California Annexed by US Army winning war against the Mexicans - 1848

Global Intel Hub -- There are 39 Million people (officially) in California, as well it is home to Hollywood, Silicon Valley, and a huge number of top secret military bases, and is a US owned treasure - perhaps one of the most valuable assets of the United States. In the 19th century the United States was a young growing country, the industrial revolution meant that industry was grabbing any natural resources to use and abuse for a quick profit. In the fight for dominance of the North American continent by competing new powers, the Mexican-American war was fought on US soil, from around 1845 - 1848:

The Mexican–American War,^[a] also known in the United States as the Mexican War and in Mexico as the Intervención estadounidense en México (U.S. intervention in Mexico),^[b] was an armed conflict between the United States and Mexico from 1846 to 1848. It followed the 1845 U.S. annexation of Texas, which Mexico considered Mexican territory. It did not recognize the Velasco treaty signed by Mexican General Antonio López de Santa Anna when he was a prisoner of the Texian Army during the 1836 Texas Revolution. The Republic of Texas was de facto an independent country, but most of its Anglo-American citizens wanted to be annexed by the United States.^[4]

The war faced 25k losses on the Mexican side and 13k + losses on the US side, but remember this was before modern medicine and advanced war technologies. This was a real bloody war fought on horseback and with guns and fists. The culmination of the war meant that California was 'annexed' or 'seized' may be a more precise use of the English language. There were no votes, referendums, or Mexicans who wanted to join USA at that time. A treaty was signed making the new lands part of USA, which became the 31st state:

In February of 1848, Mexico and the United States signed a treaty which ended the Mexican War and yielded a vast portion of the Southwest, including present day California, to the United States. Several days earlier, January 24, 1848, gold had been discovered on the American River near Sacramento, and the ensuing gold rush hastened California’s admittance to the Union. With the Gold Rush came a huge increase in population and a pressing need for civil government. In 1849, Californians sought statehood and, after heated debate in the U.S. Congress arising out of the slavery issue, California entered the Union as a free, nonslavery state by the Compromise of 1850. California became the 31st state on September 9, 1850. The Golden State’s rich history has since been shaped by people of every ethnic background who traveled here seeking economic, social and educational opportunity, and a life of quality and breathtaking beauty.

Fast forward to today, California is just as American as any state. Eastern Ukraine is now legally part of Russia, after referendums overwhelmingly voted to join Russia. An interesting similarity, California is the only US state to practice "Democracy" which means people vote on referendums which become law. So, were these Ukrainian territories 'annexed' or did they vote to join Russia? Let's first admit a few of Russia's weaknesses, Russia gets a 1 out of 10 for branding - they don't even try. The West gets a 9/10 we are not giving the 10/10 because of the little mistakes (same crisis actors being used from previous crises, 'dead' people moving in body bags on TV news, etc.) The sloppiness is forgotten, when the Hollywood machine kicks in. Logic and fact is irrelevant, TV is the doctrine, that manipulates the subconscious Reptilian brain of all those who watch.

In most of the new Russian territory, the overwhelming ethnic majority (upwards of 90% in some areas) was Russian. To make matters more pro-Russia, the Ukrainians have been killing them since 2014, reports of as many as 14,000 Russians have been killed there since that time, and of course no one wants to look at these unpleasant facts, it's easier to paint the Putin villain. It is believed that these people genuinely wanted to join Russia, because it is their ethnic homeland. But as pointed out on ZH, perhaps that doesn't matter too:

The Big Serge Annexation Map: Phase 1 Complete

I think, however, that people lost focus as to what the referenda and the ensuing annexation means. Western talking points focused on the illegitimacy of the votes and the illegality of any annexation, but this is really not very interesting or important. The legitimacy of annexation is derived from whether or not Russian administration can succeed in these regions. Legitimacy, as such, is merely a question of efficacy of state power. Can the state protect, extract, and adjudicate?

In any case, what is far more interesting than the technicalities of the referenda is what the decision to annex these regions says about Russian intentions. Once these regions become formally annexed, they will be viewed by the Russian state as sovereign Russian territory, subject to protection with the full range of Russian capabilities, including (in the most dire and unlikely scenario) nuclear weapons. When Medvedev pointed this out, it was bizarrely spun as a “nuclear threat”, but what he was actually trying to communicate is that these four oblasts will become part of Russia’s minimum definition of state integrity - non-negotiables, in other words.

With a few minor territorial disputes as exceptions, this is the first major territory shift since World War 2, so this generation does not remember that:

The US annexed or 'seized' most of the territories outside of the 13 colonies
In 1954 Russian Crimea was given to Ukraine (which was anyway a Soviet Republic, part of the USSR)
Ukraine has been an independent country since 1991, when the Soviet Union collapsed
Previously, Ukraine was part of the Russian Empire
The first Slavic state, Kievan Rus, was a territory that both included modern Ukraine and Russia
Russia has never invaded another country of another ethnic group (Germany, for example). On the other hand, Russia has been invaded by many superpowers including but not limited to The French, Germans, Khans, et al.