3. RUMANIA AND CZECHOSLOVAKIA

Rumania on the east side of Europe, allied with the Central Powers as a silent partner in the Triple Alliance since October 30, 1883, had eventually declared war against them on August 27, 1916, and had had imposed upon her the peace of Bukharest of May 7, 1918. As one of the Allied and Associated Powers she was a great beneficiary of the armistices, which canceled that treaty, while from the settlement with Hungary she gained the rich territory of Transylvania. About the same time Rumanian troops swept over Hungary up to Budapest and carried away rolling stock, goods, objects of art, valuables of all kinds, despite the firm and solemn orders of the Principal Allied and Associated Powers to the contrary. As a result the latter made provision in the Hungarian peace treaty for crediting Hungary on reparation account with values still undetermined but claimed by the Hungarians to be more than $1,000,000,000. Also about that time Rumania absorbed the Russian province of Bessarabia, which had been awarded to Russia at the expense of Turkey in 1878.

Rumanian territory having doubled under these kaleidoscopic circumstances, her statesmen felt the need of consolidating the new position. Just after the Governments of Prague and Belgrade signed their alliance, Rumania agreed orally to it, but refrained from signing it because she insisted upon bringing Poland and Greece also into the alliance. A Rumanian statesman speaking on November 18, 1920, put the situation this way:

To Rumania, Hungary is no more a great danger. Rumania can be threatened in the future only from the east; in this case the only country which could form one front with her would be Poland. On the other hand, Rumania's interests require that the Dardanelles be opened for Rumanian vessels; hence the necessity of an understanding with Greece. Certainly Rumania is extending in exchange to both of these countries a protection equal to their services.

We are insisting on forming this Central European alliance, extending from the Baltic to the Black Sea and to the Mediterranean on the one hand, in order to stop the sweeping westward of the Russian anarchy, and on the other hand in order to establish order and keep peace in Central and Southeastern Europe and to prevent in the future the interference of some greater powers with these countries' interests. Although

the treaty is not signed yet, Rumania considers herself a member of the Little Entente, and it is certain that she will sign. Take Jonesco, the minister of foreign affairs, in all his statements in Rome, London, Paris and Prague, considered the alliance as an accomplished fact.

The Rumanian policy was not realized in the form of a single treaty. Czechoslovakia, with which the first alliance was signed, declined to go beyond the scope of its arrangement with the Serb-Croat-Slovene State, and the convention of alliance signed at Bukharest on April 23, 1921, as a consequence took a less ambitious form1:

CONVENTION OF ALLIANCE BETWEEN THE KINGDOM OF RUMANIA AND THE CZECHOSLOVAK REPUBLIC, SIGNED AT BUKHAREST, APRIL 23, 1921.

Firmly resolved to maintain the peace obtained by so many sacrifices, and provided for by the Covenant of the League of Nations as well as the situation created by the treaty concluded at Trianon on June 4, 1920, between the Allied and Associated Powers on the one hand, and Hungary on the other,

the President of the Czechoslovak Republic and His Majesty the King of Rumania, have agreed to conclude a defensive convention.

For this purpose they have nominated their Plenipotentiary Delegates:

For the President of the Czechoslovak Republic:

M. Ferdinand Veverka, Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary of the Czechoslovak Republic at Bukharest;

For His Majesty the King of Rumania:

M. Take Jonesco, his State Minister for Foreign Affairs,

who, having exchanged their full powers and found them to be in good and due form, have agreed as follows:

ARTICLE 1. In case of an unprovoked attack on the part of Hungary against one of the High Contracting Parties, the other party agrees to assist in the defense of the party attacked, in the manner laid down by the arrangement provided for in Art. 2 of the present Convention.

ART. 2. The competent technical authorities of the Czechoslovak Republic and Rumania shall decide by mutual agreement and in a military convention to be concluded, upon the provisions necessary for the execution of the present Convention.

'League of Nations, Treaty Series, VI, 215. The exchange of ratifications took place at Bukharest on May 27, 1921, and the convention was registered with the League Secretariat on August 30, 1921.

ART. 3. Neither of the High Contracting Parties shall conclude an iance with a third power without preliminary notice to the other. ART. 4. For the purpose of co-ordinating their efforts to maintain ace, the two Governments undertake to consult together on questions foreign policy concerning their relations with Hungary.

ART. 5. The present Convention shall be valid for two years from the te of the exchange of ratification.1 On the expiration of this period, ch of the Contracting Parties shall have the option of denouncing the resent Convention. It shall, however, remain in force for six months ter the date of denunciation.

ART. 6. The present Convention shall be communicated to the League E Nations (Covenant of the League of Nations).

ART. 7. The present Convention shall be ratified, and the ratifications all be exchanged at Bukharest as soon as possible.

In witness whereof, the Plenipotentiaries named have signed the present Convention and have affixed their seals thereto.

Done at Bukharest in duplicate, April 23, 1921.

A communiqué issued at Prague on May 7 stated:

With reference to the fact that the defensive convention of alliance concluded between the Kingdom of Rumania and the Czechoslovak Republic on April 23, 1921, will soon expire and since this treaty is recognized as advantageous to the maintenance of peace, the two Governments have decided to prolong it. Following appropriate negotiations between the Prague and Bukharest cabinets, the protocol prolonging the treaty for an additional three years was signed at noon, May 7, 1923, at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs at Prague by the respective plenipotentiaries, Mr. P. Hiott, ambassador extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary of His Majesty the King of Rumania in Prague, and Dr. Benesh, the minister for foreign affairs of the Czechoslovak Republic.2

A commercial convention between the two states was signed simultaneously with the convention on April 23, 1921, the exchange of ratifications of which took place at Prague on March 10, 1923. It was registered with the League of Nations on March 28, 1923, No. 397.

'That is, until May 27, 1923.

'Prager Presse, May 8, 1923, Morgen-Ausgabe.

4.

RUMANIA AND THE SERB-CROAT-SLOVENE STATE

The Rumanian minister for foreign affairs, Take Jonesco, next approached the Serb-Croat-Slovene State. Both Hungary and Bulgaria had lost more than they liked to admit to Rumania and Jugoslavia by the peace treaties. When Bukharest and Belgrade came to discuss their arrangements, they included Bulgaria as an object of the treaty. The Rumanian-Jugoslav defensive convention corresponds in other respects with the one signed by Rumania with Czechoslovakia. It was concluded at Bukharest on July 2, 1921, and reads:

Firmly resolved to maintain the peace won at the cost of so many sacrifices and the order established by the treaty of Trianon concluded on June 4, 1920, between the Allied and Associated Powers on the one part and Hungary on the other, as well as the treaty concluded at Neuilly on November 27 between the same powers and Bulgaria, His Majesty the King of the Serbs, Croats and Slovenes and His Majesty the King of Rumania are in agreement to conclude a defensive convention.

ARTICLE 1. In case of an unprovoked attack by Hungary or Bulgaria or by these two powers against one of the contracting parties, with a view to subverting the order created by the treaty of Trianon or that of Neuilly, the other party engages to go to the defense of the party attacked in the manner determined by Art. 2 of this convention.

ART. 2. The competent technical authorities of the Kingdom of the Serbs, Croats and Slovenes and of Rumania shall fix in common agreement within the shortest time, the dispositions necessary for the execution of the present convention.

ART. 3. Neither of the high contracting parties shall be able to conclude an alliance with a third power without the previous advice of the other.

ART. 4. With a view to associating their efforts for peace, the two Governments pledge themselves to concert with each other on the questions of external policy concerning their relations with Hungary and Bulgaria.

ART. 5. This convention shall remain in force for two years from the date of the exchange of ratifications. After the expiration of this period either of the contracting parties may denounce this convention. It shall then remain in force six months after denunciation.

ART. 6. This convention shall be communicated to the League of Nations (Covenant of the League of Nations).

ART. 7. The present convention shall be ratified and the ratifications shall be exchanged as soon as possible.

IV. THE HAPSBURG RESTORATION MOVEMENT

The Hapsburg restoration movement has already been referred to as a makeweight in the formation of the Little Entente. It was the chief reason why the Little Entente treaties took the form of alliances directed against Hungary, which had a vacant throne. The possibility of a Hapsburg regaining that throne was perhaps never very great, but it seemed for many months to be a genuine menace to the new position of the succession states. For two years it gave direction to the policy of those states. The Czechoslovak declaration of independence, for instance, had called the Hapsburgs a "degenerate and irresponsible dynasty," "a perpetual menace to the peace of the world, the fall and destruction of which we consider a duty toward humanity and civilization to insure."

On November 11, 1918, the Emperor Charles IV renounced the throne of Austria, and on November 13 at Eckartsau the Hungarian crown of St. Stephen.

After the Bolshevik interlude of Bela Kuhn in Hungary during the summer of 1919, the Archduke Joseph of Hapsburg came into power in August. Charles wrote him on August 14 from Switzerland: "I am still king"; and claimed his rights as sovereign. At that time the treaty of peace with Hungary was scarcely begun and Hungary was still under armistice conditions. Benesh of Czechoslovakia sent a long historical review to the so-called Supreme Council calling upon it to "prevent in Hungary the return to power of a government dangerous to the vital interests" of his country. On August 21 the Supreme Council told Hungary that it would not treat with a government set up under the control of a Hapsburg. In January, 1920, the formal negotiations for the treaty of Trianon began. Hapsburg agitation continued in Hungary. The Conference of Ambassadors spoke for all the victors in a declaration of February 4, 1920, which stated:

The Principal Allied Powers believe it necessary to give a formal denial to the rumors which are current and which are calculated to mislead public opinion. They are represented as ready to recognize or to favor the establishment of the Hapsburg dynasty upon the throne of Hungary. The Principal Allied Powers believe that the restoration of a dynasty which personifies in the eyes of its subjects a system of oppression