Ajay Kumar at 13:07, 19 September 2023

2023-09-19T13:07:45Z

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{{short description|Consists of policies of states that involve territorial or economic expansion}}
[[File:Map of the Empire of Alexander the Great (1893).jpg|thumb|The full extent of the empire of [[Alexander the Great]], assembled in the 4th century BCE as he strove to conquer the lands of Asia and the Mediterranean]]
'''Expansionism''' refers to states obtaining greater territory through military [[Imperialism|empire-building]] or [[colonialism]].<ref>
An alternative definition sees "expansionism" as "a desire to annex additional territory" for reasons such as perceived needs for ''Lebensraum'' or resources, the intimidation of rivals, or the projection of an ideology.{{cite book|editor1-last = May|editor1-first = Ronald James|title = The Indonesia-Papua New Guinea Border: Irianese Nationalism and Small State Diplomacy|year = 1979|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=fbxwAAAAMAAJ|issue = Issue 2 of Working paper (Australian National University. Research School of Pacific Studies. Dept. of PoliticaL and Social Change)|publisher = Department of Political and Social Change, Research School of Pacific Studies, Australian National University|publication-date = 1979|page = 43|isbn = 9780908160334|access-date = 6 November 2020|quote = At this point, however, we must define 'expansionism' a little more precisely. I am interpreting it to mean a desire to annex additional territory either{{ordered list|type=lower-roman|for the sake of more ''lebensraum'' (living space) or resources (oil, copper, timber, etc.);|for the sake of demonstrating the national power so as to intimidate neighbours;|because of an ideology of national greatness, power}}[...]}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Knorr |first=Klaus |date=1952 |editor-last=Schumpeter |editor-first=Joseph A. |editor-link=Joseph Schumpeter |editor2-last=Arendt |editor2-first=Hannah |editor2-link=Hannah Arendt |title=Theories of Imperialism |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/2009130 |journal=World Politics |volume=4 |issue=3 |pages=402–431 |doi=10.2307/2009130 |jstor=2009130 |s2cid=145320143 |issn=0043-8871}}</ref>

In the classical age of [[conquest]] moral justification for territorial expansion at the direct expense of another established polity (who often faced displacement, subjugation, slavery, rape and execution) was often as unapologetic as "because we can" treading on the philosophical grounds of [[might makes right]].

As political conceptions of the [[nation state]] evolved, especially in reference to the inherent [[human rights|rights]] of the governed, more complex justifications arose. [[Anarchy#Examples of state-collapse anarchy|State-collapse anarchy]], [[reunification]] or [[pan-nationalism]] are sometimes used to justify and legitimize expansionism when the explicit goal is to reconquer territories that have been lost or to take over ancestral lands.

Lacking a viable historical claim of this nature, would-be expansionists may instead promote ideologies of promised lands (such as [[manifest destiny]] or a religious destiny in the form of a [[Promised Land]]), perhaps tinged with a self-interested pragmatism that targeted lands will eventually belong to the potential invader anyway.<ref>
{{Cite web|url= https://www.britannica.com/event/Manifest-Destiny|title= Manifest Destiny {{!}} History, Examples, & Significance|website= Encyclopedia Britannica|language= en|access-date= 2019-05-07}}
</ref>

==Theories==

[[Ibn Khaldun]] wrote that newly established dynasties, because they have [[social cohesion]] or [[Asabiyyah]], are able to seek "expansion to the limit."<ref>The Muqadimmah, 1377, pages 137-256</ref>

The Soviet economist [[Nikolai Kondratiev]] theorized that capitalism advances in 50-year expansion/stagnation cycles, driven by technological innovation. The UK, Germany, the US, Japan and now China have been at the forefront of successive waves.

[[Crane Brinton]] in ''[[The Anatomy of Revolution]]'' saw the revolution as a driver of expansionism in, for example, Stalinist Russia, the United States and the Napoleonic Empire.

[[Christopher Booker]] believed that [[wishful thinking]] can generate a "dream phase" of expansionism such as in the [[European Union]], which is short-lived and unreliable.

According to a 2023 study, important historical instances of territorial expansion have frequently happened because actors on the periphery of a state have acted without authorization from their superiors at the center of the state. Leaders subsequently find it difficult to withdraw from the newly captured areas due to "sunk costs, domestic political pressure, and national honor."<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Anderson |first=Nicholas |date=2023 |title=Push and Pull on the Periphery: Inadvertent Expansion in World Politics |url=https://doi.org/10.1162/isec_a_00454 |journal=International Security|volume=47 |issue=3 |pages=136–173 |doi=10.1162/isec_a_00454 |s2cid=256390941 }}</ref>

==Examples==
[[File:Expansion of the Mongol Empire.svg|thumb|250px|Expansion of the [[Mongol Empire]] from 1206 to 1294]]
Every part of the world has experienced expansionism.<ref>See Abernethy (2009); Darwin (2008)</ref><ref>Wade, (2014).</ref> The religious [[imperialism]] and [[colonialism]] of Islam started with the [[early Muslim conquests]], was followed by the religious [[Caliphate]] expansionisms, and ended with the [[Partition of the Ottoman Empire]]. In the 15th and 16th centuries, the [[Ottoman Empire]] entered a [[Growth of the Ottoman Empire|period of expansion]]. The Ottomans ended the [[Byzantine Empire|Eastern Roman Empire]] with the conquest of Constantinople in 1453 by [[Mehmed the Conqueror]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Quataert |first=Donald |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OX3lsOrXJGcC |title=The Ottoman Empire, 1700–1922 |date=2005 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-83910-5 |edition=2 |page=4}}</ref>

The militarist and nationalistic reign of Russian [[Czar Nicholas I]] (1825–1855) led to wars of conquest against [[Russo-Persian War (1826–1828)|Persia (1826–1828)]] and [[Russo-Turkish War (1828–1829)|Turkey (1828–1829)]]. Various rebel tribes in the [[Caucasus]] region were crushed. A [[November Uprising|Polish revolt]] in 1830 was ruthlessly crushed. Russian troops in 1848 crossed into [[Austria-Hungary]] to put down the [[Hungarian Revolution of 1848|Hungarian Revolt]]. [[Russification]] policies were implemented to weaken minority ethnic groups. [[Pan-Slavist]] solidarity led to further war with Turkey (the [[sick man of Europe]]) in 1853 provoked Britain and France [[Crimean War|into invading Crimea]].<ref>[[Orlando Figes]], ''Crimea'' (Penguin, 2011), chapter one</ref>

In Italy, [[Benito Mussolini]] sought to create a [[New Roman Empire]], based around the [[Mediterranean]]. Italy invaded [[Ethiopia]] as early as 1935, [[Albania]] in early 1938, and later Greece. ''[[Spazio vitale]]'' ("living space") was the territorial expansionist concept of [[Italian Fascism]]. It was analogous to Nazi Germany's concept of ''Lebensraum'' and the United States' concept of "Manifest Destiny". Fascist ideologist [[Giuseppe Bottai]] likened this historic mission to the deeds of the [[ancient Romans]].<ref>{{Cite book|first=Davide|last=Rodogno|title=Fascism's European Empire: Italian Occupation During the Second World War |location=Cambridge, UK|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=2006|pages=46–47|isbn=978-0-521-84515-1}}</ref>

After 1937, [[Nazi Germany]] under Hitler laid claim to [[Sudetenland]], unification (''[[Anschluss]]'') with Austria in 1938 and the occupation of the whole of the Czech lands the following year. After war broke out, Hitler and Stalin divided Poland between Germany and the [[Soviet Union]]. In a ''[[Drang nach Osten]]'' aimed at achieving ''[[Lebensraum]]'' for the German people, Germany [[Eastern Front (World War II)|invaded the Soviet Union]] in 1941.<ref>[[Sebastian Haffner]], [[The Meaning of Hitler]], Phoenix, 2000, chapters 2, 3 and 4</ref>
[[File:Scramble-for-Africa-1880-1913-v2.png|thumb|350px|Comparison of Africa in the years 1880 and 1913]]
[[Expansionist nationalism]] is an aggressive and radical form of [[nationalism]] that incorporates autonomous patriotic sentiments with a belief in expansionism. The term was coined during the late 19th century as European powers indulged in the [[Scramble for Africa]], but it has been most associated with militarist governments during the 20th century including [[Kingdom of Italy#Fascist regime .281922.E2.80.931943.29|Fascist Italy]], [[Nazi Germany]], the [[Japanese Empire]], and the [[Balkans]] countries of [[Albanian nationalism|Albania]] ([[Greater Albania]]), [[Bulgarian nationalism|Bulgaria]] ([[Greater Bulgaria]]), [[Croatian nationalism|Croatia]] ([[Greater Croatia]]), [[Hungarian nationalism|Hungary]] ([[Hungarian irredentism|Greater Hungary]]), [[Romanian nationalism|Romania]] ([[Greater Romania]]) and [[Serbian nationalism|Serbia]] ([[Greater Serbia]]).

In American politics after the [[War of 1812]], [[Manifest destiny|Manifest Destiny]] was the ideological movement during America's expansion [[Westward Expansion|West]]. The movement incorporated expansionist nationalism with continentalism, with the [[Mexican–American War|Mexican War]] in 1846–1848 being attributed to it. Despite championing American settlers and traders as the people whom the government's military would be aiding, the Bent, St. Vrain and Company stated to be the most influential Indian trading company prior to the Mexican War, underwent a decline because of the and of traffic from American settlers by Beyreis. The company also lost the partner Charles Bent on January 19, 1847, to a riot caused by the Mexican War. Many in the [[Cheyenne]]s, Comanches, Kiowas, and Pawnees tribes died from smallpox in 1839–1840, measles and whooping cough in 1845, and cholera in 1849, which had been brought by American settlers. The buffalo herds, sparse grasses, and rare waters were also depleted following the war as increased traffic by settlers moving to California during the [[Gold Rush]].<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Beyreis|first=David|date=Summer 2018|title=The Chaos of Conquest: The Bents and the Problem of American Expansion|journal=Kansas History|volume=41| issue = 2|pages=72–89|via=History Reference Center}}</ref>

==21st century==
{{More citations needed section|date=March 2022}}

===China===
{{further|Chinese expansionism}}
The [[People's Republic of China]] is accused of expansionism through its operations and claims in the [[South China Sea]], which are concurrently claimed by [[Vietnam]].<ref>[[Simon Tisdall]], 'Vietnam's fury at China's expansionism can be traced to a troubled history', [[The Guardian]], 15/5/2004</ref>

===Israel===

[[File:Israel and occupied territories map.png|thumb|upright=0.7|Israel and [[Israeli-occupied territories]]]]
[[Israel]] was established on reacquired lands under [[international law]] and a manifest of original ownership on May 14, 1948, after the end of [[World War II]] and the [[Holocaust]]. Its government has [[Israeli-occupied territories|occupied]] the [[West Bank]], the [[Gaza Strip]], the [[Golan Heights]], and the [[Sinai Peninsula]] since the [[Six-Day War]], although the Sinai was later returned to Egypt in 1982<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1980/03/04/carter-says-error-led-us-to-vote-against-israelis/96769c94-19d6-43cc-87f3-32507792afab/?noredirect=on|title=Carter Says Error Led U.S. to Vote Against Israelis|newspaper=Washington Post|date=4 March 1980|access-date=16 November 2021}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|title=Imperial Israel and the Palestinians: politics of expansion|last=Masalha|first=Nur|publisher=Pluto Press|year=2000|location=Sterling, VA}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://mfa.gov.il/mfa/foreignpolicy/peace/guide/pages/golan%20heights%20law.aspx/|title=Golan Heights Law|website=Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs|date=14 December 1981|access-date=16 November 2021}}</ref> and Israel [[Israeli disengagement from Gaza|disengaged from the Gaza Strip]] in 2005.

===Iran===
[[Iran]], the largest [[Shi'ite]] state, has extended its influence across the entire Middle East, including Iraq, Lebanon, Syria, Yemen and Afghanistan by arming local militias.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Arango |first1=Tim |title=Iran Dominates in Iraq After U.S. 'Handed the Country Over' |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/15/world/middleeast/iran-iraq-iranian-power.html |work=New York Times |access-date=8 November 2019 |date=15 July 2017}}</ref>

===Russia===
[[File:Annexation of Southern and Eastern Ukraine.svg|thumb|Regions of Ukraine annexed by Russia [[Annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation|in 2014]] and [[Russian annexation of Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk and Zaporizhzhia oblasts|2022]], with a red line marking the area of actual [[Russian-occupied territories of Ukraine|control by Russia]] on 30 September 2022.]]
[[Russia]] under [[Vladimir Putin]] has had an aggressive posture since 2008, especially since 2014.<ref>{{cite news |last=Walker |first=Peter |title=Russian expansionism may pose existential threat, says NATO general |work=[[The Guardian]] |date=2015-02-20 |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/feb/20/russia-existential-threat-british-nato-general |access-date=2018-10-04}}</ref> Events associated with Russia are the 2008 [[Russo-Georgian War]] and Russia's [[Occupied territories of Georgia|occupation of South Ossetia and Abkhazia]]; the [[Russo-Ukrainian War]], which began in 2014 with the [[Annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation|Annexation of Crimea]] and the [[War in Donbas (2014–2022)|war in Donbas]] and escalated into the ongoing [[2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine|full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine]] in 2022; and the [[Russian military intervention in the Syrian civil war|military intervention in Syria]].

===Turkey===
{{further|Neo-Ottomanism}}
[[Foreign policy of Turkey|Turkey's foreign policy]] is characterized, especially since 2010s by an aggressive expansionism, [[irredentism]] and [[Interventionism (politics)|interventionism]] in the [[Eastern Mediterranean]] and the neighboring [[Cyprus]], [[Greece]], [[Iraq]], [[Syria]], as well as in [[Africa]], including [[Libya]], and [[Nagorno-Karabakh]].{{efn|See:<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Antonopoulos|first=Paul|date=2017-10-20|title=Turkey's interests in the Syrian war: from neo-Ottomanism to counterinsurgency|url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/23340460.2018.1455061|journal=Global Affairs|volume=3|issue=4–5|pages=405–419|doi=10.1080/23340460.2018.1455061|s2cid=158613563 |issn=2334-0460}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last=Danforth|first=Nick|title=Turkey's New Maps Are Reclaiming the Ottoman Empire|url=https://foreignpolicy.com/2016/10/23/turkeys-religious-nationalists-want-ottoman-borders-iraq-erdogan/|access-date=2020-10-08|website=Foreign Policy|date=23 October 2016 |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.mei.edu/publications/turkeys-dangerous-new-exports-pan-islamist-neo-ottoman-visions-and-regional|publisher=Middle East Institute|title=Turkey's Dangerous New Exports: Pan-Islamist, Neo-Ottoman Visions and Regional Instability|date=21 April 2020|access-date=4 May 2021}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.arabnews.com/node/1855341|title=Turkey's militarized foreign policy provokes Iraq|publisher=Arab News|author=Sinem Cengiz|date=7 May 2021|access-date=9 May 2021}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.csis.org/neo-ottomanism-turkeys-foreign-policy-approach-africa|title=Neo-Ottomanism: Turkey's foreign policy approach to Africa|publisher=Center for Strategic and International Studies|author=Asya Akca|date= 8 April 2019|access-date=13 May 2021}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://wgi.world/the-revival-of-neo-ottomanism-in-turkey/|title=The revival of neo-Ottomanism in Turkey|publisher=World Geostrategic Sights|author=Slaviša Milačić|date=23 October 2020|access-date=13 May 2021}}</ref>}} Turkey has occupied foreign territories and stationed troops in them, following the 1974 [[Turkish invasion of Cyprus]], the [[Turkish occupation of northern Syria]] since 2016 and the [[List of Turkish Armed Forces operations in Northern Iraq|Turkish presence in northern Iraq]] since 2018.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.washingtoninstitute.org/policy-analysis/turkeys-growing-military-presence-kurdish-region-iraq|title=Turkey's Growing Military Presence in the Kurdish Region of Iraq|publisher=Washington Institute|author=Yousif Ismael|date=18 May 2020|access-date=1 October 2022}}</ref>

===United States===

The US retains military bases in some of the sovereign countries that it once occupied on a notionally-voluntary basis, including in Germany, Italy, Japan, Greenland, Iceland, Iraq, and formerly in Afghanistan. [[Guantanamo Bay Naval Base]] is retained despite the protests of the Cuban government, and the US has military bases in various other countries with which it has allied.

==Ideologies==
In the 19th century, theories of racial unity evolved such as [[Pan-Germanism]], [[Pan-Slavism]], and [[Pan-Turkism]] and the related [[Turanism]]. In each case, the dominant nation (respectively, [[Prussia]]; the [[Russian Empire]];<ref>[[Orlando Figes]], ''Crimea'', Penguin, 2011, p.89</ref> and the [[Ottoman Empire]], especially under [[Enver Pasha]]) used those theories to legitimise their expansionist policies.

=== American ideology ===
{{Seealso|Manifest destiny|American frontier}}
[[File:U.S. Territorial Acquisitions.png|thumb|250px|Historical [[Territorial evolution of the United States|territorial expansion of the United States]]]]
In terms of Ideological reasons for American expansion, this goes back to the 19<sup>th</sup> century when [[Frederick Jackson Turner|Frederick Turner]] produced his [[Frontier thesis|Frontier Thesis]] which made the case for American expansionism on the US continent and that this turning point marked the beginning of a new epoch.<ref>{{Cite book |last=LaFeber |first=Walter |title=The New Empire: An Interpretation of American Expansion 1860 - 1898 |publisher=Cornell University Press |year=1963 |isbn=0-8014-9048-0 |location=United States of America |pages=95}}</ref> The case for expansionism was made under the umbrella of advances in the American economy and democracy. Furthermore, this was aided at the latter end of the 19th century by the belief of Anglo Saxon and subsequent American superiority. This was exacerbated by a recession for the first time in 20 years and the Americans believed that they could unload their goods on to people because they had a God given right to do so.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=LaFeber |first=Walter |title=The New Empire: An Interpretation of American Expansion 1860 - 1898 |publisher=Cornell University Press |year=1963 |isbn=0-8014-9048-0 |location=United States of America |pages=112}}</ref> Their economic intentions were also supplemented by the fact that the Anglo Saxon race believed that they were simply better at governing a nation.<ref name=":1">{{Cite book |last1=Burnett |first1=Christina |title=Foreign in a Domestic Sense: Puerto Rico, American Expansion, and the Constitution |last2=Marshall |first2=Burke |publisher=Duke University Press |year=2001 |isbn=1-283-06210-0 |location=Durham |pages=26}}</ref> Furthermore, there was also a belief that white people were simply superior.<ref name=":1" /> This racial superiority complex meant that some believed they had a right to enact their beliefs upon people who did not agree, such as [[Cuba]], [[Guam]] and the [[Philippines]].

[[Pan-Americanism|Pan Americanism]] was a driver of governmental actors in the period, as the [[Benjamin Harrison|Harrison]] administration attempted to push through Pan American and tariff policies through the [[United States House of Representatives|house]] and [[United States Senate|senate]], however, their efforts were to no avail,<ref name=":0" /> but this showed that Pan Americanism was a driver in the efforts of the government for American expansion.

Further expansion came off the American continent, in the [[Philippines]], at the turn of the century which was arguably driven by a paternalistic [[United States]] as McKinley’s objectives, he declared in mid-1899, were fourfold: “Peace first, then a government of law and order honestly administered, full security to life, property, and occupation under the Stars and Stripes.”<ref>{{Cite book |last=LaFeber |first=Walter |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/9781139015677/type/book |title=The New Cambridge History of American Foreign Relations |date=2013-04-08 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1-139-01567-7 |edition=1 |doi=10.1017/cbo9781139015677}}</ref> However, the Philippines government was dictated by the Americans and ordinary Filipino people were not afforded the same privileges as the Americans that had been sent there.

It has also been posited that American leaders were pressured under traditional gender roles, which in turn made expansionism more likely. By the end of the 19th century [[William McKinley|President McKinley]] had been accustomed to being evaluated in terms of his manliness.<ref name=":2">{{Cite book |last=Hoganson |first=Kristin |title=Fighting for American Manhood |publisher=Yale University Press |year=1998 |isbn=978-0-300-08554-9 |publication-place=New Haven and London |pages=95}}</ref> This also played in to the fact that in the late nineteenth century, men saw supporting the military as the ultimate test of being a man.<ref name=":2" /> As a result, expansionism was a way of projecting manliness onto the electorate and in to society.

==In popular culture==

[[George Orwell]]'s satirical novel ''[[Animal Farm]]'' is a fictional depiction, based on [[Stalin]]'s Soviet Union, of a new elite seizing power, establishing new rules and hierarchies, and expanding economically while they compromise their ideals.

[[Robert Erskine Childers]]'s novel ''[[The Riddle of the Sands]]'' portrays the threatening nature of the German Empire.

[[Elspeth Huxley]]'s novel ''[[Red Strangers]]'' shows the effects on local culture of colonial expansion into [[Sub-Saharan Africa]].

==See also==
* [[American imperialism]]
* [[British Empire]]
* [[French colonial empire]]
* [[Colonialism]]
* [[Early Muslim conquests]]
* [[Ethnic cleansing]]
* [[European colonization of the Americas]]
* [[Expansionist nationalism]]
* [[Greater Israel]]
* [[Irredentism]]
* [[List of irredentist claims or disputes]]
* [[Manifest Destiny]]
* [[Scramble for Africa]], late 19th century
* [[Spread of Islam]]

==References==
{{reflist|group=lower-alpha}}
<references />

==Further reading==
* Abernethy, David B. ''The dynamics of global dominance: European overseas empires, 1415-1980'' (Yale University Press, 2000).
* Darwin, John. ''After Tamerlane: the global history of empire since 1405'' ( Bloomsbury, 2008).
* Edwards, Zophia, and Julian Go. "The Forces of Imperialism: Internalist and Global Explanations of the Anglo-European Empires, 1750–1960." ''Sociological Quarterly'' 60.4 (2019): 628–653.
* MacKenzie, John M. "Empires in world history: characteristics, concepts, and consequences." in ''The Encyclopedia of Empire'' (2016): 1-25.
* Wade, Geoff, ed. ''Asian Expansions: The Historical Experiences of Polity Expansion in Asia'' (Routledge, 2014).
* Wesseling, Hendrik. ''The European Colonial Empires: 1815-1919'' (Routledge, 2015).

[[Category:Political theories]]
[[Category:Political history]]

Expansionism - Revision history

Ajay Kumar at 13:07, 19 September 2023