How have European microstates survived?

Question

How did European tiny states, like San Marino, Monaco, Andorra and Liechtenstein (excluding the Vatican, whose survival is clearly connected to religious reasons) manage to not be absorbed by bigger national states, in the heyday of their respective expansions?

Answer 1

Look at Europe’s history, and you will have your answer as to why micro-states survived (and were incredibly prevalent in European history)

France: I’m hungry, I’m gonna go eat Luxemburg

Germany: HEY! I was saving that for later, Luxemburg is mine to eat!

France: SCREW YOU! If you wanted them that badly you would have eaten them earlier!

*Angry stares form between them*

UK: So are you guys going to fight or what? Belgium is looking pretty tasty, and if you guys are busy fighting each other…

France and Germany: Hey! Leave Belgium alone!

Spain: No no, UK, go ahead and send your fleets and armies to Belgium, I was going to pay Portugal a visit, you know, your oldest ally?

Portugal: UK! Spain is being mean… tell them to go away!

UK: Blast it all to hell! I can’t get anything done with all of this going on!

Russia: Hey guys, what are you up to…

Europe: GO AWAY!

There you have it, 90% of Europe’s history in a nutshell. That is why so many tiny states have been able to survive, because of the precarious balance of powers. After a while, Europe got sick of going through this whole song and dance on a weekly basis, and just decided that it was better to just live and let live.