Shanghai
Shanghai is one of the four municipalities under the direct administration of the central government of the People's Republic of China, the largest city in China by population, the second most populous city proper in the world, with a population of 24.18 million as of 2017. It is a transport hub, with the world's busiest container port. Located in the Yangtze River Delta, it sits on the south edge of the estuary of the Yangtze in the middle portion of the East China coast; the municipality borders the provinces of Jiangsu and Zhejiang to the north and west, is bounded to the east by the East China Sea. As a major administrative and trading city, Shanghai grew in importance in the 19th century due to trade and recognition of its favourable port location and economic potential; the city was one of five treaty ports forced open to foreign trade following the British victory over China in the First Opium War. The subsequent 1842 Treaty of Nanking and 1844 Treaty of Whampoa allowed the establishment of the Shanghai International Settlement and the French Concession.
The city flourished as a centre of commerce between China and other parts of the world, became the primary financial hub of the Asia-Pacific region in the 1930s. During the World War II, the city was the site of the major Battle of Shanghai. After the war, with the Communist Party takeover of the mainland in 1949, trade was limited to other socialist countries, the city's global influence declined. In the 1990s, the economic reforms introduced by Deng Xiaoping resulted in an intense re-development of the city, aiding the return of finance and foreign investment to the city, it has since re-emerged as a hub for international finance. Shanghai has been described as the "showpiece" of the booming economy of mainland China; the two Chinese characters in the city's name are 上 and 海, together meaning "Upon-the-Sea". The earliest occurrence of this name dates from the 11th-century Song dynasty, at which time there was a river confluence and a town with this name in the area. There are disputes as to how the name should be understood, but Chinese historians have concluded that during the Tang dynasty Shanghai was on the sea.
Shanghai is abbreviated 沪 in Chinese, a contraction of 沪渎, a 4th- or 5th-century Jin name for the mouth of Suzhou Creek when it was the main conduit into the ocean. This character appears on all motor vehicle license plates issued in the municipality today. Another alternative name for Shanghai is Shēn or Shēnchéng, from Lord Chunshen, a 3rd-century BC nobleman and prime minister of the state of Chu, whose fief included modern Shanghai. Sports teams and newspapers in Shanghai use Shen in their names, such as Shanghai Shenhua F. C. and Shen Bao. Huating was another early name for Shanghai. In AD 751, during the mid-Tang dynasty, Huating County was established by the Governor of Wu Commandery Zhao Juzhen at modern-day Songjiang, the first county-level administration within modern-day Shanghai. Today, Huating appears as the name of a four-star hotel in the city; the city has various nicknames in English, including "Pearl of the Orient" and "Paris of the East". During the Spring and Autumn period, the Shanghai area belonged to the Kingdom of Wu, conquered by the Kingdom of Yue, which in turn was conquered by the Kingdom of Chu.
During the Warring States period, Shanghai was part of the fief of Lord Chunshen of Chu, one of the Four Lords of the Warring States. He ordered the excavation of the Huangpu River, its former or poetic name, the Chunshen River, gave Shanghai its nickname of "Shēn". Fishermen living in the Shanghai area created a fish tool called the hù, which lent its name to the outlet of Suzhou Creek north of the Old City and became a common nickname and abbreviation for the city. During the Tang and Song dynasties, Qinglong Town in modern Qingpu District was a major trading port. Established in 746, it developed into what contemporary sources called a "giant town of the Southeast", with thirteen temples and seven pagodas; the famous Song scholar and artist Mi Fu served as its mayor. The port had a thriving trade with provinces along the Yangtze River and the Chinese coast, as well as foreign countries such as Japan and Silla. By the end of the Song dynasty, the center of trading had moved downstream of the Wusong River to Shanghai, upgraded in status from a village to a market town in 1074, in 1172 a second sea wall was built to stabilize the ocean coastline, supplementing an earlier dike.
From the Yuan dynasty in 1292 until Shanghai became a municipality in 1927, central Shanghai was administered as a county under Songjiang Prefecture, whose seat was at the present-day Songjiang District. Two important events helped promote Shanghai's development in the Ming dynasty. A city wall was built for the first time in 1554 to protect the town from raids by Japanese pirates, it measured 10 metres high and 5 kilometres in circumference. During the Wanli reign, Shanghai received an important psychological boost from the erection of a City God Temple in 1602; this honour was reserved for prefectural capitals and not given to a mere county seat such as Shang
International Opium Commission
The International Opium Commission was a meeting convened in February 1 to February 26, 1909 in Shanghai that represented one of the first steps toward international drug prohibition. Dr. Hamilton Wright and Episcopal Bishop Charles Henry Brent headed the U. S. delegation. According to Release, "The formal designation of the meeting as'commission' reflects the fact that the United States had been unsuccessful in its attempts to convene a'conference': this latter status would have conferred upon the meeting the power to draft regulations to which signatory states would be bound by international law"; the Commission was only authorized to make recommendations. The meeting united the attending nations behind the cause of opium prohibition, leading to the 1912 International Opium Convention. UK Drugs and UK Drug Laws: 1900-1939. Hampden Coit DuBose American missionary founder of the Anti-Opium League in China
First Portuguese Republic
The First Portuguese Republic spans a complex 16-year period in the history of Portugal, between the end of the period of constitutional monarchy marked by the 5 October 1910 revolution and the 28 May 1926 coup d'état. The latter movement instituted a military dictatorship known as Ditadura Nacional that would be followed by the corporatist Estado Novo regime of António de Oliveira Salazar; the sixteen years of the First Republic saw nine presidents and 44 ministries, have been described as consisting of "continual anarchy, government corruption and pillage, arbitrary imprisonment and religious persecution". As far as the October 1910 Revolution is concerned, a number of valuable studies have been made, first among which ranks Vasco Pulido Valente’s polemical thesis; this historian posited the Jacobin and urban nature of the revolution carried out by the Portuguese Republican Party and claimed that the PRP had turned the republican regime into a de facto dictatorship. This vision clashes with an older interpretation of the First Republic as a progressive and democratic regime which presented a clear contrast to Salazar’s ensuing dictatorship.
A republican Constitution was approved in 1911, inaugurating a parliamentary regime with reduced presidential powers and two chambers of parliament. The constitution accorded full civil liberties, the religious liberties of Catholics being an exception; the First Republic was intensely anti-clerical. The leaders of the Republic were secularists and, were following liberal tradition of disestablishing the powerful role the Catholic Church once held. Historian Stanley Payne points out, "The majority of Republicans took the position that Catholicism was the number one enemy of individualist middle-class radicalism and must be broken as a source of influence in Portugal." Under the leadership of Afonso Costa, the justice minister, the revolution targeted the Catholic Church: churches were plundered, convents were attacked and clergy were harassed. Scarcely had the provisional government been installed when it began devoting its entire attention to an anti-religious policy, in spite of the disastrous economic situation.
On 10 October – five days after the inauguration of the Republic – the new government decreed that all convents and religious orders were to be suppressed. All residents of religious institutions were expelled and their goods confiscated; the Jesuits were forced to forfeit their Portuguese citizenship. A series of anti-Catholic laws and decrees followed each other in rapid succession. On 3 November, a law legalizing divorce was passed and there were laws to recognize the legitimacy of children born outside wedlock, authorize cremation, secularize cemeteries, suppress religious teaching in the schools and prohibit the wearing of the cassock. In addition, the ringing of church bells to signal times of worship was subjected to certain restraints, the public celebration of religious feasts was suppressed; the government interfered in the running of seminaries, reserving the right to appoint professors and determine curricula. This whole series of laws authored by Afonso Costa culminated in the law of Separation of Church and State, passed on 20 April 1911.
The republicans were anticlerical and had a "hostile" approach to the issue of church and state separation, like that of the French Revolution, the future Mexican Constitution of 1917 and Spanish Constitution of 1931. On 24 May 1911, Pope Pius X issued the encyclical Iamdudum which condemned the anticlericalism of the new republic for its deprivation of religious civil liberties and the "incredible series of excesses and crimes, enacted in Portugal for the oppression of the Church." The PRP had to endure the secession of its more moderate elements, who formed conservative republican parties such as the Evolutionist Party and the Republican Union. In spite of these splits the PRP, led by Afonso Costa, preserved its dominance due to a brand of clientelist politics inherited from the monarchy. In view of these tactics, a number of opposition forces resorted to violence in order to enjoy the fruits of power. There are few recent studies of this period of the Republic's existence, known as the ‘old’ Republic.
An essay by Vasco Pulido Valente should be consulted, as should the attempt to establish the political and economic context made by M. Villaverde Cabral; the Republic repelled a royalist attack on Chaves in 1912. The PRP viewed the outbreak of the First World War as a unique opportunity to achieve a number of goals: putting an end to the twin threats of a Spanish invasion of Portugal and of foreign occupation of the colonies and, at the internal level, creating a national consensus around the regime and around the party; these domestic objectives were not met, since participation in the conflict was not the subject of a national consensus and since it did not therefore serve to mobilise the population. Quite the opposite occurred: existing lines of political and ideological fracture were deepened by Portugal's intervention in the First World War; the lack of consensus around Portugal's intervention in turn made possible the appearance of two dictatorships, led by General Pimenta de Castro and Sidónio Pais.
Sidonismo known as Dezembrismo, aroused a strong interest among historians as a result of the elements of modernity that it contained. António José Telo has made clear the way in which this regime predated some of the political solutions invented by the totalitarian and fascist dictatorship
Geneva
Geneva is the second-most populous city in Switzerland and the most populous city of Romandy, the French-speaking part of Switzerland. Situated where the Rhône exits Lake Geneva, it is the capital of the Canton of Geneva; the municipality has a population of 200,548, the canton has 495,249 residents. In 2014, the compact agglomération du Grand Genève had 946,000 inhabitants in 212 communities in both Switzerland and France. Within Swiss territory, the commuter area named "Métropole lémanique" contains a population of 1.26 million. This area is spread east from Geneva towards the Riviera area and north-east towards Yverdon-les-Bains, in the neighbouring canton of Vaud. Geneva is a global city, a financial centre, a worldwide centre for diplomacy due to the presence of numerous international organizations, including the headquarters of many agencies of the United Nations and the Red Cross. Geneva hosts the highest number of international organizations in the world, it is where the Geneva Conventions were signed, which chiefly concern the treatment of wartime non-combatants and prisoners of war.
In 2017, Geneva was ranked as the world's fifteenth most important financial centre for competitiveness by the Global Financial Centres Index, fifth in Europe behind London, Zürich and Luxembourg. In 2019 Geneva was ranked among the ten most liveable cities in the world by Mercer together with Zürich and Basel; the city has been referred to as the world's most compact metropolis and the "Peace Capital". In 2017, Geneva was ranked as the seventh most expensive city in the world. Geneva was ranked third in purchasing power in a global cities ranking by UBS in 2018; the city was mentioned in Latin texts, by Caesar, with the spelling Genava from the Celtic *genawa- from the stem *genu-, in the sense of a bending river or estuary. The medieval county of Geneva in Middle Latin was known as pagus major Genevensis or Comitatus Genevensis. After 1400 it became the Genevois province of Savoy; the name takes various forms in modern languages, Geneva in English, French: Genève, German: Genf, Italian: Ginevra, Romansh: Genevra.
The city shares the origin of * genawa "estuary", with the Italian port city of Genoa. Geneva was an Allobrogian border town, fortified against the Helvetii tribe, when the Romans took it in 121 BC, it became Christian under the Late Roman Empire, acquired its first bishop in the 5th century, having been connected to the Bishopric of Vienne in the 4th. In the Middle Ages, Geneva was ruled by a count under the Holy Roman Empire until the late 14th century, when it was granted a charter giving it a high degree of self-governance. Around this time, the House of Savoy came to at least nominally dominate the city. In the 15th century, an oligarchic republican government emerged with the creation of the Grand Council. In the first half of the 16th century, the Protestant Reformation reached the city, causing religious strife, during which Savoy rule was thrown off and Geneva allied itself with the Swiss Confederacy. In 1541, with Protestantism on the rise, John Calvin, the Protestant Reformer and proponent of Calvinism, became the spiritual leader of the city and established the Republic of Geneva.
By the 18th century, Geneva had come under the influence of Catholic France, which cultivated the city as its own. France tended to be at odds with the ordinary townsfolk, which inspired the failed Geneva Revolution of 1782, an attempt to win representation in the government for men of modest means. In 1798, revolutionary France under the Directory annexed Geneva. At the end of the Napoleonic Wars, on 1 June 1814, Geneva was admitted to the Swiss Confederation. In 1907, the separation of Church and State was adopted. Geneva flourished in the 19th and 20th centuries, becoming the seat of many international organizations. Geneva is located at 46°12' North, 6°09' East, at the south-western end of Lake Geneva, where the Rhône flows out, it is surrounded by three mountain chains, each belonging to the Jura: the Jura main range lies north-westward, the Vuache southward, the Salève south-eastward. The city covers an area of 15.93 km2, while the area of the canton is 282 km2, including the two small exclaves of Céligny in Vaud.
The part of the lake, attached to Geneva has an area of 38 km2 and is sometimes referred to as petit lac. The canton has only a 4.5-kilometre-long border with the rest of Switzerland. Of 107.5 km of border, 103 are shared with France, the Département de l'Ain to the north and west and the Département de la Haute-Savoie to the south and east. Of the land in the city, 0.24 km2, or 1.5%, is used for agricultural purposes, while 0.5 km2, or 3.1%, is forested. The rest of the land, 14.63 km2, or 91.8%, is built up, 0.49 km2, or 3.1%, is either rivers or lakes and 0.02 km2, or 0.1%, is wasteland. Of the built up area, industrial buildings made up 3.4%, housing and buildings made up 46.2% and transportation infrastructure 25.8%, while parks, green belts and sports fields made up 15.7%. Of the agricultural land, 0.3% is used for growing crops. Of the water in the municipality, 0.2 % is composed of lakes and 2.9 % streams. The altitude of Geneva is 373.6 metres, corresponds to the altitude of
Hyperinflation in the Weimar Republic
Hyperinflation affected the German Papiermark, the currency of the Weimar Republic, between 1921 and 1923. It caused considerable internal political instability in the country, the occupation of the Ruhr by France and Belgium as well as misery for the general populace. To pay for the large costs of the ongoing First World War, Germany suspended the gold standard when the war broke out. Unlike the French Third Republic, which imposed its first income tax to pay for the war, German Emperor Wilhelm II and the German parliament decided unanimously to fund the war by borrowing, a decision criticized by financial experts such as Hjalmar Schacht as a dangerous risk for currency devaluation; the government believed that it would be able to pay off the debt by winning the war, when it would be able to annex resource-rich industrial territory in the west and east. It would be able to impose massive reparations on the defeated Allies; the exchange rate of the mark against the US dollar thus devalued from 4.2 to 7.9 marks per dollar, a preliminary to the extreme postwar inflation.
The strategy failed. The new Weimar Republic was saddled with a massive war debt; that was worsened by the fact. The Treaty of Versailles, with its demand for reparations, further accelerated the decline in the value of the mark, so that 48 paper marks were required to buy a US dollar by late 1919. German currency was stable at about 90 marks per dollar during the first half of 1921; because the WWI Western Front had been in France and Belgium, Germany came out of the war with most of its industrial infrastructure intact. It was in a better position to become the dominant economic force on the European continent. In April 1921, the Reparations Commission announced the "London payment plan", under which Germany would pay reparations in gold or foreign currency in annual installments of 2 billion gold marks, plus 26% of the value of Germany's exports; the first payment was made when it came due in June 1921. It marked the beginning of an rapid devaluation of the mark, which fell in value to 330 marks per dollar.
The total reparations demanded were 132 billion gold marks, but Germany had to pay only 50 billion marks. Since reparations were required to be repaid in hard currency, not the depreciating paper mark, one strategy that Germany used was the mass printing of bank notes to buy foreign currency, used to pay reparations exacerbating the inflation of the paper mark. Late in 1922, Germany failed to pay France an installment of reparations on time, France responded in January 1923 by sending troops to occupy the Ruhr, Germany's main industrial region; the German government ordered a policy of passive resistance in the Ruhr. Workers were told to do nothing. What this meant in practice was a general strike, but all the workers on strike had to be given financial support. The government paid its way by printing more banknotes. Germany was soon awash with paper money; the result was a hyperinflation. A loaf of bread that in Berlin cost around 160 Marks at the end of 1922 cost 200,000,000,000 Marks less than a year From August 1921, Germany began to buy foreign currency with marks at any price, but that only increased the speed of breakdown in the value of the mark.
As the mark sank in international markets and more marks were required to buy the foreign currency, demanded by the Reparations Commission. In the first half of 1922, the mark stabilized at about 320 marks per dollar. International reparations conferences were being held. One, in June 1922, was organized by Jr.. The meetings produced no workable solution, inflation erupted into hyperinflation, the mark falling to 7,400 marks per US dollar by December 1922; the cost-of-living index was 41 in June 1922 and 685 in a 15-fold increase. By fall 1922, Germany found itself unable to make reparations payments; the mark was by now worthless, making it impossible for Germany to buy foreign exchange or gold using paper marks. Instead, reparations were to be paid in goods such as coal. In January 1923, French and Belgian troops occupied the industrial region of Germany in the Ruhr valley to ensure reparations payments. Inflation was exacerbated when workers in the Ruhr went on a general strike and the German government printed more money to continue paying for their passive resistance.
By November 1923, the US dollar was worth 4,210,500,000,000 German marks. The hyperinflation crisis led prominent economists and politicians to seek a means to stabilize German currency. In August 1923, an economist, Karl Helfferich, proposed a plan to issue a new currency, the "Roggenmark", to be backed by mortgage bonds indexed to the market price of rye grain; the plan was rejected because of the fluctuating price of rye in paper marks. Agriculture Minister Hans Luther proposed a plan that substituted gold for rye and led to the issuance of the Rentenmark, backed by bonds indexed to the market price of gold; the gold bonds were indexed at the rate of 2790 gold marks per kilogram of gold, the same as the pre-war gold marks. Rentenmarks were not redeemable in gold but only indexed to the gold bonds; the plan was adopted in monetary reform decrees, on October 13–15, 1923. A new bank, the Rentenbank, was controlled by new German Finance Minister Hans Luther. After November 12, 1923, when Hjalmar Schacht became currency commissioner, Germany's central bank was not allowed to discoun
Paris Peace Conference, 1919
The Paris Peace Conference known as Versailles Peace Conference, was the meeting of the victorious Allied Powers following the end of World War I to set the peace terms for the defeated Central Powers. Involving diplomats from 32 countries and nationalities, the major or main decisions were the creation of the League of Nations, as well as the five peace treaties with the defeated states; the main result was the Treaty of Versailles with Germany, which in section 231 laid the guilt for the war on "the aggression of Germany and her allies". This provision proved humiliating for Germany and set the stage for the expensive reparations Germany was intended to pay; the five major powers controlled the Conference. The "Big Four" were French Prime Minister Georges Clemenceau, British Prime Minister David Lloyd George, US President Woodrow Wilson, Italian Prime Minister Vittorio Emanuele Orlando, they met together informally 145 times and made all the major decisions, which in turn were ratified by the others.
The conference began on 18 January 1919, with respect to its end date Professor Michael Neiberg has noted: Although the senior statesmen stopped working on the conference in June 1919, the formal peace process did not end until July 1923, when the Treaty of Lausanne was signed". The Conference opened on 18 January 1919; this date was symbolic, as it was the anniversary of the proclamation of William I as German Emperor in 1871, in the Hall of Mirrors at the Palace of Versailles, shortly before the end of the Siege of Paris - a day itself imbued with significance in its turn in Germany as the anniversary of the establishment of the Kingdom of Prussia in 1701. The Delegates from 27 nations were assigned to 52 commissions, which held 1,646 sessions to prepare reports, with the help of many experts, on topics ranging from prisoners of war to undersea cables, to international aviation, to responsibility for the war. Key recommendations were folded into the Treaty of Versailles with Germany, which had 15 chapters and 440 clauses, as well as treaties for the other defeated nations.
The five major powers controlled the Conference. Amongst the "Big Five", in practice Japan only sent a former prime minister and played a small role; the four met together informally 145 times and made all the major decisions, which in turn were ratified by other attendees. The open meetings of all the delegations approved; the conference came to an end on 21 January 1920 with the inaugural General Assembly of the League of Nations. Five major peace treaties were prepared at the Paris Peace Conference: the Treaty of Versailles, 28 June 1919, the Treaty of Saint-Germain, 10 September 1919, the Treaty of Neuilly, 27 November 1919, the Treaty of Trianon, 4 June 1920, the Treaty of Sèvres, 10 August 1920; the major decisions were the establishment of the League of Nations. The main result was the Treaty of Versailles, with Germany, which in section 231 laid the guilt for the war on "the aggression of Germany and her allies"; this provision proved humiliating for Germany and set the stage for high reparations Germany was supposed to pay.
As the conference's decisions were enacted unilaterally, on the whims of the Big Four, for its duration Paris was the center of a world government, which deliberated over and implemented the sweeping changes to the political geography of Europe. Most famously, the Treaty of Versailles itself weakened Germany's military and placed full blame for the war and costly reparations on Germany's shoulders – the humiliation and resentment in Germany is sometimes considered one of the causes of Nazi electoral successes and indirectly a cause of World War II; the League of Nations proved controversial in the United States as critics said it subverted the powers of Congress to declare war. S. Senate did not ratify any of the peace treaties and the U. S. never joined the League – instead, the Harding administration of 1921-1923 concluded new treaties with Germany and Hungary. Republican Germany was not invited to attend the conference at Versailles. Representatives of White Russia were present. Numerous other nations did send delegations in order to appeal for various unsuccessful additions to the treaties.
A central issue of the Conference was the disposition of the overseas colonies of Germany. The British dominions wanted their reward for their sacrifice. Australia wanted New Guinea, New Zealand wanted Samoa, South Africa w
Treaty of Trianon
The Treaty of Trianon was the peace agreement of 1920 that formally ended World War I between most of the Allies of World War I and the Kingdom of Hungary, the latter being one of the successor states to Austria-Hungary. The treaty defined its borders, it left Hungary as a landlocked state that covered 93,073 square kilometres, only 28% of the 325,411 square kilometres that had constituted the pre-war Kingdom of Hungary. Its population was 7.6 million, only 36% of the pre-war kingdom's population of 20.9 million. The areas that were allocated to neighbouring countries in total had a majority of non-Hungarians but 31% of Hungarians were left outside of post-Trianon Hungary. Five of the pre-war kingdom's ten largest cities were drawn into other countries; the treaty limited Hungary's army to 35,000 officers and men, the Austro-Hungarian Navy ceased to exist. The principal beneficiaries of the territorial division of pre-war Kingdom of Hungary were the Kingdom of Romania, the Czechoslovak Republic, the Kingdom of Serbs and Slovenes, the First Austrian Republic.
One of the main elements of the treaty was the doctrine of "self-determination of peoples", it was an attempt to give the non-Hungarians their own national states. In addition, Hungary had to pay war reparations to its neighbours; the treaty was dictated by the Allies rather than negotiated, the Hungarians had no option but to accept its terms. The Hungarian delegation signed the treaty under protest on 4 June 1920 at the Grand Trianon Palace in Versailles, France; the treaty was registered in League of Nations Treaty Series on 24 August 1921. The modern boundaries of Hungary are the same as those defined by the Treaty of Trianon, with some minor modifications until 1924 and the notable exception of three villages that were transferred to Czechoslovakia in 1947; the Hungarian government terminated its union with Austria on 31 October 1918 dissolving the Austro-Hungarian state. The de facto temporary borders of independent Hungary were defined by the ceasefire lines in November–December 1918. Compared with the pre-war Kingdom of Hungary, these temporary borders did not include: Part of Transylvania south of the Mureş river and east of the Someş river, which came under the control of Romania.
On 1 December 1918, the National Assembly of Romanians in Transylvania declared union with the Kingdom of Romania. Slovakia, which became part of Czechoslovakia. Afterwards, the Slovak politician Milan Hodža discussed with the Hungarian Minister of Defence, Albert Bartha, a temporary demarcation line that had not followed the Slovak-Hungarian linguistic border, left more than 900,000 Hungarians in the newly formed Czechoslovakia; that was signed on 6 December 1918. South Slavic lands, after the war, were organised into two political formations – the State of Slovenes and Serbs and Banat, Bačka and Baranja, which both came under control of South Slavs, according to the ceasefire agreement of Belgrade signed on 13 November 1918. On 29 October 1918, the Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia parliament, an autonomous kingdom within the Transleithania, terminated the union with the Kingdom of Hungary and on 30 October 1918 the Hungarian diet adopted a motion declaring that the constitutional relations between the two states had ended.
Croatia-Slavonia was included in a newly formed State of Slovenes and Serbs on 29 October 1918. This state and the Kingdom of Serbia formed the Kingdom of Serbs and Slovenes on 1 December 1918; the territories of Banat, Bačka and Baranja came under military control by the Kingdom of Serbia and political control by local South Slavs. The Great People's Assembly of Serbs and other Slavs from Banat, Bačkam and Baranja declared union of this region with Serbia on 25 November 1918; the ceasefire line had the character of a temporary international border until the treaty. The central parts of Banat were assigned to Romania, respecting the wishes of Romanians from this area, which, on 1 December 1918, were present in the National Assembly of Romanians in Alba Iulia, which voted for union with the Kingdom of Romania; the city of Fiume was occupied by the Italian nationalists group. Its affiliation was a matter of international dispute between the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. Croatian-populated territories in modern Međimurje remained under Hungarian control after the ceasefire agreement of Belgrade from 13 November 1918.
After the military victory of Croatian forces led by Slavko Kvaternik in Međimurje against Hungarian forces, this region voted in the Great Assembly of 9 January 1919 for separation from Hungary and entry into Yugoslavia. After the Romanian Army advanced beyond this cease-fire line, the Entente powers asked Hungary to acknowledge the new Romanian territory gains by a new line set along the Tisza river. Unable to reject these terms and unwilling to accept them, the leaders of the Hungarian Democratic Republic resigned and the Communists seized power. In spite of the country being under Allied blockade, the Hungarian Soviet Republic was formed and the Hungarian Red Army was set up; this army was successful against the Czechoslovak Legions, due to covert food and arms aid from Italy. This made it possible for Hungary to reach nearly the forme
