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

The Treaty of Saint-Germain (in full: State Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye) regulated the dissolution of the Austrian half of the Empire (the kingdoms and states represented in the Imperial Council) of Austria-Hungary after the First World War and the conditions for the new Republic of German Austria. The Treaty of Trianon regulated the situation of Hungary, the other constituent state of the former Dual Monarchy. Delivered to the Austrian delegates on September 2, 1919, the treaty was signed at the chateau of Saint-Germain-en-Laye on September 10, 1919. It formally entered into force on 16 July 1920 and confirmed the dissolution of Austria-Hungary also under international law.

The treaty is one of the Paris Suburban Treaties that formally ended World War I, and was concluded between Austria and 27 Allied and Associated Members. In addition to Austria, the signatory powers included the United States, Great Britain (with its dominions of Ireland, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and India), France, Italy, and Japan, as well as Belgium, Bolivia, Brazil, China, Cuba, Ecuador, Greece, Guatemala, Haiti, Hejaz, Honduras, Liberia, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru, Poland, Portugal, Romania, the Serbian Croatian Slovenian state, Siam, Czechoslovakia, and Uruguay. These were the founding members of the League of Nations.

In May 1919, an Austrian delegation led by Karl Renner travelled to Saint-Germain-en-Laye. It was denied direct participation in the talks and could only submit written proposals.

Provisions

War Guilt

Austria and her allies were imposed the guilt of war in Art. 177. As authors, they were to be responsible for the losses and damage suffered by the Allied and Associated Governments and their nationals as a result of the war forced upon them by the attack of Austria-Hungary and its allies. The Treaty of Saint-Germain corresponded in these articles to the Treaty of Versailles (Art. 231 ff. VV). Subsequently, however, Austria, unlike the German Reich, did not pay reparations in view of its economic situation. It did not even come to the fixing of a concrete amount; the claim itself was waived in 1929.

Territorial provisions

The main provisions of the 381 articles of the Treaty of Saint-Germain are:

• Bohemia, Moravia, Austrian Silesia and some municipalities in Lower Austria (including Feldsberg, the railway station at Gmünd and other municipalities) were transferred to the newly founded Czechoslovakia. The right to self-determination of the German-speaking population in the Sudetenland (Deutschböhmen and Deutschmährer), who had founded the independent provinces of Deutschböhmen and Sudetenland in October 1918, was not taken into account.
• Galicia goes to Poland.
• South Tyrol, Welschtirol, the Canal Valley and Istria go to Italy. In the process, the new border in Tyrol ran partly through the territory of individual municipalities.
• Bukovina goes to Romania.
• Dalmatia, Carniola, parts of Lower Styria as well as the Carinthian Mießtal and the Seeland go to the new Kingdom of the Serbs, Croats and Slovenes.
• A referendum is to be held on Southern Carinthia as to whether it wishes to belong to Austria or to Yugoslavia in the future.
• German West Hungary goes to Austria and receives the name Burgenland (the name comes from the four counties Wieselburg, Eisenburg, Ödenburg and Pressburg, from whose parts the Burgenland is formed).
• The annexation of Austria to the German Reich and the use of the state name "German Austria" are prohibited.

Other provisions

• Austria had to renounce the exercise of consular jurisdiction.
• A general conscription is forbidden. Only a professional army of 30,000 men is allowed. Armament factories and weapons must be destroyed.
• The establishment of the League of Nations and the International Labour Organization (ILO), both steps that clearly distinguish the treaty or the entire Paris Suburbs Treaties from previous peace treaties.

After the separation of these territories, Austria (Cisleithania) was left with a residual state of about 6.5 million inhabitants. Reparations were also imposed on Hungary in the Treaty ofTrianon.

Protest

On September 6, the Constituent National Assembly publicly protested against the treaty, which denied the German-Austrian people the right of self-determination and the "heart's desire", the "economic, cultural and political necessity of life": the "unification with the German motherland". One hoped for a possible future unification, the right to unity and freedom of the nation; a "foreign rule" was now being imposed on 3.5 million German Austrians. The responsibility for future turmoil lay with the "consciences of those powers which, in spite of warnings, will carry out the treaty." The economic and financial conditions were "impracticable" and "politically disastrous".