Little Treaty of Versailles

Little Treaty of Versailles or the Polish Minority Treaty was one of the bilateral Minority Treaties signed between minor powers and the League of Nations in the aftermath of the First World War. The Polish treaty was signed on 28 June 1919, the same day as the main Treaty of Versailles was signed, which is the reason for one of its names. It was the first of the Minority Treaties and served as a template for the subsequent ones; together with Articles 87-93 of Treaty of Versailles, it also formally established Poland as a sovereign and independent state on the international arena.

Poland regained independence (as the Second Polish Republic), after 123 years of partitions, in the aftermath of the First World War. The victorious powers decided that due to significant non-Polish minorities on areas claimed by Poland (which historically controlled many Lithuanian and Ruthenian territories under the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and would likely inherit a substantial German minority within its new borders) and the ongoing civilian strife caused by the local wars (in particular the Polish-Ukrainian War of 1918-1919 and Polish-Soviet War of 1919-1920), Poland had to sign the treaty in exchange for Polish independence and for Poland to sign the peace treaty with Germany (the Article 93 of the Treaty of Versailles stated that: "Poland accepts... provisions... to protect the interests of inhabitants of Poland who differ from the majority of the population in race, language, or religion"). In addition, the treaty declared that Poland had to take over a part of debts of Russian state and grant a most favored nation clause in transit trade to "Allied and Associated States" (Articles 14-18).

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