Agrarian Reform in Eastern Europe following World War I: Motives and Outcomes

Abstract

Massive economic and political changes in Eastern Europe are not unique to today. Eastern Europe also underwent profound transformation after both World Wars. As a result of the peace process following World War I, the Austro-Hungarian and Ottoman Empires were dismantled, new countries were created (Poland, Czechoslovakia, and Yugoslavia), and borders of preexisting countries were redefined (Germany, Austria, Hungary, Rumania, and Bulgaria). A major issue after World War I was the organization of agriculture and the future of the peasantry in Eastern Europe. The majority of the population of Eastern Europe at the end of the war was agricultural. According to Seton-Watson (p. 75), the peasant proportions of the populations in 1918 were as follows: Rumania 78%, Bulgaria 80%, Yugoslavia 75%, Poland 63%, Hungary 55%, and Czechoslovakia 34%. Rural population density was also very high. At the turn of the century, man-land ratios ranged between four and seven hectares per man (Dovring, 1965, pp. 63-64). Seton-Watson (p. 97) reports the following population densities per square kilometer of cultivable land during the interwar period: Hungary 80.6, Rumania 116.3, Bulgaria 119, and Yugoslavia 157.4. In contrast, the figure for Denmark during the same period was 36.6. Roszkowski also reports that rural overpopulation and underemployment were severe in Poland.