Irredentism

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Irredentism is the nationalist belief that a territory belonging to another country should be annexed for ethnic or historical reasons. Irredentist claims are usually justified on the basis that the irredentists' ethnic group now, or historically, formed the majority in that territory, or that the territory was part of the irredentists' nation-state at some point in the past.

Irredentism is to be distinguished from territorial expansionism, in that irredentism claims to advocate taking back land that is "rightfully ours," while expansionism advocates annexation regardless of whether the territory was "ours" in the first place. The name of the hypothetical country resulting from successful annexation frequently contains the word "Greater," such as, for example, in Greater Serbia,[wp] Greater Albania,[wp] Greater Greece,[wp] Greater India,[wp] Greater Russia,[wp] Greater Hungary[wp] and Greater Romania.[wp]

Historically, there have been many territories that have changed hands very often, and territories in which the ethnic composition has changed over time. This means the claims of different irredentist movements of what is "rightfully theirs" very often overlap. Traditionally, such questions of rightful claims have been answered by the use of arms. Since the borders of nearly all nations have changed over time, irredentist attitudes can be found in most parts of the world. Usually, they are part of nationalist ideologies, though by far not all nationalist ideologies and groups include them. Fortunately, irredentism usually does not receive the official support it once did.

Extreme forms of irredentism seek to expand the country to its maximum historical extent, regardless of whether the irredentists' ethnic group ever actually formed the majority in the territories in question. Examples include the irredentist claims by Hungarian right-wing extremists to the entire Pannonian Basin, or irredentist claims by Russian conservatives (including Vladimir Putin) to the Baltic States, Ukraine, Poland and Finland. In a sense, West Germany had irredentist attitudes in claiming that East Germany was a part of Germany, too.

However, there is a trend that countries that have lost territory tend to be small and oppressed by larger powers. It's difficult to argue that irredentism is motivated by mindless nationalism in countries that have recently been subject to conquest, ethnic cleansing and colonization. Irrendentism is more uncommon in large and powerful countries.

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