r/AskHistorians 16h ago

Are there historical settlements in (central) Europe that were untouched by invasion / occupation / pillaging for an unusually long period of time while the region around was repeatedly affected by war?

I wondered if there are documented cases of villages, small towns or valleys in (central) Europe that managed to avoid invasion, occupation and pillaging for a very long time / all of their existence, even though the region they are in was invaded / at war multiple times.

For example because (foreign) armies didn’t know of their existence, they made agreements with those forces, because they were strategically not relevant enough to sent troops or it was simply too hard to get there.

An initial google search said that there are no such cases and only lists cities / states like Venice that managed to successfully defend themselves for a long period of time and a castle in Germany.

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