Revanchism
Revanchism (from French: revanche, "revenge") is the political manifestation of the will to reverse territorial losses incurred by a country, often following a war or social movement used since the 1870s. As a term, revanchism originated in France in the aftermath of the Franco-Prussian War among nationalists who wanted to avenge the French defeat and reclaim the lost territories of Alsace-Lorraine.
Revanchism draws its strength from patriotic and retributionist thought and is often motivated by economic or geo-political factors. Extreme revanchist ideologues often represent a hawkish stance, suggesting that desired objectives can be achieved through the positive outcome of another war. It is linked with irredentism, the conception that a part of the cultural and ethnic nation remains "unredeemed" outside the borders of its appropriate nation-state. Revanchist politics often rely on the identification of a nation with a nation-state, often mobilizing deep-rooted sentiments of ethnic nationalism, claiming territories outside the state where members of the ethnic group live, while using heavy-handed nationalism to mobilize support for these aims. Revanchist justifications are often presented as based on ancient or even autochthonous occupation of a territory since "time immemorial", an assertion that is usually inextricably involved in revanchism and irredentism, justifying them in the eyes of their proponents.
La Revanche (1916 film)
La Revanche, also known as The Vengeance, is a 1916 Australian feature-length film directed by W. J. Lincoln about the revenge sought by Belgian friends of Edith Cavell against the Germans during World War I. It was a sequel to Nurse Cavell (1916), using many of the same cast and crew.
It is considered a lost film.
Plot
Following the execution of Edith Cavell the Germans continue to practice atrocities. Two friends of Cavell, a Belgian officer, Captain Devreaux, becomes determined to get revenge. Among the German outrages depicted included: the flogging to death of a Belgian man who forgot to salute a German officer; the shooting of an old man who objected to the treatment of Belgian girls; the Kaiser awarding the Iron Cross to a man who murdered an innocent woman. In the end, the spy who denounced Cavell is shot by the Belgians. The German captain involved in the Cavell's execution is shot by a Belgian woman he was assaulting.
The film also depicts the German capture of Wavre in Belgium and its recapture by the Allies.
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