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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 Legislature voted the country out of existence in 1933 when collapsing fish prices led to the threat of default on its World War One debt. This returned the ...
51
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 became a sovereign democratic republic when the Constitution of India came into force on 26 January 1950. This repealed the Indian Independence Act, and removed ...
39
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 ongoing conflict, the US recognized it from 1837. It is worth noting that (at least in most tellings) the goal was always to join the US, but politics within ...
27
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 colonizers off against each other, and military strength. These factors were, in turn, facilitated by centuries of diplomatic contacts with (as commented on by Denis ...
27
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://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Czechoslovakia
You could also include the reunification of Germany, or the various states of the Italian peninsula deciding to become a ...
23
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 "non-mainstream part of Spain. It formed the heart of the Kingdom of Aragon, which was united to the rest of Spain (Castile) by the marriage of Ferdinand of ...
22
According to Freedom at Midnight by Dominique Lapierre and Larry Collins (I have a link to Wikipedia but have read the book multiple times), the idea for Pakistan came from Choudhary Rahmat Ali, a student studying in England who pitched the idea to Mohammed Ali Jinnah at a dinner. Choudhary Rahmat Ali is also credited with coining the name "Pakistan". Jinnah ...
17
Summary
Strong perpetual rulers after independence from Spain led to the eventual breakup of early alliances.
Explanation
First we must consider the political subdivisions of the Spanish Empire in the Americas when Napoleon invaded Spain in 1808 (Peninsular War):
Viceroyalties: governed by viceroys (representatives of the monarch)
New Spain: roughly ...
16
Frankly a country made up of two large population lobes completely separated by 3000 kilometers of relatively hostile neighbor (or twice that in ocean) is bound to break up eventually. It just logistically can't work out very well, and culturally they are bound to start going their separate ways. I'm unaware of any country like that in history that lasted ...
14
One reason is because of the poor topography, and the lack of good transportation. Take the southern cone, for instance. The Andes Mountains divide Argentina and Chile. They also divide Colombia and Venezuela further north.
One kind of wonders why Uruguay and Paraguay are separate entities from Argentina, until one realizes that they formed around ...
14
The actual decision of how to divide the country - how to draw the partition line - was the work of, Sir Cyril Radcliffe, chair of the Border Commissions.
There were two border Commissions. One for Punjab and the other for Bengal. Each commission had 4 representatives. Of which, 2 were from the Indian National Congress and the other 2 were from the Muslim ...
14
The partition of India was undertaken per the Indian Independence Act of the British Parliament, taken after consultation with the main interest groups.
Gandhi agreed to the partition reluctantly; other groups, such as the Muslim League, enthusiastically.
13
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-branding of the old Russian Empire, just like the modern Russian Federation is the heir to the Soviet Union.
However, the Soviet state structure was a weird ...
13
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 power,and, or, more correctly, the final and uttermost understanding that those rights and power were never there in first place.
By looking at the past, and ...
13
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 to the Parliament in Westminster.
The vote was highly suspect; Scottish MPS were openly bribed with land and money to vote for the Union. As a result, a ...
12
Frankly, Korea's history has been so defined by external powers that it would be difficult to imagine what things would have been like without them. You are getting seriously into realms of speculative history.
For the most part, the reason people band together into large states or countries is so that they can deal with other such large entities. So it is ...
12
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 effectively led to the end of Britannia as a Roman province.
11
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 Germany.
10
Of the three answers Jayaraj's answer is the most appropriate. Other answers are purely technical. Those answers are akin to saying the US President is elected by the state electors ignoring the fact that the election by state electors is mostly a formality after the people of the United States have voted.
Jinnah didn't stop with just threatening violence. ...
10
Scotland was "ruled" by Edward Long Shanks, then under Robert the Bruce became free. In 1707, Scotland opted to join with England. The group chosen to discus the acts of union were chosen by a pro union Duke of Queensberry, and were mostly pro union.
Another case I remember reading was about Eadric Streona. He was a traitor for both the English and the ...
10
Patel himself withdrew from the race on Gandhi's request. As for why this request was made by Gandhi, this is a matter of speculation since Gandhi would rarely give reasons for his decisions. People speculate that it could be due to either Patel's close relations with the Hindu right-wing, and his acrimony with the leftist leaders. Though Nehru had never ...
10
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 Volontaires de Saint Domingue. This was a group of at least 500 free black volunteers from the French colony of Saint-Domingue who fought in the Revolutionary War. ...
10
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 Trails, Denis Robitaille, Ph.D, Président de la
Société d'histoire Forestière du Québec, tried to verify a familiar
anecdote about plantation of white pines ...
10
'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 millions of Indians, were to strive for complete independence, even if death is the result. It doesn't convey violent message but very basic desperation, which was the ...
10
Question:
Why did US invade Hawaii ？
Short Answer:
The United States was interested in expanding trade in the Far East. In order to accomplish this they needed coal refueling bases. Hawaii with it's excellent port of Pearl Harbor was a valuable intermediate station for the United States. In 1887 a group of American businessmen, missionaries, and ...
9
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 was largely a U.S. project to protect its Canal interests.
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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 respond with violence, to draw everyone's attention to the fact that they have no authority over the situation other than brute force.
As an example, I give you ...
9
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, a mob arose and killed roughly a hundred pieds-noirs.
You're right about the repression that followed, but the massacre itself doesn't seem to have been ...
9
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 North Constantinois FLN, in order to revive a flagging movement
and thwart the advances made by Jacques Soustelle, delegate general of
the French government ...
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