A rump state is the remnant of a once-larger government, left with limited powers or authority after a disaster, invasion or military occupation.

For example, the Seleucid Empire, which once controlled most of the Middle-east, was reduced drastically in size by the rise of the Parthian Empire in its eastern provinces due to a local rebellion. What was left of the once large empire was a rump state composed of little more than Antioch, Damascus, and an area roughly equal in size to modern Syria.

Some other examples include:

• Kush from circa 2500 BC until 780 BC.
• Ancient Egypt in the first millennium BC until its Babylonian conquest.
• Biblical Israel at times during the period of The Judges and after the conquest of the northern Kingdom by the Assyrians in 722 BC.
• Ancient Syria during the reign of King Solomon of Israel.
• Phoenicia during the Assyrian and Babylonian Empires.
• Athens after the Peloponnesian War.
• Carthage after the 2nd Punic War.
• The Seleucid Empire after the rise of Parthia.
• Macedon after the Wars with Rome until its final conquest.
• The Western Roman Empire and its various territories after the barbarian invasions (AD 5th century).
• The Sassanid Empire from AD 622 until the Arab conquest of Persia in 651.
• The Kingdom of Aksum in Ethiopia after the rise in Arab power in the 7th century.
• The Eastern Roman Empire/Byzantine Empire after the Arab invasions (8th century).

• France during the Hundred Years War.
• The Abbasid Caliphate in the 11th century.
• The Kingdom of Jerusalem after the Third Crusade.
• The Byzantine Empire after the Fourth Crusade as the Empire of Nicaea (also Empire of Trebizond and Despotate of Epirus).
• Bulgaria in the 11th and 12th centuries, and in the 14th century until its Ottoman conquest.
• The Sultanate of Delhi after the invasions of Tamerlane.
• The Serbian Empire from the mid-14th century until its conquest by the Ottoman Empire.
• The Nasrid Kingdom of Granada in the 14th and 15th centuries.
• The Byzantine Empire in the 15th century, after the Ottoman invasions.
• Russia from the 15th century until the reign of Ivan III of Russia and during the Time of Troubles.

• Hungary in the 16th century until its Ottoman conquest.
• Mongolia after the rise of the Qing.
• Saudi Arabia from the 16th century until World War I, while the Ottoman Empire controlled its Red Sea and Persian Gulf coasts.
• Poland-Lithuania during its struggle for survival in the war of The Deluge against Ukrainian Cossack insurgents and Russian, Swedish, Turkic, and German invaders.
• The Mughal Empire in the 18th century.
• Sweden after its defeat in the Great Northern War in 1721, and more so after the Russian seizure of Finland in 1809.
• Poland, progressively after the first two Partitions of Poland in 1772 and 1793 until its liquidation in 1795.
• Austria, The Netherlands, and Prussia under Napoleonic occupation.
• The Duchy of Warsaw and Congress Poland, from 1807 to 1831 under French and Russian hegemony, respectively.
• Denmark after its loss of Norway to Sweden.
• Venice after losing the majority of its territory to Austria and the Ottoman Empire in the Congress of Vienna.
• The Kingdom of Saxony after the Congress of Vienna, until its 1871 incorporation into the German Empire.
• Mexico after the loss of almost half of its area to United States interests from 1836 to 1848.
• Denmark from its loss of Schleswig-Holstein to the Prussian (later German) Empire from 1864 until 1919.
• The Papal States and Vatican City in the mid-19th century, particularly after the Unification of Italy.
• Paraguay, after losing vital territory to Argentina and Brazil after the War of the Triple Alliance after 1870.
• Romania from its independence in 1878 until its addition of Transylvania from the Treaty of Trianon in 1919.
• The Ottoman Empire after the loss of its African and most of its European lands in the late 19th century.
• Bolivia, after losing its nitrate deposits and access to the Pacific to Chile after the War of the Pacific in 1879.

• France during the German occupation of its northeast.
• Greece during the occupation of its north by the Central Powers.
• Russia under the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk.
• The dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian Empire into Austria and Hungary by the treaties of Saint-Germain and Trianon, respectively.
• The Ottoman Empire as envisioned by the Treaty of Sevres, and then Turkey as recognized in the Treaty of Lausanne after becoming a republic.

• Czechoslovakia after the German annexation of the Sudetenland.
• China during the Japanese occupation of most of its eastern lands (including the majority of the 1939 population.)
• Vichy France after the French surrender in 1940 during World War II.
• The USSR from 1941 to 1944, during the Axis occupation of large European areas.
• Serbia after the temporary dissolution of Yugoslavia during World War II.
• Greece under Axis occupation during World War II.

• Germany and Japan after World War II, with Germany divided into two nations of opposing blocs until 1990.
• Republic of China after the Chinese Civil War.
• Palestine after the 1948 Arab-Israeli War and the Six Days War.
• Russia after the dissolution of the USSR.
• Ethiopia after the secession of Eritrea in 1991 and the resultant landlocking.
• Serbia as the successor of Yugoslavia following its dissolution in 1992, and particularly the independence of Montenegro in 2006.
• The Czech Republic as the successor of Czechoslovakia after the independence of Slovakia in 1993.