THE NEW MAP OF EUROPE 



173 



the North Sea by way of the Elbe. It is 

 proposed to connect the Danube with the 

 Oder by a canal running from Pressburg 

 to Prerau, and this waterway will be 

 linked bv a canal to Pardubitz, on the 

 Elbe. 



High hopes are entertained for the 

 eventual prosperity and stability of 

 Czechoslovakia. Bohemia and Moravia 

 were the most important industrial re- 

 gions of the old Austro-Hungarian Em- 

 pire, and Slovakia is a rich agricultural 

 land. In population and area the new 

 republic roughly approximates our States 

 of New York, New Jersey, and Delaware 

 combined. Of its people, some 5,000,000 

 are Bohemians, 3,000,000 are Slovaks, 

 2,000.000 are Moravians, and more than 

 2,500.000 are Germans. 



THE SOUTH SLAVS ARE AMALGAMATED 

 WITH SERBIA AS THE CENTRAL UNIT 



Leaving the land of the Czechoslovaks, 

 the eye travels, southward across the twin- 

 born republics of i\ustria and Hungary 

 to the Jugo (South) -Slav Kingdom of 

 the Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes, built up 

 of groups of South Slavic peoples, among 

 which the Serbians are preponderant 

 numerically. 



The apportionment of territory to the 

 Jugo-SlaA T State has been a problem of 

 world concern since the first sessions of 

 the Peace Conference in Paris. So nu- 

 merous and diverse were the interests 

 affected and so bitter has been the rivalry 

 between the new state and its "vis-a-vis" 

 nation lying across the Adriatic that there 

 was constant danger of armed conflict 

 between these two over the adjustment 

 of boundaries. Every decision was 

 fraught with Alsace-Lorraine potentiali- 

 ties of danger. 



On November 12, 1920, however, the 

 Italians and Jugo-Slavs at the Confer- 

 ence of Rapallo adjusted all differences 

 over such intricate questions as the Pact 

 of London Boundary, the famous "Wil- 

 son Line" through Istria, and the ex- 

 travagant claims of the two contending 

 parties. It is to be hoped that danger of 

 what a noted European statesman once 

 characterized as a "sore boundary" has 

 been obviated. 



By the agreement reached at Rapallo 

 (a small winter resort southeast of Ge- 



noa), disposition was made of that apple 

 of discord, the seaport of Fiume. The 

 population of Fiume proper is mainly 

 Italian, but the hinterland is almost ex- 

 clusively Slavic, and the city is the only 

 fully developed and adequately equipped 

 seaport by which the commerce of the 

 Jugo-Slav State has outlet to the Adri- 

 atic. Some of the other towns of the 

 Dalmatian coast (Spalato, Cattaro, and 

 Metkovic) have equally good or even 

 better harbors, but they are undeveloped 

 and are not connected with the interior 

 by standard-gauge railways. 



The situation in Fiume is analogous to 

 that at Danzig, a city German in popula- 

 tion but the sole gateway on the Baltic 

 for Poland's maritime commerce. The 

 compromise effected is likewise similar 

 to that agreed upon for Danzig. The 

 port becomes the "Free State of Fiume," 

 and provision is made for a commission, 

 composed of Italian and Jugo-Slav mem- 

 bers, which will settle all technical ques- 

 tions regarding traffic in the port with 

 due regard to the commercial needs of 

 Jugo-Slavia. Sushak, the Croat suburb 

 of Fiume, is to remain to Jugo-Slavia, 

 but with the privilege of joining its port 

 to Fiume if it desires to do so. 



In the settlement of the Fiume Ques- 

 tion no official cognizance is taken of the 

 disconcerting fact that for more than a 

 year the seaport has been in possession 

 of Italy's soldier-poet and picturesque 

 adventurer-patriot, Gabriele d'Annunzio, 

 who with a small army of followers took 

 possession September 17, 1919. D'An- 

 nunzio maintained his dictatorship in the 

 city despite the protests of the Allies and 

 the disavowal of his own government, 

 his slogan being "Annexation of Fiume 

 to Italy or death !" 



By the terms of the Rapallo agreement, 

 the Dalmatian coast and islands become 

 a part of the new state of Jugo-Slavia, 

 with the exception of the town of Zara 

 and two or three islands, the most impor- 

 tant of which are Cherso and Lagosta, 

 allotted to Italy. 



Jugo-Slavia's domain has been affected 

 by a larger number of treaties following 

 the World War than any other state of 

 Europe. By the Austrian peace treaty, 

 Carniola and Dalmatia have been ac- 

 quired : by the Hungarian treaty, the 



