The Routledge Companion to Central and Eastern Europe since 1919

Adrian Webb

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2008
• Topic: History
• eBook ISBN:
  9781134065202
• Subtopic: 20th Century History
• Index: History

The Routledge Companion to Central and Eastern Europe since 1919 is a compact and comprehensive reference guide to the area, from the Treaty of Versailles to the present day. With particular focus on the early nationalist and subsequent fascist and communist periods, Adrian Webb provides an essential guide to the events, people and ideas which have shaped, and continue to shape, central and eastern Europe since the re-ordering of Europe at the end of the First World War.

Covering cultural, economic, political, and environmental issues, this broad-ranging and user-friendly volume explores both the common heritage and collective history of the region, as well as the distinctive histories of the individual states. Key features include:

• wide ranging political and thematic chronologies
• maps for clear visual reference
• special topics such as the economy, the environment and culture
• full list of office holders and extensive biographies of prominent people in all fields
• glossary of specialist terms.

With a wealth of chronological, statistical and tabular data, this handy book is an indispensable resource for all those who wish to understand the complex history of central and eastern Europe.

II
HISTORICAL CHRONOLOGY OF KEY EVENTS

2.1
KEY EVENTS BEFORE VERSAILLES

1917

13 Jun.	A central Ukrainian Rada (council or soviet) proclaims an ‘autonomous Ukrainian republic’ though ‘without separating from Russia and without breaking away from the Russian state’.
20 Jul.	The Corfu Declaration determines the broad framework for establishing a unified southern Slav (Yugoslav) state, when the First World War has been won.
20 Nov.	The Ukrainian Rada proclaims a Ukrainian People’s Republic, united with Russia. Relations between Russia and Ukraine are to collapse however under the pressure of the Russian revolutionary wars.
26 Nov.	Bolshevik Russia unilaterally ends hostilities at Lenin’s direction, and signs a formal armistice with Germany a month later. The Bolsheviks win 72 per cent of the vote in the elections in Latvia during November for a Constituent Assembly, and Soviet power is proclaimed in both Estonia and Latvia in December.

1918

24 Jan.	A Bessarabian council declares the region independent of Russia. It votes to unite with Romania in the December.
Feb.	The Germans occupy the whole of Latvia.
16 Feb.	A national council, Taryba, under German auspices, proclaims the independence of Lithuania.
3 Mar.	Victorious Germany and defeated Russia sign the Peace of Brest Litovsk on German terms. Russia cedes its claim to Estonia and Latvia.
7 May	Victorious Germany and defeated Romania sign the Peace of Bucharest on German terms.
24 May	The Slovak National Party adopts an anti-Hungarian position.
30 Jun.	Professor Masaryk, acting for the Czechs, signs the Pittsburgh Agreement in America, whereby he promises Slovak Americans, acting for the European Slovaks, a Slovak Diet, autonomous administration and law courts, and the use of Slovak as the official language of administration and education in the Slovak lands. The promises are never to be honoured.
29 Sep.	Bulgaria signs an armistice with the British and the French in Thessaloniki. She is the first of the Central Powers to surrender.
3–4 Oct.	Prince Maximilian of Baden, the new German Chancellor, requests President Wilson of America to arrange an immediate armistice and a start to peace negotiations on the basis of the President’s Fourteen Points (see section VII, Glossary).
12 Oct.	The Transylvanian Romanian National Party, meeting at Oradea Mare (Hungarian Nagyvārad), declares the right of self-determination for Romanians in Hungary.
26 Oct.	Professor Masaryk and Gregory Žatković, a Ruthene American, sign the Philadelphia Agreement whereby Ruthenia is promised autonomy within the new Czechoslovakia. The promise is never to be honoured.
27 Oct.	A Bukovinian National Council is established in Chernivtsi and appeals to Romania for the liberation of the province from Austria.
28 Oct.	The Czechoslovak National Council (Národni Výbor) assumes the government of the Czechoslovak territories (Bohemia, Moravia, Silesia and Slovakia), previously exercised by Austria–Hungary.
29 Oct.	The Sabor, the Croatian Parliament, declares the dissolution of the union with Hungary, and the establishment of a ‘State of the Slovenes, Croats and Serbs’.
29 Oct.	Slovak political leaders declare in Turčiansky Svätý Martin that there is one single Czechoslovak nation and that the land of the Slovaks shall form part of a common state.
30 Oct.	Turkey signs the Armistice of Mudros.
31 Oct.	Revolution breaks out in Hungary with the goal of establishing an independent republic.
3 Nov.	Austria–Hungary signs an armistice with the Allies, excluding the Serbs, in Padova. The Serbs occupy Austrian Bosnia and Hungarian Vojvodina in the ensuing 10 days.
9 Nov.	The independence of Poland is proclaimed in Warsaw.
9 Nov.	The declaration of a Bavarian Republic by Kurt Eisner 2 days earlier leads to the resignation of Prince Maximilian as German Chancellor and the abdication of Kaiser Wilhelm II as German emperor. He flees to the neutral Netherlands. The cession of the Chancellorship to Friedrich Ebert, the leader of the Social Democrats, is challenged by the soldiers’ and workers’ councils, the Independent Socialists and the Spartakusbund (Spartacus Union). The latter is to become the Kommunistische Partei Deutschlands (KPD) (German Communist Party) in January 1919. Ebert decides to ally himself with the Supreme Army Command against the far left.
10 Nov.	Romania re-enters the War on the Allied side.
11 Nov.	Germany and the Allies sign an armistice at Rethondes, France, bringing to an end fighting on the Western Front.
12 Nov.	Austria is proclaimed a republic. Government is assumed by a National Assembly and interim cabinet.
13 Nov.	Bolshevik Russia invites all the countries of eastern Europe to join a Union of Soviet Republics.
13 Nov.	The Austro-Hungarian emperor, Karl, abdicates as King of Hungary.
14 Nov.	The National Assembly in Prague formally declares Czechoslovakia a republic, with Professor Tomáš Masaryk as its first president.
14 Nov.	General Piłsudski, having returned to Poland, assumes supreme power, and convokes the Constituent Assembly, which confirms him in office.
16 Nov.	An independent Hungarian People’s Republic is proclaimed in Budapest. Count Mihály Karolyi is provisional president.
26 Nov.	A Montenegrin national assembly under Serb influence deposes King Nicholas and merges Montenegro with Serbia.
28 Nov.	A Bukovinian Congress votes for union with Romania. The union is formalised by decree on 19December.
29 Nov.	An Estonian Soviet Republic is proclaimed at Narva, and is recognised by Russia on 8 December 1918.
1 Dec.	The Triunine Kingdom of the Serbs, Croats and Slovenes is proclaimed by the prince regent, later King Alexander. His father, Peter I of Serbia, is declared the first monarch of the new kingdom.
1 Dec.	Representatives of the Transylvanian Romanians meeting at Alba Iulia (Hungarian Gyulafehérvar) proclaim the Union of Transylvania and Romania, and the union of all Romanians in one state.
22 Dec.	The Latvian Soviet Republic proclaimed in November, and a provisional Lithuanian government, are recognised by Russia.

1919

Jan.	Soviet forces occupy Lithuania.
10 Jan.	The German Army assisted by Freikorps (counter-revolutionary volunteers) launches the campaign against Communism by attacking the Spartacist headquarters in Spandau, a suburb of Berlin.
15 Jan.	Karl Liebknecht and Rosa Luxemburg, the leaders of the Communist revolutionaries in Berlin, are captured and brutally murdered by the Freikorps. A fellow captive, Wilhelm Pieck, survives to become East Germany’s first president in 1949.
17 Jan.	Ignacy Paderewski forms a Polish government of experts. He serves as his own foreign minister.
14 Feb.	The first phase of the war between Soviet Russia and Poland over their joint border and spheres of influence opens with an unplanned confrontation at Bereza Kartuska in Belarus. Polish war aims include the independence of the non-Russian parts of the former Russian The Poles take Vilnius in the April and Minsk in the August. Empire.
10 Mar.	A constitution of the Ukrainian Socialist Soviet Republic is officially adopted by the third All-Ukrainian Congress of Soviets. It follows the Russian precedent.
20 Mar.	Béla Kun becomes leader of a new Communist–Social Democrat coalition government in Hungary. Count Karolyi resigns as provisional president 2 days later.
Apr.	Polish forces expel the Soviet Army from Lithuania. The Lithuanian government is reformed and a democratic republic declared.
1 May	The violent suppression of revolution in Bavaria by the German Army and Freikorps units marks the end of the immediate post-war challenge to the Ebert government from the far-left.
8 May	A Ruthene National Council proclaims the union of R...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Introductory note: the scope of this book
• Geographical equivalents
• Politically inspired name changes
• Personal names
• A brief guide to pronunciation
• Acknowledgements
• Section I The reordering of Europe
• Section II Historical chronology ofkey events
• Section III Thematic chronologies
• Section IV The nation states
• Section V Special topics
• Section VI People
• Section VII Glossary of specialist terms
• Section VIII Historiography