A small neutral country situated between two larger hostile countries and serving to prevent the outbreak of regional conflict.
‘On the last occasion in 1944, Stalin backed the ‘independent’ republic as a buffer state and provided limited aid.’
‘In order for the country to be accepted as independent and a buffer state, the country needed to reform.’
‘The country's present borders were established at the end of the nineteenth century, ‘when the great powers sought to establish a buffer state between the British and Russian empires.’’
‘Half a century earlier, the British, concerned that Russian and Chinese influences might approach from the north, managed Tibet as a buffer state to protect their Indian domain.’
‘Lodged firmly in Burma and the Malay Peninsula, Britain came to an agreement with France to maintain Thailand as an independent buffer state between their separate empires.’
‘On July 31 France agreed to maintain Thailand as an independent buffer state between French Indochina and British Burma.’
‘In 1828, Uruguay gained independence as a buffer state between Argentina and Brazil.’
‘A second Cisalpine Republic was set up as a buffer state against Austria, and Napoleon even allowed it to be called the Italian Republic in 1802, but Venetia remained outside it.’
‘During the nineteenth century, Afghanistan struggled successfully against the colonial powers and served as a buffer state between Russia and British India.’
‘Such independence was largely the result of geo-political concerns of the Great Powers who needed an autonomous Piedmont to continue serving as a buffer state between France and Austria.’
‘Long written off as a buffer state between China and Russia, Mongolia, twice the size of Texas but with 13 percent of the population, is embarking on a classic exercise in modern nation building.’
‘Originally backed by the Venetians, who wanted a compliant buffer state between themselves and their mainland enemies, the Carrara soon made it clear they had grander ambitions.’
‘It would seem, therefore, that the Votadini had allied themselves with Rome and may even have been, at certain times, a buffer state on the edge of the Empire.’
‘Austria was no longer a bulwark against the east, but a buffer state between two competing ideologies.’
‘The absorption of Poland meant that there was no longer a buffer state separating Russia from Prussia.’
‘This represented an adjustment of Roman foreign policy in the east, where independent client kings had always been imposed on this buffer state with Parthia.’
‘The French did this to ensure a Christian dominated buffer state next to Syria.’
‘The establishment of a belt of buffer states in Eastern Europe, whose governments were directly dependent on Moscow, served their security interests.’
‘The Moscow bureaucracy had no interest in a revolutionary development either in the West or in the buffer states.’
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