annex v. conquest

Question

Annex: (from wordweb) To take territory as if by conquest.

I would like to ask that what is the difference between annex and conquest? It seems that there is no difference but after 1900s annex is started to used for conquest. Annex is a modern word for conquest. This is what my idea.

Thank you.

AlpheccaStars · Accepted Answer

hhttannex

Annex is a legal process. A city can annex property just outside the city limits, increasing its size. Sometimes people can vote to be annexed, but it depends on the laws. If the laws allow annexation, then a city can incorporate the property it wants through a legal process. If your home or business is on land that is annexed, you still own the property. Your property is inside the city limits and subject to city taxes. But you get city services such as garbage collection, water and sewer, police and fire.
Eminent domain is a way that your government can take your property, but in most countries they have to compensate you for it.

Conquest is a military process. Soldiers from one army occupy a city and then declare that it belongs to their government. They can take your property and give it to someone else.

Dave_anon · Answer

Hi

By and large, I agree with Alphecca's definitions. However, with international politics, not all the people within the annexed region may see it as a legitimate process

The examples that come to mind are the **** annexation of Austria in 1938 and Putin's annexation of Crimea in 2014. It's true that those events, seemingly, took place by a process of law, but many may have seen it as conquest by other means

Dave

Hhtt · Answer

But definitions in the dictionaries never tell about a legal process or law. For example, from MacMillan, annex means "to take control of a country or region by force" . I do not see any difference between this definition and conquest.

So the situation is still confusing for me.

Thank you.

Fivejedjon · Answer

Generally speaking, an annexation is presented as a legal process. Conquest simply involves one country taking over another by force. I don't think the Macmillan definition you quote is a particularly good one.

AlpheccaStars · Answer

This interactive map shows the annexations by the city of Los Angeles.
Los Angeles did not conquer these parcels of land, it annexed them.
http://dpw.lacounty.gov/mpm/cityannexations/

You can read about more cities' annexations here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Municipal_annexation_in_the_United_States

The difference between conquest and annexation is that in annexation the dominant party has some (tenuous) claim - legal, historical or based on its citizens living there. In the case of conquest, there is no such claim.

Hhtt · Answer

AlpheccaStarsThis interactive map shows the annexations by the city of Los Angeles. Los Angeles did not conquer these parcels of land, it annexed them. http://dpw.lacounty.gov/mpm/cityannexations / You can read about more cities' annexations here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Municipal_annexation_in_the_United_States The difference between conquest and annexation is that in annexation the dominant party has some (tenuous) claim - legal, historical or based on its citizens living there. In the case of conquest, there is no such claim.

But let's think of "Moldova was annexed by the Soviet Union in 1940." What would be the difference between annex and conquer for this sentence?

Thank you.

AlpheccaStars · Answer

Moldova was part of Russia in 1812, so Stalin had a claim on the territory.
The annexation back into Russia was from a secret agreement between **** Germany and Stalin.
Both Germany and Russia were annexing territories that they claimed (from history and population).
Many of these annexations were approved by England, France, and other countries in treaties.

From Wiki:
In the secret protocol attached to the 1939 Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact defining the division of the spheres of influence in Eastern Europe, **** Germany declared it had no political interest in Bessarabia, in response to the Soviet Union's expression of interest, thereby consigning Bessarabia to the Soviet "sphere". On June 26, 1940 the Soviet government issued an ultimatum to the Romanian minister in Moscow, demanding Romania immediately cede Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina.
Italy and Germany, which needed a stable Romania and access to its oil fields, urged King Carol II to do so.
The Moldovan Soviet Socialist Republic (Moldovan SSR), established on August 2, 1940, consisted of six and a half counties of Bessarabia joined with the westernmost part of the already extant MASSR (an autonomous entity within the Ukrainian SSR). Various changes were made to its borders, which were finally settled by November 1940.

annex v. conquest

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