Commissions of the Danube River
Encyclopedia
See Internationalization of the Danube River
for events before 1856.
The Commissions of the Danube River were authorized by the Treaty of Paris (1856)
after the close of the Crimean War
. One of these international commissions, the most successful, was the European Commission of the Danube, or, in French, Commission Européen du Danube, the CED, which had authority over the three mouths of the river — the Chilia in the north, the Sulina in the middle, and the St. George in the south and which was originally designed to last for only two years. Instead, it lasted eighty-two years. A separate commission, the International Danube Commission, or IDC, was authorized to control commerce and improvements upriver beyond the Danube Delta
and was supposed to be permanent, but it was not formally organized until after 1918.
The lower section of the Danube, he continued, was "more than an internationalized river" because the CED wielded independent administrative powers. He concluded that the commission:
To the contrary, Joseph L. Kunz, a professor of international law
at the University of Toledo in Ohio, wrote in 1945 that international river commissions were organized on the collegiate principle, composed of "persons appointed by the contracting states, representing them and having to act in conformity with the instructions of their states." They were, he concluded, objects, not subjects, of international law.
Stanford University history professor Edward Krehbiel suggested in 1918 that other "international administrative agents" like the Danube Commission would eventually be created to handle specific problems. Their activities would "develop a whole body of rules which will in effect be the foundation of the super-state itself." The commission, he said:
In regard to the CED, he noted that the tariffs were to be settled by a majority vote of the commissioners and that "Majority rule results in making law for the minority, and . . . it therefore represents a truly profound abasement of national sovereignty
."
The establishments of the CED were guaranteed to be neutral (promulgated in 1865) and free of the restraints of the territorial authorities. It owned and operated a hospital for seamen of all countries, and it flew a flag ("composed of five parallel strips . . . arranged in the following order of colour: — red, white, blue, white, and red, the blue strip having a height double that of each of the other strips, and bearing in white the letters 'C.E.D.' ")
ile:Donau-Karte.png|center|600px|thumb|
and ordering temporary improvements of the Sulina
. Under the chairmanship of Sir John Stokes, Crimean War veteran of the British Royal Engineers
, the commission hastened to get the job done within the two years originally alloted by the treaty. It was under a mandate to:
At the end of the two years, the powers that signed the treaty were to "pronounce the dissolution of the European Commission", and the so-called "permanent", upstream, IDC was then to extend its supervision to the Lower Danube. The latter commission was supposed to consist of Austria-Hungary
, Bavaria, the Sublime Porte (Turkey), Württemberg and the two Danubian principalities
(Moldavia and Wallachia). The IDC did draw up an Upper Danubian Navigation Act in November 1857, but it was not accepted multilaterally because of opposition of all the powers except Austria. It was, however, applied to parts of the river by conventions between Austria, Bavaria, and Württemberg. The river-bordering states, Krehbiel stressed in his 1918 article, "were eager to get control of the river into their own hands", but the non-riparian states were "loath to lose control." As a result, the CED was constantly strengthened, and the IDC never came into power, but "was presently abandoned."
The CED gradually extended its power until it became an international entity glimmering in what Blackburn called "the twilight of statehood." It expanded its functions until it was ranked s "the most successful" such agency until the League of Nations. At the start, though, it had no funds, "it had no basis for an opinion as to the best way to attack the river problem; it found river traffic paralyzed." At the end of the two years, Sir Charles Hartley, war comrade of Stokes, had been appointed chief engineer (a post he was to hold for forty-nine years) but large-draft vessels were unable to sail unimpeded up the meandering river
. These meager results led the powers to extend the life of the commission for another two years, over the objection of Austria.
In 1866, the commission found itself in financial trouble because of the just-ended Austro-Prussian War
. But it secured money by issuing bonds, offering the river tolls as security. "To be sure, the rate of 10 per cent was high, but the significant fact is that the joint agent of the nations was developing a real identity and personality. Its venturesomeness was rewarded with complete solvency.
The unique provision of the 1865 act was that either of the two annexes could be changed by a majority vote of the commission but the changes would be automatically binding on the member nations, without need for additional consent. Duties of the officers were spelled out, neutrality of the buildings, records, and funds was ordered, and certain portions of Turkish territory were reserved for exclusive use of the CED. Its life was extended for another five years, but Russia protested that this "should be the outside limit not to be exceeded in any case."
since 1861, was admitted to an expanded CED as a free country as a result of the Treaty of Berlin (1878). It replaced Turkey as the sovereign power on the delta and was given a seat on the CED. Turkey remained a member of the body.
Russia was the winner of the Russo-Turkish War, and she took over an old strip of Bessarabia detached from her in 1856. This placed Russia again on the banks of the Danube. The other Danubian arrangements were:
After a month of discussion, the delegates decided to:
Detailed and liberal rules drawn up in this convention for the Danube between Ibraila upstream to the Iron Gate were never applied. Romania did not agree, "and the stretch of the Danube was administered by each riparian state, with due regard, however, to the principle of free navigation."
As conditions in the delta improved, shipping increased and more funds were received by the CED. Conditions improved: There were 111 shipwrecks of seagoing vessels between 1861 and 1881, but only five wrecks between 1909 and 1929
(Germany, Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria, and Turkey) kept the commission in operation for a short time — but without the British and the French.
Indeed, the Germans attempted to legalize a commission that would have perpetually excluded the Allied powers. on May 7, 1918, they concluded a separate peace with the Romanians, changing the EDC into a Commission of the Mouth of the Danube; its competence was maintained, but membership was restricted only to Danubian or Black Sea
countries; above Braila control was "to be in the hands of the countries bordering the river", that is, Romania, Bulgarian, Serbia, Austria, and Germany. Germany, Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria, Turkey, and Rumania obtained the right to keep warships on the river; this led, as a reaction, to internationalization of the river between Ulm and the Black Sea after the war. The same stipulations were included in the peace treaty
between Germany and Russia in 1918.
These treaties were negated upon Allied victory. In November 1918 the victors established a Commandement de la Navigation du Danube, with Sir Ernest Troubridge
as commander. The Allies' Supreme Committee decided on May 22, 1919, that "despite the existing uncertainty concerning the frontiers and the ownership of the floating material, normal conditions of traffic on the Danube should be established as soon as possible." An Inter-Allied Danube Commission was formed under Troubridge. Later in the year, non-enemy states were admitted in equality with the great power
s; the group met with some success in reopening the river, despite the difficulties.
Peace treaties imposed by the Allies set up new regulations for the river: The old European Commission resumed its power over the mouths of the river, but its membership was "temporarily" limited to Britain, France, Italy, and Romania (excluding, then, Russia and Turkey). In addition, an International Commission was thenceforth to regulate traffic on the Upper Danube from Ulm to Braila. A general conference was planned for the future.
The International Danube Commission (upriver) was finally given a permanent status, made a subject of international law like the EDC, and provided with regulations that gave it life. It, however, had no law courts
of its own; it was obliged to surrender transgressors to the territorial authorities for trial and punishment. Members included all the riparian states, as well as Great Britain, France, Italy, and Romania.
Otto Popper of Bratislava, secretary of the IDC in 1920-29, said this about the statute when viewing it twenty years later:
John C. Campbell, Eastern Europe
an specialist with the U.S. State Department, wrote in 1949 that just as the Paris conference in 1856, had strived to block "Russian domination" in Southeastern Europe after the Crimean War, so the 1921 convention "stood for an effort to block the resurgence of German or Russian power."
Economic affairs along the entire river were so bad that the League of Nations instituted in 1922 an inquiry by a special committee, headed by an American, Walker D. Hines (Wilson's wartime chief of railroads). His report was issued in August 1925, stating that the river fleet carried 25 percent more tonnage than before the war, but traffic was only 56 percent of normal. This reduction was largely due to an economic depression but also by the breakup of Austria-Hungary's large duty-free
area. Hines scored the "petty attitudes" of the multitude of free governments and complained of the frontier formalities and the exclusion of non-nationals from international trade
. Despite the existence of the EDC and the IDC, the situation had "changed but little since the end of the war."
This report led the Commercial and Financial Chronicle of New York City to suggest, in particular, the reduction of "dues which it [the EDC] has imposed." British interests since 1918 had turned the Danube into a virtual European Thames. Before the war, reported Clair Price of the New York Times,
The company had obtained this monopoly by refinancing the war-stricken prewar firms, most of which were owned by Austrian or Hungarian interests (the losers in the war). A holding company
, the Danube Navigation Co., was organized, and astute financial maneuvering gave to Furness, Withy "the practical control of the traffic of the navigable length of the Danube."
Meanwhile, Romania desired the outright abolition of the CED, having made the suggestion for the first time in 1881, when King Carol
said he would insist on the mouths being "exclusively controlled by Rumanian officials." This statement led to a break with Austria-Hungary, and Carol was forced late in the year to dispatch a message of " 'deep regret' for the offense that had been given to Austria."
The country renewed its demands in 1919 at the Paris Peace Conference and in 1921 at the Danube conference. On both instances, it was overruled. Romania changed tactics, but not motives, at the Conference of Lausanne
in 1923, when affairs of the Middle East
were discussed. On this occasion, Romania suggested that the powers of the CED should be expanded; it would also be given control over the Bosporus and the Dardanelles
.
In 1924, Romania suggested that the activities of the commission be limited; that country would be charged with trial and punishment of shipping violators, similar to the method used by the newer, upriver International Danube Commission. This suggestion also was rejected by the other powers. Balked internationally, the Romanian government began an internal propaganda campaign in 1926 to nationalize the Sulina channel, even without the concurrence of the other nations. Spokesmen claimed the CED had failed to keep the channel clear, resulting in a situation where only empty boats could cross it; the commission replied that the silt had piled up during the war when Romania had full control.
Meanwhile, Romania resorted to a lawsuit to assert its jurisdiction over an upriver stretch. It noted that the jurisdiction of the CED had been extended up the river from Galatz to Ibraila by the Treaty of London of 1883, in the framing and signing of which Romania had not participated. In 1921 two vessels collided in the disputed sector, and the CED's inspector assumed police and jurisdictional powers over Romania's protest. The case was taken to the League of Nations, which in 1926 sent the matter to the Permanent Court of International Justice
at the request of Britain, France, Italy, and Romania. The latter country lost on all counts. The court decided the CED's powers "extend over the whole of the maritime Danube."
and Danube Commission (after 1945)
In 1938, a committee of experts inspected the Sulina and found it was almost impassable by that time. And in August of that same year, the regime of the two commissions was swept away by rise of German power on the river. A series of treaties put control in the hands of the Germans, who maintained it until the Nazi retreat in 1944 and ultimate defeat in 1945. In 1948 a Danube river conference was held, and a new treaty was adopted, putting governance of the river under commissions composed only of the riparian powers, ending more than four decades of Western Europe
an presence in the control of the important waterway.
Internationalization of the Danube River
The Danube River has been a trade waterway for centuries, but with the rise of international borders and the jealousies of national states, commerce and shipping has often been hampered for narrow reasons. In addition, natural features of the river, most notably the sanding of the delta, has often...
for events before 1856.
The Commissions of the Danube River were authorized by the Treaty of Paris (1856)
Treaty of Paris (1856)
The Treaty of Paris of 1856 settled the Crimean War between Russia and an alliance of the Ottoman Empire, the British Empire, Second French Empire, and the Kingdom of Sardinia. The treaty, signed on March 30, 1856 at the Congress of Paris, made the Black Sea neutral territory, closing it to all...
after the close of the Crimean War
Crimean War
The Crimean War was a conflict fought between the Russian Empire and an alliance of the French Empire, the British Empire, the Ottoman Empire, and the Kingdom of Sardinia. The war was part of a long-running contest between the major European powers for influence over territories of the declining...
. One of these international commissions, the most successful, was the European Commission of the Danube, or, in French, Commission Européen du Danube, the CED, which had authority over the three mouths of the river — the Chilia in the north, the Sulina in the middle, and the St. George in the south and which was originally designed to last for only two years. Instead, it lasted eighty-two years. A separate commission, the International Danube Commission, or IDC, was authorized to control commerce and improvements upriver beyond the Danube Delta
Danube Delta
The Danube Delta is the second largest river delta in Europe, after the Volga Delta, and is the best preserved on the continent. The greater part of the Danube Delta lies in Romania , while its northern part, on the left bank of the Chilia arm, is situated in Ukraine . The approximate surface is...
and was supposed to be permanent, but it was not formally organized until after 1918.
International stature
The European Commission of the Danube was the first — and for a long time the only — international body to have serious police and juridical powers over private vessels and individual people, and it was seen in 1930, for example, by history professor Glen A. Blackburn of the United States as a "unique" organization.Without territorial possessions, it is nevertheless a distinct international entity, possessing sovereignty over the broad waters of the Danube. . . . These entirely discretionary functions need the sanction of no group of nations, and there is no appeal from the edicts of the Commission.
The lower section of the Danube, he continued, was "more than an internationalized river" because the CED wielded independent administrative powers. He concluded that the commission:
falls short of being a bona fideGood faithIn philosophy, the concept of Good faith—Latin bona fides “good faith”, bona fide “in good faith”—denotes sincere, honest intention or belief, regardless of the outcome of an action; the opposed concepts are bad faith, mala fides and perfidy...
member of the family of nations because its existence is largely de facto and not de jure. . . . It is safe to predict that the need for protecting the integrity of the commission will some day lift it out of the twilight of statehood and accord it full membership in the League of NationsLeague of NationsThe League of Nations was an intergovernmental organization founded as a result of the Paris Peace Conference that ended the First World War. It was the first permanent international organization whose principal mission was to maintain world peace...
.
To the contrary, Joseph L. Kunz, a professor of international law
International law
Public international law concerns the structure and conduct of sovereign states; analogous entities, such as the Holy See; and intergovernmental organizations. To a lesser degree, international law also may affect multinational corporations and individuals, an impact increasingly evolving beyond...
at the University of Toledo in Ohio, wrote in 1945 that international river commissions were organized on the collegiate principle, composed of "persons appointed by the contracting states, representing them and having to act in conformity with the instructions of their states." They were, he concluded, objects, not subjects, of international law.
Stanford University history professor Edward Krehbiel suggested in 1918 that other "international administrative agents" like the Danube Commission would eventually be created to handle specific problems. Their activities would "develop a whole body of rules which will in effect be the foundation of the super-state itself." The commission, he said:
offers an organ through which nations can approach one another on the basis of common or united action, instead of as rivals, as is the case in an ambassadorial conference.
In regard to the CED, he noted that the tariffs were to be settled by a majority vote of the commissioners and that "Majority rule results in making law for the minority, and . . . it therefore represents a truly profound abasement of national sovereignty
Sovereignty
Sovereignty is the quality of having supreme, independent authority over a geographic area, such as a territory. It can be found in a power to rule and make law that rests on a political fact for which no purely legal explanation can be provided...
."
The establishments of the CED were guaranteed to be neutral (promulgated in 1865) and free of the restraints of the territorial authorities. It owned and operated a hospital for seamen of all countries, and it flew a flag ("composed of five parallel strips . . . arranged in the following order of colour: — red, white, blue, white, and red, the blue strip having a height double that of each of the other strips, and bearing in white the letters 'C.E.D.' ")
ile:Donau-Karte.png|center|600px|thumb|
Organizing
The CED began its work by fixing the seat of the commission in the port of GalatzGalati
Galați is a city and municipality in Romania, the capital of Galați County. Located in the historical region of Moldavia, in the close vicinity of Brăila, Galați is the largest port and sea port on the Danube River and the second largest Romanian port....
and ordering temporary improvements of the Sulina
Sulina branch
The Sulina branch is a distributary of the river Danube, that contributes in forming the Danube Delta.The other two main branches of the Danube are the Chilia branch and the Saint George....
. Under the chairmanship of Sir John Stokes, Crimean War veteran of the British Royal Engineers
Royal Engineers
The Corps of Royal Engineers, usually just called the Royal Engineers , and commonly known as the Sappers, is one of the corps of the British Army....
, the commission hastened to get the job done within the two years originally alloted by the treaty. It was under a mandate to:
designate and to cause to be executed the Works necessary below Isatcha, to clear the mouths of the Danube, as well as the neighbouring parts of the Sea, from the sands and other impediments which obstruct them, in order to put that part of the River and the said parts of the Sea in the best possible state for Navigation.... It is understood that the European Commission shall have completed its task . . . within the period of two years.
At the end of the two years, the powers that signed the treaty were to "pronounce the dissolution of the European Commission", and the so-called "permanent", upstream, IDC was then to extend its supervision to the Lower Danube. The latter commission was supposed to consist of Austria-Hungary
Austria-Hungary
Austria-Hungary , more formally known as the Kingdoms and Lands Represented in the Imperial Council and the Lands of the Holy Hungarian Crown of Saint Stephen, was a constitutional monarchic union between the crowns of the Austrian Empire and the Kingdom of Hungary in...
, Bavaria, the Sublime Porte (Turkey), Württemberg and the two Danubian principalities
Danubian Principalities
Danubian Principalities was a conventional name given to the Principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia, which emerged in the early 14th century. The term was coined in the Habsburg Monarchy after the Treaty of Küçük Kaynarca in order to designate an area on the lower Danube with a common...
(Moldavia and Wallachia). The IDC did draw up an Upper Danubian Navigation Act in November 1857, but it was not accepted multilaterally because of opposition of all the powers except Austria. It was, however, applied to parts of the river by conventions between Austria, Bavaria, and Württemberg. The river-bordering states, Krehbiel stressed in his 1918 article, "were eager to get control of the river into their own hands", but the non-riparian states were "loath to lose control." As a result, the CED was constantly strengthened, and the IDC never came into power, but "was presently abandoned."
The CED gradually extended its power until it became an international entity glimmering in what Blackburn called "the twilight of statehood." It expanded its functions until it was ranked s "the most successful" such agency until the League of Nations. At the start, though, it had no funds, "it had no basis for an opinion as to the best way to attack the river problem; it found river traffic paralyzed." At the end of the two years, Sir Charles Hartley, war comrade of Stokes, had been appointed chief engineer (a post he was to hold for forty-nine years) but large-draft vessels were unable to sail unimpeded up the meandering river
Meander
A meander in general is a bend in a sinuous watercourse. A meander is formed when the moving water in a stream erodes the outer banks and widens its valley. A stream of any volume may assume a meandering course, alternately eroding sediments from the outside of a bend and depositing them on the...
. These meager results led the powers to extend the life of the commission for another two years, over the objection of Austria.
Finance
Funds were borrowed from Turkey to pay for improvements, but they came irregularly. Sometimes the CED had to contract short-term, high-rate loans. By 1860, though, traffic had increased enough so the commission could fix a tariff and get a good amount of money. There was no opposition from the vessels, thanks to a provision in the Treaty of Paris that each of the powers had "the right to station, at all times, Two Light Vessels at the Mouths of the Danube." What resulted was the establishment of the CED as "an international financial agent with considerable independence . . . the novel prerogative was that it could go into the money market and contract loans."In 1866, the commission found itself in financial trouble because of the just-ended Austro-Prussian War
Austro-Prussian War
The Austro-Prussian War was a war fought in 1866 between the German Confederation under the leadership of the Austrian Empire and its German allies on one side and the Kingdom of Prussia with its German allies and Italy on the...
. But it secured money by issuing bonds, offering the river tolls as security. "To be sure, the rate of 10 per cent was high, but the significant fact is that the joint agent of the nations was developing a real identity and personality. Its venturesomeness was rewarded with complete solvency.
Public Act of 1865
On November 2, 1865, a public act signed by Austria, Britain, France, Italy, Prussia, Russia, and Turkey placed the CED, its officers, works and establishments "under the protection of international law" (Article I). Two annexes were appended — one on navigation regulations and the other on a tariff of "navigation dues to be levied at the mouth of the Danube." The new tariff, principally the work of John Stokes, established a Danubian rule or Danube rule of measurement.The unique provision of the 1865 act was that either of the two annexes could be changed by a majority vote of the commission but the changes would be automatically binding on the member nations, without need for additional consent. Duties of the officers were spelled out, neutrality of the buildings, records, and funds was ordered, and certain portions of Turkish territory were reserved for exclusive use of the CED. Its life was extended for another five years, but Russia protested that this "should be the outside limit not to be exceeded in any case."
London Conference of 1871
In 1871 at a conference in London, Russia agreed with Austria-Hungary, Britain, Germany, Italy, and Turkey to extend the commission's term for another twelve years, which coincided with the redemption period of a large loan floated in 1865. The conference also:- Rejected Britain's suggestion to extend the commission's jurisdiction farther up the river.
- Agreed to a "reassembling of the Riverain Commission" — but at no set time.
- Gave Austria the authority to set up a toll-collecting agency at the dangerous Iron Gates section to pay for improvements there.
- Extended the neutrality spelled out in the Treaty of 1865 to the staff of the CED, as well as the buildings and works.
Treaty of Berlin of 1878
In 1878, Romania, which had been an autonomous principality within the Ottoman EmpireOttoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
since 1861, was admitted to an expanded CED as a free country as a result of the Treaty of Berlin (1878). It replaced Turkey as the sovereign power on the delta and was given a seat on the CED. Turkey remained a member of the body.
Russia was the winner of the Russo-Turkish War, and she took over an old strip of Bessarabia detached from her in 1856. This placed Russia again on the banks of the Danube. The other Danubian arrangements were:
- The jurisdiction of the CED was extended from IsatchaIsacceaIsaccea is a small town in Tulcea County, in Dobruja, Romania, on the right bank of the Danube, 35 km north-west of Tulcea. According to the 2002 census, it has a population 5,374....
to GalatzGalatiGalați is a city and municipality in Romania, the capital of Galați County. Located in the historical region of Moldavia, in the close vicinity of Brăila, Galați is the largest port and sea port on the Danube River and the second largest Romanian port....
. - The powers agreed that regulations would be formulated for the upriver stretch from Galatz to the Iron Gates by a "mixed" European commission, "assisted by Delegates of the Riverain States, and placed in harmony with those which have been or may be issued for the portion of the river below Galatz." In the end, a new scheme was adopted for the IDC — Austria, Romania, Serbia, and Bulgaria would each have a representative on the IDC, and each of the members of the other commission, the CED, would serve alternating terms on the IDC for six months at a time. Austria would be chair, but with no tie-breaking vote.
Additional Public Act of 1881
In 1881, the interested countries gathered at Galatz to promulgate another treaty, or, as it was termed, a public act, that spelled out details of the CED's relations with Romania, which was striving for more authority. It was then that Russia withdrew her territory from the EDC's jurisdiction — the left bank of the Kilia, over which the CED had so far not exercised its right of control. Russia's action was a last-minute affair, done through a reservation to the treaty.Treaty of London of 1883
In 1883, Austria, Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Russia, and Turkey were represented at another conference, this time in London. A majority decided to admit Romania and Serbia in a consultative capacity only and that Bulgaria could be represented only through Turkey, the nominal suzerain. Serbia accepted, but Romania and Bulgaria protested, taking no part in the conference.After a month of discussion, the delegates decided to:
- Extend the jurisdiction of the CED from Galatz some twenty miles upstream to Ibraila [nowadays known as BrăilaBrailaBrăila is a city in Muntenia, eastern Romania, a port on the Danube and the capital of Brăila County, in the close vicinity of Galaţi.According to the 2002 Romanian census there were 216,292 people living within the city of Brăila, making it the 10th most populous city in Romania.-History:A...
]. - Authorize the establishment of the reorganized "mixed" commission (the IDC), with the hope that Romania and Bulgaria would agree.
- Prolong the term of the CED for twenty-one years, after which it would continue for three-year periods, unless changes were proposed by one of the major powers.
- Accede to Russia's request regarding the Kilia — that is, allow that country and Romania joint control over the branch, provided the CED reviewed any plans for improvement.
Detailed and liberal rules drawn up in this convention for the Danube between Ibraila upstream to the Iron Gate were never applied. Romania did not agree, "and the stretch of the Danube was administered by each riparian state, with due regard, however, to the principle of free navigation."
As conditions in the delta improved, shipping increased and more funds were received by the CED. Conditions improved: There were 111 shipwrecks of seagoing vessels between 1861 and 1881, but only five wrecks between 1909 and 1929
World War I
The European Commission of the Danube, the CED, continued functioning during at least the first two years of the war. For a long time the Allied and enemy delegates actually sat on it together. When Germany attacked Romania in 1916, the Central PowersCentral Powers
The Central Powers were one of the two warring factions in World War I , composed of the German Empire, the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Ottoman Empire, and the Kingdom of Bulgaria...
(Germany, Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria, and Turkey) kept the commission in operation for a short time — but without the British and the French.
Indeed, the Germans attempted to legalize a commission that would have perpetually excluded the Allied powers. on May 7, 1918, they concluded a separate peace with the Romanians, changing the EDC into a Commission of the Mouth of the Danube; its competence was maintained, but membership was restricted only to Danubian or Black Sea
Black Sea
The Black Sea is bounded by Europe, Anatolia and the Caucasus and is ultimately connected to the Atlantic Ocean via the Mediterranean and the Aegean seas and various straits. The Bosphorus strait connects it to the Sea of Marmara, and the strait of the Dardanelles connects that sea to the Aegean...
countries; above Braila control was "to be in the hands of the countries bordering the river", that is, Romania, Bulgarian, Serbia, Austria, and Germany. Germany, Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria, Turkey, and Rumania obtained the right to keep warships on the river; this led, as a reaction, to internationalization of the river between Ulm and the Black Sea after the war. The same stipulations were included in the peace treaty
Peace treaty
A peace treaty is an agreement between two or more hostile parties, usually countries or governments, that formally ends a state of war between the parties...
between Germany and Russia in 1918.
These treaties were negated upon Allied victory. In November 1918 the victors established a Commandement de la Navigation du Danube, with Sir Ernest Troubridge
Ernest Troubridge
Admiral Sir Ernest Charles Thomas Troubridge KCMG, MVO was an officer of the Royal Navy who served during the First World War, later rising to the rank of admiral....
as commander. The Allies' Supreme Committee decided on May 22, 1919, that "despite the existing uncertainty concerning the frontiers and the ownership of the floating material, normal conditions of traffic on the Danube should be established as soon as possible." An Inter-Allied Danube Commission was formed under Troubridge. Later in the year, non-enemy states were admitted in equality with the great power
Great power
A great power is a nation or state that has the ability to exert its influence on a global scale. Great powers characteristically possess military and economic strength and diplomatic and cultural influence which may cause small powers to consider the opinions of great powers before taking actions...
s; the group met with some success in reopening the river, despite the difficulties.
Peace treaties imposed by the Allies set up new regulations for the river: The old European Commission resumed its power over the mouths of the river, but its membership was "temporarily" limited to Britain, France, Italy, and Romania (excluding, then, Russia and Turkey). In addition, an International Commission was thenceforth to regulate traffic on the Upper Danube from Ulm to Braila. A general conference was planned for the future.
Reorganizing
The conference convened in Paris in September 1920 to draw up a definitive statute for the river. Represented were Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, France, Germany, Great Britain, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Romania, and Yugoslavia, Absent from a full-dress Danubian conference for the first time were Russia, then in the first years of rule by the Bolsheviks, and Turkey. It took six months, but on July 23, 1921, the basic convention was signed. It followed to a large extent the temporary framework built just after the war. The European Commission of the Danube was re-established, and all the old treaties and regulations were confirmed.The International Danube Commission (upriver) was finally given a permanent status, made a subject of international law like the EDC, and provided with regulations that gave it life. It, however, had no law courts
Court
A court is a form of tribunal, often a governmental institution, with the authority to adjudicate legal disputes between parties and carry out the administration of justice in civil, criminal, and administrative matters in accordance with the rule of law...
of its own; it was obliged to surrender transgressors to the territorial authorities for trial and punishment. Members included all the riparian states, as well as Great Britain, France, Italy, and Romania.
Otto Popper of Bratislava, secretary of the IDC in 1920-29, said this about the statute when viewing it twenty years later:
Unfortunately this fundamental document was drafted during a period when much of the original spirit of [President Woodrow] Wilson's Fourteen PointsFourteen PointsThe Fourteen Points was a speech given by United States President Woodrow Wilson to a joint session of Congress on January 8, 1918. The address was intended to assure the country that the Great War was being fought for a moral cause and for postwar peace in Europe...
was beginning to fade. As it stands the Statute is a somewhat unsatisfactory compromise between broad conceptions and narrow-mindedness. Its text gave rise to varying interpretations[,] and some of its important stipulations were therefore not applied, as had been hoped, in the best interests of the river and of its navigation.
John C. Campbell, Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe is the eastern part of Europe. The term has widely disparate geopolitical, geographical, cultural and socioeconomic readings, which makes it highly context-dependent and even volatile, and there are "almost as many definitions of Eastern Europe as there are scholars of the region"...
an specialist with the U.S. State Department, wrote in 1949 that just as the Paris conference in 1856, had strived to block "Russian domination" in Southeastern Europe after the Crimean War, so the 1921 convention "stood for an effort to block the resurgence of German or Russian power."
Reconstruction
The European Commission, again ensconced in its quarters at Galatz, found things very bad indeed at the mouths of the Danube after the war. Silt had choked the channel again, and it seemed as though attempts to improve the situation was continually going awry.Economic affairs along the entire river were so bad that the League of Nations instituted in 1922 an inquiry by a special committee, headed by an American, Walker D. Hines (Wilson's wartime chief of railroads). His report was issued in August 1925, stating that the river fleet carried 25 percent more tonnage than before the war, but traffic was only 56 percent of normal. This reduction was largely due to an economic depression but also by the breakup of Austria-Hungary's large duty-free
Duty (economics)
In economics, a duty is a kind of tax, often associated with customs, a payment due to the revenue of a state, levied by force of law. It is a tax on certain items purchased abroad...
area. Hines scored the "petty attitudes" of the multitude of free governments and complained of the frontier formalities and the exclusion of non-nationals from international trade
International trade
International trade is the exchange of capital, goods, and services across international borders or territories. In most countries, such trade represents a significant share of gross domestic product...
. Despite the existence of the EDC and the IDC, the situation had "changed but little since the end of the war."
This report led the Commercial and Financial Chronicle of New York City to suggest, in particular, the reduction of "dues which it [the EDC] has imposed." British interests since 1918 had turned the Danube into a virtual European Thames. Before the war, reported Clair Price of the New York Times,
the Danube was in the hands of riverain [river-bordering] groups, but since then Furness, Withy and Co.Furness WithyFurness Withy was a major British transport business. It was listed on the London Stock Exchange.-History:The Company was founded by Christopher Furness and Henry Withy in 1891 in Hartlepool. This was achieved by the amalgamation of the Furness Line of steamers with the business of Edward Withy and...
, large United Kingdom shipholders, have obtained a virtual monopoly. . . . It operates a steamer service from British ports to the Levant [Eastern Mediterranean], the Black Sea and to Sulina, Galatz and Braila, where British tonnage has long been preponderant.
The company had obtained this monopoly by refinancing the war-stricken prewar firms, most of which were owned by Austrian or Hungarian interests (the losers in the war). A holding company
Holding company
A holding company is a company or firm that owns other companies' outstanding stock. It usually refers to a company which does not produce goods or services itself; rather, its purpose is to own shares of other companies. Holding companies allow the reduction of risk for the owners and can allow...
, the Danube Navigation Co., was organized, and astute financial maneuvering gave to Furness, Withy "the practical control of the traffic of the navigable length of the Danube."
Romania's struggle for control
Carol I of Romania
Carol I , born Prince Karl of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen was reigning prince and then King of Romania from 1866 to 1914. He was elected prince of Romania on 20 April 1866 following the overthrow of Alexandru Ioan Cuza by a palace coup...
said he would insist on the mouths being "exclusively controlled by Rumanian officials." This statement led to a break with Austria-Hungary, and Carol was forced late in the year to dispatch a message of " 'deep regret' for the offense that had been given to Austria."
The country renewed its demands in 1919 at the Paris Peace Conference and in 1921 at the Danube conference. On both instances, it was overruled. Romania changed tactics, but not motives, at the Conference of Lausanne
Conference of Lausanne
The Conference of Lausanne was a conference held in Lausanne, Switzerland during 1922 and 1923. Its purpose was the negotiation of a treaty to replace the Treaty of Sèvres, which, under the new government of Kemal Pasha, was no longer recognised by Turkey....
in 1923, when affairs of the Middle East
Middle East
The Middle East is a region that encompasses Western Asia and Northern Africa. It is often used as a synonym for Near East, in opposition to Far East...
were discussed. On this occasion, Romania suggested that the powers of the CED should be expanded; it would also be given control over the Bosporus and the Dardanelles
Dardanelles
The Dardanelles , formerly known as the Hellespont, is a narrow strait in northwestern Turkey connecting the Aegean Sea to the Sea of Marmara. It is one of the Turkish Straits, along with its counterpart the Bosphorus. It is located at approximately...
.
Of course the acceptance of this proposal would have meant the end of effective control of the Danube, for the Commission, far from the mouths of the Danube and charged with new tasks, would have hardly been able to fulfill its primary tasks, and the actual control of the Lower Danube would have devolved upon Rumania.wrote Joseph D. Somogyi in 1948.
In 1924, Romania suggested that the activities of the commission be limited; that country would be charged with trial and punishment of shipping violators, similar to the method used by the newer, upriver International Danube Commission. This suggestion also was rejected by the other powers. Balked internationally, the Romanian government began an internal propaganda campaign in 1926 to nationalize the Sulina channel, even without the concurrence of the other nations. Spokesmen claimed the CED had failed to keep the channel clear, resulting in a situation where only empty boats could cross it; the commission replied that the silt had piled up during the war when Romania had full control.
Meanwhile, Romania resorted to a lawsuit to assert its jurisdiction over an upriver stretch. It noted that the jurisdiction of the CED had been extended up the river from Galatz to Ibraila by the Treaty of London of 1883, in the framing and signing of which Romania had not participated. In 1921 two vessels collided in the disputed sector, and the CED's inspector assumed police and jurisdictional powers over Romania's protest. The case was taken to the League of Nations, which in 1926 sent the matter to the Permanent Court of International Justice
Permanent Court of International Justice
The Permanent Court of International Justice, often called the World Court, was an international court attached to the League of Nations. Created in 1922 , the Court was initially met with a good reaction from states and academics alike, with many cases submitted to it for its first decade of...
at the request of Britain, France, Italy, and Romania. The latter country lost on all counts. The court decided the CED's powers "extend over the whole of the maritime Danube."
End of the prewar commissions
See main articles Nazi rule over the Danube River (1938–1945)Nazi rule over the Danube River
Nazi rule over the Danube River was brought about by force of arms, through annexation of Austria, invasion of Yugoslavia and of the Soviet Union and treaties with the Kingdom of Romania and Hungary, but a legal cover was provided through moves that resulted in a new international order on the...
and Danube Commission (after 1945)
In 1938, a committee of experts inspected the Sulina and found it was almost impassable by that time. And in August of that same year, the regime of the two commissions was swept away by rise of German power on the river. A series of treaties put control in the hands of the Germans, who maintained it until the Nazi retreat in 1944 and ultimate defeat in 1945. In 1948 a Danube river conference was held, and a new treaty was adopted, putting governance of the river under commissions composed only of the riparian powers, ending more than four decades of Western Europe
Western Europe
Western Europe is a loose term for the collection of countries in the western most region of the European continents, though this definition is context-dependent and carries cultural and political connotations. One definition describes Western Europe as a geographic entity—the region lying in the...
an presence in the control of the important waterway.
See also
A series of articles on this subject in chronological order- Internationalization of the Danube RiverInternationalization of the Danube RiverThe Danube River has been a trade waterway for centuries, but with the rise of international borders and the jealousies of national states, commerce and shipping has often been hampered for narrow reasons. In addition, natural features of the river, most notably the sanding of the delta, has often...
, for events from earliest times to the Treaty of Paris in 1856 - Nazi rule over the Danube RiverNazi rule over the Danube RiverNazi rule over the Danube River was brought about by force of arms, through annexation of Austria, invasion of Yugoslavia and of the Soviet Union and treaties with the Kingdom of Romania and Hungary, but a legal cover was provided through moves that resulted in a new international order on the...
, for events during World War II - Danube River Conference of 1948Danube River Conference of 1948The Danube River Conference of 1948 was held in Belgrade, Yugoslavia, to develop a new international regime for the development and control of the Danube in the wake of World War II...
- Danube CommissionDanube CommissionThe Danube Commission is concerned with the maintenance and improvement of navigation conditions of the Danube River, from its source in Germany to its outlets in Romania and Ukraine, leading to the Black Sea. It was established in 1948 by seven countries bordering the river, replacing previous...
, for events since 1948 - International Commission for the Protection of the Danube RiverInternational Commission for the Protection of the Danube RiverThe International Commission for the Protection of the Danube River is an international organisation with its permanent secretariat in Vienna. It was established by the Danube River Protection Convention, signed by the Danube countries in Sofia, Bulgaria, in 1994.The commission became active in 1998...
, for the organization established in 1998 and charged with environmental and ecological activities
Further reading
- "Jurisdiction of the European Commission of the Danube between Galatz and Braila, Advisory Opinion of 8 December 1927", Permanent Court of International Justice. Includes a history of international regulation on the Danube.
External links
- Sir John Stokes, "The Danube Commission." Includes a map of the Danube basin.
- Summary history of the Danube River commissions, 1856–1948, by Edgar Martin. Includes a photograph of a Danube River Commission medal dated 1931.