Very simple really. During the Balance of Power period of European history, overly small countries generally got gobbled up by larger neighbors.
In the settlement of the Napoleonic Wars what is now Belgium was combined with Netherlands and Norway with Sweden to make more powerful nations that might resist aggression by the French or Russians.
After WWI the same was done when they broke up the Austro-Hunagrian Empire. The various "south Slav" ethnies were combined to form Yugoslavia, and the "north Slav" equivalent was formed by the Czechs and Slovaks.
None of these shotgun weddings worked out all that well.
Thanks for the response SL.
My postings to mls were just me pulling his leg to see if he would expand on his initial statement of the thread, and provide an explanation of why HE thought "it was time to unify Syria-Iraq again".
I guess he couldn't feel the tug on his leg, or chose to ignore it.
Both of you have a good week.