Paper short abstract:

My paper explores Japan's participation in the European border delimitation process after the Paris peace conference of 1919 through its involvement in the work of the Hungary-Yugoslav Border Delimitation Commission (BDC) established by the Trianon Treaty of 1920.

Paper long abstract:

The disintegration of European empires and a recalibration of the balance of power in Europe after the end of World War I was followed by one of the most extensive remakes of the European political map in modern history. This article argues that Japan as one of the major Allied powers cooperated in the process of redrawing the new political map of Europe.

During the past decades, Japanese scholars have been rediscovering World War I as a major formative event that crucially redefined Japan's international identity in the last century. In this regard research on Japanese diplomacy during World War I represents an important area that has been promoting a moderate and proactive image of Japan's role in the international community.

In the present article, I will argue that Japan has been actively involved in the solution of territorial issues linked with the establishment of new European states after the Paris peace conference of 1919. In the post-Versailles period, for example, after the conclusion of the peace treaties, Japanese diplomatic and military officers took part in the work of border commissions which were set up to trace the new borders of Europe. In this sense, it is possible to argue that Japan participated in the process of redrawing the new political map of Europe. I believe this is highly significant. To illustrate my argument, I will present the case of the Yugoslav-Hungarian border as it was set by the Trianon Treaty of 1920. The case will be presented through the primary sources found in the Japanese archives.