it's widely considered a huge blessing. Iceland was extremely poor before the occupation, If I remember correctly when i was in elementary school here in Iceland, we were taught that the occupation by the UK and US military was a turning point in the evolution of Iceland's infrastructure, it paved the way to where we are now, I honestly don't think that any other country on the planet benefited as much from WW2 as Iceland.
@@alexanderdvanbalderen9803 hm. Japan became the world's foremost leader in technology after the US introduced democracy to it. Iceland got 1uped. The middle east became rich off oil from western needs. The US got, well a bigger weapon that everyone would soon own. Lost countless people. It did save us from the great depression and it did force us to modernize but I certainly wouldn't say we benefited the most, it was clearly Japan. You probably haven't the slightest idea just how bad the japanese peasants had it under the rule of their god emperor. They could be executed simply for brushing the shoulder of a military officer or face the same for not having a flag or lose their children to a lord and this happened for over a thousand+ years. Try to imagine that.... A thousand+ years of traditional rule that put you so low on the food chain that only 150 years before WW2 you could be beheaded if a samurai could test his katana on you. Granted it was unlawful but the law rarely applied to nobility.
@@drzaius8430 lol debate Japanese nationalists on how democracy and technological advancement caused their decreasing population and overwork culture that they perceive to be caused by Western intervention.
FYI the nazi message resonated with a lot of Icelanders and the image of Iceland as a “racially pure” Nordic country became pretty common in the 1930’s, to the point where the biggest newspapers here published pro-German and anti-semite articles regularly. We even had our own nazi party, although it (thankfully) never became very big. The son of our first president, Sveinn Björnsson, was even a convicted nazi criminal in Denmark. Source: did my thesis on this
@@sorenkair You're confusing "hypothesis" with "thesis." A thesis is the culmination of a ton of research, all of which is dutifully cited, in service of the point the thesis wants to make. It is far from the "opposite of a source lol." As a matter of fact, I would argue that theses are superior to individual sources, as they pull from other sources in order to construct their narrative.
Icelander here. This "invasion" was the reason Iceland went from being one of the poorest countries in Europe, to one of the richest per capita. We even benefited from the marshal plan. One of the largest banks of Iceland was formed to manage the significant funds we got from the plan, which we used for critical projects like hydrothermal energy, heating for every home and a nation wide electric grid. You could say that this act of the British and Americans was one of the most significant events in our history. But, I know my grandpa sure hated them when he was young. Mostly because Icelandic woman had a thing for foreign men, so with 80k foreigners in the country the dating scene for Icelandic men took a drastic turn for the worse.
Lmao that’s basically exactly what I’ve heard from aussies when we sent troops to them in WW2 too. They said that the aussies really appreciated the US coming when even Britain wouldn’t, and they really pumped some money into the Australian economy, but a lot of men also disliked American troops because the Australian women really liked the American troops😂
Woman allover the world have greeeted invaders with open legs. I assume that there is deep understanding of what influx of new genes to the population means. I'm a finn from southcoast of Finland (Helsinki). My mother's brother investigated our genealogy from my mother's side. He found a japanese sailor, several germans and even a turkey guy which was during the Hansa period on baltic.
@@DucatiKozak that is true tax is a strange and wierd thing maybe we could all start a RUclips channel to write off family holidays our videos are unlikely to have such high quality and be well researched but he's worked hard for this , good on him .😊
I'm Icelandic and this gives me the chills! I once asked my grandmother (she was born in 1935 so she was around 9 when the British and later the Americans came), if she remembered this time and she sure did. She remembered how scared she was of Hitler, and she remembered playing war games with her brothers. One thing that stood out to her was the memory of seeing British tanks for the first time. They drove past the farm she lived at and she got really scared that it was the Germans. Her father then came out and said; "No, it's okay. Those are the British, they are the good guys" After that, she wasn't so scared. I think, for the most part, having the British and the Americans there was a good thing in the long run.
As an Icelander, I think this played an essential part in modernizing and building up the country, mainly because we were so under developed and far behind modern society at the time. I also think that if they would not have set up an occupation force, a German invasion might have been inevitable as there was some German military activity around and over Iceland.
@@sarveshhhdhumal When a government changes the race of the people don't, They are germans and they were german back in 1933-1945. (I'm not saying all germans are nazis or were back then)
Johnny: Why was Hitler obsessed with Iceland? Audience: Johnny aren't you also obsessed with Iceland? Switzerland in the corner: **Nervous jealous sweating**
Hi Johnny! I’m a young Icelander, loved the video. I completely agree with my fellow Icelanders in the comments section about the US occupation being a blessing, the biggest benefits being our international airport and our roads (both of which built by American troopers). Also the economy boost jobs wise cannot be overseen, I remember that my great grandfather told me that when the US army came here (he was 17 at the time), he went down to the docks, asked for a job and got it. A year later, through the US army, he got the opportunity to move to the states to study. Later he would become the head of education in Reykjavik, thanks to the americans. In regards to the Nazi interest in Iceland i have to add that german interest in Iceland goes way back, definitely not starting with the nazi regime. In the 19th century, Germany was on a mission trying to reform their law, with the philosophy to try to “purify” their law and uphold the lost Germanic law. German scholars then looked to Iceland, researching their law and customs as they believed the Icelandic nation was as “pure” germanic as possible - especially the law (being a country that wasn’t under a monarch until 1262, and some would argue until 1662). The famous Grimm brothers commissioned and petitioned for those researches. All in all, the Germans nationalistic interest in Iceland goes way back.
It's funny to think that the international airports for Greenland, Iceland and the Faeroe Islands were all built during World War II as military airfields by the Allies on territory they (for better or worse) invaded. Most of the airports on the Azores came to be in the same way, although there it wasn't an invasion but tacit help from the Portuguese to the Allies.
Same for Denmark and Norway. When World War II ended, Copenhagen had the most modern international airport in Europe, because the airport remained untouched by actual acts of war.
I'm an Icelandic 18 year old and the general consensus about this time is that we got security, jobs, money and a massive economy boost that lasted 60 years (till 2006) for free. The only people who give a shit about "the proud Icelandic sovereignty " are old people. But then again we also got "compensation" for this after the war so we aren't complaining
Don’t forget feminism, lgbt, non existent birth rates and hook up culture! You sure are lucky to have America (🇮🇱) save you from those racist white supremacists. Imagine having traditional values and believing you are superior 🤮
Know your facts before posting. Iceland was in crisis after the army left. One that lasted 11 years, 1974 to 1985. Iceland has been dealing with crisis around 15 years apart.
Hello, I'm from Alaska. I told my one Icelandic friend who was here for college a year ago that I was going to take a trip to Iceland during our ten week winter vacation. He said to me, "Are you really sure you want to go there?" I said "Yeah, why not?" He replied, "You probably won't be too amazed, Iceland is like a small Alaska, everything about Alaska is Iceland as well." I said, "Well, maybe it would be different a bit." But, not saying that I'm downing Iceland or its people, but I kind of regret it, because he was right. Everything WAS TOO SIMILAR. lol. The northern lights, animals, the sunless days, eating reindeer meat, mountains covered in ice, and let's not forget the cold, not cold cold either, because I understood that as well, especially coming from the Alaskan midlands. Again, not saying that Iceland isn't beautiful or its people isn't, I was upset because it felt like I never left Alaska. lmao. Again beautiful country, but I just understood it more naturally, than basked in the culture and other things.
@@godfreyofbouillon3949 I'm American, what you are doing to the Palestinian's is disgusting. Obviously both sides have there reasons but Israel started this first. Stealing land that was NEVER yours in the first place.
I'm in iceland at the minute currently in my hotel in Reykjavik and all day ive been thinking "this country reminds me so much of America" from the cars, to the road layouts and parking and so many other things. This video really gave me some context to why!
As an Icelander: I feel like the US occupation was a blessing. Its because of their upgrades that I can meet my grandparents in a 3 hour drive instead of a 14 hour drive, And that I could visit other countries in a big commercial airplane instead of a small airplane that can only reach Greenland and the Faroe Islands. It also gave us protection! EDIT: I see the comments! It would have ben hard to modernise on our own, the US gave us a puss and many of us think that that was Blessing!!!
@@carolthedabbler2105 actually not really. 70 years is a lot of time I understand but based on history like countries like Japan they needed an outside push for change. Some countries can't evolve in 70 years especially a small one.
@@keptins it needs a catalyst by the way in my comment the USA can be substituted with any modern nation at the time. A nation needs motivation to modernize and Iceland did not have that.
@@PeterBuvik How do you think they were not invaded? Kiiruna iron ore bought Sweden's "neutrality". I'm a finn and Finland's lot in that war was peculiar. First war Finland had was the Winter War in which Soviet Union attacked Finland to annex parts of Finland that still are Russia even today. Then when Germany was planning attack to Soviet Union they talked to Finland and got easily us to declare war to Soviet Union because Finland wanted those annexed lands back. It can be shown from historic documents that when finnish soldiers got to the old border their fighting spirit lessened as they were there just to gain back what was ours. This war is known as the Continuation War. The third war was the War of Lapland when after Finland was defeted they had to declare war to Germany and drive them out of the country. England, Finland and Russia were the only wargoing countries in Europe theater of WWIII which capitals were never conqured.
@@yulin84 He said the Nazis invaded Sweden and then brought up how diffcult it was to stay neutral during the war even though Sweden was famously neutral during the entire thing. How do you mess that up
I'm Icelandic, and I would say that Icelanders are pretty happy with the USA army and all that came with it! It's funny you mention gender equality in the end of the video because back in the war, a huge thing happen culturally which was called "ásandið". Icelandic women got involved with the troopers, and had babies and so on, but when the troopers were went home, many of the Icelandic woman ended up alone with their child. Some also died in the war. This may be a normal thing but back then, here in Iceland, Icelandic men got FURIOUS about this! Women were shamed, belittled for getting involved with the Americans, dancing with them at balls and so on. Still to this day, we do talk about "ástandið", documentaries have been made and so on. It's a huge "black spot" on our nation's cultural history how women were treated back then.
Something similar happens in my hometown in Brazil. There were many Americans in an airfield during the Battle of the Atlantic. Girls who were involved with those soldiers were know as Coca-Colas
I really love how you give every person in this video a short description/introduction. Like, most people know who Eva Braun is for instance, but the way you introduced her makes sure that the viewers who didn't know won't feel "dumb" for not knowing or have to google her to make sense of the story.
Loving this content on my home country of Iceland, Johnny! My grandparents were both teenagers during the war and both talk about the arrival of the US army as a blessing as they understood the serious implications the expansion of the war could have on the country. However, my grandfather says older members of his family were reluctant to acknowledge American and British foreign troops as they were seen as sullying the traditional Icelandic way of life at the time. In the end, I agree with your statement that this was largely beneficial for the country as a whole - pretty much all of our infrastructure is built off of the input of the Americans during and after the war and it also brought with it more commercial opportunities for Iceland in general.
Some Icelanders refer to WWII as "blessað stríðið" or "the blessed war" (it sounds more dramatic in English). As well as upgrading our infrastructure, the Americans built the first airport in Keflavík, brought new commodities to the country (including television), and heavily influenced our culture. And the old adage that "women love a man in uniform" absolutely applied, much to the chagrin of Icelandic men. I don't think anyone would argue that the British and American occupation wasn't a good thing in WWII but to say the Americans outstayed their welcome would be an understatement. The last American soldiers didn't leave Iceland until 2006! Icelanders are proud to be the safest and most peaceful country in the world and we'd like to stay that way. Oh and we also used the opportunity to go “Hey Denmark, we know you’re like super busy with the whole Nazi occupation thing but we’re not gonna be part of your kingdom anymore if that’s ok with you”. They couldn’t do much about it and June 17th, 1945 was the day Iceland officially declared independence.
I'm sorry but 60 years of U.S. government spending dollars in Iceland was very good for Iceland. Only after Iceland became a wealthy country did you not care for that money anymore.
Hey Johnny, I haven’t watched the video yet, but I just wanted to say your videos always really mean something to me. There is something special about each and every one of your uploads, and I hope you know it!
Due to our “assistance” in the war, Iceland got a hefty amount of funds from the US with the Marshall plan. In fact, we got the most funds per capita than any other country that recieved funding from the US following the end of the war. All those funds were used to enhance the infrastracture of Iceland. The Marshall plan was meant to rebuild battle-scarred countries, but Iceland really suffered no damage in the war. So in the long run, the occupation helped Iceland propell to the country it is today
The cons of the occupation is known as “the situation” where women who had relationships with american soldiers were jailed and ousted as traitors. You might think of it as legal slut shaming in the 40s, because the treament of the women was inhumane
Yeah US always wasting money. What a waste it costs over a million dollars per troop for all their costs to have them forward deployed. Let Europe protect Europe themselves. We need Medicare for All (Europe has it). We need to protect our border. We need money for infrastructure (maintain our bridges and remove lead pipes from water systems etc) and money for education. We need to spend American resources on Americans.
Even more than the black people that served in the US army at the time! Strange how most good things are weighed down severely by all of the bad happening simultaneously
Speaking of Churchill and how he said F you to Iceland's sovereignty, I would love to see you do a video about Churchill and India. A lot of westerners look at Churchill with rose-tinted glasses but very few talk or even know about all the atrocities he caused.
@Pajeet hunter under colonialism, from 1765 to 1938, the British looted around 45 Trillion in US Dollars from India. India is in the state it currently is BECAUSE of the British.
A Canadian here. I know a bit about Iceland's history, visited the country numerous times, and I am sure, it was these 'invasions' which dragged the country from sod houses to lovely apartments and homes. And, as my host in Akureyri said - the first apple that I ate as a child was given to me by a British soldier.
(Icelander here) The US occupation in Iceland is mostly seen as a blessing. We were a poor developing nation before 1950 and would not have gotten to the point where we are today without the help from the US. A good example for our view on the US occupation is that we don't usually make a big distinction between the 'invasion' and the Marshal-help we got after the war, as the army brought many jobs that jump-started our economy. This is very recent history to us since the army only left 15 years ago, in 2006. However we do not consider ourselves completely neutral in wars since we are a part of NATO. We stay out of conflicts but take a side morally.
I'm curious to see what's going to happen next now that Pence came and signed a deal to set the base up again in order to secure presence in the Arctic.
There is no morality in siding with NATO. NATO is a criminal cabal of war crimes committing gangster imperialists. It has no moral right to exist it should have been disbanded when the Warsaw Pact military was dismantled by Gorbachev. NATO backs NEO-NAZIS in Ukraine, Latvia and Lithuania etc it is run by mentally deranged Russo phobic bigots.
Thank you, Johnny, for this interesting journalism piece and also the viewers from Iceland who’ve provided genuine, thoughtful comments. What a wonderful use of the medium this is.
I'm Icelandic and although I wasn't alive then I can say, with full belief, that without the American occupation we'd be just some isolated neutral third-world fish dependent nation. The occupation very beneficial, we still use the same airports, roads, even some of the housing in Keflavík.
I might be a bit late to the party. But as an icelander I believe what's most important about our view of the occupation is what we're taught at school. There it is always talked about as a good thing and never really called an occupation "they saved us from the nazis"
@@imiy Are you ignorant of the Nazis ideology or just unaware? The Icelandic population would of also suffered in the occupation. Hint, being a white majority nation; doesn't save them from German aggression. Just ask Norway
@@conversationtosaurusrex yeah, nazis just liked to kill every loving soul. Because they are simply evil. Did you learn that my reading comic books or watching tarantino movies? I don't say they wouldn't be occupied. I ask if they would really suffer from that
@@imiy No I very well understand they have their reasons for what and why they did what they did instead of just because "they're evil". and yes they would still suffer because it's still a German Nationalistic ideology and that anyone who didn't comply, would be killed. They also would be quick to kill homosexuals, Jews, and handicapped individuals and any people deemed "undesirable" and sure as hell would made the Icelandic people work as part of the war effort. My knowledge of the topic has nothing to do with any comic or movie but rather my own personal interest in History
@@conversationtosaurusrex Im a bit late but im from Norway and ive spoken to some women who were alive when the germans invaded our country and war is scary no matter who is fighting but the germans actually got along with norwegians pretty well and norwegian kids used to ask the german soldiers for gum which they always had with them, so unless you were a rebel you would live like normal except not as much food.
As an Icelander, I was missing a key event during the war in the video, was that Iceland gained independence from Denmark in 1944. That is a very interesting event that can be associated with the American occupation directly. One of the key factors in getting Iceland into the modern world was not only the American army building roads, but also airports and harbours. But what really happened us was the Marshall Aid, that is what allowed Iceland to by a new fishing fleet and if I'm not mistaken the old wailing vessels, still docked in Reykjavík harbor. Independence wasn't though a shure thing as it was put to a vote with a result of 51% pro independence. It is a common misconception that Icelanders at that time were all against the Danish king and the Danish rule. Many people regard 1st of December 1918 an even bigger mile stone in the fight to independence, when Iceland became a sovereignty and the independence of 1944 was sort of a dick move on Icelands behalf. Its sort of interesting to see that the Americans, in 1944 are thinking well into the future, by getting Iceland independence, they have cemented their stay on the island. And a few years later, an island nation, with no army joins NATO, the US as an air base in Keflavík, and is on its way to build radar stations around the islands, all in there effort of fighting communism. We can only speculate if that was the plan from the beginning but was a certainty when Iceland joined NATO, but one thing is for sure, that US occupation, like it or not really brought Iceland into the 20th century and made it what it is today. A bonus fact, the Germans plan to invaded Iceland was called Operation Ikarus, and through out the Germans flew over Iceland doing weather observation. There is a folk tale about one such plane, crashing in the south of the island. The crew made it out alive but were stranded. But they managed to radio an u boat that that would pick them up in the Vestmann islands, a small cluster of the south shore. The crew found an old rowing boat and row over to the islands in bad weather, a suicide for sure the make it over there and in the dead of night, the locals tell the tale of a strange ship that came into the harbor, picks up a few passengers no one in the town had ever seen and wanished into the night. This is believed to be the German flight crew that crashed on the mainland. If it's true or not, we'll never find out, but German plains were discovered after the war and the crews were nowhere to be found.
In Iceland the war is sometimes called the blessed war because of all the money that the americans came with and all of the infrastructure they built. I don’t know anyone that is really pissed about the occupation.
I'm pretty sure some male Icelanders were pretty pissed because the Allied troops dated some of them redulting in pretty shotty moves by the ones who didn't have the luck to find someone to date. Source: en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%81standi%C3%B0 After the end of WW2, the Icelandic farmers association invited German (mostly female) workers to Iceland to help on farms. Some women found a decent farmer, others had to deal with drunk or raping or otherwise unpleasant farmers. There is a movie called Heima(t) dealing with this topic.
A bit late on this video but our family just visited Iceland at Thanksgiving. I too am now obsessed with this beautiful country and lovely people. Our guide mentioned the abandoned US base but I did not know its history with WWII. Fascinating. Iceland became an important neutral site again when Reagan and Gorbachev held the Reykjavik Summit at the Hofdi House in 1986, effectively ending the Cold War.
Icelander here. Generally people were happy about the British invation. And the WW2 was called "the blessed war" because as you said, infrastructure and improvements. Also Iceland received a huge sum from the Marshall plan even though Iceland was not war torn at all.
My grandmother told me once about when my great grandfather went with few German scientists to the country side to look for old graves to research if Icelanders were descended from Arians. She remembers seeing old bones layed out on the carpet in the living room which where then transferred to Germany and were never seen again. One of the skulls they found was so big that my great grandfather could fit it over his head. Crazy shit.
@@tbrown4080 exactly! This skull was probably from a person who had some kind of bone growth disease. Maybe the scientists thought this was some Arian bullshit, that's why they took them.
@@sulil1938 Nothing wrong with Arians, I was referring to the Nazis Arian agenda/believe, in other words: That the Arians are superior race. Which is "bullshit" as I said.
Hey Johnny, I really enjoy your videos. As a suggestion for a future content; can you perhaps do a video showing the evolution of world maps throughout the ages. I think it would be interesting and educational. Thank you.
@@Jonifico boy do I ever wish that was everyone. Plenty of people just don't CARE 🤷 I didn't mean that in a pretentious way though, I mean, that's a made up term, so I don't know how it could be less pretentious and more goofy.
@@sisigpapi my husband calls them "perpetual college student," a person that keeps on taking classes in something they're interested in, goes to seminars, spends hours reading up on things JUST because it interests them. Probably most people would call it a waste of time if it doesn't pertain to your own life or work 🤷
Hey John! I'm from India, and as you talked about Iceland being used as a pawn by the superpowers, India was used for the same by the Brits. If you could deep dive into indian history under British rule you find thing that will give you chills down your spine. A video on that will be much appreciated. Though great work here as well! ❤️
Yaaa I agree to it , British used our people to fight against their battle without our consent ,and many among them even got lost ,never returned .We fought their battles ,as a result we got poverty , exploitation of our land
This is awesome, I had literally never seen or heard anything about Iceland in WWII and this is a topic that interests me since I was a kid 25 years ago.
4:06 - Himmler wasn’t the architect of the Holocaust, just the person who was in charge of said architect. That person was Reinhard Heydrich (possible misspell). Check out the podcast on him by behind the bastards to see how awful he was
@@teogonzalez7957 Wasn’t Eichman the man in charge of Dakaow? Heydrich was the guy who decided who got sent there and was one of the first to suggest the final solution I believe
(from iceland) occupation both a blessing and a curse in my opinion. We got good infrastructure and the marshall aid out of it, but we remain in NATO and we are kind of used as a pawn there cuz of the strategic positioning of our country, if anything war related were to happen in europe iceland would be one of the first to be occupied by the superpowers
At least the US and others in NATO respect your sovereignty in times of peace. Neither Russia nor China would. There is a real threat to all sovereignty of free nations with those two.
@@eysteinnkristinsson8911 Not really, they just thought that you had too much. For such a small population, your control over the cod fisheries was massively disproportionate to other countries that also relied on the fish. Iceland kept increasing the boundary, ending up wanting approximately 15 times more than the standard at the time. Don't get me wrong, I am glad you are in control, as the rest of the fisheries would have wiped cod out a long time ago. I just feel that it was a little biased as it read that Britain tried to take all your rights off Iceland. It was also good for the UK, because Iceland demanding 200 miles EEZ meant that the UK also expanded their zone to 200 miles. As for the USA coming to the rescue, not really. Iceland threatened to expel all US forces. One very good Icelandic source said that "the [Icelandic] government never explicitly linked the US Defence Agreement to the outcome of the dispute"
My guess regarding why the mission was called "Operation Fork" is because it refers to the fork tactic in chess. A fork consists of a single piece attacking two or more pieces at the same time. The attacking piece is known as the forking piece, while the attacked troops are known as the forked pieces. Iceland is the forking piece geographically speaking. The USA, UK and Canada were the forked pieces.
it was great basically uplifted us into being a modern nation my grandmother was a child at the time and remembers seeing warships in husavik and warplanes in the sky
Im from Iceland and have always thought of the occupations as blessings, they brought us development, more imports and eventually lead to our NATO membership (which is sort of crucial for our defence).
against who? nato is just a tool for western imperialism you either become a midlevel assisant of the us in plundering the third world or you become a place it exploits like the third world
I’ve been binging almost every single one of your videos over the last week or so and they’re always so well done. I would love to see a video about the history of Puerto Rico and all of the hardships the island has endured since the island was signed over by Spain in 1898. I think it’s something a lot of people are not aware of and there were some extremely notable atrocities committed by the US government in the more than century long rule. “How the U.S. Stole Puerto Rico”.
equally amazing is that before leaving they didn't divide the place between two or more rival factions, creating an ethnic conflict to continue for decades after they left
You forgot that Hitler and Stalin attacked Poland simultaneously due to the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, m'key. They split the country in half, not like your map shows....
Interesting thats what the pact is called in english? In germany we usually say Hitler-Stalin-Pact. I understand why it could also be called Moltov Ribbentrop but its Interesting that it has different namens depending on the Region.
@@stepanovtakiov9311 no? So you didnt invade Poland and whole east europe with 40 years of supression and dictatorship? Right I had something wrong there...
Hey Johnny. I know it's unlikely you'll read this but I want to express appreciation for the work you do to provide reliable information in a time where so much information comes with unreliable baggage. I'd love to see a list of journalists you recommend. People with a commitment to substantiating research. Who aren't part of fast news cycle systems that breed misinformation.
Hi Johnny. Thanks for the video, it´s interesting to get your perspective on Iceland. In general I think you are correct. Most Icelanders used to look at the occupation as a "blessing". It came with plenty of new infrastructure, jobs and goods never seen before. After the war the Marshall aid program also helped Iceland quite a lot. The aid money helped investments in the fisheries industry, modernizing the fishing fleet for example. You of course explain the importance of the fisheries industry in your Cod Wars video. I suppose most of us look at the occupation years as an important stepping stone in modernizing the country, after all it used to be one of the poorest and underdeveloped country in Europe before the war. Now the country is quite prosperous. It's hard to imagine what it would look like today without the intervention from the UK and US.
I second this as an Icelander as well. I´ve got family members that got jobs from the armies making better roads and infrastructure that had a domino effect on the wealth of the locals from being dirt poor to actually having some money to live in a better situation. I´ve been lucky to talk about the invasion with my great-uncle as he remembers the invasion as a roughly 8 year old kid. But I think it has to be said that in general Icelanders were very ignorant of how serious things were abroad for people and were racists (banning Jews from coming, banning black soldiers ect.). Fact is we were and still are not perfect like many people paint us to be.
It was a blessing. We went from being on of the poorest countries in Europe, to being in a strong starting position as a small and newly independent country. It is one of the main reasons for why Iceland has become so prosperous.
Alright Harris, i´ll explain this here from keflavík. You´ve probably flown over me at some point. In the early 1940´s Iceland was a third world country, infact one of the poorest in Europe. We were very isolated from the outside world as we had been for over a millennia. Despite being being neutral in the war Icelanders did favor the allies. The British invasion of May 1940 was undeniably a shock but one we could not really fight nor protest against (we got our revenge in all the three cod wars and in the Euro 2016 tournament) .The Brits just walked in like the country was their neighborhood grocery store. There were certainly great positives from the invasion that have to be pointed out. 1. In there scramble to put up any sort of base they hired literally anyone willing to work which caused a small economic boom. 2. Children were intrigued by the soldiers as they sometimes offered them foreign candies and rides on their tractors. 3. They built up infrastructure. Notably the Reykjavík airport (not the one you went through but the one in downtown Reykjavík). 4. As a good relationship with the locals was in their best interest, Soldiers were instructed to be on their best behavior. Many of them paying Icelandic housewives to clean their clothing and treating children as mentioned above. Icelandic textbooks don´s portray the invasion as something terrible and their is countrywide consensus that is was ultimately a good thing. But there were some great downsides we were not happy about. 1. Our sovereignty was violated (were under Denmark then but still, not cool bro). 2. We had been dragged into WW2, which we had clearly stated neutrality. 3. This created ''The situation''. Which was when icelandic women had started to build romantic relationships with soldiers and even having children with them. Leaving the Icelandic men behind. This was like, really bad and hard for me to put in real context but en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%81standi%C3%B0 4. Created a loud anti-war movement (mostly due to the US though), that brought on about a bit of civil unrest. ''ÍSLAND ÚR NATO, HERINN BURT!'' When the americans took over in ´45 they built the Keflavik airport and their own military base, where i now live. They took infrastructure building to a whole new level. They built 2x 10000ft runways in keflavik, paved the road to the city, radar stations everywhere, some more roads, and contracted Icelanders to do a lot of that work. For instance, the first few years of my life i lived with my mom and grandparents. Since mom was still in school my grandfather was the only income stream for the household. And how did he but food on my table you may ask? He worked as a carpenter at Naval Air Station Keflavik, Which were is now live. Most of my older coworkers have near endless stories on working for the americans, and they range from smuggling meats out of the base to sell for a profit in Iceland to breaking into the base on Halloween to go trick or treating there. I could go on forever with these. My work occasionally takes me to a warehouse filled with stuff the americans left behind, walking through it beats any museum i´ve ever been to. There are many infrastructure projects built with american dollars that catapulted this Island into the modern world. We went from a cold miserable poor island to a cold miserable wealthy island with a higher Human Development Index than the US and our former colonisers. If if weren´t for the british invasion and the subsequent US military cash influx that likely would have never occurred. P.S. We really like fish, not fish and chips. Those are just available everywhere for the tourists.
@@d4s0n282 Yes, when Iceland got occupied you can say that modernity arrived in Iceland. The infrastructure was very poor beforehand but the army hired a bunch of Icelanders to lay roads and build bridges, the government kicked off a big project in public education and the nation industrialised extremely fast. As soon as agriculture and fisheries were industrialised and a stable connection with the outside world was established Iceland hit the ground running.
It's hard to retire from being a Viking people when the whole world milks and adores the subject for a millennia afterwards. Just let fishermen be fishermen.
@@deleted01 I get what you mean, for me viking history is interesting but I don't agree with the actions they've done, I wouldn't be proud to be the descendents of Vikings but I am intrigued by the history.
@@deleted01 even my ancestors have committed some wrongs , it's just history of mankind and Viking history is interesting. Same with Nazo Germany, it's interesting but I don't agree with what they stand for.
@@a.hassanhale3326 I wouldn't judge people from the 8th century by contemporary standard. Morality is very different back then. Violence was commonplace, and most people were illiterate. Nazi Germany is different. It was post Enlightenment. Of course, nobody actually aspires to the Viking's way of life now. It wouldn't even make a comfortable life in the modern world.
I am not Icelandic but while travelling there for 4 months I noticed all the positives things other people mention (road infrastructure, economical growth that it allowed etc.) but I also noticed a heavy americanisation of the way of life, food and drinks, urban planning, culture in general.. for the better and the worst !
Hailing from Iceland - my grandfather who is now 93yrs old and my late grandmother were in this situation at their time and had some interesting stories - such as my grandmother ducking into ditches while German spy planes flew over and my grandad getting chocolate from the troops. They were all very well taken and it was a time called the "occupation" and everybody was pretty relieved that the Brits and US came before those fcks - we are talking about 2-3 days until the Germans would get here. It was a booming economy and like you mention in the video there are tons of old relics from that time here from the occupation. There was a German embassy up here and had the insignia on it that was promptly removed.
Icelander here. It was a blessing in many ways such as infrastructure, exposure to different cultures etc. But I remember my grandfather (born 1923) told me that many people with german surnames or ancestry, who had lived in Iceland from birth, just straight up disappeared. I assume they were either imprisoned, killed or shipped off somewhere but there's no way of knowing really. That really stuck with my grandfather over the decades since he was close with a few of them. And a lot of Icelanders had a major issue with Icelandic women getting together with the soldiers and it caused a "problem". It's was called the 'Situation' (ástandið) and many people today feel like it was just buried in the sand and the effects haven't been spoken about and addressed properly. So yeah, the invasion did mostly good but also caused a few social issues which is unavoidable during war times.
Having been to Iceland, The British and Americans built the Reykjavik and Keflavik airport which made made it easier to get around Iceland and helped the growth of tourism.
Pure Icelander here! The thing I’ve most often heard in relation to the occupation is the term to be in “ástandið”, which means to be in the situation. It was a term for when Icelandic women were with the troops. The troops even held special parties which Icelandic women attended. The men at the time were quite irritated about all this. My mother was even in two seperate relationships with American soldiers, and I have some things he left her.
My great grandmother was actually really happy with this change she quickly got money from the army and she told me that Iceland was actually a good place after ww2
as an icelandic person, i think that at first this was sort of freaking out the nation due to them never having been in this situation before but because of this happening iceland has the infrastructure needed to reach far north and i think that was a blessing that the nation wasnt really seeing because, you know, a massive super power is invading your country.
Hi there, I’m from Iceland and I for the most part agree with the other Icelanders in the comment section. It did help a lot in the long run when it came to funds and such. However I haven’t seen anyone talk about the fact that some Icelanders just up and disappeared when they came too close to some of the bases. Their fates are still unknown today by us. I feel that it has been sort of neglected that it happened.
I'm Icelandic, here we think what happened was both a blessing and a abrupt violation of our sovereignty. The allied forces built our infrastructure but they also showed that they could come into our country and do whatever they wanted cause they they knew there was nothing we could do against it.
It seems to be the American way and why so many hate us. We just do what we want. I can say that I am thankful to be born and live here as it’s home, but I hope to visit Iceland some day along with other countries. The way things are going, we may be prisoners here before too long. 🤷🏻♀️
5:48 Just a correction there. You said the Nazi's would soon move into Sweden. They never invaded Sweden. Sweden remained free and neutral until the end of the war.
I’m Icelandic and my grandmother actually had a few English soldiers living with her when she was young. She remembers this pretty well and talks about it. I think that if the naziz would’ve invaded Iceland it would’ve ended a lot worse…
My grandma only got apples during Christmas time, in modern time she felt privileged to be able to buy apples and ate the whole apple even the seeds. Coffee was also only bought for special occasions.
Props for telling a story like a true master piece of gossip. I've never learned and laughed so much with your representations of the people involved in the matters 😂👏
“icELaNd hAD nO aPPleS tHe iCELanDic pEOpLe hELd fOrKs wEirDLy” THIS IS LITERALLY ATTACK ON TITAN WHEN REINER WAS TRYING TO NICKPICK BAD THINGS ABOUT PARADIS ISLAND
Hi, im from Iceland and i have a few words on this. First of all i have not learned all the history, but one place where the brits were staying was in a school called Reykir, now it’s basically just used for school field trips and i went there the other day and they talked about the history there. Basically in World War 2 the brits invaded iceland and they stayed in the school, i haven’t learned what happened there but i have learned a little about what happened after the war. After i think 2 years, some troops stayed in iceland but most went back, when they were going they dug ( i dont know the word sorry ) a big hole and put all of the stuff in it, they put the dirt back and they went away. Thats the only thing i have learned about the second World War. Hope you use this comment for something, but most of all i hope you see this comment.
it's widely considered a huge blessing. Iceland was extremely poor before the occupation, If I remember correctly when i was in elementary school here in Iceland, we were taught that the occupation by the UK and US military was a turning point in the evolution of Iceland's infrastructure, it paved the way to where we are now, I honestly don't think that any other country on the planet benefited as much from WW2 as Iceland.
I vote for Switzerland...
@@alexanderdvanbalderen9803 hm. Japan became the world's foremost leader in technology after the US introduced democracy to it. Iceland got 1uped. The middle east became rich off oil from western needs. The US got, well a bigger weapon that everyone would soon own. Lost countless people. It did save us from the great depression and it did force us to modernize but I certainly wouldn't say we benefited the most, it was clearly Japan. You probably haven't the slightest idea just how bad the japanese peasants had it under the rule of their god emperor. They could be executed simply for brushing the shoulder of a military officer or face the same for not having a flag or lose their children to a lord and this happened for over a thousand+ years. Try to imagine that.... A thousand+ years of traditional rule that put you so low on the food chain that only 150 years before WW2 you could be beheaded if a samurai could test his katana on you. Granted it was unlawful but the law rarely applied to nobility.
@@drzaius8430 lol debate Japanese nationalists on how democracy and technological advancement caused their decreasing population and overwork culture that they perceive to be caused by Western intervention.
@@drzaius8430 "only 150 years before world war 2"
Do you think a lot of other countries were much better off in the 1780s-90s?
"Only 150" hahahaha
@@alexanderdvanbalderen9803 it was bombed and lost thousands of soldiers, that's benefitting?
FYI the nazi message resonated with a lot of Icelanders and the image of Iceland as a “racially pure” Nordic country became pretty common in the 1930’s, to the point where the biggest newspapers here published pro-German and anti-semite articles regularly. We even had our own nazi party, although it (thankfully) never became very big. The son of our first president, Sveinn Björnsson, was even a convicted nazi criminal in Denmark.
Source: did my thesis on this
Thank you a lot for your insight
I'm not saying you're wrong but a thesis is kinda the opposite of a source lol.
Thanks for sharing bro
@@sorenkair
You're confusing "hypothesis" with "thesis." A thesis is the culmination of a ton of research, all of which is dutifully cited, in service of the point the thesis wants to make. It is far from the "opposite of a source lol." As a matter of fact, I would argue that theses are superior to individual sources, as they pull from other sources in order to construct their narrative.
So... they were pratically an introverted Nazi. Although, i hope that changed through the years... all lives matter :)
Icelander here.
This "invasion" was the reason Iceland went from being one of the poorest countries in Europe, to one of the richest per capita.
We even benefited from the marshal plan. One of the largest banks of Iceland was formed to manage the significant funds we got from the plan, which we used for critical projects like hydrothermal energy, heating for every home and a nation wide electric grid.
You could say that this act of the British and Americans was one of the most significant events in our history.
But, I know my grandpa sure hated them when he was young. Mostly because Icelandic woman had a thing for foreign men, so with 80k foreigners in the country the dating scene for Icelandic men took a drastic turn for the worse.
As in Australia, US service-men were over-paid, over-sexed and over-here !
We rebuilt Iceland even though it was never damaged? Oh right, to keep Communism out. Gotta love it. Enjoy the stuff!
Lmao that’s basically exactly what I’ve heard from aussies when we sent troops to them in WW2 too. They said that the aussies really appreciated the US coming when even Britain wouldn’t, and they really pumped some money into the Australian economy, but a lot of men also disliked American troops because the Australian women really liked the American troops😂
Y'all small and barley got people ofc your gonna have a big gdp
Woman allover the world have greeeted invaders with open legs. I assume that there is deep understanding of what influx of new genes to the population means. I'm a finn from southcoast of Finland (Helsinki). My mother's brother investigated our genealogy from my mother's side. He found a japanese sailor, several germans and even a turkey guy which was during the Hansa period on baltic.
Alternative title: Why Johnny is obsessed with Iceland
I was just about to comment that
He loves fish n chips
Iceland is awesome, so it makes sense.
Because it’s pretty unique
Or hitler 🤷🏻♀️
Im starting to think Johnny is more obssessed with Iceland than Hitler. from cod wars to so many iceland vids! But they sure are good!
Haha true
Have to write off that trip somehow!
@Choices bot
@@DucatiKozak that is true tax is a strange and wierd thing maybe we could all start a RUclips channel to write off family holidays our videos are unlikely to have such high quality and be well researched but he's worked hard for this , good on him .😊
I think it just all happened at once because of his trip. You know how he is: go somewhere, get fascinated, make a few videos. Repeat.
I'm Icelandic and this gives me the chills! I once asked my grandmother (she was born in 1935 so she was around 9 when the British and later the Americans came), if she remembered this time and she sure did. She remembered how scared she was of Hitler, and she remembered playing war games with her brothers. One thing that stood out to her was the memory of seeing British tanks for the first time. They drove past the farm she lived at and she got really scared that it was the Germans. Her father then came out and said; "No, it's okay. Those are the British, they are the good guys" After that, she wasn't so scared. I think, for the most part, having the British and the Americans there was a good thing in the long run.
Cringe and bluepilled
Jewish propaganda
Norway still has war drills to this day, because the nazis invaded
“Good guys” oh how thankful I am.
I apologize for any problems.
As an Icelander, I think this played an essential part in modernizing and building up the country, mainly because we were so under developed and far behind modern society at the time. I also think that if they would not have set up an occupation force, a German invasion might have been inevitable as there was some German military activity around and over Iceland.
Nazi German*
@@sarveshhhdhumal When a government changes the race of the people don't, They are germans and they were german back in 1933-1945. (I'm not saying all germans are nazis or were back then)
@@sarveshhhdhumal Was there any other German military at the time?
nah they didnt naval supremacy to even try to go and occupy us
R.I.P. KOBE
Johnny: Why was Hitler obsessed with Iceland?
Audience: Johnny aren't you also obsessed with Iceland?
Switzerland in the corner: **Nervous jealous sweating**
@Choices bot
LMAO
*patiently waiting for the man himself to like this comment*
And Japan is next in line 😂
@@Pike737 It's all good, I can take his place in being obsessed with Japan xD
Hi Johnny! I’m a young Icelander, loved the video. I completely agree with my fellow Icelanders in the comments section about the US occupation being a blessing, the biggest benefits being our international airport and our roads (both of which built by American troopers). Also the economy boost jobs wise cannot be overseen, I remember that my great grandfather told me that when the US army came here (he was 17 at the time), he went down to the docks, asked for a job and got it. A year later, through the US army, he got the opportunity to move to the states to study. Later he would become the head of education in Reykjavik, thanks to the americans.
In regards to the Nazi interest in Iceland i have to add that german interest in Iceland goes way back, definitely not starting with the nazi regime. In the 19th century, Germany was on a mission trying to reform their law, with the philosophy to try to “purify” their law and uphold the lost Germanic law. German scholars then looked to Iceland, researching their law and customs as they believed the Icelandic nation was as “pure” germanic as possible - especially the law (being a country that wasn’t under a monarch until 1262, and some would argue until 1662). The famous Grimm brothers commissioned and petitioned for those researches. All in all, the Germans nationalistic interest in Iceland goes way back.
Hi, Arent. I’m a young Icelander, loved the comment on this video and I completely agree with it. Hope you have a good one!
It sounds like the best occupation ever. 😁
It's funny to think that the international airports for Greenland, Iceland and the Faeroe Islands were all built during World War II as military airfields by the Allies on territory they (for better or worse) invaded. Most of the airports on the Azores came to be in the same way, although there it wasn't an invasion but tacit help from the Portuguese to the Allies.
Economy of war
Same for Denmark and Norway.
When World War II ended, Copenhagen had the most modern international airport in Europe, because the airport remained untouched by actual acts of war.
Johnny: "Why Hitler is obsessed with Iceland."
Hitler: "No u"
Hitler: *NEIN NEIN NEIN*
😂😂😂
LOL
You are XD
😂😂😂
"The British are politely invading Iceland".
What a talented nation. They could quietly, forcefully, aggressively AND politely invade foreign nations.
When you have that much experience, you refine your techniques.
I mean if you asked politely of course,who couldn't say no
I mean it's not like they could have resisted anyway if they didn't have an army.
Invading/Saving them from the Nazi's. All at once.
The Colonists are intruding upon Iceland, when will they stop.
Johnny: "Hitler and Eva Braun got together when she was 19 and he was 42"
Me: "Ew gross man not okay"
*Realizes its Hitler*
@B.L. Films I highly doubt that but okay.
@T.V.2 ??????
@T.V.2 pictures or it didn't happen.
@T.V.2 the point is she's not alive so getting pictures would be pretty hard... Twas but a joke
@T.V.2 still pictures or it didn't happen everyone has wedding photos...
I'm an Icelandic 18 year old and the general consensus about this time is that we got security, jobs, money and a massive economy boost that lasted 60 years (till 2006) for free. The only people who give a shit about "the proud Icelandic sovereignty " are old people. But then again we also got "compensation" for this after the war so we aren't complaining
@ΙC ΧC ΝΙ ΚΑ ☧ All of it
Don’t forget feminism, lgbt, non existent birth rates and hook up culture! You sure are lucky to have America (🇮🇱) save you from those racist white supremacists. Imagine having traditional values and believing you are superior 🤮
Know your facts before posting. Iceland was in crisis after the army left. One that lasted 11 years, 1974 to 1985. Iceland has been dealing with crisis around 15 years apart.
Hello, I'm from Alaska. I told my one Icelandic friend who was here for college a year ago that I was going to take a trip to Iceland during our ten week winter vacation. He said to me, "Are you really sure you want to go there?" I said "Yeah, why not?" He replied, "You probably won't be too amazed, Iceland is like a small Alaska, everything about Alaska is Iceland as well." I said, "Well, maybe it would be different a bit." But, not saying that I'm downing Iceland or its people, but I kind of regret it, because he was right. Everything WAS TOO SIMILAR. lol. The northern lights, animals, the sunless days, eating reindeer meat, mountains covered in ice, and let's not forget the cold, not cold cold either, because I understood that as well, especially coming from the Alaskan midlands. Again, not saying that Iceland isn't beautiful or its people isn't, I was upset because it felt like I never left Alaska. lmao. Again beautiful country, but I just understood it more naturally, than basked in the culture and other things.
@@godfreyofbouillon3949 I'm American, what you are doing to the Palestinian's is disgusting. Obviously both sides have there reasons but Israel started this first. Stealing land that was NEVER yours in the first place.
I'm in iceland at the minute currently in my hotel in Reykjavik and all day ive been thinking "this country reminds me so much of America" from the cars, to the road layouts and parking and so many other things. This video really gave me some context to why!
Hitlers girlfriend sounds like a hilarious sitcom
🤣
bizarre comment
So Funny!🤣🤣🤣🤣
Funny you mention that ruclips.net/video/mf9jJx0NSjw/видео.html
its wife they married before they die
As an Icelander: I feel like the US occupation was a blessing. Its because of their upgrades that I can meet my grandparents in a 3 hour drive instead of a 14 hour drive, And that I could visit other countries in a big commercial airplane instead of a small airplane that can only reach Greenland and the Faroe Islands.
It also gave us protection!
EDIT: I see the comments! It would have ben hard to modernise on our own, the US gave us a puss and many of us think that that was Blessing!!!
If the US hadn't occupied Iceland during the war, wouldn't better roads have been built anyway, at some other time during the past 70-some years?
@@carolthedabbler2105 actually not really. 70 years is a lot of time I understand but based on history like countries like Japan they needed an outside push for change. Some countries can't evolve in 70 years especially a small one.
Pretty sure you would still do it without any occupation at all. Modernization is not a US thing only.
@@keptins it needs a catalyst by the way in my comment the USA can be substituted with any modern nation at the time. A nation needs motivation to modernize and Iceland did not have that.
@@lavafighter2513 🏮SERCH ADITYA RATHORE- HE ALSO MAKES INFORMATIVE CONTENT LIKE JOHNNY
5:47 Germany never invaded Sweden. Sweden was neutral through the entire war. Also the borders on the map are wrong for the time period.
🟠SERCH ADITYA RATHORE- HE ALSO MAKES INFORMATIVE CONTENT LIKE JOHNNY
They did help Hitler though both with the invasion of Norway and with Iron ore
@@PeterBuvik How do you think they were not invaded? Kiiruna iron ore bought Sweden's "neutrality".
I'm a finn and Finland's lot in that war was peculiar. First war Finland had was the Winter War in which Soviet Union attacked Finland to annex parts of Finland that still are Russia even today. Then when Germany was planning attack to Soviet Union they talked to Finland and got easily us to declare war to Soviet Union because Finland wanted those annexed lands back. It can be shown from historic documents that when finnish soldiers got to the old border their fighting spirit lessened as they were there just to gain back what was ours. This war is known as the Continuation War. The third war was the War of Lapland when after Finland was defeted they had to declare war to Germany and drive them out of the country.
England, Finland and Russia were the only wargoing countries in Europe theater of WWIII which capitals were never conqured.
I'm pretty sure that he meant to say Norway here 😊
Dude I love when you talk history. Style and flow is better than most
It'd be even more epic is he was actually accurate, instead of interjecting his own garbage into it constantly.
@@karkkimarkkinat2109 examples from this vid?
@@yulin84 He said the Nazis invaded Sweden and then brought up how diffcult it was to stay neutral during the war even though Sweden was famously neutral during the entire thing. How do you mess that up
I'm Icelandic, and I would say that Icelanders are pretty happy with the USA army and all that came with it! It's funny you mention gender equality in the end of the video because back in the war, a huge thing happen culturally which was called "ásandið". Icelandic women got involved with the troopers, and had babies and so on, but when the troopers were went home, many of the Icelandic woman ended up alone with their child. Some also died in the war. This may be a normal thing but back then, here in Iceland, Icelandic men got FURIOUS about this! Women were shamed, belittled for getting involved with the Americans, dancing with them at balls and so on. Still to this day, we do talk about "ástandið", documentaries have been made and so on. It's a huge "black spot" on our nation's cultural history how women were treated back then.
Didn't know about this. Reminds me of reading about how the children of German soldiers in Norway were treated. ABBA's Anni-Frid for example.
tyskertøs
Something similar happens in my hometown in Brazil. There were many Americans in an airfield during the Battle of the Atlantic. Girls who were involved with those soldiers were know as Coca-Colas
The same thing happened in Norway
@@marcelogranja qual cidade?
I really love how you give every person in this video a short description/introduction. Like, most people know who Eva Braun is for instance, but the way you introduced her makes sure that the viewers who didn't know won't feel "dumb" for not knowing or have to google her to make sense of the story.
Loving this content on my home country of Iceland, Johnny!
My grandparents were both teenagers during the war and both talk about the arrival of the US army as a blessing as they understood the serious implications the expansion of the war could have on the country. However, my grandfather says older members of his family were reluctant to acknowledge American and British foreign troops as they were seen as sullying the traditional Icelandic way of life at the time. In the end, I agree with your statement that this was largely beneficial for the country as a whole - pretty much all of our infrastructure is built off of the input of the Americans during and after the war and it also brought with it more commercial opportunities for Iceland in general.
Very interesting insight! Thank you!!!
@@tristankrammel5041 Happy to share and thanks for reading :)
And, You are very welcome!
obsessed with this iceland series!!! all my prior knowledge of iceland before this was limited to “oh, that’s where you can see the northern lights”
Fun fact. You can also see the northern lights in Wisconsin. Grew up 40 miles south of the UP. I thought it was normal until I moved.
@@olebloom1641 🏀SERCH ADITYA RATHORE- HE ALSO MAKES INFORMATIVE CONTENT LIKE JOHNNY
Some Icelanders refer to WWII as "blessað stríðið" or "the blessed war" (it sounds more dramatic in English). As well as upgrading our infrastructure, the Americans built the first airport in Keflavík, brought new commodities to the country (including television), and heavily influenced our culture. And the old adage that "women love a man in uniform" absolutely applied, much to the chagrin of Icelandic men.
I don't think anyone would argue that the British and American occupation wasn't a good thing in WWII but to say the Americans outstayed their welcome would be an understatement. The last American soldiers didn't leave Iceland until 2006!
Icelanders are proud to be the safest and most peaceful country in the world and we'd like to stay that way.
Oh and we also used the opportunity to go “Hey Denmark, we know you’re like super busy with the whole Nazi occupation thing but we’re not gonna be part of your kingdom anymore if that’s ok with you”. They couldn’t do much about it and June 17th, 1945 was the day Iceland officially declared independence.
I'm sorry but 60 years of U.S. government spending dollars in Iceland was very good for Iceland. Only after Iceland became a wealthy country did you not care for that money anymore.
It's actually spelled blessaða stríðið
Hey Johnny, I haven’t watched the video yet, but I just wanted to say your videos always really mean something to me. There is something special about each and every one of your uploads, and I hope you know it!
@Choices stop
Due to our “assistance” in the war, Iceland got a hefty amount of funds from the US with the Marshall plan. In fact, we got the most funds per capita than any other country that recieved funding from the US following the end of the war. All those funds were used to enhance the infrastracture of Iceland. The Marshall plan was meant to rebuild battle-scarred countries, but Iceland really suffered no damage in the war. So in the long run, the occupation helped Iceland propell to the country it is today
The cons of the occupation is known as “the situation” where women who had relationships with american soldiers were jailed and ousted as traitors. You might think of it as legal slut shaming in the 40s, because the treament of the women was inhumane
Yeah US always wasting money.
What a waste it costs over a million dollars per troop for all their costs to have them forward deployed. Let Europe protect Europe themselves. We need Medicare for All (Europe has it). We need to protect our border. We need money for infrastructure (maintain our bridges and remove lead pipes from water systems etc) and money for education. We need to spend American resources on Americans.
@@KS-cl8br the country has enough money for all of those things. Protect your borders?? What?!
Even more than the black people that served in the US army at the time! Strange how most good things are weighed down severely by all of the bad happening simultaneously
Johnny makes documentaries on random topics so interesting. Appreciate the hard work 🤔
Speaking of Churchill and how he said F you to Iceland's sovereignty, I would love to see you do a video about Churchill and India. A lot of westerners look at Churchill with rose-tinted glasses but very few talk or even know about all the atrocities he caused.
Yes PLEASE!!
Yes!
@Pajeet hunter under colonialism, from 1765 to 1938, the British looted around 45 Trillion in US Dollars from India. India is in the state it currently is BECAUSE of the British.
Churchill saved Europe. That’s the fact.
As a Britain myself, I would love this! Much needed
I have watched all kinds of WWII documentaries and I never knew any of this. Super interesting and well done, as usual. Keep it up. Peace.
A Canadian here. I know a bit about Iceland's history, visited the country numerous times, and I am sure, it was these 'invasions' which dragged the country from sod houses to lovely apartments and homes. And, as my host in Akureyri said - the first apple that I ate as a child was given to me by a British soldier.
Beautifully put
What fruit were these people eating?
@@I_Have_The_Most_Japanese_Music Berries or nothing.
You're trending here in Canada, congrats! love to see good content being recognized.
(Icelander here) The US occupation in Iceland is mostly seen as a blessing. We were a poor developing nation before 1950 and would not have gotten to the point where we are today without the help from the US. A good example for our view on the US occupation is that we don't usually make a big distinction between the 'invasion' and the Marshal-help we got after the war, as the army brought many jobs that jump-started our economy.
This is very recent history to us since the army only left 15 years ago, in 2006.
However we do not consider ourselves completely neutral in wars since we are a part of NATO. We stay out of conflicts but take a side morally.
Sammála
I'm curious to see what's going to happen next now that Pence came and signed a deal to set the base up again in order to secure presence in the Arctic.
There is no morality in siding with NATO. NATO is a criminal cabal of war crimes committing gangster imperialists. It has no moral right to exist it should have been disbanded when the Warsaw Pact military was dismantled by Gorbachev. NATO backs NEO-NAZIS in Ukraine, Latvia and Lithuania etc it is run by mentally deranged Russo phobic bigots.
Is your name by any chance Hafrún Embla?
@@honesty_-no9he This comment was garbage when you wrote it three months ago, but today it is a steaming pile of burning garbage.
Thank you, Johnny, for this interesting journalism piece and also the viewers from Iceland who’ve provided genuine, thoughtful comments. What a wonderful use of the medium this is.
This comment needs- demands - more likes.
I'm Icelandic and although I wasn't alive then I can say, with full belief, that without the American occupation we'd be just some isolated neutral third-world fish dependent nation. The occupation very beneficial, we still use the same airports, roads, even some of the housing in Keflavík.
Even during covid travel, we foreigners quarantined in one of the hotels near Keflavík airport that were once used for the US military
Wait... I thought Colonel Sanders was from Kentucky. Have we been duped this whole time?
For once a US occupation was good. lmao and also sweats nervously.
You guys have such cool names
@@tiko4621 aphex
Johnny NEVER disappoints with his storytelling. Thank you for another amazing one!
I might be a bit late to the party. But as an icelander I believe what's most important about our view of the occupation is what we're taught at school. There it is always talked about as a good thing and never really called an occupation "they saved us from the nazis"
Like you would suffer from Nazis
@@imiy Are you ignorant of the Nazis ideology or just unaware? The Icelandic population would of also suffered in the occupation. Hint, being a white majority nation; doesn't save them from German aggression. Just ask Norway
@@conversationtosaurusrex yeah, nazis just liked to kill every loving soul. Because they are simply evil. Did you learn that my reading comic books or watching tarantino movies?
I don't say they wouldn't be occupied. I ask if they would really suffer from that
@@imiy No I very well understand they have their reasons for what and why they did what they did instead of just because "they're evil". and yes they would still suffer because it's still a German Nationalistic ideology and that anyone who didn't comply, would be killed. They also would be quick to kill homosexuals, Jews, and handicapped individuals and any people deemed "undesirable" and sure as hell would made the Icelandic people work as part of the war effort. My knowledge of the topic has nothing to do with any comic or movie but rather my own personal interest in History
@@conversationtosaurusrex Im a bit late but im from Norway and ive spoken to some women who were alive when the germans invaded our country and war is scary no matter who is fighting but the germans actually got along with norwegians pretty well and norwegian kids used to ask the german soldiers for gum which they always had with them, so unless you were a rebel you would live like normal except not as much food.
5:39 Correction: Soviet Union invaded Poland as well and occupied eastern Poland and Sweden wasn't invaded.
You're an amazing storyteller and documentary maker. I've learned a lot from you. Keep it up.
As an Icelander, I was missing a key event during the war in the video, was that Iceland gained independence from Denmark in 1944. That is a very interesting event that can be associated with the American occupation directly. One of the key factors in getting Iceland into the modern world was not only the American army building roads, but also airports and harbours. But what really happened us was the Marshall Aid, that is what allowed Iceland to by a new fishing fleet and if I'm not mistaken the old wailing vessels, still docked in Reykjavík harbor.
Independence wasn't though a shure thing as it was put to a vote with a result of 51% pro independence. It is a common misconception that Icelanders at that time were all against the Danish king and the Danish rule. Many people regard 1st of December 1918 an even bigger mile stone in the fight to independence, when Iceland became a sovereignty and the independence of 1944 was sort of a dick move on Icelands behalf.
Its sort of interesting to see that the Americans, in 1944 are thinking well into the future, by getting Iceland independence, they have cemented their stay on the island. And a few years later, an island nation, with no army joins NATO, the US as an air base in Keflavík, and is on its way to build radar stations around the islands, all in there effort of fighting communism. We can only speculate if that was the plan from the beginning but was a certainty when Iceland joined NATO, but one thing is for sure, that US occupation, like it or not really brought Iceland into the 20th century and made it what it is today.
A bonus fact, the Germans plan to invaded Iceland was called Operation Ikarus, and through out the Germans flew over Iceland doing weather observation. There is a folk tale about one such plane, crashing in the south of the island. The crew made it out alive but were stranded. But they managed to radio an u boat that that would pick them up in the Vestmann islands, a small cluster of the south shore. The crew found an old rowing boat and row over to the islands in bad weather, a suicide for sure the make it over there and in the dead of night, the locals tell the tale of a strange ship that came into the harbor, picks up a few passengers no one in the town had ever seen and wanished into the night. This is believed to be the German flight crew that crashed on the mainland. If it's true or not, we'll never find out, but German plains were discovered after the war and the crews were nowhere to be found.
“Troops eventually left”.
US troops left in 2006, “eventually” doing a lot of heavy lifting there.
In Iceland the war is sometimes called the blessed war because of all the money that the americans came with and all of the infrastructure they built.
I don’t know anyone that is really pissed about the occupation.
Thesy didn't get tortured
I'm pretty sure some male Icelanders were pretty pissed because the Allied troops dated some of them redulting in pretty shotty moves by the ones who didn't have the luck to find someone to date.
Source: en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%81standi%C3%B0
After the end of WW2, the Icelandic farmers association invited German (mostly female) workers to Iceland to help on farms. Some women found a decent farmer, others had to deal with drunk or raping or otherwise unpleasant farmers. There is a movie called Heima(t) dealing with this topic.
The only US occupation people can't be too mad at. lol.
@@seanbrummfield448 why are you so anti american?
@@nehankaranch2149 I'm not, I'm just making a joke. I'm American myself. Gosh.
A bit late on this video but our family just visited Iceland at Thanksgiving. I too am now obsessed with this beautiful country and lovely people. Our guide mentioned the abandoned US base but I did not know its history with WWII. Fascinating. Iceland became an important neutral site again when Reagan and Gorbachev held the Reykjavik Summit at the Hofdi House in 1986, effectively ending the Cold War.
Same I went the week before Christmas and I didn’t know any of this! We’re going back in summer so I’m gonna take a look now I know
From where did you fly?
Icelander here.
Generally people were happy about the British invation. And the WW2 was called "the blessed war" because as you said, infrastructure and improvements. Also Iceland received a huge sum from the Marshall plan even though Iceland was not war torn at all.
There could have been emotional damage.
LOL@@I_Have_The_Most_Japanese_Music
“They hold the forks in their right hand like shovel” what the heck 😤
like most North Americans do
I don’t know why but this channel is the best to watch on a rainy day
After the pandemic
Johnny:Hey guys,we will talk about why I am now an Icelandic
Jón Harrisson.*
@@manjensen1710 no it’s Johnny
My grandmother told me once about when my great grandfather went with few German scientists to the country side to look for old graves to research if Icelanders were descended from Arians. She remembers seeing old bones layed out on the carpet in the living room which where then transferred to Germany and were never seen again. One of the skulls they found was so big that my great grandfather could fit it over his head.
Crazy shit.
Icelanders are no different than other Europeans.
@@tbrown4080 exactly! This skull was probably from a person who had some kind of bone growth disease. Maybe the scientists thought this was some Arian bullshit, that's why they took them.
@@PlutoKaron or .. frost giants? where do you think they all went? without thor to protect us they'd still be rampaging today
@@PlutoKaron What's wrong with Arian? There are lots of people named Arian. You are a hater.
@@sulil1938 Nothing wrong with Arians, I was referring to the Nazis Arian agenda/believe, in other words: That the Arians are superior race. Which is "bullshit" as I said.
Hey Johnny,
I really enjoy your videos. As a suggestion for a future content; can you perhaps do a video showing the evolution of world maps throughout the ages. I think it would be interesting and educational.
Thank you.
I feel like Johnny is like, the 90% of reason why I learn new things. "Meeting" other perma-learners like me is just the best. Thanks for sharing.
Perma-learner? Isn't that like, you know, everyone? That's a pretentious word if I ever heard one.
@@Jonifico boy do I ever wish that was everyone. Plenty of people just don't CARE 🤷 I didn't mean that in a pretentious way though, I mean, that's a made up term, so I don't know how it could be less pretentious and more goofy.
What is a perma-learner?
@@sisigpapi my husband calls them "perpetual college student," a person that keeps on taking classes in something they're interested in, goes to seminars, spends hours reading up on things JUST because it interests them. Probably most people would call it a waste of time if it doesn't pertain to your own life or work 🤷
@@PromisedJubilee I like doing that. I'm not a great student, but man do I love learning about things that interest me on the side
Hey John!
I'm from India, and as you talked about Iceland being used as a pawn by the superpowers, India was used for the same by the Brits.
If you could deep dive into indian history under British rule you find thing that will give you chills down your spine.
A video on that will be much appreciated.
Though great work here as well! ❤️
Yaaa I agree to it , British used our people to fight against their battle without our consent ,and many among them even got lost ,never returned .We fought their battles ,as a result we got poverty , exploitation of our land
you need to check out his show in VOX - BORDERS where he does cover some of it
How in the world do you think I got to know about him?
Not pawns bro
OI OI I BET YOU DONT GOT FWEE HEAFCAUE POP POP CHEERIO BOBS YOUR UNCLE
This is awesome, I had literally never seen or heard anything about Iceland in WWII and this is a topic that interests me since I was a kid 25 years ago.
4:06 - Himmler wasn’t the architect of the Holocaust, just the person who was in charge of said architect. That person was Reinhard Heydrich (possible misspell). Check out the podcast on him by behind the bastards to see how awful he was
There’s multiple people credited as the architects of the Holocaust. Adolf Eichman is another.
Yep, many argue that Heydrich was 'more evil' than Himmler, which would take some doing. But yeah nasty piece of work.
@@Car_toz the are all evil
@@teogonzalez7957 Wasn’t Eichman the man in charge of Dakaow? Heydrich was the guy who decided who got sent there and was one of the first to suggest the final solution I believe
@Rusty Shackleford so like before the nazis came to power the other applicant was agent working for weimar gov? thats crazy
(from iceland) occupation both a blessing and a curse in my opinion. We got good infrastructure and the marshall aid out of it, but we remain in NATO and we are kind of used as a pawn there cuz of the strategic positioning of our country, if anything war related were to happen in europe iceland would be one of the first to be occupied by the superpowers
At least the US and others in NATO respect your sovereignty in times of peace. Neither Russia nor China would. There is a real threat to all sovereignty of free nations with those two.
@@eysteinnkristinsson8911 Not really, they just thought that you had too much. For such a small population, your control over the cod fisheries was massively disproportionate to other countries that also relied on the fish. Iceland kept increasing the boundary, ending up wanting approximately 15 times more than the standard at the time.
Don't get me wrong, I am glad you are in control, as the rest of the fisheries would have wiped cod out a long time ago. I just feel that it was a little biased as it read that Britain tried to take all your rights off Iceland.
It was also good for the UK, because Iceland demanding 200 miles EEZ meant that the UK also expanded their zone to 200 miles.
As for the USA coming to the rescue, not really. Iceland threatened to expel all US forces. One very good Icelandic source said that "the [Icelandic] government never explicitly linked the US Defence Agreement to the outcome of the dispute"
My guess regarding why the mission was called "Operation Fork" is because it refers to the fork tactic in chess. A fork consists of a single piece attacking two or more pieces at the same time. The attacking piece is known as the forking piece, while the attacked troops are known as the forked pieces. Iceland is the forking piece geographically speaking. The USA, UK and Canada were the forked pieces.
That was a typo; it was actually called Operation Pork.
it was great basically uplifted us into being a modern nation my grandmother was a child at the time and remembers seeing warships in husavik and warplanes in the sky
What ! Hvernig var? Og líka var allt í lagi með hana?
Im from Iceland and have always thought of the occupations as blessings, they brought us development, more imports and eventually lead to our NATO membership (which is sort of crucial for our defence).
Sælar
Is there a reason for Iceland not to become a member of EU? As an EU citizen myself I’d love to see Iceland join the alliance.
against who? nato is just a tool for western imperialism
you either become a midlevel assisant of the us in plundering the third world or you become a place it exploits like the third world
@@vitkrivan9380 🟡SERCH ADITYA RATHORE- HE ALSO MAKES INFORMATIVE CONTENT LIKE JOHNNY
You are very welcome good sir!
I’ve been binging almost every single one of your videos over the last week or so and they’re always so well done. I would love to see a video about the history of Puerto Rico and all of the hardships the island has endured since the island was signed over by Spain in 1898. I think it’s something a lot of people are not aware of and there were some extremely notable atrocities committed by the US government in the more than century long rule. “How the U.S. Stole Puerto Rico”.
How about the Philippines and Hawaii too?
Jealous of Iceland for having such a peaceful British invasion
equally amazing is that before leaving they didn't divide the place between two or more rival factions, creating an ethnic conflict to continue for decades after they left
Ikr, last time Brits invade my country they lost their General after ww2.
😭
me too
when the brits came to my country in WW1 one million people died of famine
@@cmhealy14 is that a challenge??
You forgot that Hitler and Stalin attacked Poland simultaneously due to the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, m'key. They split the country in half, not like your map shows....
I saw that too and was just going to post it. He likes maps so much I thought he would notice.
Interesting thats what the pact is called in english? In germany we usually say Hitler-Stalin-Pact. I understand why it could also be called Moltov Ribbentrop but its Interesting that it has different namens depending on the Region.
you aren't allowed to legally admit communists were the agressors throughout history.
@@stepanovtakiov9311 no? So you didnt invade Poland and whole east europe with 40 years of supression and dictatorship? Right I had something wrong there...
True
Hey Johnny. I know it's unlikely you'll read this but I want to express appreciation for the work you do to provide reliable information in a time where so much information comes with unreliable baggage. I'd love to see a list of journalists you recommend. People with a commitment to substantiating research. Who aren't part of fast news cycle systems that breed misinformation.
Hi Johnny. Thanks for the video, it´s interesting to get your perspective on Iceland.
In general I think you are correct. Most Icelanders used to look at the occupation as a "blessing". It came with plenty of new infrastructure, jobs and goods never seen before. After the war the Marshall aid program also helped Iceland quite a lot. The aid money helped investments in the fisheries industry, modernizing the fishing fleet for example. You of course explain the importance of the fisheries industry in your Cod Wars video. I suppose most of us look at the occupation years as an important stepping stone in modernizing the country, after all it used to be one of the poorest and underdeveloped country in Europe before the war. Now the country is quite prosperous. It's hard to imagine what it would look like today without the intervention from the UK and US.
I second this as an Icelander as well. I´ve got family members that got jobs from the armies making better roads and infrastructure that had a domino effect on the wealth of the locals from being dirt poor to actually having some money to live in a better situation. I´ve been lucky to talk about the invasion with my great-uncle as he remembers the invasion as a roughly 8 year old kid.
But I think it has to be said that in general Icelanders were very ignorant of how serious things were abroad for people and were racists (banning Jews from coming, banning black soldiers ect.). Fact is we were and still are not perfect like many people paint us to be.
Storytelling is as amazing as always Johnny, took me into that video and it was fantastic. Always feel great after watching!!
It was a blessing. We went from being on of the poorest countries in Europe, to being in a strong starting position as a small and newly independent country. It is one of the main reasons for why Iceland has become so prosperous.
"History may not repeat, but it often rhymes." -- Mark Twain
Alright Harris, i´ll explain this here from keflavík. You´ve probably flown over me at some point. In the early 1940´s Iceland was a third world country, infact one of the poorest in Europe. We were very isolated from the outside world as we had been for over a millennia. Despite being being neutral in the war Icelanders did favor the allies. The British invasion of May 1940 was undeniably a shock but one we could not really fight nor protest against (we got our revenge in all the three cod wars and in the Euro 2016 tournament) .The Brits just walked in like the country was their neighborhood grocery store.
There were certainly great positives from the invasion that have to be pointed out.
1. In there scramble to put up any sort of base they hired literally anyone willing to work which caused a small economic boom.
2. Children were intrigued by the soldiers as they sometimes offered them foreign candies and rides on their tractors.
3. They built up infrastructure. Notably the Reykjavík airport (not the one you went through but the one in downtown Reykjavík).
4. As a good relationship with the locals was in their best interest, Soldiers were instructed to be on their best behavior. Many of them paying Icelandic housewives to clean their clothing and treating children as mentioned above.
Icelandic textbooks don´s portray the invasion as something terrible and their is countrywide consensus that is was ultimately a good thing. But there were some great downsides we were not happy about.
1. Our sovereignty was violated (were under Denmark then but still, not cool bro).
2. We had been dragged into WW2, which we had clearly stated neutrality.
3. This created ''The situation''. Which was when icelandic women had started to build romantic relationships with soldiers and even having children with them. Leaving the Icelandic men behind. This was like, really bad and hard for me to put in real context but en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%81standi%C3%B0
4. Created a loud anti-war movement (mostly due to the US though), that brought on about a bit of civil unrest. ''ÍSLAND ÚR NATO, HERINN BURT!''
When the americans took over in ´45 they built the Keflavik airport and their own military base, where i now live. They took infrastructure building to a whole new level. They built 2x 10000ft runways in keflavik, paved the road to the city, radar stations everywhere, some more roads, and contracted Icelanders to do a lot of that work.
For instance, the first few years of my life i lived with my mom and grandparents. Since mom was still in school my grandfather was the only income stream for the household. And how did he but food on my table you may ask? He worked as a carpenter at Naval Air Station Keflavik, Which were is now live. Most of my older coworkers have near endless stories on working for the americans, and they range from smuggling meats out of the base to sell for a profit in Iceland to breaking into the base on Halloween to go trick or treating there. I could go on forever with these.
My work occasionally takes me to a warehouse filled with stuff the americans left behind, walking through it beats any museum i´ve ever been to.
There are many infrastructure projects built with american dollars that catapulted this Island into the modern world. We went from a cold miserable poor island to a cold miserable wealthy island with a higher Human Development Index than the US and our former colonisers. If if weren´t for the british invasion and the subsequent US military cash influx that likely would have never occurred.
P.S. We really like fish, not fish and chips. Those are just available everywhere for the tourists.
so overall it was a giant benefit with very little drawbak?
@@d4s0n282 Yes, when Iceland got occupied you can say that modernity arrived in Iceland. The infrastructure was very poor beforehand but the army hired a bunch of Icelanders to lay roads and build bridges, the government kicked off a big project in public education and the nation industrialised extremely fast. As soon as agriculture and fisheries were industrialised and a stable connection with the outside world was established Iceland hit the ground running.
SO good. It's one of my bucket list places to visit!
It's hard to retire from being a Viking people when the whole world milks and adores the subject for a millennia afterwards.
Just let fishermen be fishermen.
It's fcking awesome to be the descendant of Vikings
@@alexanderdvanbalderen9803 maybe being tough warriors who were feared ny others is the cool part to being descendents of vickings🤔.Troll.
@@deleted01 I get what you mean, for me viking history is interesting but I don't agree with the actions they've done, I wouldn't be proud to be the descendents of Vikings but I am intrigued by the history.
@@deleted01 even my ancestors have committed some wrongs , it's just history of mankind and Viking history is interesting. Same with Nazo Germany, it's interesting but I don't agree with what they stand for.
@@a.hassanhale3326 I wouldn't judge people from the 8th century by contemporary standard. Morality is very different back then. Violence was commonplace, and most people were illiterate. Nazi Germany is different. It was post Enlightenment. Of course, nobody actually aspires to the Viking's way of life now. It wouldn't even make a comfortable life in the modern world.
I am not Icelandic but while travelling there for 4 months I noticed all the positives things other people mention (road infrastructure, economical growth that it allowed etc.) but I also noticed a heavy americanisation of the way of life, food and drinks, urban planning, culture in general.. for the better and the worst !
Are the Icelanders rapping?
Hailing from Iceland - my grandfather who is now 93yrs old and my late grandmother were in this situation at their time and had some interesting stories - such as my grandmother ducking into ditches while German spy planes flew over and my grandad getting chocolate from the troops. They were all very well taken and it was a time called the "occupation" and everybody was pretty relieved that the Brits and US came before those fcks - we are talking about 2-3 days until the Germans would get here. It was a booming economy and like you mention in the video there are tons of old relics from that time here from the occupation. There was a German embassy up here and had the insignia on it that was promptly removed.
You should make a similar video about the British occupation of the Faroe Islands and the American occupation of Greenland!
Icelander here. It was a blessing in many ways such as infrastructure, exposure to different cultures etc. But I remember my grandfather (born 1923) told me that many people with german surnames or ancestry, who had lived in Iceland from birth, just straight up disappeared. I assume they were either imprisoned, killed or shipped off somewhere but there's no way of knowing really. That really stuck with my grandfather over the decades since he was close with a few of them.
And a lot of Icelanders had a major issue with Icelandic women getting together with the soldiers and it caused a "problem". It's was called the 'Situation' (ástandið) and many people today feel like it was just buried in the sand and the effects haven't been spoken about and addressed properly.
So yeah, the invasion did mostly good but also caused a few social issues which is unavoidable during war times.
Having been to Iceland, The British and Americans built the Reykjavik and Keflavik airport which made made it easier to get around Iceland and helped the growth of tourism.
Pure Icelander here! The thing I’ve most often heard in relation to the occupation is the term to be in “ástandið”, which means to be in the situation. It was a term for when Icelandic women were with the troops. The troops even held special parties which Icelandic women attended. The men at the time were quite irritated about all this. My mother was even in two seperate relationships with American soldiers, and I have some things he left her.
Brutal
Iceland is awesome. Been there on vacation a while back and it's a fantastic and beautiful country!
Glad to learn about Iceland.
Love, from Wisconsin.
Whenever Harry posts i go happy, i dont know why but i do.
Because we’re watching a really well produced documentary by a guy with good charisma, for free!
My great grandmother was actually really happy with this change she quickly got money from the army and she told me that Iceland was actually a good place after ww2
Great Vid, Johnny!
Anyone else realize Johnny and Vox upload videos at the same time?
Scheduling tool on RUclips, it makes sense to upload at the same time to draw equal-ish amounts of traffic and engagement
I live in Ireland and I've been to Iceland 4 times. It's a really unique and nice place.
The end sequence with Eva Braun's footage and modern Iceland was fun to watch. Great video!
"In a small study in Berlin" it was a dark, dank cement bunker under Berlin!
as an icelandic person, i think that at first this was sort of freaking out the nation due to them never having been in this situation before but because of this happening iceland has the infrastructure needed to reach far north and i think that was a blessing that the nation wasnt really seeing because, you know, a massive super power is invading your country.
Love your work, plus I love your sarcastic humor keep up with the good work.
Hi there, I’m from Iceland and I for the most part agree with the other Icelanders in the comment section. It did help a lot in the long run when it came to funds and such. However I haven’t seen anyone talk about the fact that some Icelanders just up and disappeared when they came too close to some of the bases. Their fates are still unknown today by us. I feel that it has been sort of neglected that it happened.
Johnny, you forgot to mention the key weapon that led to icelandic victory in the cod wars. It were the legendary net cutters or trawlwire cutters
my IB school doesnt have history i just actually wanna thank you for putting out this type of content
I'm Icelandic, here we think what happened was both a blessing and a abrupt violation of our sovereignty. The allied forces built our infrastructure but they also showed that they could come into our country and do whatever they wanted cause they they knew there was nothing we could do against it.
It seems to be the American way and why so many hate us. We just do what we want. I can say that I am thankful to be born and live here as it’s home, but I hope to visit Iceland some day along with other countries. The way things are going, we may be prisoners here before too long. 🤷🏻♀️
Not Icelandic but as an Australian, superpowers using land for nuclear testing here in Oz kind of draws a parallel
Minor correction: Iceland became independent not after but during WW2. Specifically on June 17th 1944, 11 days after D-Day.
💿SERCH ADITYA RATHORE- HE ALSO MAKES INFORMATIVE CONTENT LIKE JOHNNY
5:48 Just a correction there. You said the Nazi's would soon move into Sweden. They never invaded Sweden. Sweden remained free and neutral until the end of the war.
i think he means intended to? dk
I think he meant Norway
@@sgamer1770 he already said norway at 5:46
I’m Icelandic and my grandmother actually had a few English soldiers living with her when she was young. She remembers this pretty well and talks about it. I think that if the naziz would’ve invaded Iceland it would’ve ended a lot worse…
My grandma only got apples during Christmas time, in modern time she felt privileged to be able to buy apples and ate the whole apple even the seeds. Coffee was also only bought for special occasions.
Props for telling a story like a true master piece of gossip. I've never learned and laughed so much with your representations of the people involved in the matters 😂👏
“icELaNd hAD nO aPPleS tHe iCELanDic pEOpLe hELd fOrKs wEirDLy” THIS IS LITERALLY ATTACK ON TITAN WHEN REINER WAS TRYING TO NICKPICK BAD THINGS ABOUT PARADIS ISLAND
Brilliant work. Thank you.
8:16
The British were politely invading Iceland.
Being an Indian, I get like *same pinch feels*
Hey Johnny, wasn't happy with the Space vid, but still enjoy your reporting, so I'm excited for this vid.
Hi, im from Iceland and i have a few words on this. First of all i have not learned all the history, but one place where the brits were staying was in a school called Reykir, now it’s basically just used for school field trips and i went there the other day and they talked about the history there. Basically in World War 2 the brits invaded iceland and they stayed in the school, i haven’t learned what happened there but i have learned a little about what happened after the war. After i think 2 years, some troops stayed in iceland but most went back, when they were going they dug ( i dont know the word sorry ) a big hole and put all of the stuff in it, they put the dirt back and they went away. Thats the only thing i have learned about the second World War.
Hope you use this comment for something, but most of all i hope you see this comment.
Hitler: Obsessed with Iceland
Johnny: Obsessed with Iceland
Coincidence? *I THINK NOT*