Map Analysis Essay

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Map analysis Essay
After the First World War, national boundaries in Europe were redrawn such that some countries were created whole others were deleted. Germany had to relinquish under the terms of the Versailles treaty that was signed in 1919. After the war, the success states of Austria (German) were carved from the region of Austro-Hungarian Dual Monarchy. The then Habsburg monarchy was divided into Italy, Poland Romania and kingdoms of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes were formed too. Through the destruction of old boundaries and construction of new ones, independent movements in colonies in Europe was encouraged (Prescott, 20). Evidently, Poland experienced the most noticeable changes since its borders shifted completely. The country’ borders were redrawn after the decision that was made at the Potsdam Conference in 1945. Therefore, it is worth noting that countries such as Austro-Hungarian, Ottoman and Russian ceased to exist while new states emerged.
Dismantling the three empires named above took about five years and some treaties. Nevertheless, so many of the new countries had a problem adjusting to the new rule as the old empires had provided some level of stability. Some of these treaties included the Brest-Litovsk and Versailles treaties. According to Prescott (71), the modern day Hungary and Yugoslavia gained their independence after the war having enjoyed some autonomy under Austrian rule. On the Yugoslavian, Austrian and Italian border emerged a self-governing city of Trieste.

Even beyond Europe, many of the colonial empires split and the German empire was dismantled. For instance, lost territories such a Syria were at first placed under the authority of the League of Nations and later found independence (Rogan, 02). On the other hand, other colonies like the German African colonies then become the future independence countries such as Zambia, Tanzania, Uganda and Rwanda.
The Ottoman Empire was one of the biggest empires in Europe but had to be dismantled due to the political struggles it had endured for so long. From the time the empire came into existence, it had conflicts with the Safvid Empire not to mention it was the last Muslim empire. Notably, the empire’s main reason for collapsing was the lack of proper military equipment. Rogan (119) makes it clear that even after the 31 October 1918 Armistice that ended the fight between the Ottoman Empire and the Allies, peace and stability were not established in the region. The, nonetheless, was very vulnerable to many pressures. Also, the fact that it stretched from the boundaries of the Austro-Hungarian Empire to the Russian Empire, Persian and Arabian Peninsula and part of North Africa created much dangerous diversity. The fragmentation of this Turkish Empire augmented in the 20th century. It is the endless internal and external struggles that the tore the empire apart.
The Empire was involved in many skirmishes like the uprisings in Albania a well as the revolt in Macedonia between 1897 and 1912. The people of Yemen too had rebelled for too long for self-rule not to mention the political rebellion by part of the Empire’s Army that was led by a group known as the Young Turks (Rogan, 09). In addition to the internal conflicts, the empire was torn apart by foreign enemies through land appropriation, attacks and invasions and it did not have the right military equipment to resists them. The climax of this war was the Turkish War of Independence (Prescott, 88). The Turks were fighting to create a non-ottoman Turkish nation and were opposed by the Greeks, Britain, Italy and France. Also worth noting, the Empire had enjoyed long-term success against its enemies that it left its army exposed to the Russian counterattacks during the First World War. Turkey is the country that was born after the collapse of the empire.
Work Cited
Prescott, J. R. V. The geography of frontiers and boundaries. London New York: Routledge, 2015. Print.
Rogan, Eugene L. The fall of the Ottomans : the Great War in the Middle East. New York, NY: Basic Books, a member of the Perseus Books Group, 2015. Print.