Curated playlist
Short-lived countries
- German occupation of AlbaniaWhen Italy quit the war in September 1943, German troops crossed into Albania.
- Federal State of AustriaHow did a government that resisted Hitler end up handing Austria to him?
- Vichy FranceIn July 1940, French lawmakers voted 569 to 80 to give Marshal Pétain absolute power. Vichy France began that day.
- Confederate States of AmericaThe last Confederate warship surrendered in Liverpool in November 1865. It kept raiding, unaware the war was over.
- Republic of MahabadThe Republic of Mahabad, a Kurdish state in Iran, lasted exactly 327 days. Iranian forces ended it in December 1946.
- State of KatangaThe State of Katanga broke away from Congo on the evening of the 11th of July 1960. Moïse Tshombe led the split.
- Azerbaijan People's GovernmentA militia took over Iran's Azerbaijan province in three days in 1945. Stalin's backed state lasted barely a year.
- Italian Social RepublicHitler threatened to destroy Milan, Genoa and Turin unless Mussolini led a new Fascist state.
- Democratic Federal YugoslaviaDemocratic Federal Yugoslavia left its head of state deliberately unfilled.
- Principality of ElbaNapoleon once ruled his own tiny country, the Principality of Elba. His rule lasted close to ten months.