70
votes
Accepted
Have there been any countries that voted themselves out of existence?
Frequently.
Newfoundland and Labrador
The most recent example might be Newfoundland and Labrador, which in 1949 voted to join Canada as its tenth province. A Dominion from 1907, the Newfoundland ...
- 67.4k
51
votes
Accepted
Why did the UK allow India to be a republic rather than a democratic parliament under the British Monarch?
That's an interesting question. When India first gained independence from the United Kingdom on 15 August 1947 it was as The Dominion of India, with King George VI as king and Head of State.
India ...
- 76.2k
44
votes
What's the difference between Kosovo's & the Confederate States of America's declaration of independence?
The difference is that while Kosovo broke away from a country which had tried to exterminate its inhabitants, the slave states broke away so that they could continue to enslave some of their ...
- 12.8k
40
votes
Have there been any countries that voted themselves out of existence?
The present US state of Texas was (at least in its own eyes) an independently sovereign country from 1836 until joining the US in 1846. Mexico never really recognized its independence and there was ...
- 501
27
votes
Have there been any countries that voted themselves out of existence?
Another interesting example - though almost the opposite of voting to join another country - is Czechoslovakia, which voted to divide itself into two countries, Slovakia and the Czech Republic: https:/...
- 2,865
26
votes
Accepted
Why didn't Britain or any other European power colonize Abyssinia/Ethiopia before 1936?
Abyssinia / Ethiopia (the borders of which expanded and contracted frequently over the centuries) maintained its independence until 1936 by a combination of diplomatic skill in playing would-be ...
- 106k
25
votes
What's the difference between Kosovo's & the Confederate States of America's declaration of independence?
'Precedent' is a more or less meaningless word in international relations. Don't make the mistake of thinking that international relations are governed by any kind of set rules or that international ...
- 2,988
23
votes
How has Catalonia ended up being so nationalist?
Short answer: The latest flareup is the most recent of many that have taken place over the centuries.
More details are found in this wiki article on Catalonia. But basically, Catalonia was always the ...
- 103k
13
votes
Accepted
Why did Russian Federation declare independence from Soviet Union?
To summarize @semaphore's comments which should be the accepted answer:
Technically, Russia was not the USSR (just like England is not Britain or UK.)
Of course, de-facto, USSR was just a re-...
- 25.5k
13
votes
How has Catalonia ended up being so nationalist?
a response from a mostly neutral, catalan born citizen.
TL;DR:
Catalonia isn't suffering a rise of nationalism, but of neo-autonomism / pro-independence, mainly due to loss of civil rights, economic ...
- 1,479
13
votes
What are some examples of nations that involuntarily gained independence?
Britain (sort of)
In 410 CE, the Roman emperor Honorius refused to send soldiers to the island to defend it, basically leaving it to fend for itself against the invaders from across the sea. This ...
- 5,401
13
votes
Have there been any countries that voted themselves out of existence?
In 1707, the parliament of the sovereign state that was Scotland (with its own currency, parliament and legal system) voted to join an incorporating Union with England. This led to Scottish MPs going ...
- 239
12
votes
Have there been any countries that voted themselves out of existence?
In 1938 Austria had a referendum on becoming part of Germany.
The vote was not democratic as Austria had been occupied by Germany at the time, but it still led to the „Anschluss“ of Austria to ...
- 229
10
votes
Was anyone a notable participant in both the American Revolution and the Latin American Wars of Independence (as a liberator)?
Henri Christophe might fit the bill, although he is not counted among the Libertadores and only had a bit part in the American Revolution.
As a drummer boy, he participated in the Chasseurs ...
- 17.4k
10
votes
Why did Gandhi give the violent "Do or Die" slogan to the Quit India movement?
'Do or Die' is a very common phrase in India which almost never infer violence. Google interpret this phrase as 'persist, even if death is the result.'
Thus, what Gandhi was trying to convey ...
10
votes
Accepted
Why did Gandhi give the violent "Do or Die" slogan to the Quit India movement?
Non-violent resistance doesn't mean there won't be violence (including possibly death) happening. It just means you won't be the one committing it. In fact, it is the goal to induce the oppressor to ...
- 109k
10
votes
Accepted
Was there a massacre in the Algerian war calculated to provoke French reprisals?
That would be the Philippeville massacres of 1955, which marked a severe escalation in the Algerian War of Independence.
The massacres broke out at the initiative of Youcef Zighoud, head of
the ...
- 116
9
votes
What are some examples of nations that involuntarily gained independence?
The degree to which Panama sought its own independence from Colombia / Gran Colombia may pale next to the interests of the U.S. in separating it. In other words, Panamanian independence from Colombia ...
- 27.3k
9
votes
Accepted
"Three Pines" as code for British Loyalists during the Revolutionary War
This may be more than fictional backstory. From a website concerning genealogy of Loyalist ancestry:
Softwoods also have significance for Loyalist descendants. In the Jan
10 issue of Loyalist ...
- 33.8k
9
votes
Was there a massacre in the Algerian war calculated to provoke French reprisals?
I believe the mention is of the massacre at Sétif in May 1945. This was one of the earliest events leading into the Algerian war of independence. After an anticolonial protester was killed by police, ...
- 27.3k
9
votes
What's the difference between Kosovo's & the Confederate States of America's declaration of independence?
The precedent the article talks about is that Kosovo was recognized as an independent state by major powers very soon.
No country ever recognized the Confederacy as an independent country.
- 3,526
8
votes
Why M.K. Gandhi preferred Nehru for Prime Minister candidate and not Sardar Patel?
There were some practical and some psychological reasons for Gandhi's soft spot for Nehru.
Nehru had wanted to give his Trust fund to Mahatma and adopt a simple life. This was a purely emotional ...
- 1,122
8
votes
Is there any country(former colony) in the world that obtained independence and then again tried to join its colonist ruler?
A textbook example of this occurred in Zimbabwe/Rhodesia in 1979.
The country had been effectively independent for 14 years. A whites-only government had unilaterally declared independence from ...
- 11.5k
8
votes
What are some examples of nations that involuntarily gained independence?
Slovakia in 1992. Well, kind of. The (perhaps) only party that had independence on its political agenda was the Slovak National Party (8% votes), the outright independence was neither supported nor ...
- 1,673
8
votes
What are some examples of nations that involuntarily gained independence?
Bantustans were carved out of South Africa by the insistence of South African apartheid government, and some (4) of them granted independence. It is difficult to comment on the willingness of the ...
- 1,673
8
votes
What are some examples of nations that involuntarily gained independence?
Kazakhstan could be considered one such country.
While the dissolution of the USSR was a fairly long process that included many republics declaring themselves sovereign within the Union, the ...
- 4,507
8
votes
What's the difference between Kosovo's & the Confederate States of America's declaration of independence?
Let's be clear about what happened with regards to Kosovo. In 2010 the International Court of Justice issued an advisory opinion at the request of the United Nations General Assembly. The key ...
- 17.4k
7
votes
Is there any country(former colony) in the world that obtained independence and then again tried to join its colonist ruler?
Bonaire, Sint Eustatius, and Saba are Netherlands Antilles islands which have rejoined the Netherlands following the breakup of the Netherlands Antilles as a country. The other 3 Antilles islands have ...
- 267
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible