Annexation

Annexation is the adding or joining to a state of territory which was previously independent or in possession of another power. It is generally, though not always, the result of war. As important annexations in recent times may be mentioned that of Oudh in 1856, which was one of the causes of the Indian mutiny; that of Savoy by France after the war with Austria in 1859; that of Alsace-Lorraine by Germany in 1871; that of the Bolivian seaboard and part of Peru by Chili in 1884; and that of Upper Burmah by Britain in 1886.