This Friday, June 28th marks the 100th anniversary of the Treaty of Versailles. This treaty changed the borders of Europe, at a particular disadvantage to Germany. Here is a 1920 newspaper map "from book" via UCSB professor
Harold Marcuse's web pages.
Another map, via
Mark Callagher shows the German territorial losses much more clearly.
In addition to the widely mentioned losses to Poland, France and Denmark there are more obscure enclaves that I was not aware of. These include
Eupen-Malmedy, a German speaking region of eastern Belgium.
Within this region was the jointly administered area of
Neutral Moresnet. This was a neutral sliver of land between Belgium (originally the Netherlands) and Prussia that both countries were interested in because of a valuable zinc mine. Treaties after Napoleon's empire left the area neutral pending a future agreement. The region, along with the rest of Eupen-Malmedy was awarded to Belgium after the Treaty of Versailles. The region is shown in white on the postcard below.
There was also the brief existence of the
Free State of Bottleneck. This bottleneck shaped area was leftover when the French and American post World War I circular zones of control did not meet
This region was cut off from the rest of Germany and was declared as a microstate in January, 1919. It was abolished in 1923. The state had about 17,000 people and printed its own emergency money featuring a map of the area.
Another map, via Mark Callagher shows the German territorial losses much more clearly.
In addition to the widely mentioned losses to Poland, France and Denmark there are more obscure enclaves that I was not aware of. These include Eupen-Malmedy, a German speaking region of eastern Belgium.
No comments:
Post a Comment