Revanchism is a word rarely used but has meaning today with conflicts around the world. The first that comes to mind is the war in Ukraine, but it probably applies to many more minor conflicts worldwide.
The word revanchism is French and strongly resembles revenge. However, revanchism particularly applies to a country seeking to restore territory lost in war or because of political actions. In the Ukraine war, Russia says it is trying to claim land in Ukraine where the residents have resettled Russians. Ukraine disputes those allegations and may claim the same about earlier captured lands.
President Trump asserts that our work in Panama to build the canal gives us some claim over that territory. He further contends that Panama has broken the terms of the agreement that turned over canal management to them. If we were to move to take the canal back, it would be an unprecedented act of revanchism.
“After the territorial losses in the war, our Congressional discussions were dominated by a strong sense of revanchism.”
“The treaty could not be signed because each ambassador believed the other had unclaimed territory, and the feud devolved into rancor and revanchism.”
“The new political party’s platform was founded on revanchism, promising to restore the nation’s former glory by reclaiming territories lost in the recent war.”
Confabulation is a bit like living in an alternate reality, where you have memory errors that are so real you believe them to be true. It can also refer to memory lapses, where one fills in memory gaps with what they believe to be plausible “facts.” Confabulation is not lying because the person believes that what they convey is an accurate memory. A person with this condition could likely pass a lie detector test because the memory is real to them.
Medical conditions can also create confabulation conditions, such as dementia, amnesia, or Alzheimer’s disease. To them, they are relaying stories or truths based on reality.
“During the medical examination, the patient’s vivid recounting of events that never actually happened was identified as confabulation.”
“Despite his sincere belief in the accuracy of his story, the old man’s detailed account of the battle was a case of confabulation, and he blended fragments of real events with imagined details.”
“The patient’s stories were a confabulation, a way to cope with childhood tragedy and suffering.”
Combining revanchism and confabulation might seem difficult, but when we consider world history, there are many examples. From the Treaty of Versailles that led to World War II to the ongoing territorial disputes in the South China Sea, revanchism has been a driving force behind many long and painful wars.
“A mix of revanchism and confabulation drove the politician to paint an unrealistic picture of the nation’s past glory.”
“The war started because the king’s confabulation led him to believe revanchism was justified to reclaim the neighboring lands.”
“The politician’s speech was filled with revanchism, promising to reclaim lost territories, while his confabulation of past events created an unrealistic view of history.”
