List of military occupations

This article is about territorial occupations. For military ranks, see List of comparative military ranks.

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.

Ongoing occupations

Military occupations in Europe, North Africa, and West Asia (for colouring correspondence, see below), as of 2024.

	Territory	Since	Occupied state/territory	Occupying state	Occupier's declared state/territory	Status
	Transnistria	1992	Moldova	Russia	Transnistria	Occupied by an armed group under the influence of a foreign power[a]
	Abkhazia	2008	Georgia		Abkhazia	Occupied by an armed group under the influence of a foreign power[3][b]
	South Ossetia				South Ossetia
	Crimea[4][5]	2014	Ukraine[c]		Federal subjects of Russia  Republic of Crimea  Sevastopol	Occupied and annexed by a foreign power[3]
	Significant parts of Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk, and Zaporizhzhia Oblasts Negligible parts of Kharkiv and Mykolaiv Oblasts	2014[d] 2022[e]			Federal subjects of Russia[f]  Donetsk People's Republic[g] Kherson Oblast  Luhansk People's Republic[h] Zaporizhzhia Oblast Kharkiv Oblast Mykolaiv Oblast	Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia Oblasts: DPR & LPR: Occupied by an armed group under the influence of a foreign power (2014–2022)[3][6] Four oblasts: Occupied and annexed by a foreign power (2022)[i] Kharkiv Oblast: Occupied by a foreign power; territory mostly recaptured by Ukraine Mykolaiv Oblast: Occupied and partially annexed by a foreign power; territory mostly recaptured by Ukraine
	Parts of Kursk Oblast	2024	Russia[c]	Ukraine	Ukrainian occupation of Kursk Oblast	Occupied by a foreign power[7][j]
	Parts of Southern Lebanon[8]	2024	Lebanon	Israel	—	Occupied by a foreign power
	East Jerusalem[9][10][11][12]	1967	Palestinian territories;  Palestine (since 1988 declaration)[k]		Part of the Jerusalem District (effectively annexed in 1980)	Occupied and annexed by a foreign power[3][17][l]
	West Bank[18]				Judea and Samaria Area	Occupied by a foreign power,[19][m] with de facto partial annexation in the West Bank[3]
	Gaza Strip[n]				—
	Golan Heights[26][27][28]		Syria		Part of the Northern District (effectively annexed in 1981)	Occupied and annexed by a foreign power.[3][17][o] Recognized by only the United States as part of Israel.[29]
	Parts of Southern Syria[30]	2024			—	Occupied by a foreign power
	Al-Tanf[31]	2015		United States	—	Occupied by an armed group under the influence of a foreign power[31][p]
	Azaz, al-Bab and Jarabulus Districts[32][33]	2016		Turkey	Syrian Interim Government	Occupied by an armed group under the influence of a foreign power[q]
	Afrin District	2018				Occupied by an armed group under the influence of a foreign power[34][r]
	Tell Abyad and Ras al-Ayn Districts	2019				Occupied by an armed group under the influence of a foreign power[s]
	Northern Cyprus[35]	1974	Cyprus		Northern Cyprus	Occupied by an armed group under the influence of a foreign power[3][6][t]
	Sofulu, Barxudarlı and Karki[36]	1992	Azerbaijan	Armenia	Part of the Tavush and Ararat Provinces	Occupied by a foreign power
	Artsvashen[37]		Armenia	Azerbaijan	Part of the Gadabay Rayon
	Portions of Syunik, Vayots Dzor, and Gegharkunik Provinces	2021[u] 2022[v]			Armenian territory occupied by Azerbaijan
	Majority of Western Sahara[38]	1975	Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (declared in 1976)	Morocco	Southern Provinces (annexed between 1976-79)	Occupied and annexed by a foreign power[3][17][w]

Historical occupations

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

1907–1919 (miscellaneous)

Occupied territory	Years	Occupied state	Occupying state	Event	Part of war(s)	Subsequently annexed?
Korea	1905–1910	Korea	Japan	Japan–Korea Treaty of 1905	Aftermath of Russo-Japanese War	Yes
Cuba	1906–1909	Cuba	United States	Second occupation of Cuba	Banana Wars	No
Libya	1911–1912	Ottoman Empire	Italy	Invasion of Libya	Italo-Turkish War	Yes
Albania	1912–1913[39]	Albania	Serbia	Occupation of Albania	Balkan Wars	No
Nicaragua	1912–1933	Nicaragua	United States	Occupation of Nicaragua	Banana Wars	No
Veracruz	1914	Mexico	United States	Occupation of Veracruz	Mexican Revolution	No

World War I and immediate aftermath

Occupied territory	Years	Occupied state	Occupying state	Event	Part of war(s)	Subsequently annexed?
Albania	1916–1918[40]	Albania	Austria-Hungary	Occupation of Albania	World War I	No
Eastern Galicia	1914–1915	Austria-Hungary	Russia	Occupation of Eastern Galicia		No
Belgium	1914–1918	Belgium	Germany	Occupation of Belgium		No
Kelmis	1914-1915	Neutral Moresnet		German capture of Moresnet		Yes
Northeastern France	1914–1918	France		Invasion of Northeastern France		No
Luxembourg	1914–1918	Luxembourg		Occupation of Luxembourg		No
Congress Poland	1914–1918	Russia	Austria-Hungary  Germany	Invasion of Russian Poland		No
Parts of the Baltic governorates and Vilna Governorate-General	1914–1919		Germany	Invasion of Baltic Russia		No
German South West Africa	1914–1915	Germany	South Africa	South West Africa campaign		Yes
Governorate of Serbia	1915–1918	Serbia	Austria-Hungary	Occupation of Serbia		No
Serbia	1915–1918		Germany	Invasion of Serbia		No
Eastern Serbia	1915–1918		Bulgaria	Occupation of Eastern Serbia		No
Serbian Macedonia	1915–1918		Bulgaria	Occupation of Serbian Macedonia		Yes
Albania	1915–1917[40]	Albania	Bulgaria	Occupation of Albania		No
Montenegro	1916–1918	Montenegro	Austria-Hungary	Invasion of Montenegro		No
Haiti	1915–1934	Haiti	United States	Occupation of Haiti	Banana Wars	No
Dominican Republic	1916–1924	Dominican Republic		Occupation of the Dominican Republic		No
Cuba	1917–1922	Cuba		Sugar Intervention		No
Northeast Italy	1917–1918	Italy	Austria-Hungary	Invasion of Northeastern Italy	World War I	No
Parts of the Russian Far East, Caucasus, Parts of Northern Russia	1918–1925[x]	Russian SFSR  Soviet Union	United Kingdom  Japan  Greece  United States  France China	Allied intervention in the Russian Civil War	Russian Civil War	No
Constantinople	1918–1923	Ottoman Empire	France  Italy  United Kingdom	Occupation of Constantinople	Aftermath of World War I	No
Smyrna	1919–1922		Greece	Occupation of Smyrna		No
Rhineland	1918–1930	Germany	France  United Kingdom  Belgium  United States  Siam	Occupation of the Rhineland		No
Eastern Galicia	1918–1919	West Ukrainian People's Republic	Poland	Polish–Ukrainian War		Yes
Volhynia	1918–1919	Ukrainian People's Republic				Partial
Ukraine	1918–1920	Ukrainian People's Republic	Russian SFSR	Ukrainian–Soviet War		Yes
Dalmatia	1918– 1921	Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes	France  Italy  United Kingdom  United States	Allied occupation of eastern Adriatic		Partial
Transylvania, part of Banat, part of Carpathian Ruthenia, Tiszántúl, Danube–Tisza Interfluve, Budapest, Northwest Transdanubia	1918–1920	Kingdom of Hungary  First Hungarian Republic  Hungarian Soviet Republic  Hungarian Republic  Kingdom of Hungary	Romania	Revolutions and interventions in Hungary (1918–1920)		Partial
Slovakia, Carpathian Ruthenia, part of Northeast Hungary[41] inc. Sátoraljaújhely (to 1920)			Czechoslovakia			Partial
part of Banat, Szeged			France			No
Prekmurje, Međimurje, Voivodina, part of Banat, Baranya, Bácska	1918–1921		Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes			Partial
Tyrol	1918–1920	German-Austria  Austria	Italy			Partial

1920–1946 (miscellaneous)

Occupied territory	Years	Occupied state	Occupying state	Event	Part of war(s)	Subsequently annexed?
Transcaucasia	1920	Azerbaijan	Russia	Invasion of Azerbaijan	Russian Civil War	Yes
	1921	Georgia		Invasion of Georgia		Yes
Ruhr	1923–1924	Germany	Belgium  France	Occupation of the Ruhr	Aftermath of World War I	No
Manchuria / Manchukuo	1931–1945	China	Japan	Invasion of Manchuria	Second Sino-Japanese War	No
Xinjiang	1934		Soviet Union	Invasion of Xinjiang	Kumul Rebellion	No

World War II: build up and immediate aftermath

Occupied territory	Years	Occupied state	Occupying state	Event	Part of war(s)	Subsequently annexed?
Ethiopia	1935–1941	Ethiopia	Italy	Invasion of Ethiopia	Second Italo-Ethiopian War	Yes
Parts of China	1937–1945	China	Japan	Second Sino-Japanese War	World War II	No
Shanghai	1937–1945					No
Austria	1938	Austria	Germany	Anschluss	Events preceding World War II in Europe	Yes
Sudetenland[42]	1938	Czechoslovakia		Munich Agreement		Yes
Bohemia and Moravia	1939–1945			Occupation of Czechoslovakia		No
Memel Territory	1939–1945	Lithuania		Occupation of Memel		Yes
Albania	1939–1945	Albania	Italy	Invasion of Albania		No
Poland	1939–1945	Poland	Germany	Invasion of Poland	World War II	Partial
Eastern Poland	1939–1941		Soviet Union	Annexation of Polish territories	Partial
Parts of Finland	1939–1940	Finland		Winter War	Partial
British Somaliland	1940–1941	United Kingdom	Italy	Italian invasion of British Somaliland	Yes
Belgium	1940–1945	Belgium	Germany	Invasion of Belgium	No
Denmark	1940–1945	Denmark		Invasion of Denmark	No
Faroe Islands	1940–1945		United Kingdom	Occupation of the Faroe Islands	No
Greenland	1940–1945		United States  United Kingdom	Greenland in World War II	No
Hankoniemi	1940–1941	Finland	Soviet Union	Winter War	No
Iceland[y]	1940–1945	Kingdom of Iceland	United Kingdom	Occupation of Iceland	No
			United States[z]		No
Northern France[aa][ab]	1940–1944	France	Germany	Invasion of Northern France	No
Southeastern France[ac]	1940–1943		Italy	Italian invasion of France	No
Vietnam	1940–1945		Japan	Invasion of French Indochina	No
Baltic states	1940–1941[ad][ae]	Estonia	Soviet Union	Soviet occupation of the Baltic states	Yes
		Latvia
		Lithuania
Luxembourg	1940–1945	Luxembourg	Germany	Occupation of Luxembourg	No
Netherlands	1940–1945	Netherlands		Invasion of the Netherlands	No
Norway	1940–1945	Norway		Invasion of Norway	No
Bessarabia, Northern Bukovina and the Hertsa region	1940	Romania	Soviet Union	Occupation of Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina	Yes
Channel Islands	1940–1945	United Kingdom	Germany	Occupation of the Channel Islands	No
Cambodia	1941–1945	France	Japan	Invasion of Cambodia	No
Greece	1941–1944	Greece	Bulgaria  Italy  Germany	Occupation of Greece	No
Iran	1941–1946	Iran	Soviet Union  United Kingdom	Anglo-Soviet invasion of Iran	No
Byelorussia	1941–1944	Soviet Union	Germany	Occupation of Byelorussia	No
Ukraine				Occupation of Ukraine
Baltic states				Occupation of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania (de jure independent, de facto under Soviet rule)
Parts of European Russia				Eastern Front
Eastern Karelia			Finland	Continuation War	No
Guam	1941–1944	United States	Japan	Occupation of Guam	No
Transnistria	1941–1944	Soviet Union	Romania	Operation Barbarossa	No
Borneo	1941–1945	United Kingdom	Japan	Occupation of British Borneo	No
Hong Kong	1941–1945			Occupation of Hong Kong	No
Malaya	1941–1945			Occupation of Malaya	No
Yugoslavia	1941–1945	Yugoslavia	Bulgaria  Hungary  Italy  Germany  Croatia	Military operations in the territory of Yugoslavia	No
New Caledonia	1942–1945	France	United States	New Caledonia during WWII	No
New Guinea	1942–1945	Australia	Japan	New Guinea campaign	No
Nauru	1942–1945	Australia  New Zealand  United Kingdom		Occupation of Nauru	No
Andaman Islands	1942–1945	British Raj		Occupation of the Andaman Islands	No
Dutch East Indies	1942–1945	Netherlands		Occupation of Dutch East Indies	No
Philippines	1942–1945	Philippines		Occupation of the Philippines	No
Portuguese Timor	1942–1945	Portugal		Battle of Timor	No
Burma (Myanmar)	1942–1945	United Kingdom		Occupation of Burma	No
Singapore	1942–1945			Occupation of Singapore	No
Kiska	1942–1943	United States		Occupation of Kiska	No
Attu	1942–1943			Occupation of Attu	No
Italian Libya	1943–1951	Libya	United Kingdom  France	Allied occupation of Libya	No
Italy	1943–1945	Italy	Germany	Occupation of Italy, Italian campaign	No
Hungary	1944–1945	Hungary		Occupation of Hungary	No
Italy	1943–1945	Italy	United Kingdom  United States	Occupation of Italy, Italian campaign	No
France	1944–1946	France	Free France  United Kingdom  United States	Liberation of France	No
Baltic states	1944–1991[ad][ae]	Estonia	Soviet Union	1944 Soviet re-occupation, Baltic states under Soviet rule	Yes
		Latvia
		Lithuania
Bulgaria	1944–1947	Bulgaria		Occupation of Bulgaria	No
Romania	1944–1958	Romania		Occupation of Romania	No
Poland	1944–1956[af]	Poland		Soviet presence in Poland	No
Hungary	1944–1949[ag]	Hungary		Occupation of Hungary	No
Porkkalanniemi	1944–1956	Finland		Continuation War	No
Carpathian Ruthenia	1944–1945	Czechoslovakia		Annexation of Carpathian Ruthenia	Yes
Northern part of East Prussia/Kaliningrad Oblast	1945	Germany		East Prussian offensive	Yes
Manchuria	1945–1946	Manchukuo		Soviet–Japanese War	No
Austria	1945–1955	Austria	United Kingdom  United States  Soviet Union  France	Allied-occupied Austria	Aftermath of World War II	No
East Germany, incl. East Berlin	1945–1949	Germany	Soviet Union	Allied-occupied Germany		No
West Germany	1945–1949		United Kingdom  United States  France
West Berlin	1945–1990
Saarland	1945–1957		France	Saar Protectorate		No
Northern Iran	1945–1946	Iran	Soviet Union	Iran crisis of 1946		No
Japan (mainland)	1945–1951	Japan	United States	Occupation of Japan		No
Tokara Islands	1945–1952
Amami Islands	1945–1953
Ogasawara archipelago	1945–1968
Daitō Islands and Ryukyu Islands[ah]	1945–1972
Taiwan, Pescadores, and Itu Aba	1945–1952[45]	Japan[45]	China	History of Taiwan since 1945		No
Korea	1945–1948	Korea	United States  Soviet Union	Occupation of Korea		No
Southern Vietnam and Saigon[46]	1945–1946	France	United Kingdom	War of Vietnam		No

1947–1959

Occupied territory	Years	Occupied state	Occupying state	Event	Part of war(s)	Subsequently annexed?
Junagadh	1947–1948	Junagadh	India	Annexation of Junagadh	—	Yes
West Bank[k]	1948–1967[47]	Post-Mandate Palestine	Jordan	Jordanian annexation of the West Bank	1948 Arab–Israeli War	Yes
Gaza Strip[k]	1948–1956 1957–1967[ai]		Egypt	Occupation of the Gaza Strip by Egypt		No
Hyderabad	1948	Hyderabad	India	Annexation of Hyderabad	—	Yes
Sikkim	1949[48]–1950	Sikkim	India	Intervention in Sikkim		No
Tibet	1949–1951	Tibet	China	Annexation of Tibet		Yes
Northern Jordan Valley[49]	1949-1967	Israel	Syria	1949 Armistice Agreements	1948 Arab–Israeli War	No
Dadra and Nagar Haveli	1954–1974	Portugal	India	Annexation of Dadra and Nagar Haveli	—	Yes
Suez Canal Zone	1956	Egypt	France  United Kingdom	Suez Crisis	Arab–Israeli conflict	No
Sinai	1956–1957		Israel			No
Gaza Strip		All-Palestine				No
Hungary	1956	Hungary	Soviet Union	Hungarian Uprising	Hungarian Revolution of 1956	No
Laos	1959–1975	Laos	North Vietnam	Invasion of Laos	Laotian Civil War	No

1960–1979

Occupied territory	Years	Occupied state	Occupying state	Event	Part of war(s)	Subsequently annexed?
Goa, Daman and Diu	1961–1974	Portugal	India	Annexation of Goa	—	Yes
Aksai Chin	1962	India	China	Sino-Indian War	Sino-Indian War	Yes
Arunachal Pradesh	1962					No
Dominican Republic	1965–1966	Dominican Republic	United States	Invasion of the Dominican Republic	Dominican Civil War	No
Sinai	1967–1982[aj]	Egypt	Israel	Six-Day War	Arab–Israeli conflict	No
Czechoslovakia	1968–1989[ak]	Czechoslovakia	Soviet Union  Bulgaria  Poland  East Germany  Hungary	Invasion of Czechoslovakia	Prague Spring	No
East Pakistan (became Bangladesh)	1971	Pakistan	India	Indo-Pakistani War of 1971	Bangladesh Liberation War	No
Southern half of Vietnam	1975–1976	South Vietnam	North Vietnam	1975 spring offensive	Vietnam War	Yes
Parts of Angola	1975–1976	Angola	South Africa	South African invasion of Angola	South African Border War	No
Tiris al-Gharbiyya	1975–1979	Western Sahara	Mauritania	Battles of La Güera and Tichla	Western Sahara War	No
East Timor	1975–1999	East Timor	Indonesia	Invasion of East Timor	Indonesian occupation of East Timor	Yes
Aouzou Strip	1976–1987	Chad	Libya	Occupation of the Aouzou Strip	Chadian–Libyan War	No
Parts of Lebanon	1976–2005	Lebanon	Syria	Syrian occupation of Lebanon	Lebanese Civil War	No
Kagera Region	1978	Uganda	Tanzania	Ugandan invasion of Kagera	Uganda–Tanzania War	No
Southern Lebanon	1978-1982	Lebanon	Free Lebanon State	1978 Lebanon war	Lebanese Civil War	No
	March 1978		Israel	1978 Lebanon War	Lebanese Civil War	No
Cambodia	1978–1989	Kampuchea	Vietnam	Invasion of Kampuchea	Cambodian–Vietnamese War	No
Parts of Vietnam	1979	Vietnam	China	Invasion of Vietnam	Sino-Vietnamese War	No
Afghanistan	1979–1989	Afghanistan	Soviet Union	Invasion of Afghanistan	Afghan–Soviet War	No

1980–1999

Occupied territory	Years	Occupied state	Occupying state	Event	Part of war(s)	Subsequently annexed?
Falkland Islands	1982	United Kingdom	Argentina	Occupation of the Falkland Islands	Falklands War	No
South Lebanon	1982-2000	Lebanon	Israel	Israeli occupation of South Lebanon	1982 Lebanon War	No
Grenada	1983	Grenada	United States  Barbados  Jamaica  Antigua and Barbuda  Dominica  Saint Kitts and Nevis  Saint Lucia  Saint Vincent and the Grenadines	Invasion of Grenada	Grenadian Revolution	No
Northern Province	1987–1990	Sri Lanka	India	Indian intervention in the Sri Lankan Civil War	Sri Lankan Civil War	No
Maldives	1988	Maldives		1988 Maldives coup d'état	—	No
Panama	1989–1990	Panama	United States	Invasion of Panama	War on drugs	No
Kuwait	1990–1991	Kuwait	Iraq Kuwait Governorate Saddamiyat al-Mitla' District	Invasion of Kuwait	Gulf War	Yes
Seven districts surrounding Nagorno-Karabakh	1992–2020	Azerbaijan	Armenia  Artsakh	First Nagorno-Karabakh War	Nagorno-Karabakh conflict	Yes (by Artsakh)
Bağanıs Ayrım, Aşağı Əskipara, Xeyrimli and Ghizilhajili[50]	1992–2024		Armenia			No
Haiti	1994–1995	Haiti	United States  Poland  Argentina	Operation Uphold Democracy	1991 Haitian coup d'état	No
Lesotho	1998–1999	Lesotho	South Africa  Botswana	Operation Boleas	Lesotho general election riots	No
Parts of the Democratic Republic of the Congo	1998–2002[51]	Democratic Republic of the Congo	Uganda  Rwanda  Zimbabwe  Angola  Namibia  Chad  Sudan	Foreign support to the DR Congo	Second Congo War	No

2000–2019

Occupied territory	Years	Occupied state	Occupying state	Event	Part of war(s)	Subsequently annexed?
Gash-Barka, Southern, Northern Red Sea and Southern Red Sea regions of Eritrea	2000–2018	Eritrea	Ethiopia	Regions were seized at the end of the Eritrean–Ethiopian War in 2000, and subsequently delimited[52] and demarcated[53] by the Permanent Court of Arbitration at the Hague to be Eritrean territory. Eritrea recaptured the lands during the Tigray war.	Eritrean–Ethiopian War	No
Afghanistan[al]	2001–2002	Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan	United States  United Kingdom  Canada  Australia  New Zealand and other troops	United States invasion of Afghanistan	War in Afghanistan (2001–2021)	No
Iraq[am]	2003–2004	Iraq	United States  United Kingdom  Australia  Poland and other troops[56]	2003 invasion of Iraq Occupation of Iraq	Iraq War	No
Parts of Somalia	2006–2009[57]	Somalia	Ethiopia	Somalia War (2006–2009)	Somali Civil War	No
Gori and Poti	2008	Georgia	Russia	Occupation of Gori and Poti	Russo-Georgian War	No
Perevi	2008–2010			Occupation of Perevi		No
Socotra	2018	Yemen	United Arab Emirates	Takeover of Socotra	Yemeni Civil War	No

2020–present

Occupied territory	Years	Occupied state	Occupying state	Event	Part of war(s)	Subsequently annexed?
Parts of Chernihiv, Dnipropetrovsk, Kharkiv, Kyiv, Poltava, Sumy, and Zhytomyr Oblasts[an][ao] Chernobyl Exclusion Zone[ap] Snake Island[aq]	2022–2024	Ukraine	Russia	Russian invasion of Ukraine	Russo-Ukrainian War	No[ar]

See also

• Russian-occupied territories
• Israeli-occupied territories
• Military occupations by the Soviet Union
• Peacekeeping – military deployments for peace-keeping purposes
• List of military and civilian missions of the European Union
• Annexation
• Revanchism
• For a list of states that have seceded unilaterally see List of states with limited recognition
• For a list of cases where territory is disputed between countries, see List of territorial disputes