Скачать или смотреть The Baltic as Cordon Sanitaire - The Baltic Geopolitics Symposium 2023

From chaos to the New World Order: The Baltic in the aftermath of the First World War, 1918-1922

Panel 2 – The Baltic as Cordon Sanitaire

Speakers:

Professor Andrew Lambert, King's College London: 'Seapower solutions: Britain, the Baltic and the balance of power, 1919'
Dr Kęstutis Kilinskas, Vilnius University: 'Supply of weapons to the Lithuanian army at the clash of interests between Germany and the Entente, 1919-1920'
Dr Rikard Westerberg, Stockholm School of Economics: 'Swedish volunteers in the struggle for Estonian independence, 1919: adventurers, idealists, mercenaries'
Chair: Dr Hugo Bromley, University of Cambridge

More about the Baltic Geopolitics Symposium 2023

The First World War and the revolutions that accompanied it resulted in the geopolitical transformation of the Baltic sea region. The breakup of the German and Russian empires and the ensuing civil war in Russia resulted in Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Poland (re)appearing on the map of the Baltic as independent states. Weimar Germany was established in the West, while in the East, Russia was in the flames of the Bolshevik revolution. At the time when Peacemakers in Paris were talking about peace, the new Baltic region became a free-for-all battlefield of armies and ideologies. The region faced a number of challenges, including shortages of food and capital, disputed territories, and political instability. While it was hoped that the League of Nations would make the New World Order more secure, states in the Baltic were looking for their own formulas of geopolitical survival, ranging from neutrality to novel geopolitical designs. By 1922, revolutionary fervor had subsided, economic catastrophe was averted, the map of the region was fixed by plebiscites, arbitration, wars, or faits accomplis, and all newcomer states had been recognized by major powers.

This symposium brought together leading historians and policymakers to discuss the Baltic in the turbulent aftermath of the First World War when the region underwent a transformation from chaotic uncertainty to relative stability, as well as its contemporary legacies.