My interest in maps – especially older maps – has grown over the past few years, and on a Monday in late February I spent a few hours in the Map Collection of the New York Public Library’s Main Branch pouring over maps from World War I.
Though the collection is mostly digitized and available online, I find it more rewarding to immerse yourself in the physical maps laid out on tables where you can look at the macro and minutiae of each individual map and let your eyes wander; online, you zoom out to get context and zoom in to view details, but you end up focused on the process rather than the content. Therefore I prefer physical.
Preparation For Visit
Assuming the Map Division is open, it’s allowable to just request maps at the time of your visit and, assuming they’re on-site, wait for them to be retrieved.
I recommend ordering the maps through the library’s online system to ensure the maps of interest are available and are retrieved: maps are not all at the Main Branch, so you give the library time to retrieve them. The maps requested are kept ready for your visit for up to two weeks; also, you can make multiple visits over several days, if necessary.
Self-Determination
President Woodrow Wilson believed his Fourteen Points should be the basis for any post-war peace treaty. Point Ten is most often pointed to as declaring the goal of self-determination: The peoples of Austria-Hungary, whose place among the nations we wish to see safeguarded and assured, should be accorded the freest opportunity to autonomous development.
Other points made similar declarations: Point 9 for adjusting Italian borders based on nationality; Point Eleven for foreign troops evacuating the Balkans and, again, defining borders based on nationality; Point Twelve self-determination for non-Turkish nationalities within the Ottoman empires. With over a century of hindsight – and the many wars since – critically analyzing these maps show how problematic achieving self-determination was then and is now.
Schleswig
Denmark was a non-belligerent during World War I, but nevertheless went to the Paris Peace Conference to advocate for a plebiscite, claiming the plebiscite defined in the Peace of Prague following the Seven Weeks War between Germany and, primarily, Austria in 1866 was never actually held. For unknown reasons – unknown to me, known to scholars – the victorious powers agreed to rectify by including a plebiscite in the Treaty of Versailles, to be held in February and March 1920.
The plebiscite voting was by zone, Zone 1 – Northern Schleswig – voting to join Denmark while Zone 2 – Central Schleswig – voting to remain German. However, the delineation wasn’t exactly clear-cut, as the larger towns of Tønder and Sønderborg, as well as some rural areas, had substantial German populations and voted to remain German. The zone boundaries defined in the treaty forced all of Zone 1 – including pro-Germany areas – to become Danish.
Most surprisingly is that the borders have remained unchanged and unchallenged since, despite the interwar drama elsewhere in Europe and World War II where Denmark was invaded and occupied by Germany. There are questions about the plebiscite’s outcome and a German minority still exists in southern Denmark to this day.
Vilnius
Lithuania was part of the Russian Empire from the late 18th Century (fallout of the Third Polish Partition between the great powers) and used the Russian Revolution to declare independence. Independence was declared at about the same time as the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk was signed between the Central Powers and Soviet Russia but before WWI itself was ended in November 1918.
Of course, the country’s borders (and those of the other Baltic countries, Estonia and Latvia) needed to be defined and agreed upon. Easier said than done.
The Treaty of Versailles defined a reconstituted Lithuania that included Vilnius (Wilna on the map, Vilna in Russian, Wilno in Polish) as its capital. However, between 1918 and 1923 the city changed hands due to various battles between Lithuania, Poland, and the nascent Soviet Union (who were simultaneously fighting a Civil War). The Foch Line left Vilnius on the Polish side; the League of Nations arranged an armistice that returned Vilnius to Lithuania control.
Especially intriguing – and not very well known in the west – is the joint history of Poland and Lithuania: between 1569 and 1795 they were a single commonwealth that was dominated by Polish language and culture; that was partitioned in 1795 between Austria, Prussia, and Russia; that perhaps Vilnius had a predominately Polish population after WWI due to relocations during the war; and that many Poles considered Lithuania part of Poland.
So when a supposed renegade Polish general, with the connivance of the Polish leadership, invaded southern Lithuania and took possession of Vilnius immediately before the final borders were to come into effect, the question is whether self-determination was technically achieved even without a plebiscite.
[This is an incredibly high-level and simple explanation. Read Peter Baltutis honors thesis if you really want to deep-dive into the topic.]
Though Lithuania lost their independence after World War II, Vilnius was restored as the capital when Stalin unilaterally expanded the country without any discussions on what is or isn’t Lithuanian, Polish, Belorussian, etc. Self-determination potentially reversed, though I doubt Stalin cared. Do the Lithuanians give Stalin credit? Doubtful.
South Tyrol
South Tyrol was part of Austria-Hungarian Empire until awarded to Italy in the Treaty of Saint-Germain, this despite Point 9 of Wilson’s Fourteen Points: A readjustment of the frontiers of Italy should be effected along clearly recognizable lines of nationality. Despite being primarily populated by Germans, South Tyrol was nevertheless assigned to Italy and has been Italian ever since.
However, this was essentially a fait accompli, as the 1915 “secret” Treaty of London agreed to this in exchange of Italy entering the war on the side of the Entente powers, well before the United States entered the war. So again, no self-determination, just political power being welded against a defeated nation.
Today, South Tyrol is heavily German and some are “still not reconciled to the fact that the province has been part of Italy for almost a century.” Any time that Austria makes some mention of South Tyrol, however innocuous, drives Italy to protest that it is strictly an Italian province.
Romania
Romania (Rumania until Ceaușescu change the name) has had its borders yanked around multiple times. Romania entered the war with the Triple Entente, signing the Treaty of Bucharest which promised the regions of Transylvania, Bukovina, Banat, and some Hungarian territories. When things looked dire for the Triple Entente, Romania flipped sides with the intent to keep the land.
[What’s interesting is that Austria-Hungary would agree to assign Hungarian territories since technically Romania was becoming an Austria-Hungarian ally.]
Various post-war treaties – Treaty of Neuilly, Treaty of Trinanon, Treaty of St. Germain – defined the post-war Romanian borders. The pink area is the country before World War I. Within the solid red line, the green area are Hungarian lands and yellow Russia lands assigned to Romania.
Romanian did not get all of the lands expected, supposedly due to nationality concerns, though no plebiscite was held to confirm where the borders ultimately were drawn. Romania was a German ally during World War II, which had some (much?) of the yellow area returned to the Soviet Union; following the Soviet Union’s breakup, the area is now part of Moldova.
However, no self-determination.
Eupen-Malmedy
Eupen-Malmedy was allocated to Belgium by the Treaty of Versailles (Belgium insisted the area as ethnically Belgium), and Belgium occupied the territory in 1919-20.
The referendum held is considered controversial:
The plebiscite was held between 26 Jan and 23 Jul, 1920. However it was not a secret ballot and inhabitants of the cantons who objected to the annexation had to register (by name) at the village hall. This procedure led to mass intimidation; people were led to believe that anyone objecting to annexation by Belgium would not receive Belgian nationality, but be deported to Germany or at least have their food ration cards taken away. As a result, only 271 people out of 33,726 voted for the region to return to Germany. In 1925, Eupen, Malmedy, and Sankt Vith, fully became part of Belgium.
https://www.dcstamps.com/eupen-malmedy-belgian-occupation-post-ww1-1919-1920/
Unknown to many, Belgium has three official languages: Flemish, French, and German. The German-speaking Community of Belgium is usually left alone, which is not surprising considering the difficult relations between the French and Flemish parts of the country. During World War II the area made part of Germany, only to be returned to Belgium after the war.
Though a plebiscite was technically held, due to its execution it’s hard to state that self-determination occurred, and to this day the area is ethnically German.
Final Thoughts
Though Wilson’s goal of defining boundaries based on nationalities that gave each their own homeland, looking at Europe’s history shows that it was probably unattainable if not naive. Nationalities are interspersed with one another in many areas, and Europe’s history shows many examples of doing exactly the opposite: Belgium, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and the former Yugoslavia are examples of nations composed of multiple nationalities, while the on-going animosity between Greece and Turkey is somewhat based on borders moving due to war followed by forced migration of populations one way or another.
It was also difficult to sell politically, as it would have meant tearing up treaties made during the war to entice countries to join one side or the other, plus it would have meant giving the defeated the same opportunity to gain lands that otherwise could only have resulted through the successful execution of war. A non-starter in England’s and France’s eyes.
These maps are just small examples of how drawing boundaries are fraught with potential problems, and don’t even include potentially the most egregious: the Kurds, one of the largest ethnic groups in the Middle East, not only lacking its own homeland but being divided between four countries (Turkey, Syria, Iraq, Armenia).
Image Credits
- Woodrow Wilson” from US Library of Congress
- Map images © 2024 Scott C Sosna from NYCPL maps
