History / 1920 - The de facto recognition of Latvia

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1920 - The de facto recognition of Latvia

12.11.2008

The last part of Latvia's fight for freedom and the end of warfare in the country moved forward Latvia's attempts for its recognition. On July 21, 1919, Latvia and Estonia signed a border agreement, which basically meant the mutual de facto recognition between the two countries. In the Autumn of 1919 and the first months of 1920, Finland, Poland, Lithuania, Belgium and France recognized the de facto independence of Latvia. Great Britain, Germany and Japan had already previously recognized the de facto independence of Latvia.

In the first half of 1920, the world's super powers paid much attention to the recognition of the Baltic States. On June 10, British Foreign Minister George Curzon decided to discuss this matter with the rest of the Entente Powers. Italy and Japan supported the de jure recognition of the Baltic States, France took an evasive stance, whilst the United States was categorically against. The United States doubted whether Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia will be able to exist as independent state for a lasting period of time.

There were also ill-founded hopes that Poland and Finland would recognize the de jure independence of Latvia, who were supposedly ready to sign military agreements with Latvia. However, these countries did not wish to rush ahead of the Entente Powers. The Polish position also infleunced the Latgale Province (eastern Latvia) question, because if it were to acknowledge the de jure indepence of Latvia, it would be in favor of Latvia. A very important and urgent taks for Latvian diplomats was the signing of a peace agreement with Russia and the reestablishment of diplomatic relations with Germany. Discussions with both super powers began in the Spring of 1920, and lasted several months, because many complicated issues had to be solved.

Source:

Excerpt from the book „Latvijas vēsture 20.gadsimts" (Latvian history in the 20th century), Riga, publisher „Jumava", 2005, page 120.

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