Vassal - Difference Between "vassal" and "vassal State"

Difference Between "vassal" and "vassal State"

Many empires have created vassal states out of cities, kingdoms, and tribes that they wish to bring under their auspices without having to conquer or govern them. In these cases, vassalage (or suzerainty) just means forfeiting foreign policy independence in exchange for full autonomy and perhaps a formal tribute. A lesser state that might be called a "junior ally" would be called a "vassal" as a reference to a domestic "fiefholder" or "trustee", simply to apply a common domestic norm to diplomatic culture. This allows different cultures to understand formal hegemonic relationships in personal terms, even among states using non-personal forms of rule. Imperial states that have used this terminology include Ancient Rome, the Mongol Empire, and the British Empire.

Read more about this topic:  Vassal

Famous quotes containing the words difference between, difference and/or state:

    The only difference between the saint and the sinner is that every saint has a past, and every sinner has a future.
    Oscar Wilde (1854–1900)

    It is so wonderful to our neurologists that a man can see without his eyes, that it does not occur to them that is just as wonderful that he should see with them; and that is ever the difference between the wise and the unwise: the latter wonders at what is unusual, the wise man wonders at the usual.
    Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)

    The discovery of Pennsylvania’s coal and iron was the deathblow to Allaire. The works were moved to Pennsylvania so hurriedly that for years pianos and the larger pieces of furniture stood in the deserted houses.
    —For the State of New Jersey, U.S. public relief program (1935-1943)