Detachment (Old French de, from, and [at]tach, joining with a stake) under international law is the formal, permanent separation of and loss of sovereignty over some territory to another geopolitical entity (either adjacent or noncontiguous). Detachment can be considered the opposite or reverse of annexation.
A prominent example of detachment is the official and formal relinquishment of Alsace and Lorraine by Germany, following World War I. More often, however, detachment is a result of the creation of a new, sub-national geographical entity within one country. When detachment occurs within a country, the new entity is usually administered subsequently by a supervening entity, [1] [2] such as a national/federal government. For example, after the United States became independent in 1776, it was considered desirable, for various reasons, for the federal capital to be situated beyond the boundaries and jurisdiction of the constituent States. Consequently, in 1790, the States of Maryland and Virginia agreed to permanently detach adjoining areas on their border, to become the District of Columbia (DC), including the site of the future city of Washington DC. The formal removal of a smaller area from a city, town, or incorporated, non-urban district is also considered to be a form of detachment. [1] [3] For example, while the city of Alexandria, Virginia and the neighboring Alexandria County were detached from Virginia, to become a founding parts of the District of Columbia, the residents of Alexandria and Alexandria County (later Arlington County) began to campaign for the area's "retrocession" (or reattachment) to Virginia. This occurred in 1847.
The formal detachment of Egypt from the Ottoman Empire was a condition for British investment in the Suez Canal. [4]
After World War I, a number of colonial territories and border territories were detached from the German Empire as well as portions of the Austrian-Hungarian Empire and the Ottoman Empire. Some of the detachments were incorporated directly into new countries, such as Yugoslavia, or annexed by existing countries such as Northern Schleswig into Denmark. Some, however, particularly in the Middle East and those of the German colonies, were placed under the "protection" of one or another of the Allied countries that had won the war, including Germany's concessions in China, Kiautschou and Chefoo. From a rule of law standpoint, the protectoratess were not war booty but "mandates" from a legally-constituted international body and so detachment occurred without annexation. [5]
A League of Nations mandate was a legal status for certain territories transferred from the control of one country to another following World War I, or the legal instruments that contained the internationally agreed-upon terms for administering the territory on behalf of the League of Nations. These were of the nature of both a treaty and a constitution, which contained minority rights clauses that provided for the rights of petition and adjudication by the Permanent Court of International Justice.
The Suez Canal is an artificial sea-level waterway in Egypt, connecting the Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea through the Isthmus of Suez and dividing Africa and Asia. The 193.30 km (120.11 mi) long canal is a popular trade route between Europe and Asia.
An independent city or independent town is a city or town that does not form part of another general-purpose local government entity.
Egypt was a major battlefield in the North African campaign during the Second World War, being the location of the First and Second Battles of El Alamein. Legally an independent kingdom, and an equal sovereign power in the condominium of Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, in reality Egypt was heavily under the coercive influence of the United Kingdom, a state of affairs that had persisted since the United Kingdom intervened militarily in the Urabi Revolt in favour of Egypt's Khedive, Tewfik Pasha, in 1882, subsequently occupying the country.
Succession of states is a concept in international relations regarding a successor state that has become a sovereign state over a territory that was previously under the sovereignty of another state. The theory has its roots in 19th-century diplomacy. A successor state often acquires a new international legal personality, which is distinct from a continuing state, also known as a continuator or historical heir, which despite change to its borders retains the same legal personality and possess all its existing rights and obligations.
Enosis is the movement of various Greek communities that live outside Greece for incorporation of the regions that they inhabit into the Greek state. The idea is related to the Megali Idea, an irredentist concept of a Greek state that dominated Greek politics following the creation of modern Greece in 1830. The Megali Idea called for the annexation of all ethnic Greek lands, parts of which had participated in the Greek War of Independence in the 1820s but were unsuccessful and so remained under foreign rule.
Diplomatic recognition in international law is a unilateral declarative political act of a state that acknowledges an act or status of another state or government in control of a state. Recognition can be accorded either on a de facto or de jure basis. Recognition can be a declaration to that effect by the recognizing government or may be implied from an act of recognition, such as entering into a treaty with the other state or making a state visit. Recognition may, but need not, have domestic and international legal consequences. If sufficient countries recognise a particular entity as a state, that state may have a right to membership in international organizations, while treaties may require all existing member countries unanimously agreeing to the admission of a new member.
The Egyptian Army or Egyptian Ground Forces is the land warfare branch of the Egyptian Armed Forces. It is the largest service branch of the Egyptian Armed Forces.
The Convention of Constantinople is a treaty concerning the use of the Suez Canal in Egypt. It was signed on 29 October 1888 by the United Kingdom, Germany, Austria-Hungary, Spain, France, Italy, the Netherlands, the Russian Empire, and the Ottoman Empire. The Khedivate of Egypt, through whose territory the Canal ran, and to whom all shares in the Suez Canal Company were due to revert when the company's 99-year lease to manage the Canal expired, was not invited to participate in the negotiations, and did not sign the treaty.
A political union is a type of political entity which is composed of, or created from, smaller polities, or the process which achieves this. These smaller polities are usually called federated states and federal territories in a federal government; and prefectures, regions, or provinces in the case of a centralised government. This form of government may be created through voluntary and mutual cession and is described as unionism by its constituent members and proponents. In other cases, it may arise from political unification, characterised by coercion and conquest. The unification of separate states which, in the past, had together constituted a single entity, is known as reunification. Unlike a personal union or real union, the individual constituent entities may have devolution of powers but are subordinate to a central government or coordinated in some sort of organization. In a federalised system, the constituent entities usually have internal autonomy, for example in the setup of police departments, and share power with the federal government, for whom external sovereignty, military forces, and foreign affairs are usually reserved. The union is recognised internationally as a single political entity. A political union may also be called a legislative union or state union.
An international zone is any area not fully subject to the border control policies of the state in which it is located. There are several types of international zones ranging from special economic zones and sterile zones at ports of entry exempt from customs rules to concessions over which administration is ceded to one or more foreign states. International zones may also maintain distinct visa policies from the rest of the surrounding state.
The recorded history of the Crimean Peninsula, historically known as Tauris, Taurica, and the Tauric Chersonese, begins around the 5th century BCE when several Greek colonies were established along its coast, the most important of which was Chersonesos near modern day Sevastopol, with Scythians and Tauri in the hinterland to the north. The southern coast gradually consolidated into the Bosporan Kingdom which was annexed by Pontus and then became a client kingdom of Rome. The south coast remained Greek in culture for almost two thousand years including under Roman successor states, the Byzantine Empire, the Empire of Trebizond, and the independent Principality of Theodoro. In the 13th century, some Crimean port cities were controlled by the Venetians and by the Genovese, but the interior was much less stable, enduring a long series of conquests and invasions. In the medieval period, it was partially conquered by Kievan Rus' whose prince Vladimir the Great was baptised at Sevastopol, which marked the beginning of the Christianization of Kievan Rus'. During the Mongol invasion of Europe, the north and centre of Crimea fell to the Mongol Golden Horde, and in the 1440s the Crimean Khanate formed out of the collapse of the horde but quite rapidly itself became subject to the Ottoman Empire, which also conquered the coastal areas which had kept independent of the Khanate. A major source of prosperity in these times was frequent raids into Russia for slaves.
The Kingdom of Egypt was the legal form of the Egyptian state during the latter period of the Muhammad Ali dynasty's reign, from the United Kingdom's recognition of Egyptian independence in 1922 until the abolition of the monarchy of Egypt and Sudan in 1953 following the Egyptian Revolution of 1952. Until the Anglo-Egyptian Treaty of 1936, the Kingdom was only nominally independent, as the United Kingdom retained control of foreign relations, communications, the military, and Sudan. Officially, Sudan was governed as a condominium of the two states, however, in reality, true power in Sudan lay with the United Kingdom. Between 1936 and 1952, the United Kingdom continued to maintain its military presence, and its political advisers, at a reduced level.
In politics, a partition is a change of political borders cutting through at least one territory considered a homeland by some community.
The Italian colonial empire, whose East African territories were known between 1936 and 1941 as The Empire (L'Impero), began in Africa in the 19th century and comprised the colonies, protectorates, concessions and dependencies of the Kingdom of Italy. In Africa, the colonial empire included the territories of present-day Libya, Eritrea, Somalia and Ethiopia ; outside Africa, Italy possessed the Dodecanese Islands, Albania, and had a concession in China.
Annexation, in international law, is the forcible acquisition of one state's territory by another state, usually following military occupation of the territory. It is generally held to be an illegal act. Annexation is an unilateral act where territory is seized and held by one state, is distinct from conquest and differs from cession, in which territory is given or sold through treaty.
The territorial evolution of the Ottoman Empire spans seven centuries. Ottoman empire at its extent, for a shorter period of time, reached 4,73 million miles, but soon declined to 2 million miles.
Egypt–United Kingdom relations are the diplomatic, economic, and cultural relationships between Egypt and Great Britain. Relations are longstanding. They involve politics, defence, trade and education, and especially issues regarding the Suez Canal.
The history of Egypt under the British lasted from 1882, when it was occupied by British forces during the Anglo-Egyptian War, until 1956 after the Suez Crisis, when the last British forces withdrew in accordance with the Anglo-Egyptian agreement of 1954. The first period of British rule (1882–1914) is often called the "veiled protectorate". During this time the Khedivate of Egypt remained an autonomous province of the Ottoman Empire, and the British occupation had no legal basis but constituted a de facto protectorate over the country. Egypt was thus not part of the British Empire. This state of affairs lasted until 1914 when the Ottoman Empire joined World War I on the side of the Central Powers and Britain declared a protectorate over Egypt. The ruling khedive, Abbas II, was deposed and his successor, Hussein Kamel, compelled to declare himself Sultan of Egypt independent of the Ottomans in December 1914.
The Ottoman Empire came into World War I as one of the Central Powers. The Ottoman Empire entered the war by carrying out a surprise attack on the Black Sea coast of Russia on 29 October 1914, with Russia responding by declaring war on 2 November 1914. Ottoman forces fought the Entente in the Balkans and the Middle Eastern theatre of World War I. The Ottoman Empire's defeat in the war in 1918 was crucial in the eventual dissolution of the empire in 1922.