Irredentism Isn't What It Used to Be: Putin's Bogus Claim to Ukraine
Irredentism Isn't What It Used to Be: Putin's Bogus Claim to Ukraine
If every nation with a territorial grudge acted on it, the world would be a much worse mess than it is now.
In yet another farcical twist in Vladimir Putin’s overlong tenure as Russia’s strongman, after poring over a 17th century French map presented to him by the head of Russia’s constitutional court, both men cited it as proof positive that there never was a Ukraine historically — feeding into Putin’s line justifying his effort to attack and eliminate that nation. “The Soviet government created Soviet Ukraine. This is well known to everyone. Until then, there was never any Ukraine in the history of humanity,” Putin said. “You have to understand, George. Ukraine is not even a country,” he told the soul-searching President George W. Bush in 2008.
Right smack in the middle of the map is written: “Ukraine Pays des Cosaques” (Ukraine Land of the Cossacks).
Either both men need new reading glasses or they are in such denial of reality that their brains never existed either.
The Ukrainian people’s evolution toward nationhood over the centuries is complex and meandering. For an excellent summation, read this. Most countries’ journeys toward nationhood have been complex and meandering. And unique, including those of Russia and the United States.
The Italians came up with the term irredentism from Italia irredenta — unredeemed Italy — in reference to Italian-speaking parts of neighboring countries some 19th century nationalists and, later, Mussolini had hoped to annex. Irredentism is when one country makes territorial claims on another, or others, on the basis of ethnic affinity or having previously owned the land.
Examples include Germany acquiring the Sudetenland in 1938, Hungary’s past claims to Magyar-speaking territories in neighboring states, Armenia’s and Azerbaijan’s dispute over Nagorno-Karabakh, Argentina’s claim over the Falklands, and many others. The problem with irredentism is that it can be limitless and it inevitably leads to international tensions and wars.
Where I live in Upstate New York, the tribes of the Iroquois Nation lay claim to most of the region based on violated 18th century treaties. The Onondaga tribe claims 4,000 square miles, including the land on which is situated my home. All property sales require a “notwithstanding clause” in which the buyer acknowledges the claims, which are being adjudicated in the courts. The U.S. government and the Iroquois made peace long ago. No drones or HIMARs crashing into the Finger Lakes or Adirondacks. We let the lawyers duke it out.
It’s a stretch for this commentary, but just across the border in Quebec are the Eastern Townships (Les Cantons de L’est). Once occupied by English-speaking settlers from New England and the British Isles, this region is now 92-to-95 percent Francophone. Walk around the very English sounding city of Sherbrooke and you would think you’re in New Hampshire, with classic high steepled churches and 19th century red brick buildings featuring British names next to the construction dates. But it’s as if a weird form of The Rapture swept away all the Anglos, to be replaced by Gauls. Think brioches on Wedgwood china.
What do the Townships and Kosovo have in common? Just as the English-speakers were displaced over decades by French-speakers, Serbs in culturally sacred Kosovo were displaced via demographics by Albanians. In the 1990s, NATO waged war against Serbia after it tried to carry out ethnic cleansing against the Albanians in Kosovo. As of this writing, Serbs and Albanians and NATO are back at it, this time going at each other with rocks and billy clubs rather than F-16s and SAM’s. Meanwhile, back in Canada, the Anglos and French confine their conflict to verbal broadsides in Parliament. “Ostie de colon!” will be met with “Damn Queebs!”
When I was an exchange student many years ago in Austria, if you traveled across the Austrian-Italian border into stunningly beautiful South Tyrol, you would often encounter “Südtirol bleibt deutsch!” graffiti. In those days, the nationalist protest went further with the occasional homemade bomb damaging Italian statues and other symbols. German-speaking South Tyrol was awarded to Italy after the First World War to even out a wiggly border. Wilsonian self-determination didn’t reach this far. But, over time, the South Tyrolians seem to have accommodated themselves to the current reality as members, with the Italians, of one big (ahem) happy E.U. family. Just look at Italy’s Winter Olympics team — more Werner’s and Ilse’s than Silvio’s and Antonella’s.
If every nation with a territorial grudge acted on it, the world would be a much worse mess than it is now. History leaves us with many geographical anomalies, often the catalyst for interstate tensions and conflicts. The map of Africa, for example, is a cartographical crime, drawn cavalierly as it was by the old colonial powers. Often a nation’s claim to another’s land has some legitimate basis. Crimea, for example, was part of Russia until Khrushchev deeded it to Ukraine SSR in 1954. That doesn’t mean Putin has a right to grab it back like some Medieval barbarian warrior-king. OSCE rules were supposed to put an end to such reckless behavior. Furthermore, while Ukraine was a Soviet republic for seven decades, that also constitutes zero basis for Vladimir Putin’s seizing it. And his gobbledygook interpretation of a common historical Kievan Rus nation as a basis to laying claim to Ukraine is regarded by serious historians as facile hogwash.
This is where Putin and Hitler have much in common: fabricate lies about co-ethnics in neighboring lands being victims of persecution and genocide as a rationale to invade and occupy those countries. Throw in some pseudo-history while you’re at it. It’s a tired dictator’s ploy for expansionism.
As with Hitler and other delusional despots, Putin will meet his Waterloo, as it were, in Ukraine.
As for myself, I’m brushing up on my Haudenosanee (Iroquois) language skills.
Skén:nen
The opinions and characterizations in this article are those of the author, and do not necessarily represent official positions of the U.S. government.