Expansionism is the doctrine of expanding the territorial base (or economic influence) of a country, usually by means of military aggression. Compare empire-building and Lebensraum.

Irredentism, revanchism or reunification are sometimes used to justify and legitimize expansionism, but only when the explicit goal is to reconquer territories that have been lost, or even to take over ancestral lands. A simple territorial dispute, such as a border dispute, is not usually referred to as expansionism.

Modern Expansionism

• Akhand Bharat (seeks to create an enlarged India)
• Aztlan (seeks to include south-west U.S. in an enlarged Mexico)
• Greater Albania (seeks to unite all ethnic Albanians in an enlarged state)
• Greater Hungary (seeks unite all ethnic Hungarians in an enlarged state)
• Greater Israel (seeks to create an Israeli state including all of mandatory Palestine)
• Greater Mongolia (seeks unite all ethnic Mongolians in an enlarged state)
• Greater Morocco (seeks to expand Moroccan territory to encompass areas ruled by the Almoravid Empire in the past)
• Greater Serbia (seeks to unite all Serbs in an enlarged state)
• Greater Somalia (seeks to unite all Somalis in an enlarged state)
• Greater Syria (seeks to create an enlarged Syria encompassing the whole of the north-west Middle East)
• Kahanism (seeks to create a state including all of Biblical Israel)
• United Macedonia (seeks to create an enlarged Republic of Macedonia covering all of Macedonia (region)
• United North America (seeks to create an enlarged United States by merging Canada)

Past Expansionism

• Afghanistan sought to create an enlarged Greater Afghanistan, specifically to absorb land inhabited by Pashtuns in the North West Frontier Province in modern Pakistan (citation? date?)
• Croatia sought to create an enlarged ethnically 'pure' Greater Croatia (citation? date?)
• Greece sought to expand its territory in order to have all Greeks united (Enosis) in one country (date?)
• Italy (during the rule of Benito Mussolini) sought to enlarge its territory in Europe (citation? date?)
• Japan sought to expand to a vast territory of China, Sothern Asia, and Asian Pacific during WWII.
• Nazi Germany sought to unite all ethnic Germans and take land in the east (see Lebensraum)
• USA (see Manifest Destiny) sought to expand into all of Canada during the War of 1812 and later with the Annexation Bill of 1866. Also sought to expand into Mexico, taking what is roughly today's California, Nevada, Texas, and New Mexico.
• Europeans sought to expand to around the world with colonialism (see Imperialism)
• The Soviet Union sought to expand into Eastern Europe, Scandinavia, and Central Asia. (Through their formation of various pro-Soviet/Communist organizations in that area immediately after World War II, roughly until the erection of the Berlin Wall).
• During the American Civil War the U.S. expanded into Missouri and Texas for more farming soil.
• The Ottoman Empire expanded its territory from Asia in today's Turkey into Africa and Europe from 1453 to 1683 before being pushed back by European kings and the Papacy.

See also

• List of Irredentist states

Politics

Expansionismo