TREATY OF SAINT-GERMAIN: BACKGROUND, CONDITIONS, CLAUSES - HISTORY - 2025

The Treaty of Saint-Germain is a peace treaty signed between the Allied powers (France, Great Britain and the United States) and Austria, after the First World War. It was signed on September 10, 1919 in Saint-Germain (now Yvelines), near Paris.

Through this treaty the Austro-Hungarian Empire disintegrated and allowed in its place the creation of Yugoslavia (kingdom of the Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes) and Czechoslovakia. In addition, the expansion of the Italian territory and the recognition of the independence of Poland and Hungary were allowed.

The document expressly prohibited the union between Germany and Austria. Both countries had to recognize their joint responsibility in the declaration of the First World War with the signing of this treaty, which entered into force on July 16, 1920.

Austria and Germany were obliged to pay reparations for war damage, especially in Italy. With the Treaty of Saint-Germain this great empire created since the Middle Ages by the Habsburgs disintegrated. After the Treaty of Saint-Germain, Austria was reduced to a small country.

Background

France, Great Britain and the United States, the victorious powers of the First World War, agreed to dismember the Austro-Hungarian Empire, while in the drafting of the peace treaties they concentrated on ensuring that Germany did not again represent a danger to their interests.

In the peace treaties Austria was underestimated and reduced to a small territory surrounded by mountains. Instead, Italy managed to increase its territory with the Austrian dismemberment. The peace treaty presented to Austria was almost a copy of the one delivered to Germany.

The allied powers gave little interest to the Austrian case. The Austrian delegation that was to discuss the clauses of the document with the Allies was called to the peace conference at Saint-Germain (Paris) on May 12, 1919.

The Austrian delegation, made up of the Socialist Chancellor Karl Renner and numerous experts and provincial representatives, arrived in Paris on May 14; however, the discussion of the peace treaty dragged on. Differences arose between the allied powers on a clause in which the union between Austria and Germany was prohibited.

France opposed this decision and the permission of the League of Nations required unanimity.

Delays and changes

Submission of the draft document was also delayed until June 2. In the Supreme War Council there was intense discussion about the real possibilities of payment by Austria for compensation for damages during the war.

Finally, the demand for collection as a sanction was maintained, something that in practice was never executed because Austria did not pay.

Italy insisted that Austria be treated as an enemy country, just as Germany was being treated. Nor would there be direct conversations with Austrian experts, as had been initially believed, so that all communications were through notes.

The allied powers decided to receive the Austrian delegation as representatives of the Republic of Austria, despite the fact that the name of the new country that was to be born from the peace treaties was the Republic of Austria-Germany. This name was rejected by the new countries created after the dismemberment of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

In this way, Austria's hopes of being able to negotiate its annexation to Germany were frustrated. The contacts they were able to maintain with the negotiators of the Allied Powers were informal and limited.

Conditions and clauses

The empire that the Habsburgs had created since the Middle Ages disappeared, rethinking the geography of central Europe. The territories of the Austro-Hungarian Empire were dismembered and annexed, without taking into account ethnic, cultural and religious differences.

This action went against the grain of what was stipulated by the president of the United States, Woodrow Wilson, in his Fourteen Points for the peace accords in Europe in January 1918. These required respect for the right to self-determination of peoples.

Distribution

In this way, Italy seized the Tyrol region (mostly German but partially inhabited by Italians) and Trentino, to control the Alpine passes and valleys. He also took Istria and the strategic port of Trieste, despite the Yugoslav refusal.

Czechoslovakia received the Sudetenland, a region rich in metallic minerals and mountainous areas on the border with Germany. The millions of German-speaking people who lived in this region were also not consulted.

To Yugoslavia (made up of Serbia, Croatia and Slovenia), South Styria and a portion of Carinthia were granted, but a plebiscite held in October 1920 managed to keep this territory in Austria.

The former Austrian Empire became a small country inhabited by Germanic populations. Austria could not apply to join Germany without the unanimous consent of the League of Nations; this was another provision of the Treaty of Saint-Germain that violated the right of peoples to self-determination.

Another prohibition established in the Treaty of Saint-Germain was that relating to the army. The Austrian military forces were limited to just 30,000 men as part of their professional army, and they also saw their armament reduced.

Minority protection clauses

-Austria accepts that all its inhabitants have the right to practice in private or in public "any faith, religion or belief."

-The population must be guaranteed "complete protection of their life and their freedom" without any distinction of race, religion, origin, nationality or language.

-It must recognize as Austrian nationals all persons under its territory, at the time the treaty enters into force.

-Citizen equality before the law without discrimination of race, religion or language.

-Differences of creed or religion will not affect the civil and political rights of any Austrian citizen.

-Right to education for all citizens who do not speak German, who must be educated in their own language.

-The Austrian authorities cannot modify any article of the treaty without the prior permission of the League of Nations.

Consequences

- Disappearance of the German, Austro-Hungarian, Russian and Turkish empires to make way for other countries and a political, economic and geographical recomposition in Europe and Africa.

- Consolidation of the borders imposed by Germany on Russia in the Treaty of Brest-Litowsk, to prevent the spread of Russian Bolshevism. Russia lost almost the entire coast of the Baltic Sea.

- Creation of the Polish state with the dismembered territories of Russia, Germany and Austria-Hungary.

- With the Treaty of Sèvres, the Turkish Empire was also reduced to the Anatolian peninsula (Asia Minor), and in Europe it could only keep Istanbul.

References

1. Le traité de Saint-Germain et le démembrement de l'Autriche - Pers. Retrieved March 24, 2018 from persee.fr
2. Traité de Saint-Germain-en-Laye (1919). Consulted from fr.vikidia.org
3. The long term consequences of the 1919-1923 peace treaties. Consulted of quizlet.com
4. Treaty of Saint-Germain. Consulted from britannica.com
5. Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye (September 10, 1919). Consulted of larousse.fr
6. Constitution of the République d'Autriche. Consulted from mjp.univ-perp.fr