Can you name a modern day country that preemptively started a war and eventually won?

[NI4NI]

I'm curious, and just askin'

[soleft]

1. Great Britain and the Falklands?

:shrug:

[spoony]

3. Er...how was that pre-emptive?

[Bucky]

6. They fought them there so that they wouldn't have to fight them there.

No, not that there, the other there.

[spoony]

11. Well..."there" you have it.

[Cleita]

2. Not really.

They all seem to lose in the end. Most notably, I can think of Napoleon in the nineteenth century, not to mention Hitler in the twentieth. Neither won in the end.

[alfredo]

4. Reagan invaded Grenada.

[Bucky]

8. Not exactly "pre-emptive"

I'm pretty sure Grenada was not ever planning on invading us.

[MnFats]

13. But Reagan said "We got there just in time!"

Reagan wouldn't mislead the American people, would he?
Maybe he just, ummm, forgot.

[Bucky]

24. I think he meant "just in time to get the second string med students there out of finals"

That was my read on it at the time. All I know is, we fuckin' kicked as and today in America no one is speaking Grenadian.

[alfredo]

30. Didn't they have WMD's?

Women, Mangoes, Dark Rum.

[roxnev]

5. starting a war question

no

[slackmaster]

7. Finland

Lapland War, 1944-45. They ran the Germans out.

[aquart]

10. How was that "pre-emptive"?

If the Germans were there, then the Germans were the aggressors.

[slackmaster]

15. You need to study up on your WWII history - Finland and Germany were not at war with each other

Finland had been cooperating with Germany against the Soviet Union since the summer of 1941. The Germans didn't want to leave after they signed an armistice with the Soviets, so the Finns decided to kick them out.

Italy and Romania were also faced with the need to eject the Germans after they surrendered to the Allies. However, Finland's situation was more difficult as they were forced to defy the Soviets' demands that they demobilize even when the Germans were still entrenched.

[aquart]

23. Hmmm. You may be right.

BUT...it's dicey. The "cooperation" was based on doing nasty to the Soviets and the Germans betrayed whatever agreement they had with the Finns by signing a deal with Stalin. (Their word was worth as much as Georgie's.)So it COULD be argued that the Germans made the first move.

I do agree that invading is different from simply refusing to leave.

No, I've decided. You're right. This is probably what "pre-emption" is supposed to mean. A reasonable immediate threat is perceived and acted upon. If the Germans weren't going to be busy invading Russia, there was every reason for the Finns to be very nervous indeed.

[slackmaster]

26. Bingo! Response to a REASONABLE immediate threat.

:toast:

[aquart]

28. I'm slow, but I get there.

[Hydra]

9. Usually you can win the first few

but after that, empires die due to overreach.

IMO, that's where we are. We have bases all over the world, our currency MUST be used to buy oil(until recently) and we can usually strongarm any countries we want into doing what we want(missle defense shield, anyone?)

We've pushed too far, though, and if we continue to be spread too thin, we'll die like any other empire in history. Perhaps, good riddence.

[Cleita]

22. To tell the truth, I think this will be our salvation.

Britain is so much nicer since they stop being an empire. I don't know who will try tp step in though instead. China, maybe? I hope by that time a league of nations of some sort will arise to slap down any would be empires from arising again.

[BridgeTheGap]

12. Vietnam invaded Cambodia and deposed PolPot

does that count?

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

19. Would you call it preemptive?

[BridgeTheGap]

41. Cambodia was not warring with Vietnam, so yes

Did Vietnam invade Cambodia for Cambodian people or for their own protection?

[NoPasaran]

14. Soviet Union vs. Finland, 1939-40

US vs. Grenada

Depends on your definition of "modern". During the 1860s Prussia launched several successful wars in the course of building the German Empire. There was the US war against Spain in 1898. The First Balkan War, Serbia, Montenegro, Bulgaria and Greece vs. the Ottoman Empire.

And I expect it also depends on what your definition of winning is, too. In 1956, Israel, in alliance with Britain and France, attacked Egypt. While the attack was a military success, it did not result in the downfall of Nasser or the return of the Suez Canal to international control. And certainly the 1967 Six Day War was a brilliant military success for Israel, although that then led to the seemingly endless occupation and conflict with the Palestinians.

[Disturbed]

17. Panama. The canal is still under US control

Bush 1?

[hlthe2b]

32. Seems to me we turned over control of the Panama Canal....

Though controversial within the U.S., the treaty led to full Panamanian control effective at noon on December 31, 1999, and control of the canal was handed over to the Panama Canal Authority (ACP). That was negotiated under Carter earlier... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panama_Canal

[formerrepuke]

16. The USA.. in the Spanish-American war of 1898.. we started it, we won..and we

got lots-o new territories from it.. some of which we still have today. This particular strategy usually works- pick on a feeble, dying empire- and take whatever they got left.

[whoneedstickets]

33. Remember the Maine!!! = WMD in Iraq.

...Nothing like a good pretext for imperialism, eh?

[YankmeCrankme]

35. Pre-emptive in this sense means attack before being attacked

If you feel you are about to be attacked and you attack first you are being preemptive. The Spanish-American War was not preemptive since we were in no danger of being attacked by Spain. It was all manufactured.

[The Stranger]

18. The Six Day War.

[Karenina]

37. THAT story is far from over.

;-)

[The Stranger]

39. Oooooo.

Cryptic.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

20. China Invaded Viet Nam In 1979

China won but the Viet Namese proved to be difficult opponents...

China also successfuly invaded India...

[GliderGuider]

21. China still has Tibet (nt)

[onenote]

25. interesting question. how are we defining "preemptive"?

[NI4NI]

27. basically, attacking a country that poses no threat.

but the reason I asked the question was because I heard a local Delaware radio talk show host say that he couldn't.

[theoldman]

29. The US attacked Mexico. That is how we got New Mexico,

Arizona and Southern California.

[wuushew]

31. Panama 1989

"Operation Bush Family Business" :nuke:

[ewoden]

34. one must have a distinction between preemptive and preventive

wars. There are differences. The Israeli 1967 war was premptive (response to an imminent threat of attack amassed at the border). The WWI German attack on Russia was preventive. So was the Rome's third war with Carthage.

[NI4NI]

36. Instead of preemptive,

I believe I should have used the word "aggression" instead.

My mistake.

[Lilith Velkor]

40. Well, in that case, Vietnam's invasion of Cambodia counts.

[w4rma]

38. China/Tibet (nt)