This is a bit off topic, but the very notion of "countries" is very much a post-WW2 concept that crystalized with the creation of the UN.
If you went back to the turn of the 20th century, you wouldn't hear the word "country" very much when referring to sovereign nations. At that time, the globe was covered with empires, kingdoms, dominions, republics, sultanates, principalities, overseas territories and colonies.
It really wasn't until the 1933 Montevideo Convention on the Rights and Duties of States that a consensus was even established on what makes a country a "country". The concept of "countries" became more clear with the founding of the United Nations in 1945.
If you went back to the turn of the 20th century, you wouldn't hear the word "country" very much when referring to sovereign nations. At that time, the globe was covered with empires, kingdoms, dominions, republics, sultanates, principalities, overseas territories and colonies.
It really wasn't until the 1933 Montevideo Convention on the Rights and Duties of States that a consensus was even established on what makes a country a "country". The concept of "countries" became more clear with the founding of the United Nations in 1945.