TESCHEN, a town and district of Poland and Czechoslovakia. Teschen (Czech Tegin, Polish, Cieszyn), lies in the south-east corner of Silesia, and was a duchy disputed between the kings of Poland and Bohemia from the 9th century onward. In the 17th century it came under Habsburg rule. It is 852•6 sq.m. in extent. It is rich both in coke and gas coal, and is an important strategic centre of roads and railways, especially of the Bohumin (Oder berg) line. Its population in 1921 was 144,671, of whom 76.5% were Poles, 2o% Germans, 3% Jews and .3% Czechs. Both Czechs and Poles desired to succeed Austria in the possession of Teschen; in May—June 1918, their representatives decided to settle the matter in friendly agreement. When, however, Poland elected deputies from Teschen for her constituent parliament, Czech troops advanced and occupied Oderberg in Jan. 1919. The Great Powers intervened and decided (Sept. 27, 1919) to hold a plebiscite under the auspices of the principal Allies, not only for the duchy of Teschen but also for the adjacent Suvan areas of Spig (Zips) and Orava. This commission did not arrive until Jan.
192o, when they were confronted with riots, strikes and other diffi culties. They appealed to the Conference of Ambassadors at Paris, which, on July 28, 1920, abandoned the plebiscite plan and induced both Czechs and Poles to agree to a partition. The Spii Orava areas offered few difficulties. In the duchy itself the Czechs obtained the Karvinna (Karwin) mining area and the Oderberg Jablunkov railway, the Poles the town (pop. [1931] 14,919) ex cept its western suburb, and an agricultural area. The economic unity of the duchy was preserved by an arrangement which after wards served as a model for the partition of Upper Silesia.
See H. W. V. Temperley, History of the Peace Conference of Paris, vol. iv. (chap. vi., pt. 1 [1921] by R. Fitzgibbon Young).