Editing Self-determination (section)

==== Europe, Asia and Africa ====

[[File:Map Europe 1923-en.svg|thumb|right|upright=1.5|Map of [[Aftermath of World War I|territorial changes]] in Europe after World War I (as of 1923)]]

[[File:Decolonization - World In 1945 en.svg|upright=1.5|thumb|Map of the world in 1945, showing [[United Nations Trusteeship Council]] territories in green<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.un.org/Depts/Cartographic/map/profile/world45.pdf |title=The World in 1945 |date=May 2010 |work=United nations |access-date=2012-03-04}}</ref>]]

[[Woodrow Wilson]] revived America's commitment to self-determination, at least for European states, during World War I. When the [[Bolsheviks]] came to power in Russia in the [[October Revolution]], they called for Russia's immediate withdrawal as a member of the [[Allies of World War I]]. Lenin had used 'national self-determination' as a weapon against the [[Russian Empire]], and after the Revolution the party supported the right of all nations, including colonies, to self-determination.<ref name="Lenin" /> The 1918 [[Soviet Russia Constitution of 1918|Constitution of the Soviet Union]] acknowledged the right of [[secession]] for its constituent republics.<ref name="Unterberger" />

In January 1918 Wilson issued his [[Fourteen Points]] of January 1918 which, among other things, called for adjustment of colonial claims, insofar as the interests of colonial powers had equal weight with the claims of subject peoples.<ref name="Unterberger" /> The [[Treaty of Brest-Litovsk (Russia–Central Powers)|Treaty of Brest-Litovsk]] in March 1918 led to [[Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic|Soviet Russia]]'s exit from the war and the nominal independence of Armenia, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Ukraine, Lithuania, Georgia and Poland, though in fact those territories were under German control.{{citation needed|date=January 2024}} The end of the war led to the dissolution of the defeated [[Austro-Hungarian Empire]] and [[Czechoslovakia]] and the union of the [[State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs]] and the [[Kingdom of Serbia]] as new states out of the wreckage of the [[Habsburg monarchy|Habsburg empire]]. However, this imposition of states where some nationalities (especially [[Polish people|Poles]], [[Czechs]], and [[Serbs]] and [[Romanians]]) were given power over nationalities who disliked and distrusted them was eventually used as a pretext for German aggression in [[World War II]].

The [[League of Nations]] was established as the symbol of the emerging postwar order. One of its earliest tasks was to legitimize the territorial boundaries of the new [[Nation state|nation-states]] created in the territories of the former [[Ottoman Empire]], Asia, and Africa. The League was not consistent in how it applied the principle in the post-war peace treaties and, in many places, had to compensate with highly complex arrangements to ensure protection of minorities.<ref name="Oeter" /> Nor did the principle of self-determination extend so far as to end colonialism, under the reasoning that the local populations were not civilized enough the League of Nations was to assign each of the post-Ottoman, Asian and African states and colonies to a European power by the grant of a [[League of Nations mandate]].<ref>{{cite book| title=Fezzes in the River |author=Sarah D. Shields |publisher=Oxford University Press}}</ref>

One of the German objections to the [[Treaty of Versailles]] was a somewhat selective application of the principle of self-determination, as the [[Republic of German-Austria]], which included the [[Sudetenland]], was seen as representing the will to join Germany in those regions, while the majority of people in [[Free City of Danzig|Danzig]] wanted to remain within the ''Reich''. However, the Allies ignored the German objections. Wilson's 14 Points had called for [[History of Poland (1918–1939)|Polish independence]] to be restored and Poland to have "secure access to the sea", which would imply that the German city of Danzig (modern [[Gdańsk]], [[Poland]]) be ceded to Poland.<ref name="Macmillan, Margaret page 211">Macmillan, Margaret ''Paris 1919'', New York: Random House page 211.</ref>  At the [[Paris Peace Conference (1919–1920)|Paris Peace Conference]] in 1919, the Polish delegation asked Wilson to honor point 14 of the 14 points by transferring Danzig to Poland, arguing the city was Polish until 1793, and that Poland would not be economically viable without it.<ref name="Macmillan, Margaret page 211"/> During the [[Partitions of Poland|First Partition]] of Poland in 1772, the inhabitants of Danzig fought fiercely for it to remain a part of Poland,<ref>''Gdańsk i Ziemia Gdańska'' Franciszek Mamuszka Wiedza Powszechna, 1966 page 83</ref> but as a result of the [[Germanisation]] process in the 19th century,<ref>Książka polska w Gdańsku w okresie zaboru pruskiego 1793-1919, page 61 Maria Babnis, Ossolineum 1989</ref> 90% of its inhabitants were [[Germans|German]] by 1919, which led to the creation of the [[Free City of Danzig]], a city-state in which Poland had certain special rights.<ref>Macmillan, Margaret ''Paris 1919'', New York: Random House page 218.</ref> Through the city of Danzig was 90% German and 10% Polish, the surrounding countryside around Danzig was overwhelmingly Polish, and the ethnically Polish rural areas included in the Free City of Danzig objected, arguing that they wanted to be part of Poland.<ref name="Macmillan, Margaret page 211"/> Neither the Poles nor the Germans were happy with this compromise and the Danzig issue became a flash-point of German-Polish tension throughout the interwar period.<ref>Macmillan, Margaret ''Paris 1919'', New York: Random House page 219.</ref>

During the 1920s and 1930s there were some successful movements for self-determination in the beginnings of the process of [[decolonization]]. The [[Statute of Westminster 1931|Statute of Westminster]] granted independence to [[Canada]], [[Dominion of New Zealand|New Zealand]], [[Newfoundland and Labrador|Newfoundland]], [[Commonwealth of Australia|Australia]], and the [[Union of South Africa]] after the [[British parliament]] declared itself incapable of passing laws over them without their consent.<ref>{{Cite web |last=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |date=2017 |title=Statute of Westminster 1931 |url=http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1931/4/pdfs/ukpga_19310004_en.pdf |access-date=29 November 2024 |website=legislation.gov.uk |publisher=The National Archives (UK) |quote=All content is available under the Open Government Licence v3.0 |archive-date=22 December 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181222222020/http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1931/4/pdfs/ukpga_19310004_en.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> This statute built on the [[Balfour Declaration of 1926]] which recognized the autonomy of these British dominions, representing the first phase of the creation of the [[Commonwealth of Nations|British Commonwealth of Nations]]. [[Kingdom of Egypt|Egypt]], [[Kingdom of Afghanistan|Afghanistan]], and [[Kingdom of Iraq|Iraq]] also achieved independence from Britain.{{Dubious|reason=This independence was nominal at best, certainly in the cases of Egypt and Iraq, Britain maintained disproportionate influence over their affairs until the 50s|date=November 2024}} Other efforts were unsuccessful, like the [[Indian independence movement]]. Meanwhile, Italy, Japan and Germany all initiated new efforts to bring certain territories under their control. In particular, the [[National Socialist Program]] invoked this right of nations, as it was publicly proclaimed on 24 February 1920 by [[Adolf Hitler]].{{Citation needed|date=December 2024}}

In Asia, Japan became a rising power and gained more respect from Western powers after its victory in the [[Russo-Japanese War]]. Japan joined the Allied Powers in World War I and [[Japan during World War I|attacked German colonial possessions]] in the [[Far East]], adding former German possessions to its own empire. In the 1930s, Japan gained significant influence in [[Inner Mongolia]] and [[Manchuria]] after it [[Mukden Incident|invaded Manchuria]].  It established [[Manchukuo]], a [[puppet state]] in [[Manchuria]] and eastern [[Inner Mongolia]]. This was essentially the model Japan followed as it invaded other areas in Asia and established the [[Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere]]. Japan went to considerable trouble to argue that Manchukuo was justified by the principle of self-determination, claiming that people of Manchuria wanted to break away from China and asked the [[Kwantung Army]] to intervene on their behalf. However, the [[Lytton Report|Lytton commission]] which had been appointed by the League of Nations to decide if Japan had committed aggression or not, stated the majority of people in Manchuria who were [[Han Chinese]] who did not wish to leave China.{{Citation needed|date=December 2024}}

In 1912, the [[Republic of China (1912–1949)|Republic of China]] officially [[successor state|succeeded]] the Qing Dynasty, while [[Outer Mongolia]], [[Tibet (1912–1951)|Tibet]] and [[Tannu Uriankhai|Tuva]] proclaimed their independence. Independence was not accepted by the [[Beiyang government|government of China]]. By the [[Treaty of Kyakhta (1915)]] [[Outer Mongolia, 1911-1919|Outer Mongolia]] recognized China's sovereignty. However, the [[Soviet Union|Soviet]] threat of seizing parts of Inner Mongolia induced China to recognize [[Mongolian People's Republic|Outer Mongolia's independence]], provided that a referendum was held. The referendum took place on October 20, 1945, with (according to official numbers) 100% of the electorate voting for independence.{{Citation needed|date=December 2024}}

Many of [[East Asia]]'s current disputes to sovereignty and self-determination stem from unresolved disputes from World War II. After its fall, the [[Empire of Japan]] renounced control over many of its former possessions including [[Korea]], [[Sakhalin Island]], and [[Taiwan]].  In none of these areas were the opinions of affected people consulted, or given significant priority. Korea was specifically granted independence but the receiver of various other areas was not stated in the [[Treaty of San Francisco]], giving Taiwan ''de facto'' independence although its political status continues to be ambiguous.{{Citation needed|date=December 2024}}