Evening star., 1928-10-28
PEACE in EUROPE PIVOTS
UPON IT'S NEW NATIONS
CzechOslOvakia in Particular Held Key
to Future-UniOn of Austria
and Germany.

the world would pass to the hands of
the Greater Germany, c|eated by An
schluSs. Thus Benes, the able foreign
minister of CZechoslovakia, continues to
warn Europe that any attempt to bring
about Austro- German union means war,
another general war, for France. Po-
land, Hungary, Rumania. Jugoslavia,
Italy and not imposSibly Russia.
Actually this little Slav state, formed
by the union of two tribes with marked
disSimilaritieS and even continuing
family differences, is on the one hand
the single obstacle to n complete union
of 75,C00, 900 Germans and on the other
to restoration Of the old Hungarian
kingdom, which Is the passionate pur-
pose of 10000 900 Magyars. Moreover,
the union of the Germans seems ines
capable for economic, quite as much as
political, reasons, since economically the
Austrian republic has not proved a
viable state.
Today Europe is divided between the
peoples who see their existence de-
pendent upon preservation of the
status quo and those other peoples who
! find their existing situation intolerable
and with increasing energy and grow
| ing power press for revision Of the
Paris treaties And as Czechoslovakia
! is Enthusiastically the corner stone Of the
Europe of the settlement of 1919, it has
become the center of the postwar
struggle. For France, Poland and
Czechoslovakia greater Germany
would be a deadly peril. 1t would mean
| the restoration Of that Mitteleuropa to
| dissolve which the world went through
| four years Of desperate and doubtful
| battle.
New Crisis Seen Coming.
But. on the other hand, the allies of
the war accepted the principle OF self
determination. Yet in the peace treaties
and ever since, this right has been de-
MED to the greatest Of all European
peoples.
steadily approaching in Europe. Physi-
cally Germany is daily recovering from
the prostration incident to defeat in
war and revolution at home. Concoml-
tantly the various limitations on Ger
man liberty imposed by the peace
treaties are dropping away. Occupa-
ton of the Rhineland, the last OF these
restraints, can at most last only until
| 1885. But as Germany grows daily
stronger she gives clearer and clearer
proof of her determination not to ac-
cept a position of weakness imposed
upon her at Paris.
| And this sense of the stirring Of the
great Colossus more and more propa-
gates unrest in Europe. 1t explains the
| failure of all attempts at disarmament,
it underlies the refusal of France to
consider the question Of an early evacu-
alton of the Rhineland 1t reviveS all
of the old fears awakened by the war
which dominated the Paris peace con-
ference and dictated the terms OF the
= rotflornoY1t with GprrnanV
Bohemia as Keystone.
Enthusiastically. too, all this unrest
centers about the CZechoslovak repub-
lie. While it stands 1t viii be prac-
| ticaIly impossible for the Germans to
achieve the AnschluSS, the union of the
German and Austrian republics. While
| it endures French influence in Europe
will doubtless remain supreme. Was it
not Bismarck himself who said, "The
master of Bohemia is the master of
Europe? And the alliance between
Paris and Prague makes France the
actual master of Bohemia.
But can the present situation last
when Germany is again in control of
her own strength, when the last physi-
cal restraint of the treaties has diSap-
peared? Can the widely separated
parts of a new coalition of France, Po-
land and CzechoSlovakia succeed in do
ing what was beyond the resources Of
France, Britain, Russia, Italy and their
smaller allies in the early years Of the
World War? The problem Of peace in
Europe is here.
Copyright, 1921