Paris Peace Conference Research Articles

The Russian Delegation's Participation in the Paris Peace Conference in the Theoretical Search and Practice of Russian non-Bolshevik Diplomats

The Russian Delegation's Participation in the Paris Peace Conference in the Theoretical Search and Practice of Russian non-Bolshevik Diplomats

Stages of Estonian Statehood Formation: from the Overthrow of the Autocracy to the Paris Peace Conference, 1917—1919

Stages of Estonian Statehood Formation: from the Overthrow of the Autocracy to the Paris Peace Conference, 1917—1919

Leonard V. Smith, Sovereignty at the Paris Peace Conference of 1919

Leonard V. Smith, <i>Sovereignty at the Paris Peace Conference of 1919</i>

The Baltic Question before and during the Paris Peace Conference 1918—1920

The Baltic Question before and during the Paris Peace Conference 1918—1920

Позиція В. Вільсона щодо імперій у роки Великої війни.

The article analyzes the position of the American President Woodrow Wilson regarding empires during the First World War. The contravening character of his relationship was caused the fact that he negatively assessed the colonial policies of European powers in different parts of the world. He also critically assessed such things as the exploitation of the periphery, the conquest of territories by means of weapons, the suppression of the political and religious rights of the population of the colonies, the struggle with national movements, typical of most empires. On the other hand, such imperial states as Great Britain, France, and Russia were the US allies in the war. Therefore, the position of the leader of the United States was ambiguous in this matter. During the First World War, Wilson sought only weakened the position of the European empires, but not the complete disappearance of them from the political map of the world. However, with the start of the work of the Paris Peace Conference, which was to form a new post-war world order, the American leader under pressure from various factors was forced to change his vision of the future fate of empires.

Knocking on the Door: The Irish Presence at the Paris Peace Conference of 1919

Knocking on the Door: The Irish Presence at the Paris Peace Conference of 1919

Drafting the constitution of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (1920)

The Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes was internationally recognized during the Paris Peace Conference in 1919-20. Even though there was neither a provisional nor a permanent constitution of the newly-formed state, factually there was a state as well as a system of governance, represented by supreme bodies, the King and the Parliament. Many draft constitutions were prepared by different political parties and notable individuals. We shall focus on the official Draft Constitution prepared during the premiership of Stojan Protic. He appointed the Drafting Committee as a governmental (multi-ethnic) advisory team of prominent legal experts from different parts of the new state consisting of Professors Slobodan Jovanovic (President), Kosta Kumanudi and Lazar Markovic (Serbia), Professor Ladislav Polic (Croatia) and Dr Bogumil Vosnjak (Slovenia). After two months of work, the Committee submitted its draft to the Prime Minister. The leading Serbian legal scholar and president of the committee, Slobodan Jovanovic (1869-1958), was well-acquainted with the details of Austro-Hungarian and German legal traditions. Since he was an active participant and witness of the events that led to the creation of the new state, while also being an objective and critical historian, it is important to shed light on his firsthand account of the emergence of the state of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes.

From Versaille to Locarno: Belgium in the System of International Relations after World War I

The author analyses the first phase of the external policy of Belgium from Paris Peace Conference 1919—1920 until Locarno Treaties signed in 1925. The main object of the Belgian diplomacy during this period was to confirm the abolishment of the perpetual neutrality and obtain new guarantees of national security. The results were encouraging for Belgium: she became member of the League of Nations, signed a military agreement with France, participated in Locarno Treaties, which gave her liberty in choosing allies and confirmation of collective security, so necessary for a small power.

The Round Table Movement in Paris and the Rise of a New World Order after WWI

The Paris Peace Conference represented a turning point for the British Empire. Great Britain and its Dominions placed on the side of the Entente all their military might together with the most powerful navy. However, at the end of the war, Britain, in spite of being a victorious country, saw its world hegemony reduced and its control over the widest Empire in the history of the world irremediably affected. On the other side of the Atlantic, the United States turned out to be the real winner of the war and this gave them great leverage in Paris in shaping the new international order. However, the passage from the period of the Pax Britannica, which for almost a century granted stability in Europe, to the Pax Americana, was not so unexpected and painful for the British political establishment as we usually think. Among the British establishment, there was a movement that was able to shape the country’s foreign policy for more than twenty years and prepared the ground for the creation of the Anglo-American alliance. This article tries to focus on the circumstances that made possible this transatio imperii and the role played by the Round Table movement in Paris in this respect.

The uses of history in international society: from the Paris peace conference to the present

The uses of history in international society: from the Paris peace conference to the present

The Treaty of Versailles and the Problem of Solution of Interstate Territorial Disputes: Self Determination or Dictator of Winners?

This article analyzes the problem of delimitation of the German border according to the decisions of the Paris Peace Conference. The author examines, how on the basis of the Treaty of Versailles in the neighboring German and Polish, French and Danish territories were held plebiscites to determine the disputed territories. The author concluded that the people’s plebiscites held under the control of the League of Nations, were rather democratic, and reflected in general the political position of the peoples living for a long time on this territory. The exception was only the territory of Danzig and Memel with the majority of German population. The article emphasizes that only the western border of Poland has been revised in a relatively democratic way. The peoples of eastern Poland under the decisions adopted in Versailles had no the right to express their opinion on the problem of demarcation of new state borders.

The Settlement of the Swedish-Finnish Conflict, 1917—1921: the Åland Precedent

The article explores the clash between Finland and Sweden over the belonging and status of the Åland Islands. In view of the strategic position of the archipelago and the divergent positions of the parties, the Åland question was considered by the Baltic Commission of the 1919 Paris peace conference. The final solution, a compromise in its essence, was prepared in the commissions of the League of Nations, whose cautious tactics allowed to achieve success, rare in the history of the settlement of in-ternational conflicts. Sweden ensured the security of Stockholm, Finland retained its territory, thus confirming the status of a sovereign state; the Åland Islands received a clearly defined status with all the attributes of autonomy.

The Treaty of Versailles and Turkey: the Thorny Path to the Nation-State

In this article the context of institutional and discursive changes associated with the collapse of the Imperial structure and the formation of the nation state is analyzed. The article describes the contradictory processes of transition from the Imperial identity to the national Turkish identity. Many researchers of this process turned primarily to its domestic political aspects. They considered the rise of nationalism and the recognition of the principle of national self-determination as the main reason for the collapse of the Ottoman Empire. Given the undoubted importance of these approaches, a transnational perspective can lead us to a better understanding of the processes that have led to the fall of multinational empires. It is an interstate rivalry and a geopolitical competition in the conditions of radical transformation of the global world order that have become the determining factors of the collapse of the Ottoman Empire. The dynamics of the global interstate rivalry influenced regional agendas, undoubtedly contributing to the formation of new political identities. The policies of the victorious powers and the decisions of the Paris Peace Conference had global consequences and mobilized waves of hidden or open protest from various groups of the Turkish population. Turkey, with arms in its hands, was the only one of the Central Powers able to achieve a revision of the peace treaties imposed on it by the victorious countries. The protest potential was so great that it allowed M. Kemal and his supporters to make the transition from a loose Empire to an internally consolidated national state.

Reassembling a World Order: Toward a New Historiography of the Paris Peace Conference

The evaluation of the Paris Peace Conference or the “Versailles–Washington world order” is one of the most widely discussed subjects in the study of history and international relations. The abundance of research and assessment is partly down to the formative character of the post-WWI peace on the national consciousness of many states and to the term ‘Versailles’ which has become an oft-recurring keyword in the analysis of international relations. Due to the sheer volume of accounts, a historiography of the Paris Peace Conference is inevitably a collection of the author’s own discretion. This paper focuses on the international historiography of the Paris Peace Conference and its consequences, and argues that after the consolidation of orthodoxies following 1919, and the triumph of revisionist history in the late-1980s, the scholarly community is now experiencing another reappraisal – beginning from the 2010s.

Die völkerrechtlichen Konsequenzen des Vertrages von St. Germain

When considering the contribution of the Paris Peace Conference of 1919 to the development of international law,reference is usually made to the League of Nations and the ILO, whose founding documents formed an integral partof the peace treaties between the Allied and Associated Powers and the former Central Powers. While the creation ofthe League and the ILO indeed ushered in a new era of institutionalized international cooperation and, hence, may beseen as the most spectacular outcome of the Peace Conference from the point of view of international law, the implicationsof the peace settlements for the evolving international legal order do not stop here. Taking the Treaty of St.Germain (the “Austrian Treaty”) as a case in point, it will be shown, for instance, that provisions entailing an explicitattribution of guilt for the war (which was directly linked to the imposition of reparation payments by Austria) maywell be seen as a first step towards the eventual general outlawry of wars of aggression in international law. Likewise,stipulations as to the general prohibition of the use of certain categories of weapons, provisions on the prosecution ofindividuals accused of war crimes before military tribunals of the Allied and Associated Powers, as well as treatyarrangements designed to ensure the protection of national minorities, contributed significantly to the progressivedevelopment of important areas of contemporary international law.

필리핀에서 폴란드로, 파리강화회에서 전개된 對美 독립청원의 외교적 포석

필리핀에서 폴란드로, 파리강화회에서 전개된 對美 독립청원의 외교적 포석

Działalność polityczna Romana Rybarskiego w II RP

In this paper an analysis of Roman Rybarski’s political activity has been done, who was one of the most prominent leader of national camp. In a special way his contribution in polish political thought is outlined. In his political biography an important date was 1919, when R. Rybarski was appointed as an expert of polish delegation to Paris peace conference. After his return, he activated himself politically, linking with numerous national camp organizations. Formulating not only economic program but also his views on nation and society, thus he became an important ideologist of national camp. In period 1928–1935 he sat as a deputy in second and third term Sejm, where he performed the function of National Club chairman. In this paper are also other issues raised, such as R. Rybarski collaboration with Roman Dmowski, as well as tensions and political discrepancies between them.

WESTERN UKRAINIAN PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC: INTERNATIONAL ACTIVITY (DEDICATED TO THE CENTENARY OF THE CREATION)

In the first days of the activity of Ukrainian People's Council state and legal institutions were formed, and their functioning created conditions for the revival and development of the Ukrainian state. However, Galician politicians realized that the fate of the ZUNR in those historical conditions was largely dependent on its international recognition and the support of great powers. It was actualized by the fact that the revived Polish state tried to legalize its claims on Eastern Galicia. Along with the plans of national-state construction, Ukrainian politicians faced the problem of forming the conceptual foundations of foreign policy, defining its priorities, and establishing an appropriate foreign policy apparatus. On November 9, 1918, the government was formed – the State Secretariat, which united 14 Secretariats, including the State Secretariat of Foreign Affairs. Trying to take advantage of political and international realities, the ZUNR government concentrated its foreign policy activities on two directions: the establishment of relations with the UPR and the recognition of the WUPR by the victorious countries in the First World War (Entente, USA) and stopping the aggression of Poland with their assistance. Under the act of unification on January 22, 1919, an association of the ZUNR and the UPR was constitutionalized in one sovereign state of the People's Republics. However, there was no real association. Significant historical, psychological, ideological and political disagreements that had accumulated over the centuries came out. The political weakness of the UPR did not allow it to help ZUNR. In addition, the UPR itself was not recognized by the Western world. Galician politicians had good reason to rely on the international recognition of ZUNR during the Paris Peace Conference. However, significant successes in Paris could not be achieved, as Western politicians favored Poland as a stronger partner than ZUNR. In defending the right to their own statehood, Galician politicians at the talks in Riga (1920) sought not to legitimize the annexation of the Eastern Galicia by Poland. Although the goal was not achieved, however, the ZUNR leaders believed that Galician delegation was successful in the negotiations, as information was provided to the world press about the current state of the Galician problem. The ZUNR exiled government in Vienna focused on diplomacy and the international recognition of the Ukrainian state, hoping for international conferences and the League of Nations. However, neither the Council of Ambassadors of the Entente countries nor the League of Nations hastened to return to the issue of Galician statehood. The successes of the foreign policy of the politicians of the Western Ukrainian state were reduced by inconsistency of actions and conflicts within the Ukrainian delegations, by controversial foreign policy opinions, maximalism, and uncompromisingness. Excessive hopes for the Entente states inhibited the formation of practical political thinking. One can agree with the conclusions of the researchers that the ZUNR governments did not formulate clear concept of their foreign policy.

DEVELOPMENT OF THE INTERNATIONAL AIR LAW IN THE LEAGUE OF NATIONS SYSTEM

Purpose: to show the International Air Law formation particularities, as a part of the new universal international-legal order under the aegis of the League of Nations. Methods of research: epistemological, comparative-historical, sociological and hermeneutic general-scientific and special methods. Results: the International Air Law codification important innovations have been shown, further determined in the practice of the international legal regulation at the universal level. Discussion: the problems of the multilevel sources of rule-making and the fragmentation of International Law issues solution should be based on the revealed by sociology regularities. The article shows the peculiarities of International Air Law formation at the beginning of the 20th century as a component of the first universal international law and order under the assistance of the League of Nations, formed as a response to fundamental social and geopolitical changes at the turn of the 19th-20th centuries. The intensification of attention to the experience of the formation of the Versailles-Washington system of international relations (the League of Nations system) is due to the existence of certain historical parallels between the transitional period of the 19th-20th centuries and the transitional period of the 20th-21st century. The tendency of the philosophical and political crises frequency on the verge of centuries is a kind of empirical generalization, at least for the history of societies that lead the chronology from AD. The more general trend is the periodic changes in the spontaneous and rational component of social processes: the attachment of crisis phenomena to the verge of centuries is due to the release of a human’s nature spontaneous component, where and when the value and ideological fundamentals on which the rational organization of public relations was based in the previous century, are critically revised, and new ones have not become a recognized factor in the solidarity of a society. This tendency, in its turn, is one of the manifestations of the phenomenon that is known in sociology under the title «self-fulfilling prophecies», when many individual expectations of certain events are combined in the «cooperative effect» of the mass mood, under the influence of which the expected events are implemented. Determined by the League of Nations fundamentals of the first universal international law and order organization remain to this day the constants of International Law. At the same time, in the light of the predominantly critical characteristics of their geopolitical dimension laid down by the efforts of diplomats substantially limited by the consciousness of the 19th century, the effective achievements of the International Air Law codification are out of the attention. Implemented for future cooperation, the Convention Relating to the Regulation of Aerial Navigation of October 13, 1919, adopted at the Paris Peace Conference, in the period between the two world wars ensured the rapid development of aviation at once on the level of international cooperation. The Convention with its annexes laid the fundamentals for multi-level air traffic regulation, involving in this process the rulemaking activity of other international institutions and bilateral agreements of the states, providing the legal basis for the regulation of private-law relations in the sphere of aviation communications.

Der Ort der Karibik und Zentralamerikas in der Welt – schwache Staaten auf der Pariser Friedenskonferenz

Durante la Primera Guerra Mundial la posición de los estado-naciones del espacio Caribe-centroamericano en el mundo cambió significativamente. Desde el punto de vista de ésta region el cambio mas importante era el auge del intervencionismo estadounidense que fue legitimizado por la doctrina de Monroe. Mientras la influencia estadounidense militar, política, económica y cultural aumentaba, la presencia alemana, inglesa y francesa disminuyó. Con el fin de la Guerra las potencias aliadas querían implementar un nuevo órden mundial. El fundamento de este organismo era la Liga de las Naciones cuyo pacto era elaborado durante la Conferencia de Paz en Paris del enero hasta abril de 1919. Los débiles estados del Caribe y de Centroamérica querían aprovechar el Wilsonian Moment para dar vida a sus ideas. En particular, sus delegados se refirían a los principios wilsonianos acerca del derecho de todos los estados del mundo a soberanía y autodeterminación, o sean grandes o bien pequeños, fuertes o débiles. Esta ponencia elabora los imaginarios de los delegados caribeños y centroamericanos, su potencial y sus límites para darles vida en la prática diplomática asi como las diferencias entre las estrategias y posturas de la región.