How many times has India invaded a foreign nation ---if at all ?

ashdoc

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I can remember only reading about two times that India invaded a foreign nation.

The first was when the chola kings fitted out a great fleet and carried a large army of land soldiers on it to invade the malaysian kingdom of srivijaya and destroyed it.

This was the only succesful invasion we carried out in our history.

Even during this same time mahmud of ghazni was carrying out his terrible raids on india , but he never came into contact with the cholas.

The other invasion was of maharajah ranjit singh of punjab on tibet ....but it was unsuccessful.

Know any other such episodes ?
 

Yusuf

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India as such came to being only after the British left and we owe every bit of it to Sardar. Prior to that it was all small or big kingdoms which made the entire indian subcontinent who fought amongst themselves. Southern India had many kingdoms. They were surrounded by sea and not having a strong navy, like the British who could go all over the world.

So the next thing was to attack kingdoms to the north only. China was off limit to Indian states because of the Himalayas. The only area left is to the west of India from where invaders came to india than the other way round.
 

Minghegy

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Thanks to the Himalaya, or Indian would invaded China several times.
 

ajtr

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Thanks to the Himalaya, or Indian would invaded China several times.
India had already invaded china japan,south east asia afghanistan pakistan srilanka through buddism:funny_2:
 

Phenom

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Chandragupta Maurya did gain a lot of territory from the Selucids, but I don't think he attacked first, he seems to have repelled an invasion from selecuids and gained a lot of territory in the process.
 
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Sridhar

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civfanatic

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"Nations" as we know of them today did not exist in antiquity. Since independence, India has never invaded a foreign nation (we did fight an offensive war in 1971 but Pakistan attacked first) and I hope it never does.

In ancient history, there have been a few instances when Indian empires expanded beyond the borders of present-day India (even though it was not recognized as such back then). These were, to my knowledge:
1) Maurya-Seleucid War (Mauryan Empire gains modern-day Pakistan and Afghanistan)
2) Pala Invasion of present-day Pakistan and Afghanistan
3) Chola Conquest of Sri Lanka and Maldives
4) Chola Conquest of Srivijaya Kingdom (present-day Malaysia/Indonesia)
5) Sikh Invasion of Tibet

If I am missing any episodes (I probably am) please tell me!
 

neo29

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Logically after independence, Goa was Portuguese rule. We invaded them for sure but to claim our own territory back.

India also invaded the princely state of Hyderabad to expel Nizam.

Other wars with Pak, the invasion was on basis first blood drawn by Pakistan.
 

tarunraju

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A foreign nation?

In 1961, the Chinese claim that we provoked them by stepping into their territory. But since our government did not declassify our warpapers, we have no option but to believe the Chinese.

In 1971. We invaded East Pakistan and liberated Bangladesh.
 

neo29

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A foreign nation?

In 1961, the Chinese claim that we provoked them by stepping into their territory. But since our government did not declassify our warpapers, we have no option but to believe the Chinese.

In 1971. We invaded East Pakistan and liberated Bangladesh.
Yes ... 1961 war was becoz of Nehrus forward policy of taking control of as many as area as possible for better negotiations later on. So logically we stepped on someone else's land and qualifying as an Invader. Even according to British Aksai Chin was never ours but Nehru made it a sentimental issue by declaring Aksai Chin a part of India and including it in all official maps. Thanks Nehru for the mess you made.
 

anoop_mig25

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Yes ... 1961 war was becoz of Nehrus forward policy of taking control of as many as area as possible for better negotiations later on. So logically we stepped on someone else's land and qualifying as an Invader. Even according to British Aksai Chin was never ours but Nehru made it a sentimental issue by declaring Aksai Chin a part of India and including it in all official maps. Thanks Nehru for the mess you made.
so aski-chine belong to whom don`t sat tibet
 

amoy

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For Aksai Chin actually there's MacCartney-Macdonald Line also by British Raj
(of course Indians would continue to say "what's mine is mine. yours is mine too"
++++++++++++
Britain proposed a revised boundary, called the MacCartney-Macdonald Line, which puts most of Aksai Chin in Chinese territory.[4]. This border, which set the border along the Karakoram Mountains, was proposed and supported by British officials for a number of reasons. The Karakoram Mountains formed a natural boundary, which would set the British borders up to the Indus River watershed while leaving the Tarim River watershed in Chinese control, and Chinese control of this tract would present a further obstacle to Russian advance in Central Asia.[6] In 1899, the British presented this line to the Chinese, who raised no objection to it.[4] This line is approximately the same as the current Line of Actual Control.[4] Both lines were used on British maps of India.[4]
 

ashdoc

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Chandragupta Maurya did gain a lot of territory from the Selucids, but I don't think he attacked first, he seems to have repelled an invasion from selecuids and gained a lot of territory in the process.
yes.......after alexander's death ,punjab was conquered by chandragupta maurya under the able guidance of chanakya vishnugupta..........his general selucos nicator invaded punjab to reconquer it............but he found himself surrounded by a much larger mauryan force numbered in the lakhs........he was forced to cede baluchistan and afghanistan along with punjab ,and marry his daughter helena to chandragupta.
 

ashdoc

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Yes ... 1961 war was becoz of Nehrus forward policy of taking control of as many as area as possible for better negotiations later on. So logically we stepped on someone else's land and qualifying as an Invader. Even according to British Aksai Chin was never ours but Nehru made it a sentimental issue by declaring Aksai Chin a part of India and including it in all official maps. Thanks Nehru for the mess you made.
more importantly , though nehru claimed aksai chin ,he made no efforts to occupy it after independence ,when it was empty..........naturally exploiting the power vacuum in the region ,the chinese walked in later..........but even then ,india didnt come to know..........finally when a chinese magazine published photos trumpeting the building of the aksai chin road in the region ,then our indian ambassador to peking called the matter to notice.........and india finally woke up.
 

samarsingh

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how about our first invasion viz Ayodhya's invasion of Lanka. Many people here would dismiss it as "Mythology". I personally see Ramayana as "spiced up" history and I do not believe in "Devas" and "Rakshashas", certainly not the meaning most people attribute to them. Comments welcome
 

ashdoc

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A foreign nation?

In 1961, the Chinese claim that we provoked them by stepping into their territory. But since our government did not declassify our warpapers, we have no option but to believe the Chinese.

In 1971. We invaded East Pakistan and liberated Bangladesh.
east pakistan is not truely foreign territory...........it was created out of our own nation ,remember....
 

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