Editing Buffer state (section)

==Examples==
===Americas===
* {{Flagicon|Bolivia|variant=1826}} [[Bolivia]], created by [[Gran Colombia]] as a buffer between [[Peru]] and [[Argentina]] during the [[Upper Peru]] question<ref>{{Cite web |last=Bolivia |year=1826 |title=Colección oficial de leyes, decretos, ordenes, resoluciones &c. Que se han expedido para el regimen de la Republica Boliviana |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iOMoAAAAYAAJ&q=resoluci%C3%B3n+del+congreso+23+febrero+1825&pg=PA6}}</ref>
* {{Flagicon|Uruguay}} [[Uruguay]], served as a demilitarised buffer between Argentina and the [[Empire of Brazil]] during the early independence period in [[South America]]<ref>{{Cite web |title=Uruguay – From Insurrection to State Organization, 1820–30 |url=http://countrystudies.us/uruguay/4.htm |access-date=3 March 2017 |website=countrystudies.us}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Phelps |first=Nicole |date=1 January 2014 |title=Review of Knarr, James C., Uruguay and the United States, 1903–1929: Diplomacy in the Progressive Era |url=http://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=37009 |access-date=3 March 2017 |website=www.h-net.org |language=en}}</ref>
* {{Flagicon|Paraguay|variant=1842}} [[Paraguay]], maintained after the end of the [[Paraguayan War]] in 1870, as a buffer separating Argentina and Brazil<ref>{{Cite news |title=Paraguay: Regional Geopolitics and a New President |url=https://www.stratfor.com/analysis/paraguay-regional-geopolitics-and-new-president |access-date=3 March 2017 |work=Stratfor |language=en}}</ref>
* {{Flagicon image|Colonial-Red-Ensign.svg}} [[Province of Georgia|Georgia]], a [[colony]] established by [[Kingdom of Great Britain|Great Britain]] in 1732 as a buffer between its other [[Thirteen Colonies|colonies along the Atlantic coast]] of [[North America]] and [[Spanish Florida]]<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Colonies {{!}} Georgia |url=http://www.smplanet.com/teaching/colonialamerica/colonies/georgia |access-date=20 November 2015 |website=www.smplanet.com}}</ref>
* {{Flagicon|Ecuador}} [[Ecuador]], served as a "cushion state" between Colombia and Peru, which had a bigger extension{{clarify|surface area maybe?|date=May 2023}} and military force and fought a [[Gran Colombia–Peru War|war in the 1820s]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Zepeda |first=Beatriz |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vVYGkG1b9qgC&q=ecuador+estado+colchon+colombia+peru&pg=PA17 |title=Ecuador: Relaciones exteriores a la luz del bicentenario |year=2009 |publisher=Flacso-Sede Ecuador |isbn=9789978672242}}</ref>

===Asia===
* [[Kingdom of Judah]] was a buffer state between [[Late Period of ancient Egypt|Egyptian Empire]] and [[Neo-Babylonian Empire]].<ref>{{Cite web|author=Dennis Bratcher|title=Old Testament History The Rise of Babylon and Exile (640 BC-538 BC)|url=https://www.crivoice.org/othbabylon.html|website=THE VOICE|access-date = 2024-08-06}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|author=Laurie Pearce|title=Babylonian Accounts of the Invasion of Judah|url=https://www.bibleodyssey.org/articles/babylonian-accounts-of-the-invasion-of-judah/|website=Bible Odyssey|access-date = 2024-08-06}}</ref>
* Multiple buffer states played major roles during the [[Roman–Persian Wars]] (66 BC – 628 AD). [[Kingdom of Armenia (antiquity)|Armenia]] was a frequently contested buffer between the [[Roman Empire]] (as well as the later [[Byzantine Empire]]) and the various [[Achaemenid Empire|Persian]] and Muslim states.
* {{Flagicon|North Korea}} [[North Korea]], during and after the [[Cold War]], has been seen by some analysts as a buffer state between the military forces of [[China]], the [[Soviet Union]] and those of [[South Korea]], [[Japan]], and the [[United States]] (stationed in South Korea, Japan, and [[Taiwan]] from 1954 to 1979).<ref>{{Cite web |title=Getting China to Become Tough with North Korea |url=http://www.cato.org/blog/getting-china-become-tough-north-korea |access-date=2016-02-10 |website=[[Cato Institute]]}}</ref>
* {{Flagicon|Manchukuo}} [[Manchukuo]] was a pro-Japanese buffer state between the [[Empire of Japan]], the Soviet Union, and the [[Republic of China (1912–1949)|Republic of China]] during [[World War II]].
* {{Flagicon|Thailand}} [[Thailand]], historically known as Siam, was an independent buffer state between the [[British Raj]], [[British Malaya]], [[French Indochina]], and their competing colonial interests in [[History of Laos#Siam and Suzerainty (1779–1893)|Laos]] and [[History of Cambodia|Cambodia]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Pholsena |first=Vatthana |title=LAOS, From Buffer State to Crossroads |publisher=Silkworm Books |year=2007 |isbn=978-9749480502}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Macgregor |first=John |title=Through the Buffer State : Travels in Borneo, Siam, Cambodia, Malaya and Burma |publisher=White Lotus Co Ltd; 2 edition |year=1994 |isbn=978-9748496252}}</ref>
* {{Flagicon|Korean Empire}} [[Korean Empire|Korea]] acted as a buffer zone between the growing superpowers of Imperial Japan and the [[Russian Empire]].
* {{Flagicon|Far Eastern Republic}} The [[Far Eastern Republic]] was a formally independent state created to act as a buffer between [[Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic|Bolshevik Russia]] and the Empire of Japan.<ref name="Wood">Alan Wood, "The Revolution and Civil War in Siberia," in Edward Acton, Vladimir Iu. Cherniaev, and William G. Rosenberg (eds.), ''Critical Companion to the Russian Revolution, 1914–1921''. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 1997; pp. 716–717.</ref><ref name="Dict">George Jackson and Robert Devlin (eds.), ''Dictionary of the Russian Revolution''. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1989; pp. 223–225.</ref>
* {{Flagicon|Emirate of Afghanistan}} [[Emirate of Afghanistan|Afghanistan]] was a buffer state between the [[British Empire]], which ruled much of [[South Asia]], and the Russian Empire, which ruled much of [[Russian Turkestan|Central Asia]], during the [[Great Game|Anglo–Russian conflicts]] of the 19th century. Later, the [[Wakhan Corridor]] extended the buffer eastwards to the Chinese border.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Debarbieux |first1=Bernard |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MtUpCwAAQBAJ |title=The Mountain: A Political History from the Enlightenment to the Present |last2=Rudaz |first2=Gilles |last3=Todd |first3=Jane Marie |last4=Price |first4=Martin F. |date=2015-09-10 |publisher=University of Chicago Press |isbn=9780226031118 |page=150 |language=en}}</ref>
* The [[Himalayas|Himalayan]] nations of {{Flag icon|Tibet}} [[Tibet (1912–1951)|Tibet]],  {{Flag icon|Kingdom of Nepal}} [[Kingdom of Nepal|Nepal]], {{Flag icon|Bhutan}} [[Bhutan]], and {{flagicon image|Flag of Sikkim (1877-1914; 1962-1967).svg}} [[Kingdom of Sikkim|Sikkim]] were buffer states between the British Empire and [[Qing dynasty|China]]. Later, during the [[Sino-Indian War]] of 1962, they became buffers between China and [[India]] as the two powers fought along their borders.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Nepal: Dictated by Geography {{!}} World Policy Institute |url=http://www.worldpolicy.org/journal/winter2013/nepal-dictated-by-geography |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170831045939/http://www.worldpolicy.org/journal/winter2013/nepal-dictated-by-geography |archive-date=2017-08-31 |access-date=2016-02-10 |website=www.worldpolicy.org}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |title=The World Today; Bhutan and Sikkim: Two Buffer States Vol. 15, No. 12 |publisher=Royal Institute of International Affairs |year=1959 |pages=492–500}}</ref>
* {{Flagicon|Mongolia}} [[Mongolian People's Republic|Mongolia]] acted as a buffer between the Soviet Union and China until 1991. It currently serves as a buffer between [[Russia]] and China.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Mongolia, the uncontested buffer state |url=http://www.russia-direct.org/opinion/mongolia-uncontested-buffer-state |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190204190410/https://www.russia-direct.org/opinion/mongolia-uncontested-buffer-state |archive-date=4 February 2019 |access-date=3 March 2017 |website=Russia Direct |language=en}}</ref>
* {{Flag|Lebanon}} is a buffer state between [[Israel]] and [[Syria]].
* {{Flag|Iraq}} and {{Flag|Bahrain}} are buffer states between [[Iran]] and [[Saudi Arabia]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Kader |first=Ariz |date=July 2020
|title=Iraq: Battleground or Buffer State? |url=https://www.cidob.org/en/publications/publication_series/notes_internacionals/n1_218/iraq_battleground_or_buffer_state |website=CIDOB}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |title=Bahrain as the area of Saudi‑Iranian rivalry in the second decade of the 21st century |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/338150134 |journal=Studia Politicae Universitatis Silesiensis}}</ref>

===Africa===
* [[Saadi Sultanate|Morocco]] served as a buffer state between the [[Ottoman Empire]], [[Spanish Empire|Spain]], and [[Kingdom of Portugal|Portugal]] in the 16th century.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Cory |first=Stephen |title=Reviving the Islamic Caliphate in Early Modern Morocco |date=2016 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=9781317063438 |pages=36–37}}</ref>
* The [[Bechuanaland Protectorate]] (present-day {{Flagicon|Botswana}} [[Botswana]]) was initially created as a buffer between the British Empire and the two [[Boer republics]] of the [[Orange Free State]] and the [[South African Republic|Transvaal Republic]] until the [[Second Boer War]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Ram |first=J.R. |date=16 March 2019 |title=Botswana: The best kept African secret |url=https://www.telegraphindia.com/culture/travel/botswana-the-best-kept-african-secret/cid/1686954 |website=The Telegraph}}</ref>

===Europe===
*  [[Principality of Transylvania (1570-1711)|Principality of Transylvania]] was a buffer state between [[Ottoman Empire]] and [[Habsburg Empire]] until the [[Treaty of Karlowitz]] was signed.<ref>Ingrao, C. (2022). The Habsburg Empire under siege: Ottoman expansion and Hungarian revolt in the age of Grand Vizier Ahmed Köprülü (1661–76): by Georg B. Michels, Montreal, McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2021, x + 603 pp., $85.00 (cloth), ISBN 978-0-228-00575-9. Canadian Slavonic Papers, 64(2–3), 386–387. https://doi.org/10.1080/00085006.2022.2105507</ref>
* {{Flagicon|Switzerland}} [[Switzerland]] has been a buffer state between [[Italy]], [[Austria]], [[France]], [[Germany]], and other state powers in medieval and modern Europe.
* {{Flagicon|Netherlands}} [[United Kingdom of the Netherlands|The United Kingdom of the Netherlands]], composed of today's [[Belgium]] and [[Netherlands]], was created by the [[Congress of Vienna]] in 1815 to maintain peace between [[Kingdom of France|France]], [[Kingdom of Prussia|Prussia]], and the [[United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland|United Kingdom]]. The kingdom existed for 15 years until the [[Belgian Revolution]].
* {{Flagicon|Belgium}} [[Belgium]] acted as buffer state between [[French Third Republic|France]], the [[German Empire]], the [[Netherlands]], and the British Empire before the [[World War I|First World War]].
* The [[Rhineland]] served as a [[demilitarized zone|demilitarised zone]] between France and [[Weimar Republic|Germany]] during the [[Interwar period|interwar]] years of the 1920s and early 1930s. There were early French attempts at creating a [[Rhenish Republic]].<ref>{{Cite magazine |date=27 August 1923 |title=THE RUHR: Rhineland Republic? |url=http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,716441,00.html |access-date=12 March 2017 |magazine=Time}}</ref>
* The [[Socialist Soviet Republic of Byelorussia]] was founded as a buffer state between Soviet Russia and the European powers.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Andrew Wilson |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jZJntMQtkSYC&q=Belarus%20map%201945&pg=PA96 |title=Belarus: The Last European Dictatorship |year=2011 |isbn=978-0-300-13435-3 |pages=96–97| publisher=Yale University Press }}</ref>
* The [[Qasim Khanate]] (1452–1681) may have served as a buffer between [[Principality of Moscow|Muscovy]] and the [[Khanate of Kazan|Kazan Khanate]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Witzenrath |first=Christoph |title=Eurasian Slavery, Ransom and Abolition in World History, 1200–1860 |date=2016 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=9781317140023 |page=198}}</ref>
* {{Flagicon|Austria}} [[First Austrian Republic|Austria]] acted as a buffer state between Germany and [[Fascist Italy|Italy]] during [[Austria#Interwar period and World War II|the interwar period]].
* {{Flagicon|Second Polish Republic}} [[Second Polish Republic|Poland]] and other states between Germany and the Soviet Union have sometimes been described as buffer states, both as non-communist states before [[World War II]]<ref name="Suvarov01a">{{Cite book |last=Suvorov, Viktor |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EYA4AAAAQBAJ&q=buffer+state&pg=142 |title=The Chief Culprit: Stalin's Grand Design to Start World War II |date=2013 |publisher=[[Naval Institute Press]] |isbn=9781612512686 |page=142 |quote=Chapter 25: Destruction of the Buffer States between Germany and the Soviet Union. |access-date=1 January 2015}}</ref> and later as [[communist state]]s of the [[Eastern Bloc]].<ref name="Stent01a">{{Cite web |last=Stent, Angela E. |author-link=Angela Stent |date=1998 |title=Russia and Germany Reborn: Unification, the Soviet Collapse, and the New Europe |url=http://press.princeton.edu/chapters/s6426.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141018171556/http://press.princeton.edu/chapters/s6426.html |archive-date=18 October 2014 |access-date=1 January 2015 |publisher=[[Princeton University Press]] |quote=Moscow's German Problem before Detente – The Federal Republic – In 1945, the major Soviet preoccupation was to prevent any future German attack; hence the imposition of Soviet-controlled governments in a ring of buffer states between Germany and the USSR.}}</ref>
* {{Flagicon|Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia}} [[Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia|Yugoslavia]], which [[Tito–Stalin split|broke with the Soviet Union]] before the formation of the [[Warsaw Pact]], became a buffer state between [[NATO]] and the Eastern Bloc during the [[Cold War]].
* {{Flagicon|West Germany}} [[West Germany]] and {{Flagicon|East Germany}} [[East Germany]] were also regarded as buffer states between NATO and the Warsaw Pact during the Cold War in Europe.
* During the Cold War, {{Flagicon|Sweden}} [[Sweden]] and {{Flagicon|Finland}} [[Finland]] were sometimes regarded as buffer states between NATO and the Soviet Union.{{By whom|date=November 2023}} More recently, the [[Russo-Ukrainian War]] has helped push both countries into joining NATO.
* {{Flagicon|Cyprus}} [[Cyprus]] was instaured as an buffer state in 1960 as a form to avoid the risk of a war for the island control between [[Greece]] and [[Turkey]]. 

===Oceania===
* {{Flagicon|New Hebrides}} [[New Hebrides]] served as a buffer between the United Kingdom and France in Oceania during the [[New Imperialism]] period.
* {{Flagicon|Papua New Guinea}} [[Papua New Guinea]] served as a buffer state between [[Indonesia]], the [[Solomon Islands]], and [[Vanuatu]]. Indonesia accused both the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu of supporting the [[Free Papua Movement]] during the [[Papua conflict]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Papua Nugini Diharapkan Jadi Bufferzone Indonesia |trans-title=Indonesia Hopes Papua New Guinea to be Indonesia's Buffer Zone |url=https://www.rmol.id/read/2017/10/18/311532/Papua-Nugini-Diharapkan-Jadi-Bufferzone-Indonesia- |access-date=18 October 2017 |language=id}}</ref>