Ever wondered about 10 bizarre ways people have tried to take over whole countries? From self‑styled monarchs to media‑backed invasions, the quest for power has produced some truly outlandish schemes.
10 Bizarre Ways to Seize an Entire Country
10. The Gigolo Who Conned His Way Into Becoming King Of Andorra
Boris Skossyreff, later styling himself as King Boris I of Andorra, entered the world in Vilnius, Lithuania sometime between 1896 and 1898. When the Russian Empire fell in 1917 he slipped away, eventually surfacing in London where, in 1919, he was nabbed for forging checks. British authorities later expelled him, citing a pattern of comparable offenses.
In the early 1930s Boris drifted to the upscale American yacht club on Mallorca, touting himself as a fitness guru and even adopting the lofty title Count of Orange, an old Dutch aristocracy. His American companions soon realized he never settled restaurant tabs, revealing that his lavish lifestyle was propped up by a string of affluent women, most notably the American divorcee Florence Marmon. The Spanish authorities eventually forced him out.
By 1934 Boris and Florence arrived in Andorra, a diminutive nation co‑ruled by the French president and the Spanish Bishop of Urgell. Local resentment toward foreign oversight was simmering, prompting the French to dispatch sixty police officers the previous year to quash a modest uprising.
Spotting a chance, the silver‑tongued swindler leapt into the fray. Still posing as a Dutch count, Boris dazzled the countryside folk with grandiose stories. He presented a written manifesto for the nation and proclaimed himself king in June. Remarkably, the Andorran General Council voted 23‑1 in favor of recognizing the “Count of Orange” as sovereign.
Even more startling, Paris gave a casual nod to the council’s verdict, essentially waving Andorra off. Yet a dissenting councilor sprinted across the border to alert the Bishop of Urgell, who, displeased by Boris’s casino ambitions, summoned Spanish police to detain him. Boris retaliated by declaring war on the bishop, but the authorities apprehended him nonetheless.
Spanish officials escorted Boris to Madrid, where his own counsel argued he breached vagrancy statutes and ought to be expelled. Consequently, he was sent to Portugal, which promptly shipped him onward to France, which likewise dispatched him without delay. Mrs. Marmon refused to foot the bill for upgrading his passage to first class.
9. The Plan To Make A New York Socialite Queen Of Gabon
In the late 19th century, a real‑estate promoter named R.L. Garner convinced a magazine to fund his expedition to Gabon, hoping to discover a way to chat with monkeys. The editor didn’t hesitate, signing a check and sending him off.
Garner spent two decades in West Africa, attempting to prove he could converse with apes – a claim that never won scientific backing. His fame grew back home mainly because he liked to bring a live chimpanzee to parties, turning every gathering into a circus.
At one such soirée he met the flamboyant New York socialite Ida Vera Simonton. Garner, smitten, persuaded her to travel to Gabon and help edit his manuscripts. He invested heavily in renovating a house for her visit, convinced that her beauty and wit could turn the rebellious Gisir and Mitsongo clans into supporters.
Unbeknownst to Simonton, Garner imagined she could be crowned queen by the clans, thereby forcing the French colonial administration to abandon its oppressive concessionary system. He argued that her influence would compel the French to lift heavy taxes.
The scheme collapsed spectacularly. Simonton never wanted a crown and found Garner’s misogynistic attitudes intolerable. He even assaulted a bookkeeper who dared speak to her after dark, insisting he was defending her honor. Their cohabitation grew increasingly awkward, with Garner relegated to the verandah while Simonton occupied the sole bedroom.
Eventually Simonton fled Gabon, denouncing Garner to anyone who would listen. Garner, furious, berated her as “the most un‑womanly woman” he’d ever known, insisting she was merely a “masculine female.”
8. The Terrifying Plan For The Azores
Robert Vesco, a flamboyant Wall Street schemer, teamed up with former White House aide Richard Allen to sketch a bold vision: a tax‑free, corporation‑run micro‑nation free of central‑bank interference. Their playground? The Azores, a Portuguese archipelago ripe for secession amid left‑wing unrest.
In the early 1970s, Portugal’s authoritarian regime began to wobble, prompting Azorean sugar planters to toy with independence. Vesco saw a financial haven, while Allen lobbied Washington officials to pressure Lisbon into allowing a referendum, or at worst, a unilateral declaration of independence.
Vesco secured backing from a Mafia family eager for a casino‑bank hybrid, and enlisted the shadowy Aginter Press – an ultra‑secret anti‑communist outfit tied to the CIA, notorious for violent operations like the 1969 Piazza Fontana bombing. Their involvement added a dangerous edge to the proposed state.
U.S. officials, still reeling from Watergate, declined Allen’s pleas. Meanwhile, Portugal’s Carnation Revolution toppled the regime, sending Aginter operatives into hiding. Vesco shifted his attention elsewhere, and Allen continued his climb up the political ladder.
7. Lazarus Long’s Utopia
Howard Tunney, a cowboy‑turned‑entrepreneur from Bowie, Arizona, discovered human growth hormone (HGH) in 1990 and began injecting himself, claiming miraculous rejuvenation. He rechristened himself Lazarus Long after Heinlein’s immortal protagonist.
Long opened a chain of clinics touting anti‑aging HGH treatments, despite medical experts debunking any such benefits. Inspired by Heinlein’s rebel spirit, he launched a grand plan in 1998 to build a sovereign city‑state atop Misteriosa Bank, a shallow reef south of the Cayman Islands, supported by concrete stilts and housing a massive medical complex.
The envisioned nation would levy no taxes and “out‑Cayman the Caymans” as a tax haven, targeting 4,000 citizens initially. Funding proved elusive: an estimated $216 million was needed, and a trust was set up to raise capital. The SEC eventually shut the project down for illegal bond sales, and Lazarus Long passed away in 2012 at age 81.
6. The Atlantis Project
Libertarian dreamers have long chased the notion of a floating haven, and Werner Stiefel’s Atlantis Project was the earliest serious attempt. A German‑born soap heir who escaped Nazi persecution, Stiefel settled in Saugerties, New York, and after reading Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged, vowed to create a refuge for free‑market enthusiasts.
His three‑stage plan began with Atlantis I, a modest motel near his factory, followed by Atlantis II – a massive ferro‑concrete vessel built inside a geodesic dome. The ship made it to the Caribbean only to be wrecked by a hurricane.
Undeterred, Stiefel moved to Atlantis III, an island community with privatized services and zero taxation. Initial construction on Caribbean reefs was halted when the Haitian navy seized the site at gunpoint, fearing “Papa Doc” Duvalier’s treasure rumors. Subsequent attempts on Misteriosa Bank and a Belize island also failed, leaving Stiefel’s vision unrealized at his death.
5. The Cult And The Corsican
Tanna, a remote island in Vanuatu, stayed largely untouched until World War II, when the U.S. military used it as a base. The influx of American wealth sparked the John Frum cargo cult, which mimicked U.S. military rituals in hopes of coaxing the “gods” to return riches.
In 1967, Corsican mechanic Antoine Fornelli arrived on Vanuatu, buying a plantation on Efate and briefly aligning with French planters against local Tannese. Fascinated by the cult, he declared himself king in 1974, establishing a government based on the four cardinal points and proclaiming Tanna’s independence.
The fledgling state quickly collapsed when British police stormed the stronghold, confiscating a flag and an old Mauser rifle. Forcing a dramatic letter to Queen Elizabeth and the French president threatening war, Fornelli was arrested and deported, and his seized items were never returned.
4. The Catastrophic Comoros Coup
Bob Denard became the poster child for African mercenary coups, toppling the Comoros government four times before his 1995 arrest. In contrast, Colonel “Mad Mike” Hoare attempted just two coups, the second targeting the Seychelles in 1981.
Hoare’s plan involved a small band of South African and Rhodesian mercenaries disguised as members of the “Ancient Order of Froth Blowers,” a British drinking club. They arrived with duffel bags full of toys – and concealed firearms – only to be stopped when customs discovered the guns hidden beneath the toys.
A chaotic firefight ensued, culminating in Hoare’s men hijacking an Air India jet and fleeing to South Africa, where most were arrested and tried for the hijacking, despite South African backing for the operation.
3. CBS News Almost Invaded Haiti
In a bizarre media‑military crossover, CBS teamed up with former spy Mitchell WerBell III and Cuban exile Rolando Masferrer in 1966, agreeing to fund a Haitian invasion in exchange for exclusive footage.
The network poured up to $200,000 into purchasing guns, uniforms, and a boat, aiming to topple “Papa Doc” Duvalier and use Haiti as a springboard for an assault on Cuba. Masferrer even gave a surreal interview wearing pantyhose on his head for disguise.
Delays and logistical nightmares frustrated CBS, leading them to abandon the scheme. Most of the mercenary force was later arrested after U.S. authorities learned of the plot. CBS still had to pay $15,000 in compensation to a mercenary whose rifle exploded in his face.
2. The Lunatic Who Wanted To Rule Borneo
Gerard MacBryan arrived in Sarawak in 1920, quickly becoming the personal secretary and enforcer for Rajah Vyner Brooke. MacBryan’s mental instability manifested in hallucinations, paranoia, and a habit of strolling naked at parties, convinced he was invisible.
Ambitious beyond his role, MacBryan courted the Rajah’s daughters, openly declaring his desire to become the next Rajah. When Vyner finally dismissed him, MacBryan announced a conversion to Islam and undertook a pilgrimage to Mecca, falsely claiming friendship with the Saudi king to bolster his claim of ruling the Far East.
During World War II, the British imprisoned him, fearing he might support a Japanese puppet state. After the war he advised the Sultan of Brunei and tried to install his own daughter as ruler with himself as regent. He died in an English asylum, insisting he was engaged to marry Princess Margaret, sister of the Queen.
1. Josiah Harlan: Prince Of Ghor
Born into a Quaker family in Pennsylvania, Josiah Harlan sailed for India in 1820 and, despite lacking a medical degree, secured work as a surgeon. Yet his true ambition lay elsewhere: he dreamed of becoming a king.
In 1827 he befriended an exiled Afghan shah and offered to lead a mercenary force to restore him. After a brief audience with Dost Mohammed Khan in Kabul, Harlan realized the Shah’s forces were too strong, so he traveled to the Punjab where Maharajah Ranjit Singh appointed him governor of Gujrat.
When Singh discovered Harlan’s clandestine counterfeiting scheme, the American fled back to Afghanistan, where Dost Mohammed granted him permission to combat Tajik slave traders. Harlan’s well‑armed troops defeated the slavers, earning the respect of Hazara tribes who crowned him Prince of Ghor.
British imperial ambitions soon crushed his dream; they invaded Afghanistan, ousted Harlan, and forced his return to the United States. Back home he became a minor celebrity, helped establish the U.S. Camel Corps, and later practiced medicine in San Francisco despite never having earned a formal degree.