That is correct. Because he is alreayd occupying one territory, your attack on it can't dislodge him. And because you were at equal strength in the unoccupied territory, you bounce there. It's in the rulebook tot he original boardgame. You should have supported an attack on one or the other territories and you would have gotten in.

That makes no logical sense. How can you both move out into the unoccupied territory to attack, and defend at your territory at the same time? You can't be at both places at once.

In short, you had a two on one advatage, but didn't order them correctly to guarantee you would overcome him. Here is a link to the latest edition of the rules.

http://www.diplom.org/~diparch/resources/rulebooks/2000AH4th.pdf

BEcause he didn't move. Self bouncing is a tactical move that also works this way. Read the rules for a better understanding.

If he didn't move, then I should have taken the unoccupied territory, no?

He bounced. Just read the rules. It's very clear in them and they've been around since the 60s.

I am saying that this is a logical error in the rules, if you didn't understand already.

That's a basic and very important rule in this game.
It's not about being in 2 places at the same time. It's about the essential rule that all units have the same stregth and that a territory can only be occupied by one unit...
If you bounce your enemy from the unoccupied territory it means that both your and his units will remain in the same position...so your other unit can't enter his territory because he has a unit already there.
For you to enter: make an attack with force of 2 forcing him to dislodge that unit or just let him out to the unoccupied territory.

You shoud read Draugnar's link to the rulebook...

Don't try to take logic from rules that were made decades ago...
It's a game with rules... you have to follow it to play it right.

And they are logical... but maybe not logical as you expected... but if you study them you will get the logic.
Good luck.

I don't think there's precedence over any particular sort of attacks.

You say it goes like this:

I bounce him from unoccupied
He bounces me from his territory

I think it should go like this:

I attack his occupied, he holds.
I take unoccupied.

Imagine Diplomacy as a war with no fighting. A bounce is two equally sized armies seeing the inevitable stalemate and deciding to leave each other alone. A dislodgement is an army seeing its inevitable defeat and retreating. The army in the occupied space attempts to move to the occupied space, but notices your incoming army and the two agree to avoid a standoff, leaving his army in the occupied territory ready to scare off your other army.

attempts to move to the unoccupied** space.

I thought wrong.
The game is Diplomacy it was created in the 50's...
the rules have been analised by a big number of people over time.

The rules are clear... you just have to know them to succed :)

This particular rule is VERY IMPORTANT.
Example: if you bounce 2 units in an unoccupied territory you are covering, not only the unoccupied territory, but also the territories where the 2 units were initially (auto-bounce).
This way you are protecting 3 territories with 2 units.

Read the rules and you will get the LOGIC with time.

*you thought

The only precedence here is from the one unit in his territory.
So when you bounced him out of the unoccupied territory his unit never left is territory so you don't enter. But the fact that he ordered to move is enough to bounce you out of unoccupied.

There is one other thing to think about, though. BEcause your enemy moved, he could not have support held his unit in the territory (and attempt to move cuts any support holds to that territory) so you could have dislodged him with a supported attack. Had he not attemoted to move, anothe runit may have been available to support hold that one and keep you out.

The rules are logical if viewed as game rules and not an attempt to simulate WWI. If you want that, get some minatures from the era and run a simulation where you and a groups of friends command the armies and navies.