1921 treaty between the United States and Austria
The
U.S.?Austrian Peace Treaty
is a
peace treaty
between the
United States
and
Austria
, signed in
Vienna
on August 24, 1921, in the
aftermath
of the
First World War
. This separate peace treaty was required because the
United States Senate
refused to advise and consent to the ratification of the multilateral
Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye
of 1919.
Ratifications were exchanged in Vienna on November 8, 1921, and the treaty became effective on the same day. The treaty was registered in
League of Nations
Treaty Series
on November 22, 1921.
[1]
Background
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During the First World War, Austria – which formed the nucleus of the
Austro-Hungarian Empire
– was defeated by the Allied Powers, one of which was the
United States of America
. The US government declared war on Austria-Hungary on December 7, 1917. At the end of the war in 1918, Austria-Hungary disintegrated and Austria was established as an independent republic.
In 1919, the victorious Allied Powers held a
peace conference in Paris
to formulate peace treaties with the defeated
Central Powers
. At the conference,
a peace treaty with the Austrian government
was concluded. Although the US government was among the signatories of that treaty, the
Senate
refused to
ratify
the treaty due to opposition to joining the
League of Nations
.
As a result, the two governments started negotiations for a bilateral peace treaty not connected to the League of Nations. Such a treaty was concluded on August 24, 1921.
Terms of the treaty
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Article 1 obliged the Austrian government to grant to the US government all rights and privileges enjoyed by the other Allied Powers who ratified the St. Germain treaty.
Article 2 specified which articles of the St. Germain treaty shall apply to the United States.
Article 3 provided for the exchange of ratifications in Vienna.
Aftermath
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The treaty laid the foundations for a US-Austrian cooperation not under the strict supervision of the League of Nations. As a result, the US government embarked on a path of partially assisting the government of the Austrian Republic to ease the burden of
war reparations
imposed in the Treaty of St. Germain.
The treaty was supplemented by a treaty signed in Washington on November 26, 1924, which provided for the establishment of a mixed US-Austrian-Hungarian commission to decide amount of reparations to be paid by the Austrian and Hungarian governments to the US.
[2]
See also
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Notes
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- ^
League of Nations Treaty Series
, vol. 7, pp. 156-161.
- ^
Text in
League of Nations Treaty Series
, vol. 48, pp. 70-75.
External links
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