Since history began, nations have risen and fallen in their hundreds. From city states and countries forced into existence to long-gone kingdoms, read on as we take a look at how 23 countries have disappeared and the surprising reasons why.

The Most Serene Republic of Venice thrived for more than a millennium. Founded in 697, the iconic city-state became a hugely influential maritime and economic power, enabling its fabulously wealthy merchant class to spend lavishly on beautiful buildings and art.

At its peak, Venice spanned modern-day northeastern Italy and parts of Croatia, Albania and Greece. The republic's power waned in the 18th century as new maritime trade routes opened up. A series of crushing defeats decimated the navy, and Venice was overrun by French and Austrian troops in 1797. It was subsequently divided up between the respective empires.

Arriving via the Strait of Gibraltar, Arabs and Berbers took over the Iberian Peninsula, bringing it under Muslim rule in just one decade and calling it Al-Andalus. The area spanned parts of modern-day Gibraltar, Portugal, Spain, and Southern France. In existence for almost 800 years, many of these centuries were spent defending the territory from European Christians, but a rich legacy, including the Mosque of Códoba (pictured), was left behind.

Following hundreds of years of battles, borders shrank and Al-Andalus fractured into smaller states. The final nail in its coffin came with a wedding in 1469, when Isabella of Castile married Ferdinand of Aragon. Their marriage united the two kingdoms, which went on to conquer the remaining territory, expelling the final Muslim ruler, Emir Muhammad XII, in 1492.

Wedged between Spain and Portugal in northwestern Iberia, this tiny microstate operated as a free and independent nation for a staggering seven centuries due to a quirk in medieval manorial relations, which put it outside the control of both countries. 

Made up of three minuscule villages, Couto Mixto enjoyed all sorts of privileges, from tax-free status to the right to grant asylum. This special treatment was never going to last forever of course, and the microstate was finally abolished by the Treaty of Lisbon in 1864.

This venerable kingdom, which more or less covered the modern-day Czech Republic, was established at the end of the 12th century by the royal House of Přemyslid. It formed part of the Holy Roman Empire, a complex of largely independent states that spanned central Europe.

The kingdom was at its height during the so-called Golden Age of Czech history in the 14th century. When the Holy Roman Empire collapsed in 1806, Bohemia was absorbed into the Austrian Empire and survived until 1918, when it formed an integral part of the newly-created Czechoslovakia. 

Abyssinia, aka the Ethiopian Empire, was a kingdom that encompassed what is modern-day Ethiopia and, later down the line, Eritrea. It endured for seven centuries. The nation was controlled by the Solomonic Dynasty, who claimed descent from the Biblical King Solomon and Queen of Sheba.

Abyssinia was the only African nation aside from Liberia to resist colonisation during the 19th-century Scramble for Africa. It existed until 1974, when Emperor Haile Selassie was deposed by the communist Derg, which went on to establish the People's Republic of Ethiopia.

The precursor to modern Italy, the Kingdom of Sardinia was created in 1324 by James II of Aragon and went on to become part of the Spanish Empire. It was ceded in 1720 to the Duke of Savoy, who unified the territory with his possessions on the Italian mainland.

The kingdom was united under a single system in 1848 and had annexed Lombardy, the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies and the central Italian states by 1861. That same year, the Kingdom of Sardinia changed its name to the Kingdom of Italy, and the capital was moved from Turin to Florence and, eventually, Rome.

Located in modern-day Romania, Moldova, and Ukraine, the Principality of Moldavia was founded in 1346. It remained an independent state until ruler Bogdan III The One-Eyed submitted to Ottoman rule in 1514.

Moldavia nevertheless enjoyed a great degree of autonomy and was a distinct country for centuries. The nation's end came in 1859 when it merged with Wallachia, and went on to form the basis of modern Romania.

The Ayutthaya Kingdom, which comprised much of modern-day Thailand, had become richer than many European nations by the 17th century. The Siamese kingdom was a centre of international trade and its eponymous capital rivalled Paris in size and splendour.

Sadly, the boom times didn't last. Trade declined in the early 18th century, and a bloody game of thrones ensued. Weakened by economic strife and political instability, Ayutthaya was besieged by the Burmese army in 1765 and fell in 1767, marking the end of the once-glorious realm.

The Merina Kingdom was founded in 1540 by King Andriamanelo and covered most of Madagascar at its apex. The Merina kings and queens are credited with advancing agriculture on the island and initiating trade with Europe.

One of the victims of the 19th-century Scramble for Africa, the kingdom was invaded by France in 1883 and colonised in 1897, when it became known as the Malagasy Protectorate. Its last ruler, Queen Ranavalona III, was exiled to French Algeria, where she died in 1917.

Located in modern-day Benin, the Kingdom of Dahomey was established around 1600 by the Fon people and grew to become a major regional power. Its economy was built on slavery and trade, and the country boomed as an independent state for several centuries.

The kingdom was famous for its female Amazon warriors and cultivated a fearsome reputation, holding annual ritual celebrations that involved mass human sacrifice. Still, Dahomey succumbed to the European Scramble for Africa, falling in 1893 after King Béhanzin's troops were defeated by French forces at the Battle of Cana. 

The Kingdom of Hawaii was formed in 1795 when the island states of Hawaii, Oahu, Maui, Molokai, and Lanai united under King Kamehameha the Great. A vulnerable nation located in a strategically important location, the kingdom resisted attempts at colonisation by the British and French.

The US was concerned Hawaii would be grabbed by a rival and wanted to prevent the monarchy from rewriting the country's constitution to the detriment of American business interests. It backed a coup against Queen Liliʻuokalani in 1893 and went on to annex the kingdom in 1897.

Inspired by the ideas of the Enlightenment, Venezuelan military leader Simón Bolívar launched a campaign in 1808 to liberate his country from Spanish rule, and went on to defeat the colonial power during the Venezuelan War of Independence.

In 1819, the newly independent union of Gran Colombia was created, which included Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, and parts of Peru. Despite Bolívar's best efforts, the union was marked by internal division and, after a period of just 12 years, the supersized nation was dissolved.

The independent Republic of Texas didn't even last that long. The province, which extended over modern-day Texas and claimed parts of Oklahoma, Kansas, New Mexico, Colorado, and Wyoming, had a large population of US settlers and broke away from Mexico in 1836 during the Texas Revolution.

Mexico refused to recognise the country and was a constant threat. Fearing an invasion, a majority of Texians favoured annexation by the US. Despite initial opposition from the American government, which was reluctant at first to absorb a heavily indebted slave-owning territory, Texas was annexed in 1846, becoming the 28th state.

The Confederacy was formed by seven slave-holding American states in February 1861 following the inauguration of President Abraham Lincoln, who had campaigned on an anti-slavery platform. The unrecognised breakaway country grew to include a total of 11 Southern states.

Desperate to hold on to its slaves, the Confederacy attacked Union forces at Fort Sumter (pictured) in April 1861, triggering the American Civil War. After four years of fighting, the South surrendered and the short-lived Confederacy was no more. The 13th Amendment passed that same year, outlawing slavery in the nation.

The Austrian Empire was devastated by the Austro-Prussian War of 1866 and forced to enter a mutually beneficial union with its neighbour, the Kingdom of Hungary, the following year. A force to be reckoned with, Austria-Hungary became a key European power player.

As well as boasting enviable military prowess, Austria-Hungary was one of the world's leading manufacturing countries. It may well have survived until the present day, but the nation was on the losing side in the First World War and ended up being dissolved in 1918.

The ancient region of Tibet achieved de facto independence in 1912 after the fall of China's Qing Dynasty. Imperial Chinese troops were ejected and the 13th Dalai Lama declared independence the following year. Though officially a protectorate of China, Tibet enjoyed considerable autonomy.

This all came crashing down when the Chinese Communist Party defeated the Nationalist government in the Chinese Civil War. In 1950, the People's Liberation Army entered Tibet, asserted Beijing's authority over the region and ended its de facto independence the following year. Many people today still view it as an independent country though.

Yugoslavia ('Land of Southern Slavs') came into being in 1918 following the collapse of Austria-Hungary. The country was a kingdom until the Second World War when King Peter II was deposed and Yugoslavia became a socialist republic under dictator Josip Broz Tito.

Tito was successful in holding the country together, but after his death in 1980, simmering ethnic tensions came to the fore as the economy faltered. Slovenia and Croatia declared independence in 1991, and the bitter Yugoslav Wars that followed led to the break-up of the nation in 1992.

Carved out of former territories of Austria-Hungary that included the Kingdom of Bohemia, Czechoslovakia was born in 1918. The Central European nation started out as a democratic republic but became a communist satellite state of the USSR in 1946. 

The nation remained communist until 1989 when the peaceful Velvet Revolution ended one-party rule. This was followed by increasing nationalist sentiment among Czechs and Slovaks, which prompted the dissolution of the country in 1992 and its split the following year into two sovereign states: the Czech Republic and Slovakia.

A key 20th-century superpower, the USSR was formed in 1922 following a brutal civil war that ended in victory for the communist 'Reds'. A one-party state made up of numerous Soviet republics, the vast nation was at odds with the capitalist West since its inception.

This clash of ideologies culminated in the Cold War, which brought the world to the brink of nuclear conflict. The country's rigid communist ethos spelled its downfall. By the 1980s, its economy and political system were crumbling. The death knell came in 1989 with the Fall of Communism in Eastern Europe, and the USSR was formally dissolved in 1991.

Germany was split into three Western zones and a single Soviet zone following the Second World War. The Western zones formed the Federal Republic of Germany, aka West Germany, while the Soviet zone became the German Democratic Republic or East Germany.

The Soviet satellite state, which had a strict command economy, erected the infamous Berlin Wall in 1961 to prevent its citizens defecting to the more affluent West. By the late 1980s, the regime was at death's door politically and economically. The Peaceful Revolution of 1989 dealt the final blow and led to the fall of the Iron Curtain and the reunification of Germany.

Communist revolutionary Ho Chi Minh, who declared independence from French Indochina in 1945, captured much of northern Vietnam by the early 1950s and defeated the former colonial power in 1954. The peace talks that followed granted Vietnam independence and split the country into two zones, North Vietnam and South Vietnam, with elections planned for 1956 that would unite them.

The South's anti-communist leader Ngo Dinh Diem refused to hold the reunification elections, and the North reacted by starting the bloody 20-year Vietnam War. Despite the involvement of US, Australian, and Thai forces, the South was defeated by the Soviet Union and China-backed North, and the two zones were forcibly united in 1976 to create the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.

Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser dreamed of establishing a powerful pan-Arab state based on socialist principles and got the ball rolling in 1958 with the creation of the United Arab Republic (UAR), a union comprised of Egypt and Syria.

The union itself lasted just three years. Egypt's dominance of the UAR and Nasser's socialist policies resulted in a backlash from the Syrian elite, and a coup ended the alliance in 1961. However, Egypt retained the name for another 10 years. 

Anxious to remain in power as Africa was decolonising, the white-minority government of South Rhodesia, which had been a UK colony since 1923, declared independence unilaterally in 1965. Though never recognised internationally, the illegal nation was a de facto country for 14 years.

Resistance to the regime was fierce. The ensuing conflict was fought between the Rhodesian government, Marxist-Leninist ZIPRA and Robert Mugabe's ZANU, which emerged victorious. Hostilities ceased in 1979, ending white-minority rule, and the Republic of Zimbabwe was formally created the following year.

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