States that voluntarily gave up independence? - Historum

**Zeno** · May 26th, 2010, 10:29 AM

Have any states voluntarily given up their independence?

I can think of Pergamon, in modern-day Turkey. When Attalus III died in 133BC without an heir he:

Quote:

...bequeathed the whole of Pergamon to Rome, in order to prevent a civil war.

Attalus_III_of_Pergamum

But i wonder how voluntarily that really was.

~+Invisible-College+~ · May 26th, 2010, 07:38 PM

I remember that during the punic wars rome also voluntarily gave up its freedom to the carthiginians

sylla1 · May 26th, 2010, 07:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zeno

Have any states voluntarily given up their independence?

I can think of Pergamon, in modern-day Turkey. When Attalus III died in 133BC without an heir he:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attalus_III_of_Pergamum

But i wonder how voluntarily that really was.

Actually, in spite of such absurd will, Rome had to fight for years against the local population to get its "inheritance"; even a Roman consul was KIA.

**Edgewaters** · May 26th, 2010, 07:58 PM

All states that have voluntarily federated or formed a union have done this.

sylla1 · May 26th, 2010, 08:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Edgewaters

All states that have voluntarily federated or formed a union have done this.

That's an excellent point; the problem now may sometimes be how to define how much voluntary (versus forced) was the federation or union.

**okamido** · May 26th, 2010, 08:12 PM

the Republic of Texas

**SomeGuy** · May 26th, 2010, 08:15 PM

Texas was independent before voluntarily "giving up" their independence to join the United States.

Edit: Hmm, didn't realize okamido beat me to it

sylla1 · May 26th, 2010, 08:20 PM

Texas was a Mexican territory taken by American citizens; its independence seems to have been largely a preliminary step for the annexation.

**okamido** · May 26th, 2010, 08:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sylla1

Texas was a Mexican territory taken by American citizens; its independence seems to have been largely a preliminary step for the annexation.

Tell that to Mirabeau Lamar and his Nationalist Party. Thank goodness Houston's party won out.

sylla1 · May 26th, 2010, 08:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by okamido

Tell that to Mirabeau Lamar and his Nationalist Party. Thank goodness Houston's party won out.

In fact, the brief California Republic was an analogous case.