revanchism

British  

/ rɪˈvæntʃɪzəm /

noun

1. a foreign policy aimed at revenge or the regaining of lost territories

2. desire or support for such a policy

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Other Word Forms

• revanchist noun

Etymology

Origin of revanchism

C20: from French revanche _revenge

Explanation

Revanchism is a political doctrine that aims to aggressively reclaim lost territory. Some experts describe Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine as an example of revanchism. When a country practices revanchism, it's trying to get revenge by taking back territory lost in a war or social movement. The policy almost always involves another military conflict, and it's motivated by retribution as much as political or economic aims. The French root of revanchism is revanche, or "revenge," and the word was first used politically after the Franco-German War, when French nationalists were determined to reclaim territory that had been lost to Germany.

Example Sentences

Her warnings about Russian revanchism had gone largely unheeded, even after the annexation of Crimea in 2014, she said.

From New York Times • Jul. 9, 2023

“We reaffirm the fairness, the stability and the confirmation of the popular will. We cannot accept revanchism and persecution from any side. Now it is time to look ahead.”

From Washington Post • Oct. 30, 2022

“The West did not take sufficient account of the strength of Soviet myth, military sacrifice and revanchism in him,” Eltchaninoff, whose grandparents were all Russian, said.

From Seattle Times • Mar. 26, 2022

War revanchism usually takes place after wars end – the KKK after the first world war, for example, or the radicalisation of white supremacism after Vietnam.

From The Guardian • Feb. 28, 2019

What Clark achieves with this blend is nothing less than an up-to-date vision of the new, weird America, a South in which the passions aren’t those of historical revanchism but of intimate terrors and thwarted dreams.

From The New Yorker • Mar. 18, 2016