(Redirected from Treaty of Saint-Germain):''For other treaties with this name see
Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye (disambiguation)
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 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 newly created states of Czechoslovakia, Poland, and Yugoslavia (the “successor states”) but by the cession of
Trentino,
South Tyrol,
Trieste,
Istria 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 Austria could not enter into political or economic union with Germany without the agreement of the council of the
League of Nations. Accordingly, the new republic's initial self-chosen name of
German Austria (''Deutschösterreich'') had to be changed to Austria.
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.
See also
★
Aftermath of World War I
★
Paris Peace Conference, 1919
★
Treaty of Trianon
External link
★
Text of the Treaty, from the website of the
Australasian Legal Information Institute, hosted by
UNSW and
UTS