List_of_military_occupations

List of military occupations

List of military occupations

Add article description


This article presents a list of military occupations, both historic and contemporary, but only those that have taken place since the customary laws of belligerent military occupation were first clarified and supplemented by the Hague Convention of 1907.[1]

As currently understood in international law, "military occupation" is the effective military control by a power of a territory outside of said power's recognized sovereign territory.[2] The occupying power in question may be an individual state or a supranational organization, such as the United Nations.

Contemporary occupations

Military occupations as of 2024 (for colouring correspondence, see below)
More information Territory, Since ...

Historical occupations

Events before the Hague Convention of 1907 are out of scope.

1907–1919 (miscellaneous)

More information Occupied territory, Years ...

World War I and immediate aftermath

More information Occupied territory, Years ...

1920–1946 (miscellaneous)

More information Occupied territory, Years ...

World War II: build up and immediate aftermath

More information Occupied territory, Years ...

1947–1959

1960–1979

More information Occupied territory, Years ...

1980–1999

2000–2019

More information Occupied territory, Years ...

2020–present

More information Occupied territory, Years ...

See also

Bibliography

  • Secretariat of the European Parliament DG-EXPO (2015), Occupation/Annexation of a Territory: Respect for International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights and Consistent EU Policy (PDF)
  • Chapman, Jessica M. (2013). Cauldron of Resistance: Ngo Dinh Diem, the United States, and 1950s Southern Vietnam. Ithaca, New York: Cornell University Press. ISBN 978-0-8014-5061-7.

Footnotes and references

Footnotes

  1. Seized during the Transnistria War; administered as the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic, a state with limited international recognition.
  2. Seized during the Russo-Georgian War; administered as states with limited international recognition.
  3. The occupation of Donetsk and Luhansk Oblasts occurred in two stages. The south of Luhansk Oblast and the southeast of Donetsk Oblast were occupied by Russian-backed separatists from 2014 to 2022. Later, in 2022, the north of Luhansk Oblast (i.e. almost the entire oblast) and the southwest of Donetsk Oblast (e.g. Mariupol) came under Russian occupation. Parts of the northeast of Donetsk Oblast were also occupied, but areas such as Lyman have been retaken by Ukraine as of October 2022.
  4. Russia's occupation of Kherson Oblast (nearly the entire oblast) and Zaporizhzhia Oblast (only the southern portion) began in 2022. On the other hand, Donetsk and Luhansk Oblasts were initially partially occupied by Russian-backed separatists back in 2014. In 2022, larger areas of Donetsk and Luhansk Oblasts came under Russian occupation, and the Russian-backed separatists handed over absolute control to Russia, effectively designating the entire area as Russian-occupied (as opposed to separatists-occupied). In Zaporizhzhia Oblast, Russia lacks control of the capital city, Zaporizhzhia, but controls the second-biggest city, Melitopol, which is acting as the de facto capital. Parts of the northwest of Kherson Oblast have been retaken by Ukraine as of October 2022.
  5. As of November 2022, Russia does not control significant portions of Kherson Oblast, Zaporizhzhia Oblast, and Donetsk Oblast. In particular, Russia does not control the capital cities of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia Oblasts, namely Kherson and Zaporizhzhia, respectively. Russia formerly controlled Kherson for over eight months throughout 2022 after capturing it in the Battle of Kherson, although the city was eventually liberated by Ukraine following the successful 2022 Ukrainian southern counteroffensive on 10–11 November 2022. Russia never managed to occupy the city of Zaporizhzhia at any point. Meanwhile, Russia has never managed to occupy a significant portion of Donetsk Oblast in the northwest, although Russia does control the capital city, Donetsk. As for Luhansk Oblast, Russia controls nearly the entire oblast as of November 2022.
  6. Russia occupied territory in the southeast of Mykolaiv Oblast during the 2022 invasion. After failing to occupy the capital city, Mykolaiv, Russian forces withdrew to the extreme southeast, near the border with Kherson Oblast. On 30 September 2022, when Russia annexed Kherson Oblast, Russia also streamlined two small parts of Mykolaiv Oblast into Kherson Oblast, namely the city of Snihurivka and its surroundings,[7] as well as the outer portion of the Kinburn Peninsula. As of 10 November 2022, the city of Snihurivka[8][9] and its surroundings[10][11] have been completely liberated following the successful 2022 Ukrainian southern counteroffensive, although the outer Kinburn Peninsula is still under Russian occupation.[12]
  7. As of November 2022, only a tiny sliver of Kharkiv Oblast in the far northeast is still occupied by Russian forces.
  8. The West Bank (including East Jerusalem) was occupied by Jordan[17] and the Gaza Strip was occupied by Egypt[18] from 1948 to 1967, and have been occupied by Israel since 1967.[19] The State of Palestine, which claims these territories, was not founded until 1988 (see Palestinian Declaration of Independence). The State of Palestine is, as of November 2015, recognised by 136 countries and is also a United Nations non-member observer.[20]
  9. Seized during the Six-Day War from Jordan; effectively annexed in 1980 via the Jerusalem Law.
  10. The West Bank was seized during the Six-Day War from Jordan, and is administered by the Israeli Civil Administration. The Oslo II Accord, officially signed on 28 September 1995, divided the West Bank into the Area C administered by Israel and the Area A and B administered by the Palestinian National Authority.

    The Gaza Strip was seized during the Six-Day War from Egypt. In 2005, Israel disengaged its military forces from the strip and no longer considers itself to be occupying the territory. Gaza's border crossings with Israel and maritime and air space are controlled by Israel. As of 2012, the United Nations "continue to refer to the Gaza Strip as part of the Occupied Palestinian Territory until such time as either the General Assembly or the Security Council take a different view."[24]
  11. Still considered occupied despite the 2005 Israeli disengagement from Gaza.[25] The system of control imposed by Israel has been described as an "indirect occupation".[26] Some other legal scholars have disputed the idea that Israel still occupies Gaza.[citation needed]
  12. Seized during the Six-Day War; effectively annexed in 1981 via the Golan Heights Law. Lebanon also claims the Shebaa farms and sees the territory as being under Israeli occupation.
  13. Seized during the Turkish invasion of Cyprus; administered as the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, a state with limited international recognition
  14. Seized during the Western Sahara War; de facto annexed; administered as the Southern Provinces; claimed by the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic, a state with limited international recognition.
  15. Most of the Allies had withdrawn by 1920, Japan continued to occupy Northern Sakhalin until 1925.
  16. On 7 July 1941, the defence of Iceland was transferred from Britain to the United States.
  17. Occupied the rest of France from 1942
  18. On March 26, 1949, the US department of State issued a circular letter stating that the Baltic countries were still independent nations with their own diplomatic representatives and consuls.[42]
  19. From the Welles Declaration of July 23, 1940, "that we would not recognise the occupation, the United States acted with a consistency and a tenacity of which we can all be proud. We housed the exiled Baltic diplomatic delegations. We accredited their diplomats. We flew their flags in the State Department's Hall of Flags. We never recognised in deed or word or symbol the illegal occupation of their lands."[43]
  20. A status of forces agreement was signed in December 1956 to formally regulate the position of Soviet troops in Poland, which had been there since the end of the Second World War. After the end of the country's Soviet-backed Communist regime in 1989, the last Soviet contingent would leave the country in 1993.
  21. A status of forces agreement was signed in 1947 to regulate the position of Soviet troops in Hungary, which was further confirmed by Hungary's later membership in Comecon in 1949. Soviet troops would remain stationed in Hungary until 1991.
  22. The Tokara Islands were restored to Japan in 1952. The Amami Islands were restored in 1953.
  23. The All-Palestine Government was de facto controlled by Egypt. Formal occupation occurred only from 1959 to 1967 after that government was dissolved.
  24. Israel withdrew from Taba in 1989.
  25. Government control ended with the Velvet Revolution in late 1989, and stationed Soviet troops departed peacefully over 1990–1991.
  26. These oblasts of Ukraine were all partially occupied by Russia during the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. However, these oblasts were eventually relinquished after several weeks. On the other hand, Russia has also occupied (parts of) Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk, and Zaporizhzhia Oblasts during the same invasion, eventually annexing them (including uncontrolled parts) in September–October 2022. Additionally, amid the 2022 annexation, Russia streamlined two small parts of Mykolaiv Oblast into Kherson Oblast, namely the city of Snihurivka and its surroundings,[7] as well as the outer portion of the Kinburn Peninsula. Earlier, Russia occupied and annexed Crimea (including Sevastopol) in 2014, which was also previously administered by Ukraine.
  27. The Chernobyl Exclusion Zone, the site of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster in 1986, was captured by Russia during the 2022 invasion. Most of Chernobyl EZ lies within Kyiv Oblast (and partially within Zhytomyr Oblast), but it is off-limits to civilians. Chernobyl EZ was retaken by Ukraine in March–April 2022.
  28. Snake Island, which is administratively part of Odesa Oblast and located in the Black Sea, was captured by Russia at the beginning of the invasion, on 24 February 2022. Snake Island was retaken by Ukraine on 30 June 2022.
  29. Russia still controls a small part of Kharkiv Oblast, which it has not officially annexed.

References

  1. "Laws and Customs of War on Land (Hague IV); October 18, 1907". Archived from the original on 1999-02-25. Retrieved June 20, 2015 via The Avalon Project at the Yale Law School.
  2. Bracka, J. (2021). Transitional Justice for Israel/Palestine: Truth-Telling and Empathy in Ongoing Conflict. Springer series in transitional justice. Springer International Publishing AG. ISBN 978-3-030-89435-1. Today, the widely accepted definition of occupation is 'the effective control of a power (be it one or more states or an international organization, such as the United Nations) over a territory to which that power has no sovereign title, without the volition of the sovereign of that territory'
  3. Duval, A.; Kassoti, E. (2020). The Legality of Economic Activities in Occupied Territories: International, EU Law and Business and Human Rights Perspectives. Routledge Research in International Economic Law. Taylor & Francis. ISBN 978-1-000-08873-1. In the West Bank, Israel pays lip service to the notion of a temporary occupation that is to be brought to an end by negotiation but in practice it has de facto annexed large portions of the territory under the pretext of security – as evidenced by the Wall in Palestinian territory – or by the settling of some 400,000 of its own citizens in the territory. In most cases today, however, the occupying power has formally annexed the territory in question. This is illustrated by the cases of Israel's annexations of East Jerusalem and the Golan, Morocco's annexation of Western Sahara and Russia's annexation of the Crimea. Alternatively, the occupying power has established a puppet regime that claims to be the TRNC, Abkhazia and South Ossetia.
  4. Peter Bursens; Christ'l De Landtsheer; Luc Braeckmans; Barbara Segaert, eds. (2016). Complex Political Decision-Making: Leadership, Legitimacy and Communication. Taylor & Francis. p. 170. ISBN 9781315453521.
  5. Geiß, Robin (2015). "Russia's Annexation of Crimea: The Mills of International Law Grind Slowly but They Do Grind". International Law Studies. 91. the Stockton Center for the Study of International Law. Retrieved 2019-10-11.
  6. Secretariat of the European Parliament DG-EXPO 2015, p. 15: "Territory may further be controlled by an armed group. This could be a rebel group which wants to take over control of the government of the state in question or it could be a group that wants to secede from the state and form a new state or have the territory transferred to another state. [...] There is no term in international law for such territory. [...] In some cases, the armed group in power in such a territory may be under the control of or under the influence of a foreign power. As has been held by the European Court of Human Rights, Turkey is legally responsible for human rights violations committed in the non-recognised 'Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus' (TRNC). It is possible that the situation is similar in the self-proclaimed peoples' republics in Donetsk and Lugansk."
  7. Special Kherson Cat 🐈🇺🇦 [@bayraktar_1love] (November 10, 2022). "Snihurivka, Mykolaiv oblast - liberated 10/11/2022 https://t.co/eZSRD5c3uV" (Tweet). Archived from the original on 15 November 2022. Retrieved 13 December 2022 via Twitter.
  8. ТРУХА⚡️English [@TpyxaNews] (November 11, 2022). "The Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation has published a map where the entire Western bank of the Kherson region is no longer occupied by Russians https://t.co/K6CM40k9Tx" (Tweet). Archived from the original on 11 November 2022. Retrieved 13 December 2022 via Twitter.
  9. "Israel plans 1,300 East Jerusalem Jewish settler homes". BBC News. 9 November 2010. Retrieved 2019-10-11.
  10. "Chapter 12: The status of Jerusalem" (PDF). The Question of Palestine & the United Nations (Brochure). United Nations Department of Public Information. March 2003. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2003-09-02.
  11. "Israeli authorities back 600 new East Jerusalem homes". BBC News. 26 February 2010. Retrieved 2019-10-11.
  12. "Palestinian territories - Timeline". BBC News. 8 July 2015. Retrieved November 30, 2015.
  13. "Amid violence, 'glaring lack of hope,' UN deputy chief urges action to break Israeli-Palestinian impasse". UN News. 23 November 2015. Archived from the original on 26 November 2015. Retrieved November 30, 2015.
  14. Secretariat of the European Parliament DG-EXPO 2015, p. 14: "An occupied territory may also be illegally annexed [...] Annexation means that the territory is incorporated into another state and is being regarded by that state as a part of its territory. Among contemporary examples, one finds the Golan Heights, East Jerusalem, Western Sahara and Crimea. Under current international law, annexation can only be carried out after a peace treaty, and preferably after a referendum. Annexations which do not correspond to this requirement – like those just mentioned – are illegal."
  15. Legal Consequences of the Construction of a Wall in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (PDF) (Advisory opinion). Reports of Judgments, Advisory Opinions and Orders. International Court of Justice. 2004. ISBN 92-1-070993-4. Retrieved 2019-10-11.
  16. Secretariat of the European Parliament DG-EXPO 2015, p. 14: "Territory over which a foreign power has taken control is occupied. [...] An occupation is supposed to be a temporary status, but current reality shows that territory may be occupied for decades; the West Bank and Gaza have been occupied for 48 years."
    • Sanger, Andrew (2011). "The Contemporary Law of Blockade and the Gaza Freedom Flotilla". In M.N. Schmitt; Louise Arimatsu; Tim McCormack (eds.). Yearbook of International Humanitarian Law - 2010. Vol. 13. Springer Science & Business Media. p. 429. doi:10.1007/978-90-6704-811-8_14. ISBN 978-90-6704-811-8. Israel claims it no longer occupies the Gaza Strip, maintaining that it is neither a Stale nor a territory occupied or controlled by Israel, but rather it has 'sui generis' status. Pursuant to the Disengagement Plan, Israel dismantled all military institutions and settlements in Gaza and there is no longer a permanent Israeli military or civilian presence in the territory. However the Plan also provided that Israel will guard and monitor the external land perimeter of the Gaza Strip, will continue to maintain exclusive authority in Gaza air space, and will continue to exercise security activity in the sea off the coast of the Gaza Strip as well as maintaining an Israeli military presence on the Egyptian-Gaza border. and reserving the right to reenter Gaza at will.
      Israel continues to control six of Gaza's seven land crossings, its maritime borders and airspace and the movement of goods and persons in and out of the territory. Egypt controls one of Gaza's land crossings. Troops from the Israeli Defence Force regularly enter pans of the territory and/or deploy missile attacks, drones and sonic bombs into Gaza. Israel has declared a no-go buffer zone that stretches deep into Gaza: if Gazans enter this zone they are shot on sight. Gaza is also dependent on Israel for water, electricity, telecommunications and other utilities, currency, issuing IDs, and permits to enter and leave the territory. Israel also has sole control of the Palestinian Population Registry through which the Israeli Army regulates who is classified as a Palestinian and who is a Gazan or West Banker. Since 2000 aside from a limited number of exceptions Israel has refused to add people to the Palestinian Population Registry.
      It is this direct external control over Gaza and indirect control over life within Gaza that has led the United Nations, the UN General Assembly, the UN Fact Finding Mission to Gaza, International human rights organisations, US Government websites, the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office and a significant number of legal commentators, to reject the argument that Gaza is no longer occupied.
    • Scobbie, Iain (2012). Elizabeth Wilmshurst (ed.). International Law and the Classification of Conflicts. Oxford University Press. p. 295. ISBN 978-0-19-965775-9. Even after the accession to power of Hamas, Israel's claim that it no longer occupies Gaza has not been accepted by UN bodies, most States, nor the majority of academic commentators because of its exclusive control of its border with Gaza and crossing points including the effective control it exerted over the Rafah crossing until at least May 2011, its control of Gaza's maritime zones and airspace which constitute what Aronson terms the 'security envelope' around Gaza, as well as its ability to intervene forcibly at will in Gaza.
    • Gawerc, Michelle (2012). Prefiguring Peace: Israeli–Palestinian Peacebuilding Partnerships. Lexington Books. p. 44. ISBN 978-0-7391-6610-9. While Israel withdrew from the immediate territory, Israel still controlled all access to and from Gaza through the border crossings, as well as through the coastline and the airspace. In addition, Gaza was dependent upon Israel for water, electricity, sewage, communication networks, and for its trade (Gisha 2007. Dowty 2008). ln other words, while Israel maintained that its occupation of Gaza ended with its unilateral disengagement, Palestinians—as well as many human right organizations and international bodies—argued that Gaza was by all intents and purposes still occupied.
  17. Slater, Jerome (October 2012). "Just War Moral Philosophy and the 2008–09 Israeli Campaign in Gaza" (PDF). International Security. 37 (2): 44–80. doi:10.1162/ISEC_a_00098. S2CID 57565733. Retrieved 2019-10-11.
  18. Occupied territory:
  19. Korman, Sharon (1996). The Right of Conquest: The Acquisition of Territory by Force in International Law and Practice. Oxford University Press. p. 265. ISBN 0-19-828007-6. The continued occupation of the Syrian Golan Heights is recognized by many states as valid and consistent with the provisions of the United Nations Charter, on a self-defence basis. Israel, on this view, would be entitled to exact as a condition of withdrawal from the territory the imposition of security measures of an indefinite character—such as perpetual demilitarization, or the emplacement of a United Nations force—which would ensure, or tend to ensure, that the territory would not be used against it for aggression on future occasions. But the notion that Israel is entitled to claim any status other than that of belligerent occupant in the territory which it occupies, or to act beyond the strict bounds laid down in the Fourth Geneva Convention, has been universally rejected by the international community—no less by the United States than by any other state.
  20. "Trump signs decree recognizing Israeli sovereignty over Golan Heights". Reuters. 25 March 2019. Archived from the original on 25 March 2019. Retrieved 2019-10-11.
  21. "Syria vows to fight against 'occupiers' US, Turkey, Israel". Middle East Monitor. 20 May 2020. Retrieved 28 May 2020.
  22. Kajjo, Sirwan (2 March 2017). "Skirmishes Mar Fight Against IS in Northern Syria". Voice of America. Turkish occupation "is an existential threat to the Assad government's ability to reclaim the entirety of its territory, which is a key argument that regime loyalists make in their support of Bashar al-Assad's government," Heras said.
  23. Fisk, Robert (29 March 2017). "In northern Syria, defeated Isis fighters leave behind only scorched earth, trenches – and a crucifixion stand". The Independent. You can't mistake the front line between the Syrian army and Turkey's occupation force east of Aleppo.
  24. UN Security Council resolutions 353, 357, 358, 359, 360, and 365.
  25. "Military occupation of Western Sahara by Morocco". Rule of Law in Armed Conflicts. Geneva Academy of International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights. Retrieved 2019-10-11.
  26. "1913 I Leo Freundlich: Albania's Golgotha: Indictment of the Exterminators of the Albanian People". Texts and Documents of Albanian History. Translated by Elsie, Robert. Archived from the original on 2012-05-04.
  27. Kerchnawe, Hugo; Mitzka, Rudolf; Sobotka, Felix; Leidl, Hermann; Krauss, Alfred (1928). Die Militärverwaltung in den von den österreichisch-ungarischen Truppen besetzten Gebieten, Nide 4 (in German). Hölder-Pichler-Tempsky A.G.
  28. Feldbrugge, F. J. M.; Van den Berg, G. P.; Simons, William B., eds. (1985). Encyclopedia of Soviet Law (2nd revised ed.). Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, Dordrecht. p. 461. ISBN 90-247-3075-9.
  29. "U.S.-Baltic Relations: Celebrating 85 Years of Friendship" (PDF) (Press release). U.S. Department of State. June 14, 2007. Archived from the original (PDF) on August 19, 2012. Retrieved June 21, 2015.
  30. "Far East (Formosa and the Pescadores)". Hansard. 540 (cc1870–4). U.K. Parliament. May 4, 1955. Retrieved 2010-09-01. The sovereignty was Japanese until 1952. The Japanese Treaty came into force, and at that time Formosa was being administered by the Chinese Nationalists, to whom it was entrusted in 1945, as a military occupation.
  31. Chapman 2013, pp. 30–31.
  32. Benvenisti, Eyal (2012-02-23). The International Law of Occupation. OUP Oxford. ISBN 978-0-19-958889-3.
  33. Cohen, Stephen P. (1987). The Security of South Asia: American and Asian Perspectives. University of Illinois Press. pp. 38, 40.
  34. "Africa :: Congo, Democratic Republic of the". The World Factbook. Central Intelligence Agency. Retrieved June 20, 2015.
  35. "Decision regarding delimitation of the border between Eritrea and Ethiopia" (PDF). Reports of International Arbitral Awards. 13 April 2002. pp. 83–195. Retrieved 2017-05-18.
  36. "Eritrea-Ethiopia Boundary Commission". Permanent Court of Arbitration. Retrieved 2017-05-18.
  37. "Coalition troops in Iraq". BBC News. 20 July 2004. Retrieved 2019-07-01.
  38. "Ethiopia Marks Yearlong Occupation in Somalia". Voice of America. 1 November 2009. Archived from the original on 2015-06-21.

Share this article:

This article uses material from the Wikipedia article List_of_military_occupations, and is written by contributors. Text is available under a CC BY-SA 4.0 International License; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.