Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye (1919)

The Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye, was signed on 10 September 1919 by the victorious Allies of World War I on the one hand and by the new Republic of Austria on the other. Like the Treaty of Versailles with Germany, it contained the Covenant of the League of Nations and as a result was not ratified by the United States.

The treaty declared that the Austro-Hungarian Empire was to be dissolved. The new Republic of Austria, consisting of most of the German-speaking Alpine part of the former Austrian Empire, recognized the independence of Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Poland, and the State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs. The treaty included 'war reparations' of large sums of money, directed towards the allies, to pay for the costs of the war.

Austria was reduced not only by the loss of crownlands incorporated into the states of Czechoslovakia, Poland, and Yugoslavia (the “successor states”) but by the cession of the regions Istria and Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol, city of Trieste, and several Dalmatian islands to Italy and the cession of Bukovina to Romania. In total, it lost land to Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia, Poland, Romania, and Italy. Burgenland, then a part of Hungary, was awarded to Austria.

An important article of the treaty required Austria to refrain from directly or indirectly compromising its independence, which meant that despite the new republic of German Austria ("Deutschösterreich") already having declared to be part of Germany, it had to shorten its name and could not enter into political or economic union with Germany without the agreement of the council of the League of Nations.

The Austrian Army was limited to a force of 30,000 volunteers. There were numerous provisions dealing with Danubian navigation, the transfer of railways, and other details involved in the breakup of a great empire into several small independent states. The Treaty of Trianon in November 1920 between Hungary and the Allies completed the disposition of the former Dual Monarchy.

The vast reduction of population, territory and resources of the new Austria relative to the old empire wreaked havoc on the economy of the old nation, most notably in Vienna, an imperial capital without an empire to support it. The forcible incorporation of the German-speaking population of the border territories of the Sudetenland into the artificially-created state of Czechoslovakia, created enormous problems - which became one of the causes of World War II.

The treaty signing ceremony took place at the Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye. ["Austrian treaty signed in amity," "The New York Times", Sept. 11, 1919, p. 12.]

Notes

ee also

*Aftermath of World War I
*Minority Treaties
*Paris Peace Conference, 1919
*Treaty of Trianon

External links

* [http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/other/dfat/treaties/1920/3.html Text of the Treaty] , from the website of the Australasian Legal Information Institute, hosted by UNSW and UTS

First World War treaties