Revanchism

I'd seen the word \( \textbf{revanchism} \) before but forgotten what it meant. Figure 1 shows a dictionary definition of the word. Note the surge in mentions of the word as the 1950's progressed. As can be seen the etymology is quite straightforward. There is the French word for revenge (revanche) with an English suffix (ism) tagged on after the final e is dropped.

Figure 1

The word even has its own Wikipedia entry that begins:

Revanchism (French: revanchisme, from revanche, "revenge") is the political manifestation of the will to reverse the territorial losses which are incurred by a country, frequently after a war or after a social movement. As a term, revanchism originated in 1870s France in the aftermath of the Franco-Prussian War among nationalists who wanted to avenge the French defeat and reclaim the lost territories of Alsace-Lorraine.

The word is linked to \( \textbf{irredentism} \) that the Wikipedia article describes as "the conception that a part of the cultural and ethnic nation remains "unredeemed" outside the borders of its appropriate nation-state." The article contains an interesting map showing the new nations that were created in the aftermath of the First World War. See Figure 2.

Figure 2: link