Irredentism
Irredentism is claiming a right to territories belonging to another state on the grounds of common ethnicity and/or prior historical possession, actual or alleged. The word was coined in Italy from the phrase Italia irredenta ("unredeemed Italy"). This originally referred to Austro-Hungarian rule over mostly or partly Italian-inhabited territories in the northern Adriatic such as Trentino and Trieste during the 19th and early 20th century. An area subjected to an irredentist claim is therefore sometimes called an irredenta.
Irredentist disputes
Not all territorial disputes are irredentist, although they are often couched in irredentist terms to strengthen public support.
Other prominent irredentist disputes have included:
- Gabriele D'Annunzio's occupation of Fiume (now Rijeka) from 1919-1921 - the original irredentist dispute.
- German claims before World War I to Alsace and Lorraine plus, in the Nazi era, to areas of Poland, Lithuania, and the Czech Sudetenland. Today the issue of the lost eastern territories is also coming up again.
- Zionist claims to the territories of historic Palestine.
- Claims by advocates of a Palestinian homeland to the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, Jerusalem and (sometimes) Israel.
- Argentina's claims to the Falkland Islands.
- Bolivian claims to coastal regions of Chile annexed after the War of the Pacific.
- Pakistani Muslim claims to the Kashmir valley territory, which is divided between Pakistan and India.
- Hungarian claims that Felvidék (southern parts of Slovakia), Transsylvania, Croatia and some other territories of Austria, Ukraine, Romania, Yugoslavia and Slovenia should belong to Hungary.
- Serbian claims to large areas of Bosnia and Croatia.
- Indian claims over what is known as Ethnic nationalism
- Revanchism
