民族标准还是经济考量——巴黎和会上的“上西里西亚问题”

Nation Standard or Economic Factor:“The Upper Silesia Question”in Paris Peace Conference

1918年初,美国总统威尔逊提出《十四点纲领》,承诺波兰以民族标准并兼顾经济和战略因素建国。在次年召开的巴黎和会上,三大协约国一度根据民族标准决定将上西里西亚地区直接划给波兰。后来,为了促使德国签约,他们做出了让步,签订了《凡尔赛和约》。根据《凡尔赛和约》第88条,该地区归属将由通过一场公投来决定。这完全是大国政治的产物,三巨头应该没有预料到,他们为上西里西亚问题提供的方案,不仅未能重建和平,而且让数百万人卷入一场失败的人类实验之中。

In early 1918, the President of the United States Woodrow Wilson put forward ＂Fourteen Point＂ which promised that Poland could be founded according to the ethnologic criteria, with the consideration given to economic and strategic factors as well. In Paris Peace Conference held in the next year, the Big Three had once given Upper Silesia directly to Poland according to the ethnologic criteria. Later, they decided that the ownership of Upper Silesia would be determined by plebiscite, according to the Article 88 of the Treaty of Versailles, as the only compromise in order to urge Germany to sign the treaty. The relevant regulations are totally a product of the Great-power Politics. The Big Three did not expect that their solution for the Upper Silesia Question not only failed to restore peace in that area, but involved millions of people in a failed human experiment.