Izvleček
S koncem prve svetovne vojne in razpadom nekaterih držav so se ob vprašanju vojne krivde in reparacij pojavila tudi vprašanja v zvezi z vzpostavitvijo novih meja. Zmagovite velesile so se zaradi tega odločile za sklic mirovne konference, ki je od začetka leta 1919 naprej potekala v Parizu. Kot del jugoslovanske delegacije so na konferenci sodelovali tudi slovenski predstavniki. Slednji so se zavzemali predvsem za ohranitev enotnosti slovenskega naselitvenega prostora, ki so ga želeli obvarovati pred prevelikim razkosanjem na posamezne države. Slovenska delegacija, ki je bila strokovno izjemno dobro podkovana, pa je bila po prihodu v Pariz hitro soočena z mednarodnopolitično stvarnostjo. Svet »velikih petih«, v katerem so bile združene Velika Britanija, Francija, Kraljevina Italija, ZDA in Japonska, je bil namreč tisti gremij, ki je odločal o vseh pomembnejših sklepih pariške mirovne konference. Slovenski predstavniki tako v sklopu pogajanj svetovnih voditeljev niso uspeli prepričati, predvsem ameriškega predsednika Thomas Woodrowa Wilsona, ki je med drugim za Celovško kotlino zagovarjal izvedbo plebiscita. Ključna posledica pariške mirovne konference za Slovence pa je bila izguba kar 39 odstotkov etničnega ozemlja.
Abstract
Paris Peace Conference
As World War I ended and certain countries dissolved, questions regarding the demarcation of new borders arose, alongside the question of who was to blame for the war and the question of reparations. For this reason, the victorious great powers decided to convene a peace conference which was held in Paris from early 1919 onward. Slovenian representatives took part in the conference as members of the Yugoslav delegation. They mainly strove to preserve the unity of the Slovenian settlement area, wishing to protect it from being divided up among individual countries. The Slovenian delegation, which possessed great expertise, was confronted with the situation in international politics soon after arriving in Paris. The Council of the »Big Five«, which comprised Great Britain, France, the Kingdom of Italy, USA and Japan, was the guild that made all the important decisions at the Paris Peace Conference. Thus, during the negotiations, Slovenian representatives were unable to convince the world leaders, particularly the US President Thomas Woodrow Wilson who, among other things, advocated holding a plebiscite for the Klagenfurt Basin. The key consequence of the Paris Peace Conference for Slovenia was the loss of as much as 39 percent of its ethnic territory.