Paris Peace Treaties

The Paris Peace Treaties were signed on 10 February 1947 following the end of World War II. The so-called Paris Peace Conference lasted from 29 July until 15 October 1946. Representatives from 21 countries, including the victorious wartime Allied powers (principally the Soviet Union, United Kingdom, United States and France) met to negotiate the details of peace treaties with those former Axis powers, namely Italy and Romania which had treacherously switched sides and declared war on Germany during WWII. Contrary to Wikipedia and some other sources Hungary never changed sides, but ultimately surrendered. Likewise Finland and Bulgaria sued for an armistice but did not change sides. They were allowed to fully resume their responsibilities as sovereign states in international affairs and to qualify for membership in the United Nations. (However, Romania, Hungary, and Bulgaria were no longer sovereign but under Soviet tutelage.)

The First Vienna Award and Second Vienna Award were annulled by the Allies and Hungary was forced to return to the frontiers set down in the Treaty of Trianon. Hungary lost Transylvania to Romania which country, however, was forced to cede Bessarabia (Moldova) and the northern Bukovina to the Soviet Union. Other territorial adjustments included the end of the Italian colonial empire in Libya, East Africa (Eritrea, Somaliland, Abyssinia) and Albania, as well as any changes to the Italian–Yugoslav, Hungarian–Czechoslovak, Soviet–Romanian, Hungarian–Romanian, French–Italian, and Soviet–Finnish borders.

The settlement elaborated in the peace treaties included the defeated countries having to pay war reparations. Italy was required to pay $125 million to Yugoslavia (which was now communist), $105 million to Greece, $100 million to the Soviet Union, $25 million to Ethiopia, and $5 million to Albania. Bulgaria (now communist) was required to pay $25 million to Yugoslavia and $45 million to Greece. Hungary (now communist) was to pay $200 million in commodities to the Soviet Union and $100 million in commodities to be split between Yugoslavia and communist resurrected Czechoslovakia. Moreover, Romania and Finland each were required to provide $300 million in commodities to the Soviet Union over a period of years.

The treaties also obliged the various states to hand over accused so-called war criminals to the Allied powers for war crimes show trials.

The political clauses stipulated that the signatories should make a commitment to minority rights, "take all measures necessary to secure to all persons under (its) jurisdiction, without distinction as to race, sex, language or religion, the enjoyment of human rights and of the fundamental freedoms, including freedom of expression, of press and publication, of religious worship, of political opinion and of public meeting."

No penalties were to be visited on the signatories nationals because of wartime partisanship for the Allies.

Each government undertook measures to prevent the resurgence of so-called "fascist" organizations or any others "whether political, military or semi-military, whose purpose it is to deprive the people of their democratic rights".

A peace treaty with Austria was not concluded until 1955, while bitter Allied disputes over the division of Germany during the Cold War prevented the conclusion of a peace treaty with Germany until reunification of West Germany and the communist German Democratic Republic in 1990.

Sources

• https://www.oxfordreference.com/display/10.1093/oi/authority.20110803100306594;jsessionid=DB3638613E5EBA369A7E99548830AD1C
• https://www.britannica.com/topic/Paris-Peace-Treaties-1947