small countries sandwiched between two major Powers don't normally have a good time such as when Poland was carved up between Austria Russia and Prussia or when Roman Persia would take turns in controlling Armenia yet despite sitting between China and India for centuries Nepal and Bhutan were never annexed into either which raises the obvious question why not why weren't bhutano Nepal ever annexed well to begin between these two independent states used to live a third called sikim over the centuries the three had been to war with their neighbors and they Rose and fell in power as of the 18th century to their souths at the Mughal Empire which was an expansionist state but one which at that point had a lot of internal problems but also much larger enemies to confront one which would take advantage if the mughals ever marched North to conquer the Himalayan States the mughals soon collapsed and were replaced by divided India much of which would soon fall under the maratha Empire but it wouldn't be long until another Imperial power would dominate the area the British didn't have the manpower to hold the entire subcontinent and so it operated a policy of rule through the native lives this was where local rulers already in place would keep their positions so long as they swore to be loyal to Britain or before that the East India Company as the British were expanding their influence in the region so was Nepal and this soon brought the two into conflict the British primarily wanted to trade with China via the Himalayan State The Nepalese said no a wall was fought the British won and in return for trade concessions Nepal and sakim retained their independence with a British guarantee on the condition that Britain would gain trade access and sakim would soon afterwards become a protectorate Bhutan wasn't conquered by the British either for one simple reason mild confusion when they first turned up the British had no idea where China ended and whether or not Bhutan was a part of it they found out that it wasn't and so invade they did the British couldn't control the entire State and so in the end it got the lands of Darjeeling in return for a yearly stipend after this though the British were happy to have another buffer State and after the British left the region the pool and Bhutan were both independent and so neither were asked to join India or Pakistan whereas since the Keem was a British protectorate it became an Indian one and in the 1970s it formally joined the country so what about China to the North China claimed the Himalayan States as extensions of Tibet which had been a Chinese puppet state since the early 18th century 50 years later Nepal invaded one the Qing retaliated and when they won the pool was forced to pay an annual tribute they never conquered the territory because one conquering a mountain state is very difficult and two it was on the other side of a very reluctant client state which meant maintaining control there would be very difficult and soon Nepal would be brought into the British sphere of influence and thus the Qing and later the Chinese Republic saw no benefit in evading Bhutan staying independent of China is largely the same it was geographically very difficult to hold had close relations with Tibet and conquering it wouldn't provide much in benefits and furthermore when the British turned up and brought Bhutan into its fear of influence annexation would mean War obviously the Chinese were very concerned that Britain would continue to expand its influence to Tibet and so when Britain offered recognition China annexed Tibet instead happy to temporarily lose these to permanently gain a much greater and mass and after the Communists took power in the country maolade claimed to all of these as extensions of Tibet but even after the British left China took no action against these countries meaning that both of them would remain independent I hope you enjoyed this episode and a special thanks to my patrons James bizonette Kelly moneymaker Sky Chappelle kosher wolf Jerry lambden Jordan Longley Adam Stalter Marcus arsner why in hockey Spencer Lightfoot rod D Martin words about books podcast Captain side dog Gustav Swan Marvin cassau commune Winston caywood boogly Wiggly Daniel to be in Miss izet Matthew Shipley Aaron the white Corey Turner the macquapa Alex Schwinn Anthony Beckett Coppertone Maggie Paskowski she went in spinning three plates and Charles the first