I.62. Peace in Europe
Zagan
Donor
Those present at the Peace Conferecence of 1645-1648 could not have imagined
that they would never again see a war in Europe during their entire lifes.
And neither would their children or grandchildren for that matter!
that they would never again see a war in Europe during their entire lifes.
And neither would their children or grandchildren for that matter!
Peace in Europe
The official end of the Second European War is usually considered to be the 4 March 1645 armistice with the Russian Empire, although the War had ended in Western Europe in the previous year and Romania would keep fighting in the Orient for another seven long years.
Between June 1645 and February 1648, the Victors (Germany, Britannia, Romania, Sarmatia, Scandinavia) and the Vanquished (Iberia / Spain, France, Russia) negotiated the most durable peace the World had ever seen under the auspices of the Great Powers Council (Italy and Greece were observers, Croatia and Hungary were not invited and Slovakia, the host, had been neutral).
Note: To better understand the situation in various countries just before the end of the hostilities, you may review the last part of Chapter 53.
1. Iberian Empire
(defeated completely, State collapsed)
Before the War, the Iberian Empire had arguably been the greatest, richest and most powerful country in the whole World. Had it decided to peacefully forfeit its sphere of influence in Italy and let the Italians achieve their National Unity, the whole disaster would have been avoided.
Iberia had lost most of its war fleet and over 230,000 men in the campaigns in Italy, Greece, the Mediterranian and during the 1644 Iberian Civil War.
Most of the Iberian Colonies, with the exception of the American mainland, had been occupied by the British and, in the end, the Iberian State had collapsed altogether, with Portugal and Castille under King John fighting against Emperor Philip and loyalist Catalonia.
In 1645, the new State, called Spain, barely held together with German and British assistance. The Italian States had been irrevocably lost and North-West Africa was under German occupation.
Emperor Philip was dead while Empress Elisabeth with her children was self-exiled in France, sheltered at her brother's court.
With the Army and State almost completely destroyed, Spain's leverage at the Peace Conference was very low.
Aims: to regain as many as possible of its British occupied lands.
2. Kingdom of France
(defeated, armistice)
France had lost most of its war fleet and around 160,000 men on the Italian and Home Fronts. Despite being rocked by several peasant uprisings, the country was stable and the army had retreated in good order from Italy, regrouping on French soil.
Having a still powerful army of more than half a million men and a stable internal situation, France, while defeated, was very far from being overrun and thus still had a significant leverage at the Peace Conference.
Aims: to keep as much land as possible in Flanders, Lorraine and Burgundy; to recover at least New France from Britain.
3. Kingdom of Britannia
(victorious, excellent position)
Thanks to its powerful Navy, Britain had gained the most with the least sacrifices.
Losing less than 15,000 men, it managed to occupy the Iberian Colonies in India, the East Indies, Africa, the Caribbean and Florida, the French Colonies in India, Africa and North America, plus several strategic points in South America and Europe like La Plata, Ceuta and Gibraltar.
It had enormous leverage, intending to use some of the occupied territories as bargaining chips.
Aims: to keep the most advantageous occupied enemy Colonies.
4. German Empire
(victorious, excellent position)
Germany was the military juggernaut of Europe, having over one million men in Italy, North-Eastern France, Sarmatia and Iberian North-West Africa.
It had lost around 180,000 men and had suffered the ill-effects of the Dutch Insurrection and the subsequent successful Radical National Revolution which had turned the State into a Nationalistic Dictatorship.
As the most powerful country in Europe, Germany had a very large leverage at the Great Powers Council.
Aims: to have all of Italy and maybe Sarmatia into its sphere of influence; to get all the German-speaking areas from France.
5. Commonwealth of Sarmatia
(barely victorious, with allied help)
Before the allied intervention, Sarmatia had lost 260,000 men and half of its land to the advancing Russian forces and the internal Cossack uprisings.
With hundreds of thousands of German, Scandinavian and Romanian soldiers roaming through its territory and its own abysmal conduct of the war, Sarmatia's leverage was moderate at most.
Aims: to keep all its territory; to get rid of its disloyal ethnicities (mainly the Ukrainian Cossacks).
6. Imperium of Romania
(victorious, rather precarious position)
Romania had lost 203,700 men out of circa 700,000 (the highest proportion of all countries) and was the only Power still fighting a war, having more than half of its remaining army embroiled in the horrific mess that was to be known as the War in the Orient.
Despite its rather difficult situation, Romania's leverage was significant, mostly due to the large territory controlled in Greece, Italy, Dalmatia, Croatia, Hungary and Sarmatia.
Aims: unclear and grandiose (Greece, Croatia, Hungary, Slovakia, Venetian Colonies, influence in Italy and Sarmatia, Georgia, Armenia, the Ottoman State, Arabia, Egypt, etc).
7. Empire of Scandinavia
(victorious, least involved in actual fighting of all allies)
Scandinavia was the least populous and the least powerful of the Great Powers and due to its peripherial geographic location had been by far the least involved in the War. The only campaign in which the Scandinavian soldiers saw real combat was the invasion of Russian controlled Sarmatia, where it lost around 6,600 men.
Scandinavia did not expect to get anything of importance at the Peace Conference.
Aims: Anything would be considered a bonus.
8. Russian Empire
(defeated, armistice while still on foreign soil)
Russia had been the greatest surprise of the War. Previously considered a large but weak, backwards and divided country, somehow only semi-European and not worth the title of Great Power, Russia had managed to all but destroy the Sarmatian armies and swiflty overrun all its Eastern half.
Russia must have lost between 50,000 and 80,000 men from of an army of an unknown real strength. When the armistice was signed, the Russian armies were in some places still hundreds of miles deep into Sarmatian territory and no foreign soldier had set foot on Russian soil.
While accepting that victory against half of Europe was impossible, Russia was quite sure of getting at least a white peace.
Aims: to be accepted as a fellow European country and as a Great Power; to keep all its land, including the newly acquired Black Sea coast; to get some Sarmatian land with Russian or Ruthenian Orthodox population; to get a Baltic Sea coast (obviously not all of these were possible).
9. Slovakia
(neutral, under increasing Romanian influence)
10. Croatia
(debellatio, under Romanian occupation and administration)
11. Greece
(ambigous situation)
Greece had fought both the Iberians and the Italians and had been occupied by Iberia and then liberated by Romania. Having Iulia as Monarch, it was the junior partner in a Dynastic Union with Romania.
Its interests were to be represented at the Peace Conference by Romania.
12. Italian Confederation
(victorious, with allied help)
Italy was thoroughly destroyed. Its beautiful cities lay in ruin, it had lost all of its fleet, almost all of its fledging armed forces and around a fifth of its pre-war civilian population, more than two million people.
With no army, almost no central authority and administration and with all its territory under German and Romanian occupation, Italy was completely at the mercy of its allies.
Aims: National Unity, Independence, Great Power status and some Colonies.
13. Hungary
(debellatio, under Romanian occupation and administration)
14. Georgia
15. Armenia
(neutral, but later participating in the Oriental War)
Decisions made at the Peace Conference by the Great Powers Council
1. General Principles
- To create the most stable configuration in Europe, with evenly matched Powers, in order to obtain the most durable peace possible.
- To give justice to every Power and to refrain from overly aggrandizing the victors or unnecessarily punishing the vanquished.
- To keep borders unchanged with the exception of the border regions having a clear ethnic majority corresponding to the neighbouring Power.
- To conduct thorough population exchanges in order to create homogenous countries with fixed borders for the future.
- To have neat borders, without unnecessary convolutions, enclaves, exclaves, condominiums and other oddities.
- To have all European peoples free and united in their own National States.
- To outlaw Slavery, Colonialism and external oppression on European Soil.
2. Italy
- All Italian States are disolved, Venice and Rome included.
- Iberia (Spain) and France lose all rights and influence in Italy without any compensation.
- Italy is an Unitary, National Italian, Independent Kingdom under a provisional German Protectorate until such time when it will be able to stand on its own.
- Germany will nominate the Italian King from a German ruling dynasty.
- All Venetian Colonies on or near the Romanian shore of the Adriatic (Corfu and Paxi, Valona, Cattaro, Ragusa) are integrated into Romania.
- Venetian Dalmatia (Spalato, Zara and their Hinterland) is united with Croatia.
- Venetian Istria is integrated into Italy Proper.
- Germany transfers the City of Trieste and its Hinterland to Italy because of its predominately Italian population and in order to create a land connection between mainland Italy and Istria.
- Italy will not interfere in any way in the functioning of the Holy See which will remain an independent non-state entity enjoying diplomatic immunity and extraterritoriality rights.
- The Iberian Colonies of Tripolitania, Tunisia and Constantinia are transferred to Italy.
3. Romania
- Greece is in Dynastic Union with Romania.
- Greece will maintain its separate State Institutions and will not be annexed to Romania.
- Romania will take care of the defence and foreign relations of Greece.
- Corfu and Paxi, Valona, Cattaro and Ragusa are annexed to Romania.
- Dalmatia, Croatia and Hungary are Romanian Protectorates and will remain under Romanian administration.
- Romania will not annex these Protectorates.
- Dalmatia and Croatia will be united.
- A small Croatian territory adjacent to Germany and the Adriatic Sea and including the Port of Fiume is annexed by Germany in order to keep an outlet to the Mediterranian.
- Romania may annex Constantinople and any Muslim territories in the Orient it manages to conquer during the ongoing war.
4. Iberia (Spain)
- Iberia will be known as Spain.
- The King of Spain is John of Braganza.
- The heirs of the former Emperor Philip do not have any rights to the Spanish Throne.
- Iberian Tripolitania, Tunisia and Constantinia are ceded to Italy.
- The Iberian Colonies in India and the East Indies are ceded to Britannia.
- The Lesser Antilles in the Caribbean are leased to Britannia for 99 years.
- Britannia will vacate the other occupied Iberian territories and transfer them back to Spanish rule.
- Germany will vacate the remaining Iberian North-West Africa and transfer it back to Spanish rule.
5. France
- The French Colonies in India are ceded to Britannia.
- Britannia will vacate the other occupied French territories and transfer them back to French rule.
6. Sarmatia
- All foreign armies will be called back from Sarmatia after the normalization of the relations with Russia.
7. Non-disputed borders
- Spain-Italy
- Spain-France
- Romania-Sarmatia
- Sarmatia-Germany
- Sarmatia-Scandinavia
- Germany-Scandinavia
- Germany-Italy
- Small adjustments may be made with the consent of both parties involved.
- Comprehensive population exchanges will be carried on in all cases.
8. Disputed borders
- France-Germany
- France-Italy
- Sarmatia-Russia
- Ethnic Censuses* will be carried on in all disputed areas.
- All Great Powers will send observers.
- Comprehensive population exchanges will be carried on after the finalization of the land transfers.
- For the purpose of the Sarmatian-Russian border, it is clearly understood that Ruthenians are not Russians.
* Just a clarification: The Ethnic Censuses are NOT plebiscites. People are not asked what they want, but merely what language are they usually speaking at home. If in doubt, the women and childern are asked (as they are less likely to know foreign languages than men).
Border changes as a result of the Ethnic Censuses
1. France
- Southern Netherlands (Belgium): 50% German, 47% French - split between Germany (50% - Flanders and Luxembourg) and France (50% - Wallonia);
- Lorraine: 60% German, 37% French - split between Germany (55%) and France (45%);
- Burgundy: 22% German, 75% French - split between Germany (20%) and France (80%);
- Savoy: 95% French, 1% Italian - kept by France.
2. Italy
- Nice: 77% Italian, 19% French - kept by Italy (12% to France);
- Piedmont: 89% Italian, 6% French - kept by Italy (12% to France - Aosta, etc).
3. Germany
- Switzerland: 76% German, 21% French - split between Germany (79%) and France (21%).
4. Sarmatia
- Ingria: 60% Finnic, 14% Russian - kept by Sarmatia;
- Smolensk: 12% Ruthenian, 86% Russian - to Russia (12% kept by Sarmatia);
- Severia: 57% Ruthenian, 23% Russian - split between Sarmatia (76%) and Russia (24%);
- Azov: 43% Ruthenian, 27% Polish, 11% Lithuanian, 8% Russian - kept by Sarmatia;
- Transazovia: 34% Ruthenian, 20% Polish, 7% Lithuanian, 10% Russian - split between Sarmatia (78%) and Russia (13%).
Small border adjustments
- Germany-Italy (in Italy's favour);
- Germany-Croatia (in Germany's favour);
- Germany-Sarmatia (in Germany's favour)
- Sarmatia-Scandinavia (in Scandinavia's favour, Ingria sold)
Aftermath
The provisions of the Peace Treaties and the results of Ethnic Censuses were generally respected by all parties involved.
Exceptions:
- Britain, Germany and Romania were slow in removing their armies and administrations from some areas;
- Romania did not administratively merge Dalmatia and Croatia;
- The so called Protectorates of Dalmatia, Croatia and Hungary were treated as de facto Romanian Provinces;
- Russia maintained a claim to large Sarmatian territories (considering that Ruthenian, Cossack and/or Orthodox = Russian).
In March 1648, the political structure and map of Europe was completed and it would remain unchallanged for more than a century and largely unchanged until the present day.
Nobody can deny that it was really the best Peace Conference in History!
Notes:
1. Maps, tables and other data will follow soon (but after the conclusion of the War in the Orient in order to have that area covered as well).
2. The remaining Chapters from Part One are: 63. The War in the Orient and 64. Overview (epilogue).
3. Part Two will start in 1651 (50 years after the POD) and continue till present day. The narrative pace will be much faster though.
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