The Province of the Sudetenland (german: Provinz Sudetenland) was established on 29 October 1918 by former members of the
Cisleithanian Imperial Council, the governing legislature of the crumbling
Austro-Hungarian Empire
Austria-Hungary, often referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire,, the Dual Monarchy, or Austria, was a constitutional monarchy and great power in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. It was formed with the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of ...
. It consisted of German-speaking parts of Moravia, Bohemia and
Austrian Silesia, and was meant to become an integral part of the newly proclaimed
Republic of German Austria.
The province was originally established by the provisional government of the so-called "German Moravia", which meant to represent German interests in Moravia. The provisional capital was declared as Troppau (
Opava
Opava (; german: Troppau, pl, Opawa) is a city in the Moravian-Silesian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 55,000 inhabitants. It lies on the river Opava (river), Opava. Opava is one of the historical centres of Silesia. It was a histori ...
). It mimicked
a similar provincial establishment in Bohemia, where Reichenberg (
Liberec
Liberec (; german: Reichenberg ) is a city in the Czech Republic. It has about 103,000 inhabitants and it is the fifth-largest city in the country. It lies on the Lusatian Neisse, in a basin surrounded by mountains. The city centre is well preser ...
) became the capital.
Along with various other German-speaking parts, these provinces were intended to eventually integrate into Austria, on the basis of
Woodrow Wilson’s ''
Fourteen Points'', which emphasized the right to
self-determination
The right of a people to self-determination is a cardinal principle in modern international law (commonly regarded as a ''jus cogens'' rule), binding, as such, on the United Nations as authoritative interpretation of the Charter's norms. It stat ...
of peoples.
This would not come to pass, however. Both the provinces of German Bohemia and German Moravia were given to the newly proclaimed
Czechoslovak Republic. Czechoslovak troops occupied the province by the beginning of 1919, and the position of the said province within Czechoslovakia was confirmed by the
Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye, which was signed 10 September 1919.
In 1919, about 646,800 ethnic Germans lived within the province, along with about 25,000 ethnic Czechs.
The majority of ethnic Germans in all of Czechoslovakia, including what was once this province,
were expelled after the
Second World War.
See also
*
Republic of German-Austria
*
Origins of Czechoslovakia
*
Province of German Bohemia
The Province of German Bohemia (german: Provinz Deutschböhmen ; cs, Německé Čechy) was a province in Bohemia, now the Czech Republic, established for a short period of time after the First World War, as part of the Republic of German-Austria. ...
*
German South Moravia
*
Bohemian Forest Region
References
* Adrian von Arburg (in German): ''Die Festlegung der Staatsgrenze zwischen der Tschechoslowakei und Deutschland nach dem Münchener Abkommen 1938.'' Grin Verlag, 2008, .
* Emil Franzel (in German): ''Sudetendeutsche Geschichte.'' Mannheim 1978, .
{{Authority control
Establishments in the Republic of German-Austria
Sudetenland
States and territories disestablished in 1918
States and territories established in 1918
Former provinces
1918 establishments in Europe
1918 disestablishments in Europe