the defenders can eliminate the invading forces or expel them from the target state’s key territory before those forces are able to consolidate their defenses over—and as a consequence, their hold on—the seized territory, the fait accompli will fail. Until the attacker, in other words, is able to seize the target’s key territory and muster such defenses as required to convince the target state and its allies and partners that continuing to defend it would be in vain or prohibitively costly or risky, the attacker will not have consummated a fait accompli.
