Consists of policies of states that involve territorial or economic expansion
Expansionism
refers to states obtaining greater territory through military
empire-building
or
colonialism
.
[1]
[2]
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
rights
of the governed, more complex justifications arose.
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.
[3]
Theories
[
edit
]
Ibn Khaldun
wrote that newly established dynasties, because they have
social cohesion
or
Asabiyyah
, are able to seek "expansion to the limit."
[4]
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."
[5]
Examples
[
edit
]
Every part of the world has experienced expansionism.
[6]
[7]
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
period of expansion
. The Ottomans ended the
Eastern Roman Empire
with the conquest of Constantinople in 1453 by
Mehmed the Conqueror
.
[8]
The militarist and nationalistic reign of Russian
Czar Nicholas I
(1825?1855) led to wars of conquest against
Persia (1826?1828)
and
Turkey (1828?1829)
. Various rebel tribes in the
Caucasus
region were crushed. A
Polish revolt
in 1830 was ruthlessly crushed. Russian troops in 1848 crossed into
Austria-Hungary
to put down the
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
into invading Crimea
.
[9]
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
.
[10]
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
invaded the Soviet Union
in 1941.
[11]
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
Fascist Italy
,
Nazi Germany
, the
Japanese Empire
, and the
Balkans
countries of
Albania
(
Greater Albania
),
Bulgaria
(
Greater Bulgaria
),
Croatia
(
Greater Croatia
),
Hungary
(
Greater Hungary
),
Romania
(
Greater Romania
) and
Serbia
(
Greater Serbia
).
In American politics after the
War of 1812
,
Manifest Destiny
was the ideological movement during America's expansion
West
. The movement incorporated expansionist nationalism with continentalism, with the
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
Cheyennes
, 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
.
[12]
21st century
[
edit
]
China
[
edit
]
The
People's Republic of China
is accused of expansionism through its operations and claims in the
South China Sea
, which are concurrently claimed in part by
Vietnam
, the
Philippines
,
Brunei
,
Malaysia
and the
Republic of China
.
[13]
Israel
[
edit
]
Israel
was established on May 14, 1948 following the end of
World War II
and the
Holocaust
. Its government has
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
[14]
[15]
[16]
and Israel
disengaged from the Gaza Strip
in 2005. Israel also
occupied
southern
Lebanon
from February 1985 to May 2000.
[17]
Iran
[
edit
]
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.
[18]
Russia
[
edit
]
Russia
under
Vladimir Putin
has had an aggressive posture since 2008, especially since 2014.
[19]
Events associated with Russia are the 2008
Russo-Georgian War
and Russia's
occupation of South Ossetia and Abkhazia
; the
Russo-Ukrainian War
, which began in 2014 with the
Annexation of Crimea
and the
war in Donbas
and escalated into the ongoing
full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine
in 2022; and the
military intervention in Syria
.
Turkey
[
edit
]
Turkey's foreign policy
is characterized, especially since 2010s by an aggressive expansionism,
irredentism
and
interventionism
in the
Eastern Mediterranean
and the neighboring
Cyprus
,
Greece
,
Iraq
,
Syria
, as well as in
Africa
, including
Libya
, and
Nagorno-Karabakh
.
[a]
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
Turkish presence in northern Iraq
since 2018.
[26]
United States
[
edit
]
The US has military bases in some sovereign countries it once occupied, including in Germany, Italy, Japan, Greenland, Iceland, Iraq, and formerly in Afghanistan. It continues to retain
Guantanamo Bay Naval Base
despite the protests of Cuba, and the US has military bases in various other countries with which it has allied.
Ideologies
[
edit
]
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
;
[27]
and the
Ottoman Empire
, especially under
Enver Pasha
) used those theories to legitimise their expansionist policies.
American ideology
[
edit
]
In terms of explaining the results of American expansion, this goes back to the 19th century when
Frederick Jackson Turner
produced his
Frontier Thesis
which made the case for the decisive role of American expansionism.
[28]
[29]
The free land enabled economic independence (as opposed to political dominance by landlords in Europe) and popular democracy in America.
[30]
The success of expansionism led to a deep belief in the superiority of the "American way of life," as shown by how it attracted tens of millions of immigrants. Economic success was supplemented by the confidence that Anglo Saxons were simply better at governing a nation.
[31]
Further expansion far beyond the American continent, in the
Philippines
, at the turn of the century which was 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."
[32]
However, the Philippines government was shared with the local political elite, which called for independence. In Washington Democrats rejected McKinley-style expansionism and in 1934 set the Philippines on the path to independence, which was achieved in 1946.
[33]
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
President McKinley
had been accustomed to being evaluated in terms of his manliness.
[34]
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.
[34]
As a result, expansionism was a way of projecting manliness onto the electorate and in to society.
In popular culture
[
edit
]
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
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
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.
May, Ronald James, ed. (1979).
The Indonesia-Papua New Guinea Border: Irianese Nationalism and Small State Diplomacy
. Department of Political and Social Change, Research School of Pacific Studies, Australian National University. p. 43.
ISBN
9780908160334
. Retrieved
6 November
2020
.
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
- 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
[...]
- ^
Knorr, Klaus (1952).
Schumpeter, Joseph A.
;
Arendt, Hannah
(eds.).
"Theories of Imperialism"
.
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doi
:
10.2307/2009130
.
ISSN
0043-8871
.
JSTOR
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.
S2CID
145320143
.
- ^
"Manifest Destiny | History, Examples, & Significance"
.
Encyclopedia Britannica
. Retrieved
2019-05-07
.
- ^
The Muqadimmah, 1377, pages 137-256
- ^
Anderson, Nicholas (2023).
"Push and Pull on the Periphery: Inadvertent Expansion in World Politics"
.
International Security
.
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10.1162/isec_a_00454
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- ^
See Abernethy (2009); Darwin (2008)
- ^
Wade, (2014).
- ^
Quataert, Donald (2005).
The Ottoman Empire, 1700?1922
(2 ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 4.
ISBN
978-0-521-83910-5
.
- ^
Orlando Figes
,
Crimea
(Penguin, 2011), chapter one
- ^
Rodogno, Davide (2006).
Fascism's European Empire: Italian Occupation During the Second World War
. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. pp. 46?47.
ISBN
978-0-521-84515-1
.
- ^
Sebastian Haffner
,
The Meaning of Hitler
, Phoenix, 2000, chapters 2, 3 and 4
- ^
Beyreis, David (Summer 2018). "The Chaos of Conquest: The Bents and the Problem of American Expansion".
Kansas History
.
41
(2): 72?89 – via History Reference Center.
- ^
Simon Tisdall
, 'Vietnam's fury at China's expansionism can be traced to a troubled history',
The Guardian
, 15/5/2004
- ^
"Carter Says Error Led U.S. to Vote Against Israelis"
.
Washington Post
. 4 March 1980
. Retrieved
16 November
2021
.
- ^
Masalha, Nur (2000).
Imperial Israel and the Palestinians: politics of expansion
. Sterling, VA: Pluto Press.
- ^
"Golan Heights Law"
.
Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs
. 14 December 1981
. Retrieved
16 November
2021
.
- ^
Norton, Augustus.R (2000). "Hizballah and the Israeli Withdrawal from Southern Lebanon".
Journal of Palestine Studies
.
30
(1): 22?35.
doi
:
10.2307/2676479
.
JSTOR
2676479
.
- ^
Arango, Tim (15 July 2017).
"Iran Dominates in Iraq After U.S. 'Handed the Country Over'
"
.
New York Times
. Retrieved
8 November
2019
.
- ^
Walker, Peter (2015-02-20).
"Russian expansionism may pose existential threat, says NATO general"
.
The Guardian
. Retrieved
2018-10-04
.
- ^
Antonopoulos, Paul (2017-10-20).
"Turkey's interests in the Syrian war: from neo-Ottomanism to counterinsurgency"
.
Global Affairs
.
3
(4?5): 405?419.
doi
:
10.1080/23340460.2018.1455061
.
ISSN
2334-0460
.
S2CID
158613563
.
- ^
Danforth, Nick (23 October 2016).
"Turkey's New Maps Are Reclaiming the Ottoman Empire"
.
Foreign Policy
. Retrieved
2020-10-08
.
- ^
"Turkey's Dangerous New Exports: Pan-Islamist, Neo-Ottoman Visions and Regional Instability"
. Middle East Institute. 21 April 2020
. Retrieved
4 May
2021
.
- ^
Sinem Cengiz (7 May 2021).
"Turkey's militarized foreign policy provokes Iraq"
. Arab News
. Retrieved
9 May
2021
.
- ^
Asya Akca (8 April 2019).
"Neo-Ottomanism: Turkey's foreign policy approach to Africa"
. Center for Strategic and International Studies
. Retrieved
13 May
2021
.
- ^
Slavi?a Mila?i? (23 October 2020).
"The revival of neo-Ottomanism in Turkey"
. World Geostrategic Sights
. Retrieved
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2021
.
- ^
Yousif Ismael (18 May 2020).
"Turkey's Growing Military Presence in the Kurdish Region of Iraq"
. Washington Institute
. Retrieved
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2022
.
- ^
Orlando Figes
,
Crimea
, Penguin, 2011, p.89
- ^
Richard Hofstadter, "Turner and the Frontier Myth".
American Scholar
18#4 (1949), pp. 433?43.
JSTOR
41206669
.
- ^
LaFeber, Walter (1963).
The New Empire: An Interpretation of American Expansion 1860 - 1898
. United States of America: Cornell University Press. pp. 95?112.
ISBN
0-8014-9048-0
.
- ^
Stanley Elkins and Eric McKitrick, "A Meaning for Turner's Frontier: Part I: Democracy in the Old Northwest".
Political Science Quarterly
69#3 (1954), pp. 321?53.
doi
:
10.2307/2145274
.
- ^
Burnett, Christina; Marshall, Burke (2001).
Foreign in a Domestic Sense: Puerto Rico, American Expansion, and the Constitution
. Durham: Duke University Press. p. 26.
ISBN
1-283-06210-0
.
- ^
LaFeber, Walter (2013-04-08).
The New Cambridge History of American Foreign Relations
(1 ed.). Cambridge University Press.
doi
:
10.1017/cbo9781139015677
.
ISBN
978-1-139-01567-7
.
- ^
Dean Kotlowski, "Independence or Not? Paul V. McNutt, Manuel L. Quezon, and the Re-examination of Philippine Independence, 1937?9"
International History Review
32#3 (2010), pp. 501?531
online
- ^
a
b
Hoganson, Kristin (1998).
Fighting for American Manhood
. New Haven and London: Yale University Press. p. 95.
ISBN
978-0-300-08554-9
.
Further reading
[
edit
]
- 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).