VI. OTHER TREATIES After the Germans had signed the Treaty of Versailles on June 28, 1919, the Peace Conference turned to the problems of Austria, Hungary, Bulgaria and Turkey, over which many of its commis sions had been labouring for months. Chiefs of state began to re sume their political tasks. Foreign ministers one by one left for home. Power to act in behalf of the respective states, however, was delegated to lesser dignitaries. The organization of the con ference remained intact to complete negotiations with the former allies of Germany. Austria was presented with terms drawn on lines similar to those granted to Germany. Her representatives signed at Saint Germain-en-Laye on Sept. to, 1919 (see SAINT GERMAIN, TREATY OF). And in Jan. 192o, Hungary, freed from its Communist regime and from Rumanian control, was accorded terms varying from the Austrian in minor details. The Hungarians signed on June 4, 1920 (see TRIANON, TREATY OF THE).
For Bulgaria, a delegation headed by Teodoroff, the Prime Minister, arrived in Paris on July 26, 1919, but did not receive the draft of the treaty until Sept. 19. The Bulgarians delayed their reply more than a month to frame objections; but other than the promise for speedy admission into the League, they got no concessions from the Peace Conference. Further remon strance from the Bulgarians led Clemenceau to give them ten days to accept or to reject. By this time Teodoroff had lost power in Bulgaria, and Stambuliisky, head of the Agrarian party, had taken control of the Bulgarian Government. On Nov. 27, 1919, at Neuilly-sur-Seine, Stambuliisky signed the treaty as the sole representative of Bulgaria (see NEUILLY, TREATY OF). Following the establishment of the League of Nations on Jan.
16, 1920, the Peace Conference came to an end. Several issues of first importance remained for disposal, among them the problem of the Adriatic and the settlement with Turkey. The plenipoten tiaries left these matters, however, to the Conference of Ambassa dors or to negotiation among the interested states. (See AMBAS SADORS, CONFERENCE OF.) Italy continued to press her claims to Fiume and strategic points on the eastern shore of the Adriatic. Great Britain and France, though recognizing their obligations under the secret Treaty of London, endeavoured to satisfy Italy with a compromise short of those obligations so as to gain the approval of the American Government. But Wilson persisted in
opposition for the sake of the interests of Yugoslavia and Albania. The upshot of the controversy was that Italy secured the island of Sasseno outside the port of Valona, the port remaining in Albanian hands, and at a later date reached an agreement with Yugoslavia. Albania maintained her independence and on Dec.
The Turkish Settlement.—The Turkish question had been discussed at Paris in May and June 1919 and a Turkish deputa tion had visited the Conference, but the drafting of the treaty was not taken seriously in hand until the London Conference of Feb. 192o. The delay was due in part to the hope that the United States would join in signing the treaty, but there were also great difficulties involved in the assignment of mandates over the national minorities in the Turkish Empire. Wilson's Twelfth Point had stipulated that these territories should receive "un molested opportunity of autonomous development." An article in the Treaty of Versailles indicated that some of them at least would be recognized as independent states, under such manda tories as they chose to accept.
But there had been understandings among the Allies that ran counter to the principle of self-determination. In May 1916 France and Great Britain had made the Sykes-Picot agreement with regard to their respective spheres of influence in Turkey. The French sphere was to include Cilicia, southern Armenia and Syria. The British area was to include Haifa and Mesopotamia. Palestine was to be international territory. Greece claimed the whole of Turkish Thrace, the Aegean islands and Smyrna, which Greek forces occupied in May 1919, with the approval of the Supreme Council of the Peace Conference. Italy claimed the Dodecanese, which it had held since the war with Turkey in 1912, and a sphere of influence on the adjacent mainland. Both France and the Hejaz desired the Arab districts of Syria. The disposi tion of Constantinople also was uncertain.