Habersack, Sabine - Puşcaş, Vasile - Ciubotă, Viorel (szerk.): Democraţia in Europa centrală şi de Sud-Est - Aspiraţie şi realitate (Secolele XIX-XX) (Satu Mare, 2001)
Stepan Vidnyansky: Central-Eastern Europe int he Period Between Two World Wars: Between Democracy and Dictatorship
Stepan Vidnyansky in Poland, governments carried out, in the period between wars, candidly shovinistic policy against national minorities. Even in the most democratical Czechoslovakia, in comparison with other countries of the region, from the end of year 20 it started to increase separative dispositions among the Germans and Slovakians, irredentical - among Hungarians and autonomous - among Transcarpathian Ukrainians. Appearing of the system of little countries in Central-Eastern Europe made some changes in international relations, and Antanta, as Versailles peacemaker, had to face this fact. Wilson, Clemenceau and Lloyd George ratified, in the Paris Peace Conference, the situation in the region, that, in fact, was allready formed. They had to correct their planes and the Central- European map. The presence of 11 countries in this region, created exactly after the First World war, happened at the end of lingering process of the national liberation struggle. World war just intensified the process of creating of independent states. So, first time in history, little states became the subject of international relations and they had to deal with the problem of foreign policy orientation. Most of them, of course, in the period between wars were oriented on Antanta, which promoted their creation, and, first of all, on France, which was searching for the allies in war with Germany. But Germany recovered thanks to Rapall’s Treaty with Russia (1922), to victory in Ruhr’s conflict with France (1923) arid to realization of Planes of Dawes (1924) and Jung (1928). As a result of these events it appeared problem of block-making, and at this time - for little states, in particular so called ‘imperialism of weakness’ in Poland, ‘provincial imperialism’ in horthyst Hungary, the idea of ‘Great Romania’ and so on. Yugoslavia, Romania and Czechoslovakia, as the main danger for them saw Hungarian and Bulgarian revisionism (it means revision of Trianon’s and Neis’s treaties), but not in German imperialism. To secure the new borders adopted by Versailles System and reservation of teritories, obtained in 1920-1921, it was created a military-political block of states under the aegis of France. It was called Little Antanta. But soon, France changed its priorities in foreign policy. The idea of historical reconciliation brought to the forefront in the context of more equal and peaceful relations in Europe. The main initiators and propagandists of this idea were the ministers of foreign affairs of France and Germany, A. Brian and G. Shtrezeman. And after Locarn conference (October, 1925), which adopted new system of European security, France had to refuse the traditional system of military unions, especially - Little Antanta. Other military-political union - Balcanian Antanta, created in 148
