“Used to be the winner would claim conquered nations/territories as their own”...
which is exactly what the Soviets did with Poland, Romania etc. Imagine had they gotten a nuclear weapon first..GERMANOV...BELGUMNOV..ENGLANOV. They’d have went wild.
It's been that way since humans couldn't figure out how to live together in peace or overcome their aggressive nature and greed for more stuff and territory for more power. Think Alexander the Great. Think Romans. Think Mongols. Then you have later day British who conquered much of the world. Sheesh, it just goes on and on.