The Treaty of Peace between Austria-Hungary and Finland, also called the Vienna Peace Treaty,Randall Lesaffer and Mieke van der Linden, "Peace Treaties after World War I", in Frauke Lachenmann and Rudiger Wolfrum (eds.), ''The Law of Armed Conflict and the Use of Force: Articles from The Max Planck Encyclopedia of Public International Law'' (Oxford University Press, 2017), pp. 910–919, at 911. was signed in

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

on 29 May 1918, bringing to an end the state of war that existed between

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bot ...

and

Austria-Hungary Austria-Hungary, often referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire,, the Dual Monarchy, or Austria, was a constitutional monarchy and great power in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. It was formed with the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of ...

as a result of

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

.Stephan Verosta, "Peace treaties after World War I", in Rudolf Bernhardt (ed.), ''Encyclopedia of Public International Law 4: Use of Force – War and Neutrality – Peace Treaties (N–Z)'' (North Holland, 1982), pp. 110–117, at 112.

Background

The

Grand Duchy of Finland The Grand Duchy of Finland ( fi, Suomen suuriruhtinaskunta; sv, Storfurstendömet Finland; russian: Великое княжество Финляндское, , all of which literally translate as Grand Principality of Finland) was the predecess ...

was a part of the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War ...

at the time of the Austro-Hungarian

declaration of war A declaration of war is a formal act by which one state announces existing or impending war activity against another. The declaration is a performative speech act (or the signing of a document) by an authorized party of a national government, ...

on Russia on 6 August 1914. In 1917, Russia experienced two revolutions. In the

February Revolution The February Revolution ( rus, Февра́льская револю́ция, r=Fevral'skaya revolyutsiya, p=fʲɪvˈralʲskəjə rʲɪvɐˈlʲutsɨjə), known in Soviet historiography as the February Bourgeois Democratic Revolution and some ...

, the empire was overthrown and a provisional government established. In the

October Revolution The October Revolution,. officially known as the Great October Socialist Revolution. in the Soviet Union, also known as the Bolshevik Revolution, was a revolution in Russia led by the Bolshevik Party of Vladimir Lenin that was a key mom ...

, the provisional government was deposed and the

Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, Russian SFSR or RSFSR ( rus, Российская Советская Федеративная Социалистическая Республика, Rossíyskaya Sovétskaya Federatívnaya Soci ...

established. On 6 December 1917, Finland declared its independence, which Russia recognized on 31 December. Finland nevertheless remained in the same state of war with the Central Powers (Austria-Hungary,

Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedo ...

, the

German Empire The German Empire (),Herbert Tuttle wrote in September 1881 that the term "Reich" does not literally connote an empire as has been commonly assumed by English-speaking people. The term literally denotes an empire – particularly a hereditary ...

and the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University ...

) as it had been when a part of Russia.Jaakko Uotila, ''The Finnish Legal System'' (Suomen lakimiesliiton kustannus, 1966), p. 249. On 15 December, the Russian government signed an armistice with the Central Powers. On 26 January 1918, a workers' uprising sparked the

Finnish Civil War The Finnish Civil War; . Other designations: Brethren War, Citizen War, Class War, Freedom War, Red Rebellion and Revolution, . According to 1,005 interviews done by the newspaper ''Aamulehti'', the most popular names were as follows: Civil W ...

and the establishment a few days later of the

Finnish Socialist Workers' Republic The Finnish Socialist Workers' Republic (FSWR), more commonly referred to as Red Finland, was a self-proclaimed Finland, Finnish socialist state that ruled parts of the country during the Finnish Civil War of 1918. It was outlined on 29 January 1 ...

. Soviet Russia and the Finnish workers' republic signed a treaty of friendship on 1 March 1918. The armistice with the Central Powers had expired on 18 February, but on 3 March Russia signed the

Treaty of Brest-Litovsk The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk (also known as the Treaty of Brest in Russia) was a separate peace treaty signed on 3 March 1918 between Russia and the Central Powers (Germany, Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria, and the Ottoman Empire), that ended Russia's ...

and made peace with the Central Powers. A Finno-German peace treaty was signed with the government of the conservative Senate of Finland—as opposed to the workers' republic allied with Russia—on 7 March. Germany then sent military assistance to the Finnish government, which defeated the workers' republic by the end of April. A Finno-Bulgarian peace treaty was also signed at Berlin on 21 May 1918.

Terms

The language of the Austro-Hungarian–Finnish peace treaty was

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) ** Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

. The signatories were, on the Austro-Hungarian side, Foreign Minister

Stephan Burián von Rajecz Count Stephan Burián von Rajecz ( hu, rajeczi gróf Burián István) (16 January 1851 – 20 October 1922), commonly called: "Baron von Burian" or, later, "Count Burian" in English language press reports; (titles from 1900, ''Freiherr''; from 19 ...

and Ambassador

Kajetan von Mérey Kajetan Mérey von Kapos-Mére ( hu, kapos-mérei Mérey Kajetán) (16 January 1861 – 2 February 1931), was an Austro-Hungarian diplomat of Hungarian origin serving as ambassador at Rome at the outbreak of World War I. Life Kajetan von Mére ...

, who had been the Austro-Hungarian negotiator for the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, and, on the Finnish side,

Edvard Immanuel Hjelt Edvard Immanuel Hjelt (28 June 1855 – 2 July 1921) was a Finnish chemist, politician and a member of the Senate of Finland. Hjelt studied chemistry in Finland and in Germany and became rector of the University of Helsinki in 1899. He opposed ...

, who had negotiated the peace treaty with Germany and was envoy and minister plenipotentiary to Germany, and Count Allan Serlachius, interim chargé d'affaires to Norway. The treaty consisted of a mere five articles.''Texts of the Finland "Peace": With Map''
(Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1918), pp. 47–48 (German text of treaty with English translation). Both parties to the treaty waived any claims to costs or damages owing to the war. Several separate agreements were also signed the same day in Vienna: a "politico-legal supplementary treaty to the peace treaty", a commercial convention to regulate the economic relations and a convention "concerning certain questions of private law".Convention between Austria-Hungary and Finland concerning Certain Questions of Private Law supplementary to the Treaty of Peace, signed at Vienna, 29 May 1918
Oxford Historical Treaties, Oxford Public International Law. According to Article 4 of the peace treaty, the treaty governing economic relations would form "an essential part of this peace treaty". The German text of the treaty was published in the ''

Neue Freie Presse ''Neue Freie Presse'' ("New Free Press") was a Viennese newspaper founded by Adolf Werthner together with the journalists Max Friedländer and Michael Etienne on 1 September 1864 after the staff had split from the newspaper ''Die Presse''. It ...

'' on 31 May.

Notes

References

{{reflist World War I treaties Treaties concluded in 1918 Treaties entered into force in 1918 Peace treaties of Austria Peace treaties of Hungary Peace treaties of Finland Aftermath of World War I in Finland Austria–Finland relations Finland–Hungary relations Treaties of Austria-Hungary May 1918 events 1918 in Austria-Hungary 1918 in Finland