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New combined structural and seismotectonic analyses demonstrate basement‐involved shortening in forelands of recent collisional orogens (Taiwan, Western Alps, Pyrenees). Basement thrusts documented by seismicity (e.g., the 21 September 1999, Chi‐Chi earthquake in Taiwan) and/or structural data are triggered and localized by preexisting basement faults which constitute crustal weakness zones available for reactivation under low stress levels. Reactivation of basement faults may induce localization of folds and thrusts in the shallow thrust wedge, development of crystalline thrust sheets, out‐of‐sequence basement thrusting and late basement uplift, deformation/refolding of shallow thin‐skinned nappes, and development of accommodation structures such as transfer faults leading to a kinematic segmentation of foreland thrust belts. Reactivation of preexisting basement faults also occurs in the far foreland in …