Lost Land and Revanchism

Albert Bettannier’s painting La Tache Noire (The Black Spot) in 1887 is a vivid  depiction of the education of French children on the subject of the lost provinces of Alsace-Lorraine. It captures the spirit of revanchism, a movement that sought to instil in every Frenchman the duty to wage war against the Germans to retrieve sacred French soil.
 
The spirit of revanchism – revenge – stirred a French generation and contributed to the excitement surrounding the outbreak of the Great War in 1914.
 
Sadly, in numerous places around the globe, the spirit of revanchism is alive and well. In countless places, past injustices are highlighted, bitterness nurtured, hatred stoked, and revenge plotted.

The world has many contested lands. In fact, there are few places on the planet that are free from past conflicts and conquest. 
 
Consider the following shortlist (there are many more):

• Western Poland
• Kaliningrad
• Crimea
• South China Sea
• Kuril Islands
• Turkey
• Kashmir
• Israel/Palestine/Gaza
• Golan Heights
• Gibraltar
• Falkland Islands
• Displaced Indigenous Peoples

Virtually every nation on the planet has been shaped by conquest of some sort, and the memory of lost territory is far from dead. In fact, there are those in a host of countries today nursing a grudge and waiting for the moment for revenge.
 
That spirit of revenge is exacerbated when race/ethnicity is tied to land (as is usually the case).
 
That desire for revenge is exacerbated when religion is tied to land (as is usually the case).
 
There are no easy solutions to the reality and memory of lost lands. In many cases, there is no peaceful going back, despite who has justice on their side. Few nations will give up long-conquered land without a fight. Turkey is not about to give back Constantinople and the entire Anatolian peninsula. Russia is not about to give back Crimea. Poland is not going to give back 1/3 of its territory. North America is not going to be depopulated of every immigrant and their offspring from the past 500 years. And so on.
 
Most nations will not even talk about lost lands, and the sentiment that “we are on other people’s land” is anathema – and even illegal – in parts of the world. For instance, Poles in western Poland will never start a class stating that they are on historic German land, Turks will never start the Grand National Assembly with a statement that Constantinople belongs to the Greeks, Indians will not recognize Pakistan’s claims for Kashmir in public meetings, and Britain will not open ceremonies in Gibraltar stating they are meeting on Spanish soil.
 
So what is a way forward for Christians in such a world? 
 

• First, recognize that knowing your Bible is not enough – you must learn some history before making comments about who has justice on their side. You may also be surprised at what you find.
• Second, avoid suggesting simple solutions, for there is no way forward that is simple when it comes to dealing with conquered lands.
• Third, avoid fusing the Christian faith with any reconquest, or “holy” war, for lost lands. People in both pulpit and pew must not be co-opted by nationalistic or xenophobic zeal.
• Fourth, avoid virtual-signalling statements – they will only lead to more bitterness when people realize the sentiments expressed mean nothing when it comes to actually getting land back. (The last thing Christians should be doing is inadvertently feeding a spirit of revenge by their well-meaning but misguided efforts.)
• Fifth, urge governments and all parties to act justly. However, remember that calls for justice can be co-opted by those who have lost lands and want to use violence to regain it. 
• Sixth, recognize that a spirit of revenge may lurk behind discussions of lost lands. Be vigilant, for in no way must a spirit of revenge be birthed, nurtured, stoked, ignored, minimized, or tolerated. What must somehow be done – miracle of miracles – is to help the various parties move from revenge to reconciliation. Miroslav Volf’s comments on historical memory being either a poison or medicine is well worth the read in this regard: “Memories of wrongs suffered are morally ambiguous….They can serve to restore health and dignity, protect, and prompt the pursuit of justice. At the same time, such memories can also lead people to abase their humanity by nursing resentments and committing misdeeds. Though today many people rightly take the medicine of remembering wrongs against the turmoil of the soul and violence in society, such ‘medicinal’ memories often poison their patients with the very diseases they are meant to cure. Medicine and poison – memories of wrongs seem to be both.” [1]

 
In conclusion, the sad reality is that French revanchism led to a pyrrhic victory. France won the war against Germany and regained its two lost provinces. But the cost to France was close to 2,000,000 dead over 4,000,000 wounded – those wide-eyed and enraptured youth instilled with visions of revenge were decimated.[2] And, to make it worse, the “glorious” French victory led in turn to German desires for revenge and the Second World War … and then even more slaughter in what Neil Ferguson calls the “bloodiest century in modern history.”[3]
 
Christians must contribute to a better possible future than that.
 
 
(This is blog post #12 in the series entitled “Christians, War, and Violence: Reflections on Possible Futures.” This is the final post in this series.)


[1] Miroslav Volf, The End of Memory: Remembering Rightly in a Violent World (Eerdmans, 2006). 
[2] The overall cost of human life during the entire war among all nations was staggering: over eight million dead and twenty-one million wounded, out of sixty-five million mobilized. 
[3] Niall Ferguson, The War of the World: Twentieth-Century Conflict and the Descent of the West (Penguin, 2006), xxxiv.