Vietnam War, US soldiers had superior equipment and more training than the North Vietnamese Viet Cong paramilitary. Despite this, the tenacity and resourcefulness of the Viet Cong would soon become the stuff of military legend. Viet Cong troops had no standard equipment. They improvised and used whatever weapons were available. The most common Viet Cong weapons were Chinese-made AK-47 assault rifles, though some soldiers used confiscated French or Japanese rifles. Soviet-made artillery, grenades, and mortars were also used, though they were in much shorter supply. Despite this, the Viet Cong became masters of adaptation. They used jerry-rigged or handmade munitions, constructed by soldiers and sympathetic villagers from whatever materials could be stolen or collected. Weapons were fashioned from anything remotely dangerous, from scavenged tin cans to discarded wire. Viet Cong units also built primitive weapons and booby traps, like pits containing sharpened spikes or venomous snakes. There were also more than 50 Viet Cong training bases or centers across South Vietnam, where personnel were given instruction in weapons handling, explosives, radio operation, subterfuge, and other elements of guerrilla warfare. In the mountains and jungles of Vietnam, where landscape and foliage served as cover, hiding from invaders was also comparatively easy. In the plains and closer to the cities, the Viet Cong relied on underground tunnel systems, some of which were large and complex. Tunnel building has a long history in Vietnam, and as with other countries on the list, has been an enormous help in repelling attacks. During the war, every civilian in a Viet Cong area was expected to dig three feet of tunnel per day. The tunnels were used not just as hiding places or shelter, but also served as headquarters, barracks, warehouses, munition dumps, hospitals, and kitchens. The combination of difficult terrain and conditions with enormous grit and determination by various Vietnamese defenders all combined to make the country a nightmare invasion scenario. For many, Vietnam is proof that a country doesn't need a modern powerful military to resist invasion, just defensible topography and the will to outlast an enemy with guerrilla warfare. 4. Switzerland Coming in at number four is the tiny European country of Switzerland. Known for its alpine landscape, picturesque villages, and cheese, Switzerland also has a long history of resisting foreign invasions and remaining militarily neutral. So how has this tiny landlocked country managed to keep invaders out? The main factors behind Switzerland's success have been its geography and engineering. Switzerland is dominated by the rugged Swiss Alps, which block most points of entrance into the country for ground troops. Any invading nation would have to make their way through alpine passes, many of which provide a perfect location for ambushes. But it's not just the rough terrain. Since the 19th century, the Swiss military has been utilizing a plan to make the country more defensible than perhaps any other on Earth. Nicknamed National Redoubt, this plan uses the Alps as a roadblock to any invasion. The plan allowed for fortification of the alpine region, helping deter Hitler from invading Switzerland, despite his comments calling the country a pimple on the face of Europe. Swiss deterrence continued after the end of World War II. To counter the potential threat of a Soviet invasion during the Cold War. Essentially, this national defense strategy has involved turning the country into a fortress by wiring the entire mountain range and infrastructure, such as roads and bridges, to blow up in case of any invasion. The primary idea would be to force the invading party to waste time and energy in finding proper entry routes into the country. Additionally, some 1,300 tunnels, 20,000 bunkers have been built inside the mountains, along with more than 300,000 personal fallout shelters in cities and towns. Many of the bunkers and tunnels are able to house an entire division of the Swiss army, thus acting as suitable points of defense to efficiently bleed the invaders dry through a battle of attrition. Swiss military installations and bunkers are also carefully hidden so as to blend into the surrounding landscape. Some of them are camouflaged as huge rocks, others as quiet villas or barns concealing enormous cannons and heavy machine guns capable of blowing approaching ground troops to smithereens. Enormous caverns are dug out in the mountainsides to function as ad hoc air bases complete with hangars. Every major bridge, tunnel, road, and railway has been rigged to be deliberately collapsed in the event they are taken by hostile forces. Highways across the country can be converted into runways by quickly removing the grade separations between the lanes. This honeycomb of hidden military redoubts crisscrosses the entire country, effectively acting as a protection from enemy fire as well as an ideal environment for launching devastating surprise attacks. Effectively, Switzerland's natural and built fortifications have turned the entire country into perhaps the world's most effective natural fortress. That's not to mention the Swiss military itself. While Switzerland has only 8.7 million citizens, its armed forces have over 200,000 active personnel and more than 3.6 million reservists, giving it one of the largest militaries in the world on a per capita basis. Swiss gun ownership is also significant. With 2.3 million civilian-held firearms in the country, Switzerland has about 28 guns per 100 residents, meaning that many average people are armed to the teeth. All of this has given the Swiss a well-earned reputation as a people who you do not want to launch an invasion against. As American author John McPhee quoted a Swiss officer as saying in his 1984 book La Place de la Concorde Suisse, Switzerland doesn't have an army, Switzerland is an army. 3. Afghanistan Perhaps unsurprisingly at number three on our list is Afghanistan. For thousands of years, the rugged southwest Asian country has resisted invader after invader, earning it the nickname Graveyard of Empires. This isn't hyperbole either. Everyone from the Archaemenid Empire, Macedonia, Umayyad Caliphate, and Mongol Empire to the British Empire, the Soviet Union, and the United States have proven unable to achieve military victory in Afghanistan. In fact, every foreign army which has ever invaded Afghanistan has been forced to conduct a full military withdrawal by the end of the conflict. Obviously, this doesn't mean that Afghanistan is impossible to invade. But history seems to show us that it is essentially impossible to invade and hold onto in any meaningful way, earning its spot on our list. This was demonstrated most recently by the United States, which invaded with an international coalition in 2001 to depose the Taliban government following the 9-11 terror attacks, and spent the next 20 years occupying the country, only to once again lose control of it in 2021. So what makes Afghanistan so resistant to foreign invasion and conquest? Analyst Akhilesh Pillalamari has pointed to three main factors. First, because Afghanistan is located on the main land route between Iran, Central Asia, and India, it has been invaded dozens of times and settled by a wide range of tribes, many mutually hostile to both each other and outsiders. As a result, loyalties in the country are widely divided, and no outside force has ever been able to control or unify the different parts of the population. This means that even occupying the major cities, forming the alliances necessary to successfully hold onto Afghanistan as a whole, is essentially impossible. This is especially true because as Mahmoud Hanifi, a professor of Middle Eastern and South Asian history at James Madison University puts it, the geographic factors of terrain inform cultural values. This means that outside forces have long struggled to understand the relationship between the country's 14 ethnic groups and numerous tribes, and their distribution across the country. For instance, during its occupation of Afghanistan, the United States tried to work with the majority Pashtun ethnic group to set up an effective government, an effort which failed in part because Pashtuns are spread across many multi-ethnic and multilingual tribes, with differing loyalties and outlooks. Second, because of the frequency of invasion and prevalence of violent local feuds, almost every village or house is built like a fortress or contains many hidden escape routes. Time after time, this has long allowed local guerrilla forces with knowledge of villages and the terrain surrounding them to mount effective ambushes and escape before outside forces can catch them. Without leveling every single dwelling in an area, there is little way to prevent locals from exploiting this advantage. And even outside of settlements, Afghanistan's numerous ancient ruins also contain plenty of spots for hit and run attacks. Third, the physical terrain of Afghanistan makes conquest and even ground invasion extremely difficult. Afghanistan is dominated by some of the highest and more jagged mountains in the world. These include the Hindu Kush, which runs through the center and south of its topography, as well as the Pamir Mountains in the east. The Pamir Knot, where the Hindu Nush, Pamir, Tian Shan, Kunlun, and Himalayas all meet, is situated in Badakhshan in northeast Afghanistan. While 20th and 21st century military technology somewhat reduced this difficulty for the Soviet Union and United States, Afghanistan's mountains still provided a haven for Mujahideen and Taliban fighters. As the US pursued Osama Bin Laden in 2001, the terrorist leader retreated into a complex of caves and tunnels in the mountains of eastern Afghanistan. Despite the US unleashing as many as 100 airstrikes a day, the US only sent local militias into the complex, and Bin Laden was eventually able to use his knowledge of the mountain terrain to escape into neighboring Pakistan. Similarly, the mountains became a Taliban stronghold in the years afterwards, where the group were able to hide out while planning and executing terror attacks. Much like Switzerland, Afghanistan's mountainous geography has always favored locals or those with extensive knowledge of their hidden areas. All of these factors make Afghanistan one of the most difficult countries in the world to successfully invade and hold, making the graveyard of empires worthy of its name. 2. Israel At number two on our list is Israel, another tiny country with outsized defensive capabilities and a history of repelling invasions. Upon its establishment in 1948, Israel was invaded by forces from neighboring Arab countries Egypt, Jordan, Iraq, Syria, and Lebanon. Despite facing seemingly overwhelming odds, Israeli forces won a decisive victory. After winning a war with preemptive attacks in 1967, in 1973 Egypt and Syria invaded again, starting the so-called Yom Kippur War. Despite being taken by surprise, Israel won again, eventually resulting in the 1979 Camp David Accords. While this was the last time another country would invade Israel, any attempt today would be much, much harder. Unlike others on this list, Israel's historical success at repelling invasions was not particularly linked to geographic advantages, as the country has no huge mountain ranges or dense jungles. Instead, as Roivin Gal, former Israel National Security Advisor put it, the initial deficiencies in numbers, weaponry, and training were compensated for by dedication and motivation, intelligence, and improvisation. By 1973, the development of new tactics, weapons, and other technology, along with excellent military intelligence, also let Israel's armed forces push back Egypt and Syria a second time. In the decades since, Israel developed into one of the most foremost military powers for its size, becoming one of the world's six largest arms exporters, and even obtaining nuclear weapons. Without the benefit of defensible terrain, abundant natural resources, or large numbers of people, Israel has continued to rely on national conscription, effective training, and the development and use of cutting-edge weapons technology. This means everything from the Uzi submachine gun to Makava battle tanks, F-15I Thunder fighter jets, and nuclear-capable Jericho III ballistic missiles. Israel's military tech, along with more than $158 billion in total military aid from the United States, have long given the tiny country a quantitative edge over any other power in the region. This is also bolstered by the fact that Israel invests more of its national resources in research and development than any other country on Earth, a staggering 4.5% of its GDP. 30% of this R&D budget also goes specifically toward military projects, compared with 17% in the US and 2% in Germany. These factors are also a powerful deterrent against invasion, since Israel has shown it can win numerous conflicts against bigger, enemy states, even without the threat of nuclear weapons. That's not to mention the sheer national determination created by being under threat for most of Israel's existence, which has fueled the creative thinking of military developers. As Chaim Eshed, the man who began Israel's world-leading satellite program, put it, the shadow of the guillotine sharpens the mind. 1. The United States For many reasons, the top spot on our list of the hardest countries to invade goes to the United States. As the world's only true military and economic superpower, its resources in the modern world are without parallel in human history. And that's not to mention a huge amount of other factors. Many military experts consider the US practically impossible to invade, because of its major industries, reliable and fast supply lines, large, well-armed population, and geographic size, location, and rugged regional terrain. Even ignoring the fact that no other country on Earth could hope to win head-to-head against the US military, a true territorial invasion would be immensely difficult. The deserts in the southwest and the Great Lakes in the Midwest insulate the country's major population centers from any potential invasion staged from neighboring Canada and Mexico. An invasion from outside North America would require massive amphibious landings and long supply chains across the Pacific or Atlantic Oceans, leading to a dramatic reduction of overall power projection. Furthermore, no existing nation possesses enough military and economic resources to threaten the contiguous United States, except with ballistic missiles. Additionally, both Canada and Mexico enjoy most friendly relations with the US, are deeply economically intertwined, and are militarily weak in comparison. Military expert Dylan Learke has noted that even the largest amphibious assault in history on either the West Coast or the East Coast would be too insignificant to acquire an effective beachhead. Even if a foreign power somehow managed to prepare such a massive operation and does so while remaining undetected under the enormous reach and power of the American intelligence apparatus, it still could not build up a force of any significant size before being pushed back into the sea. In addition, the strategic island chain of Hawaii is largely protected by a 40,000-strong US military presence, which acts as a gateway to any foreign invasion of the island state, and thereby the contiguous US. Similarly, military installations in Alaska provide protection against any invasion from along the Arctic or Northwest. An attack from Mexico would probably be more feasible due to the Great Lakes blocking much of the Canadian border, but California and Texas have the largest concentration of defense industries and military bases in the country, thus providing an effective deterrent from any attack, with the Southwestern Desert spanning the two regions. The Southwest is also home to multiple heavily armed military bases, such as the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico or NORAD Headquarters in Colorado. An attack launch from Canada on the Midwest or the West would be limited to light infantry and would likely fail to take over population centers or other important strategic points, since there is mostly rural farmland and unpopulated national parks along the border, along with air bases located hundreds of miles south. The huge diversity of terrain would also provide US military personnel or militias with the ability to conduct highly effective guerrilla warfare. And that's not to mention that the US is by far the most heavily armed civilian population in the world, with a staggering 120 guns for every 100 people. This means that even if a foreign invader was somehow able to defeat the US military in open combat, it would end up facing one of the best armed insurgencies in history. For all these reasons and more, many have declared the US uninvadable, and it tops our list of the hardest countries to invade. But what do you think? Are these 5 countries impossible to invade? What others would you like to see covered? Let us know in the comments below, and don't forget to subscribe for more military content and analysis.