Secession

Secession is the formal withdrawal of a group from a political entity. The process begins once a group proclaims an act of secession (such as a declaration of independence).^[1] A secession attempt might be violent or peaceful, but the goal is the creation of a new state or entity independent of the group or territory from which it seceded.^[2] Threats of secession can be a strategy for achieving more limited goals.^[3]

Notable examples of secession, and secession attempts, include:

• the Confederate States of America seceding from the Union, setting off the American Civil War;
• the former Soviet republics leaving the Soviet Union in 1991, causing its dissolution;
• the former republics leaving Yugoslavia during the 1990s, causing its dissolution;
• Texas leaving Mexico, during the Texas Revolution;
• Hispanic America gaining independence from the Spanish Empire during Spanish American wars of independence;
• Biafra leaving Nigeria (and returning, after losing the Nigerian Civil War); and
• the Irish Republic leaving the United Kingdom
• Finland leaving the Soviet Union in 1917, setting off the Finnish Civil War