Occupations

An American military occupation comes into effect once the U.S. military occupies and takes control over a foreign territory. According to The Hague Convention of 1907 and the U.S. Army Field Manual 27-10, territory comes under occupation when it is placed under the authority of occupation forces. Significantly, the occupation concerns only that territory where occupation forces can establish and exercise their authority. As a consequence, small mobile parties such as patrols or reconnaissance missions do not constitute occupation forces. Rather, an occupation must be undertaken by military units capable of controlling an occupied territory. That said, military occupation is meant to be temporary, though some 20th-century American occupations have lasted decades, such as in the case of Okinawa. In general, American occupations of foreign ...