# Most recent time a nation was conquered **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 20, 2012, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-recent-time-a-nation-was-conquered/641571 "2012-11-20T01:54:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2012, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-recent-time-a-nation-was-conquered/641571/21 "2012-11-20T14:25:04Z")
> [@njtt](#): > > “Forced” by the Vietnamese. :rolleyes: “Forced” as in accomplished with military force from another soverign nation (there were two in 1975). As opposed to a negotiated reunification like in Germany. ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2012, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-recent-time-a-nation-was-conquered/641571/22 "2012-11-20T14:45:09Z")
Tibet is, I think, the largest. ---
**Author:** ![coremelt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4491bb/32.png) [@coremelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/coremelt)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2012, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-recent-time-a-nation-was-conquered/641571/23 "2012-11-20T15:58:13Z")
> [@dtilque](#): > > If you’re going to count colonies taken over, there’s Hong Kong and Macau. Goa should count, there was an actual battle to annex it and the Indian Annexation was opposed by portugal. Thats very different to Hong Kong, Macau or Sikkim all of which were peaceful. The indonesian annexation of Irian Jaya in 1969 was not a military conflict so might not meet the OP’s criteria. I think Goa in 1961 wins as latest forcable invasion which has lasted to current day, Portugese India existed for 450 years until Goa, Daman and Diu were taken over in 1961. ---
**Author:** ![ed\_anger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/bbce88/32.png) [@ed\_anger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ed_anger)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2012, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-recent-time-a-nation-was-conquered/641571/24 "2012-11-20T16:09:15Z")
hmm, several new states that split off from other states… South Sudan, new nation after a long civil war, 2011. [Democratic Republic of Yemen - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democratic_Republic_of_Yemen) was an attempt to break away, was then reconquered. ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2012, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-recent-time-a-nation-was-conquered/641571/25 "2012-11-20T16:56:07Z")
By the terms of the OP, North Vietnam’s conquest of South Vietnam seems to be the most recent example of “one nation conquering and completely subsuming another.” Before that I think you’d have to go back to 1926 and the conquest of the Kingdom of Hejaz by the Sultanate of Nejd, which led to the creation of Saudi Arabia ( and before that the 1921 conquest of the emirate of Ha’il by the emirate of Riyadh, which led to the Sultanate of Nejd - SA is essentially a recent conquest state ). ---
**Author:** ![tagos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@tagos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tagos)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2012, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-recent-time-a-nation-was-conquered/641571/26 "2012-11-20T17:18:26Z")
> [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](#): > > The forced reunification of Vietnam is the only permanent swallowing up of an entire UN-recognized nation since WWIi that I can think of. South Vietnam was not a member of the UN. Russia vetoed it. Neither was it universally recognised. [Address by William P. Bundy, Assistant Secretary for Far Eastern Affairs, Before the Faculty Forum of the University of California at Berkeley on May 27, 1965, “A Perspective on U.S. Policy in Viet-Nam,”](https://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/pentagon3/ps32.htm) quote: > [@](#): > > By 1956, to paraphrase the same eminent scholar, Communist China and North Viet-Nam, all propaganda to the contrary notwithstanding, simply were not willing to risk the loss of South Viet-Nam in elections, and, perhaps most crucial, the conditions for free elections did not prevail in either North or South Viet-Nam. So the date passed, and the dividing line between the two Viet-Nams became a political division as in Germany and Korea, with reunification left to the future. And in the course of time another 30-odd nations recognized South Viet-Nam, and recognize it today. ---
**Author:** ![robardin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/43a26b/32.png) [@robardin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robardin)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2012, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-recent-time-a-nation-was-conquered/641571/27 "2012-11-20T18:09:47Z")
> [@Lord\_Feldon](#): > > It wasn’t just German Maps. The National Geographic map of Europe in 1940 showed a very large Germany, although the “Poland” label still stretched across the Germany-USSR border. **[Colophon** beat me to the link] ---
**Author:** ![md2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/73ab20/32.png) [@md2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md2000)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2012, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-recent-time-a-nation-was-conquered/641571/28 "2012-11-20T19:22:59Z")
What about the Baltic Republics? How does “becoming a member of our USSR” fit in the OP scenario? Then there’s the allies invasion and forcible unification of Vichy France into TROF (The Rest Of France)? Las Malvinas? That didn’t last long either. ---
**Author:** ![Donnerwetter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b2d939/32.png) [@Donnerwetter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Donnerwetter)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2012, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-recent-time-a-nation-was-conquered/641571/29 "2012-11-20T19:51:09Z")
> [@md2000](#): > > What about the Baltic Republics? How does “becoming a member of our USSR” fit in the OP scenario? > > Then there’s the allies invasion and forcible unification of Vichy France into TROF (The Rest Of France)? > > Las Malvinas? That didn’t last long either. The attack and the subsequent annexation of the three Baltic states fits perfectly in the OP scenario: The Soviet Union attacked, occupied and annexed the hitherto independent nations of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. The Falklands/Malvinas on the other hand are just a disputed territory. Neither the UK, nor Argentina will seize to exist if ownership changes. ---
**Author:** ![lisiate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f05b48/32.png) [@lisiate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lisiate)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2012, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-recent-time-a-nation-was-conquered/641571/30 "2012-11-20T21:01:17Z")
So to summarise, forcible annexations of entire countries that have stuck to date are: South Vietnam by North Vietnam completed in 1975 - although the legitimacy of South Vietnam as a separate state wasn’t universally accepted so some argue this is actually a reunification. Tibet by China completed in 1950 (or 1959 if you date it from the supression of the Tibetan rebellion). Possibly Sikkim by India in 1975? Although Sikkim’s independnce seems cloudy - it was an Indian protectorate, and the Indian troops were called in by the then Sikkim Prime Minister. I’m not including colonies in this list (as they don’t satisfy the ‘entire country’ part of the question) so that rules out Goa and West Papua. Nor am I including partial annexations - taking part of another state - so the Golan Heights, West Bank and East Jerusalem don’t count either. Nor am I including unseccussful seccessionist states - so Biafra and the attempted reestablishment of South Yemen don’t count either. Any glaring ommissions? ---
**Author:** ![OldGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/3bc359/32.png) [@OldGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OldGuy)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2012, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-recent-time-a-nation-was-conquered/641571/31 "2012-11-20T21:06:31Z")
> [@lisiate](#): > > Any glaring ommissions? The previously mentioned three Baltic states annexed by the USSR. Though they are once again independent. ---
**Author:** ![lisiate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f05b48/32.png) [@lisiate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lisiate)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2012, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-recent-time-a-nation-was-conquered/641571/32 "2012-11-20T21:20:32Z")
Yes, I should have pointed out that I wan’t counting the annexations that have been reversed, so the Baltic States, East Timor, and Kuwait are all out. ---
**Author:** ![phreesh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/9fc29f/32.png) [@phreesh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/phreesh)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2012, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-recent-time-a-nation-was-conquered/641571/33 "2012-11-20T21:33:52Z")
Does Sudan/South Sudan fit into this in some way? South Sudan was created by a referendum, but that was a lot of blood spilled before the referendum. And the Balkans. They emerged from Yugoslavia, but were their borders moved dued to military actions? I’m ignorant. ---
**Author:** ![lisiate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f05b48/32.png) [@lisiate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lisiate)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2012, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-recent-time-a-nation-was-conquered/641571/34 "2012-11-20T21:43:15Z")
Secessions are the opposite of annexations so South Sudan and the splitting up of Yugoslavia don’t count. ---
**Author:** ![dstarfire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dstarfire/32/5762_2.png) [@dstarfire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dstarfire)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2012, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-recent-time-a-nation-was-conquered/641571/35 "2012-11-20T22:05:09Z")
I’d say Tibet except that: 1. Tibet hasn’t been fully subsumed by China yet, despite their best efforts. It still maintains a unique culture and is considered by many to be an occupied state. 2. Tibet is nowhere near equal in power or size to China. Therefore, it doesn’t match the description of “country 1 is twice as big as it was before” Since the fallout from WWII settled, the only examples I could think of would be the continuing struggles in Africa, but since the original countries aren’t well defined or documented those aren’t really good examples, either. I think the OP is looking for something like what would’ve happened if Iran or Iraq had actually won that war they had back in the 80’s, or if the invasion of Kuwait had stuck. ---
**Author:** ![Cheshire\_Human](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Cheshire\_Human](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheshire_Human)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2012, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-recent-time-a-nation-was-conquered/641571/36 "2012-11-20T22:21:02Z")
> [@lisiate](#): > > Yes, **I should have pointed out** that I wan’t counting the annexations that have been reversed, You _did_ point that out, in your first sentence of your previous post: > [@lisiate](#): > > that have **stuck** to date [bold in both quotes added] ---
**Author:** ![ed\_anger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/bbce88/32.png) [@ed\_anger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ed_anger)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2012, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-recent-time-a-nation-was-conquered/641571/37 "2012-11-20T22:29:38Z")
> [@dstarfire](#): > > I’d say Tibet except that: > > 1. Tibet hasn’t been fully subsumed by China yet, despite their best efforts. It still maintains a unique culture and is considered by many to be an occupied state. > > 2. Tibet is nowhere near equal in power or size to China. Therefore, it doesn’t match the description of “country 1 is twice as big as it was before” he didn’t mean literally twice as big, he simply meant fully annexing another country, rather then swallowing just a piece. Tibet certainly counts and probably was the latest example. Everything since then has been a secession. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-recent-time-a-nation-was-conquered/641571.md?page=1)