The world's smallest country The Vatican has an army of only 110 people. Why does no one dare to invade?
What is the area of the smallest country in the world? 0.44 square kilometers. What is this concept? It is about the same size as Tiananmen Square and . It can be said to be a truly small place.
This country is the Vatican. Currently, their domestic resident population is only 618. The ratio of men to women is seriously imbalanced, reaching 19:1. The number of soldiers is only 110. It stands to reason that such a small country is easily invaded, but in fact no one dares to invade them.
The Vatican has neither industry nor agriculture, nor rich resources, but the people there are very wealthy.The per capita GDP can reach 100,000 US dollars.
In terms of international relations, they have also established diplomatic relations with 189 countries around the world, more than our country. However, these 183 countries do not include us. This makes us very curious. What kind of country is the Vatican? Why don't I dare invade them? Next, let us learn about this mini country together.
Vatican
Vatican is a country located on the highlands in the northwest corner of Rome, Italy. If you are not careful, it can easily be regarded as a small village in Rome .
His full name is Vatican City State . As the name suggests, a city is a country. It is not as big as one of our small villages in terms of area and population. is such a small place and is surrounded by Rome. Why doesn’t it belong directly to Italy?
Let’s start with their history. In the beginning, the Vatican was a religious state, and the pope was their monarch.
In the 6th century AD, the Eastern Roman Empire occupied the Apennine Peninsula and established Catholicism as the state religion. In order to show respect for the Bishop of Rome, they directly gave the city of Rome to the Pope. The Pope built St. Peter's Basilica and Vatican Palace here. It is rumored that Leonardo da Vinci also participated in the design of this palace.
Since then, the Pope has been living in the Vatican Palace. At that time, there were many Catholic believers in Europe, and the Pope's influence was growing, even surpassing that of the emperor. With the expansion of power, the Pope began to interfere in government affairs, and cracks began to appear in the relationship between the Pope and the royal family.
At the beginning of the eighth century AD, Leo III succeeded to the throne. He was not only irreligious, but also opposed to papal privileges. Therefore, during his reign, he repeatedly restricted the power of the Pope and launched a movement to destroy icons, officially breaking away from the Pope.
The Pope was already dissatisfied with his behavior. In order to safeguard his rights, he directly excommunicated Leo III and united with Pepin, the Prime Minister of the Frankish Kingdom .
He used his papal power to support Pepin to become the king of Frankish , and Pepin also fulfilled his promise and sent troops to capture the areas surrounding Rome and gave them to the pope.
After that, the Pope established the Papal State on these lands. At this time, their territory reached 40,000 square meters , which was the predecessor of the Vatican.
At the end of the 18th century, Napoleon attacked Italy, and by the way also solved the Papal States, and the Pope was forced to go into exile. Napoleon didn't think of him until he was about to be crowned. The pope then resumed his position.
848, Italy invaded the Papal States, and the Pope had no choice but to flee to France. In 1870, Italy invaded France and drove the Pope back to Vatican City . After that, this city was the only thing left in their territory.
In 1929, Italy officially recognized the status of the Vatican as a sovereign state, and signed the " Lateran Treaty " with them. The treaty stipulated that Catholicism was the state religion of Italy, but the Pope had to guarantee absolute loyalty to Italy.
However, why didn't Italy choose to annex them directly?
Not afraid of danger The reason
is because Catholic believers are a large group in the West, and the Vatican has been regarded as a holy place by believers since the 6th century. So it is easy to annex the Vatican, but the consequences are not so easy to bear.
Once the Vatican is threatened, it means that Catholicism is threatened. At that time, will inevitably cause dissatisfaction among believers. . You know, some believers are extreme people, and once their faith is shaken, they will kill themselves.
In addition, their military strength cannot be underestimated. Although there are only 110 people, you must know that they have only more than 600 permanent residents in the country, which means that one-sixth of the people in the country are soldiers. This ratio is also very exaggerated.
Among the more than 600 people, in addition to more than 100 soldiers, more than 360 are diplomats, more than 30 are church members, and the rest are ordinary people .
And their army is very special. No one is equipped with weapons. If you ask them what they use for defense, it is probably faith. But the main reason is that they think that no one will attack them at all, so there is not much need for defense.
For some other countries, occupying them will not only bring little benefit, but will cause trouble. Of course, the only choice is to get along with them friendly. The Vatican has also used its religious advantages to successfully gain a foothold in the world, so although they are small, no country dares to despise them.
Relationship with China
However, since they have established friendly relations with 189 countries in the world, why not us?
There are many reasons for this. First of all, the first is the historical reason . Catholicism first appeared in our country during the Ming and Qing Dynasties. At that time, many missionaries came to our country. Some of them brought us knowledge in astronomy, calendar, etc., and some Man has committed an unforgivable crime.
As for these people, the Vatican not only did not punish them, but instead made them saints. This is undoubtedly a harm to us.
The second reason is religious. As the center of Catholicism, the Vatican controls Catholic affairs around the world, but my country's religious policy does not allow any foreign forces to interfere with religious affairs , which has greatly caused their dissatisfaction.
The third reason is related to Taiwan. Since the founding of our country, they have maintained diplomatic relations with Taiwan. This is undoubtedly an infringement of our sovereignty by .
However, in recent years, with the improvement of our national strength and international influence, they have also begun to pay attention to their interactions with us, and have improved their relations with us in various ways and want to establish diplomatic relations with us . However, it has not been successful until now.
In fact, our attitude in diplomacy has always been friendly. As long as our bottom line is not touched, most of us are willing to maintain friendly relations. Therefore, it is actually very simple for the Vatican to establish diplomatic relations with us. It only needs to sever relations with Taiwan and recognize our sovereignty. , and promise not to interfere with our religious affairs, this goal can be achieved.
Reasons for high income
In addition to international relations, the Vatican’s economic strength is also very strong. Their per capita income is very high, even ranking among the top five in the world. So, where do their high incomes come from?
The economic level of most countries is determined by their industrial base, but the Vatican is different. Their industrial development is very backward, and there are not even many factories in the country.
While their industry is underdeveloped, their agricultural development is also poor, because the land area is too small and there is no farmland at all, so food is also imported.
Their income mainly comes from three aspects. First of all, it is tourism . Although the Vatican is small, it is a tourist destination. There are many classic buildings from the Renaissance, such as St. Peter's Basilica.
Moreover, this is the only place in the world where the entire country is listed as world cultural heritage . Many precious cultural relics and fine arts are preserved here, attracting many tourists to come and watch, so the tourism income is very high.
The second is to rely on real estate income . Although the country is small, the people of the Vatican own a lot of real estate in Italy, and many of them are located in prosperous areas.
But where do these real estate properties come from? In fact, these are properties they have accumulated over thousands of years. They were occupied by them due to the Italian invasion, but after the reconciliation between the two parties, these real estate properties returned to their hands. Among these real estates are manors, palaces, etc. The annual rent alone is a huge sum.
In addition, another source of income for is donations from believers . Because this is the center of Catholicism, many believers come here to worship here every year. During this period, a lot of donations will be provided, and these donations will eventually be nationalized. become one of their sources of income.
Conclusion
Therefore, the reason why the Vatican has such a high status in the world and is not afraid of foreign aggression is not because of how strong they are, but because of their unique national nature.
