The British invasion of Norway in World War II was a straight out invasion of a non-combatant. (Narrowly beating the Germans to it)
Iceland was occupied by the Allies during the same war, but possibly it was not technically an invasion.
Turkey invaded Cyprus in 1974.
There were numerous instances of invasions in the Balkans post The Great War, for instance Greece invaded Bulgaria in 1925
Actually, the Germans beat the Allies in the invasion of Norway thing. We were just about to head for Norway when the Wehrmacht got there first.
Democratic countries have invaded numerous other countries in the last hundred years. But the way it is usually phrased is not that democratic countries never go to war, it is that democratic countries never go to war with each other. Democracies fight dictatorships, but never other democracies. I would say if you keep a tight definition of “democratic”, and exclude elected dictators, or countries with an ostensible elected government that are actually anarchic, then the premise holds.
Technically, jezzaOZ is right. British warships were laying mines in Norwegian harbors on 8 April 1940; the German attacks began in the wee hours of 9 April. The main invasion force didn’t make it before the Germans, but mining harbors counts as an act of war.
Lemur, except, for example, Britain, who declared war on Finland (Dec. 8, 1941) in WWII. Finland, while a member of the Axis, was a parliamentary democracy (although, admittedly, the election of President Ryti was irregular (the 1937 electors voted for him, instead of new electors being voted in), and after he resigned, Mannerheim became President by emergency parliamentary decree. However, it’s wrong, I think, to call either Ryti or Mannerheim a dictator.
So we’ve established that the General Answer is “yes,” no?
I think it is really stretching it to claim that Germany under Hitler and Italy under Mussolini were democracies because the leaders at one point were elected to high office. When those leaders turn around and quickly establish totalitarian states, any pretense at democracy is gone.
There is also a claim that no country with a McDonalds has ever gone to war with another country with a McDonalds. I dont know how recent that was or whether it still holds true.
The Brits invaded the Ottoman Empire, annexing Palestine.
In the Balkan conflict various McDonald’s eatting neighbors were killing each other. McDonald’s is a recent development and so we need to watch this key indicator more closely in the future.
How quick is “quickly”? Let’s see…3/2003 minus 1/2001 is…
It can be argued- and has- that the USA & the did not “invade” Russia. At that time, the Communists were not really the legal recognized government- even though they won in the long term. The “white russian” Czarists were another goverment, and the Allies came to aid that government- which is the one they recognized.
It is kind of like saying the French “invaded” America during the War of Independence. They sent troops to aid the “rebel” colonial government- which tye had recognized. Since the Colonials won- the French are not considered "invaders’- but how about if the Brits had won?
It can be said that Democracies tend not to be “Imperialist” territory grabbing warmongers. When they go to war it is either for a “good cause” or " to defend themselves". Sometimes these excuses seem a bit thin.
No, he was not. William Shirer’s Rise and Fall of the Third Reich goes into great detail regarding Hitler’s assumption of power in Germany. He ran for the office of President in the Weimar Republic but was defeated by Hindenburg. He never held any elected office in the Reichstag.
In the last two years of the Republic, I believe that they had four or five governments, under various politicos who were appointed by Hindenburg (who was quite old and probably senile), strongly influenced by members of the General Staff (especially Gen. Schleicher), by his son, Oskar von Hindenburg, by the Krupps, and by old-style German conservatives like Franz von Papen. None of them could run the country. This was when the Nazis (who had won a majority in Prussia) began to work their backdoor politicking. Schleicher had been ruling dictatorially through Hindenburg’s decrees but was not able to get rid of the Nazis, who were considered an annoyance by Hindenburg. So von Papen engineered von Schleicher’s deposition and was appointed to the Chancellorship.
Then von Papen was able to get Hindenburg to permit “that Austrian Corporal” (as Hindenburg referred to him) to take the office of Chancellor, with Nazis in a few Ministerial posts, old-line Junkers and militarists in the majority of posts, and Goering in the post of “Minister Without Portfolio”. Furthermore, von Papen (a supposedly non-aligned conservative politico) would be appointed "vice-chancellor to reign in Hitler. However, von Papen had been currying favor with Hitler on the side.
Then, AFTER having been handed the government on a silver platter, and only then, with the full apparatus of the state behind them (including specific suppression decrees), did the Nazis manage to win a large chunk of the Reichstag elections, and they still managed to fail to gain a sufficient majority with their coalition partners to give Hitler full power. It was only after they had expelled the Communists that they were able to form a coalition with other right-wing parties to form a sufficient majority to pass the infamous “Enabling Act”.
So claims that Hitler had been “democratically elected” are either plain ignorance or bald-faced lies. Indeed, despite a veritably Italian succession of revolving-door governments, and election after election, Hitler was never actually elected to any public office, not even getting a close minority vote.
Mussolini was never elected to his office, either. Italy was a constitutional monarchy in which the King wielded actual power–if only to appoint the prime minister. The King appointed Mussolini. He was not elected.
What about the UK and France invading Egypt over the Suez Canal? And the UK did not invade Argentina. Argentina, when it invaded the Falklands, was a military dictatorship. England merely kicked them out. Now, if one instead insists that they are the Malvinas, even then England didn’t grab them by invasion within the last 100 years, if I recall aright.
I think Lemur hit the right note here. That would be: “Countries with democratically elected gov’ts are EXTREMELY UNLIKELY to go to war with each other”. That’s probably as good as this earth could ever expect out of us humans.
If the UK kicks Argentina out, and stays, isn’t that in effect an invasion?
1914 - The U.S. occupied the port of Veracruz to prevent a German cargo ship from unloading guns for the Huerta army, after a Mexican officer detained U.S. sailors from the USS Dolphin in Tampico.
1918 - Pershing’s “expedition” to capture Villa in Mexico was arguably at Carranza’s invitation, perhaps under duress from Wilson, although the U.S. troops remained in Mexico after Mexico withdrew the invitation.
I think this is a little misleading (although I see how the argument can be made). The Ottoman Empire entered WWI on the side of the Central Powers, and so I think it’s better to say that Britain fought the Ottoman Empire in the greater context of WWI. Palestine was created as a League of Nations mandate at the end of the war when the Ottoman Empire disintegrated. From an international law perspective, mandates are not the same as colonies, although in practice there may have been little difference.
No, it’s a liberation, since it was UK territory first and was never formally transferred to Argentina. Instead, Argentina invaded and held it for a few weeks.
Here are some more no one has mentioned yet.
Spanish-American War, 1898
OK this one is just outside the time frame requested, but it does show an unquestionably democratic nation makeing a land grab.
Anglo-Boer War, 1899-1901
Again a democratic nation engaging in a naked land grab. Again just outside the OPs time frame.
First World War, 1914-18
Germany was a democratic nation with a parlamentary body, the Reichtag. I’m sure Belgum and France considered it an invasion.
Occupation of the Ruhr, 1923
Democratic France invaded democratic Germany to force reparation payments. The motivation wasn’t for land but it was an invasion none the less.
First Indo-Pak War, 1947-49
It is hard to say who invaded who. But both were democratic throughout the war so it doesn’t much matter.
Ecuador/Peru Border War, 1995
It wasn’t much of a war or an invasion. But none the less it was an aggressive attack by a democracy.
Kosovo War, 1999
Milosovic may not have been a nice guy but none the less, his nation was invaded and a portion occupied by a group of democratic nations
Fourth Indo-Pak War, 1999
Soldiers from a democratic Pakistan invaded India. They were driven out and Pakistan ceased to be a democracy soon after.
The definition of ‘democracy’ or ‘invasion’ could be argued in many of these cases. But along with the other examples provided I think we can answer the OP with a yes