page_title: Humanitarian intervention
section_title: Examples of military humanitarian intervention
hierarchical_section_title: Humanitarian intervention / Examples of military humanitarian intervention
context_page_description: Humanitarian intervention has been defined as a state's use of military force against another state, with publicly stating its goal is to end human rights violations in that state. This definition may be too narrow as it precludes non-military forms of intervention such as humanitarian aid and international sanctions. On this broader understanding, "Humanitarian intervention should be understood to encompass… non-forcible methods, namely intervention undertaken without military force to alleviate mass human suffering within sovereign borders."
  There is not one standard or legal definition of humanitarian intervention; the field of analysis often influences the definition that is chosen. Differences in definition include variations in whether humanitarian intervention is limited to instances where there is an absence of consent from the host state; whether humanitarian intervention is limited to punishment actions; and whether humanitarian intervention is limited to cases where there has been explicit UN Security Council authorization for action. There is, however, a general consensus on some of its essential characteristics:
context_section_description: Potential examples of previous humanitarian interventions include:
  Bombardment of Algiers (1816)
  Russian, British and French Anti-Ottoman Intervention in the Greek War of Independence (1824)
  French expedition in Syria (1860–1861)
  Russian Anti-Ottoman Intervention in Bulgaria (1877)
  Spanish–American War (1898)
  United States occupation of Haiti (1915)
  United Nations Operation in the Congo (1964)
  US intervention in Dominican Republic (1965)
  Indian intervention in East Pakistan (1971)
  Vietnamese Intervention in Cambodia (1978)
  Uganda-Tanzania War (1979)
  Operation Provide Comfort (Iraq, 1991)
  Unified Task Force (Somalia, 1992)
  Operation Uphold Democracy (Haiti, 1994)
  UNAMIR (Rwanda, 1994)
  UNTAET (East Timor, 1999)
  NATO bombing of Yugoslavia (1999)
  British military intervention in the Sierra Leone Civil War (2000)
  Coalition military intervention in Libya (2011)
  Military intervention against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (2014–present)
  Some academics have referred to these cases as humanitarian interventions. However, in some cases this is only a retrospective classification of actions that were the result of a variety of motivations. Vietnam's invasion of Cambodia for instance, was justified as self-defense rather than humanitarianism and has only later come to be seen as a possible example of humanitarian intervention.
caption: The Battle of Navarino, in October 1827, marked the effective end of Ottoman rule in Greece.
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