Redrawal of National Boundaries

Have you ever wondered how the national boundaries were redrawn across the globe? What could have been the major events that resulted in such a redraw? Read further to know more.

Typically, borders are referred to as physical boundaries that are imposed by physical characteristics like oceans and topography or by political institutions like governments, sovereign states, federated states, and other subnational entities.

Warfare, colonialism, or mutual agreements between the political entities that occupy those territories are all ways that political borders can be constructed; the process of establishing such agreements is known as boundary delimitation.

Redrawal of National Boundaries

The Thirty Years’ War, one of the deadliest battles in European history, was put to an end by the Treaty of Westphalia, 1648, a peace agreement.

After this Treaty of Westphalia, the idea of national boundaries was born in Europe. The treaty resulted in the Swiss independence from Austria, the Netherlands’ independence from Spain, the German principalities protected their autonomy and several other states also emerged.

Up to the time of Napoleon, Europe was largely at peace. However, The French (and its allies) under Napoleon Bonaparte fought a series of wars against a confederation of European governments during the Napoleonic Wars.

Thus, to bring about peace and reorganize Europe, the Congress of Vienna (1814–1815) took place.

The Congress of Vienna (1814-15)

The goal of the Vienna Congress was to redistribute the map of Europe, which had previously been defaced by Napoleon’s indiscriminate conquest.

Major decisions:

1. The German confederacy of 39 states was not disturbed.
2. The Netherlands included Belgium and Genoa was given to Piedmont.
3. Northern parts of Italy were placed under the control of Austria.
4. Russia gained control over Poland and Saxony came under Prussia.

As a result, except for one or two revisions, the political boundaries established by the Congress of Vienna persisted till World War I.

It resulted in the growth of nation-states, which led to both the dissolution of empires and the emergence of new nations or nation-states.

Major events before the First World War

The battle for national independence and unification was a defining characteristic of 19th-century Europe. This century saw the independence of Greece and Belgium as well as the rise of Germany and Italy as united independent states.

Unification of Italy

• For many centuries, the Italian peninsula was a politically fragmented conglomeration of states. For instance, In 1792, when a conflict erupted between Austria and the Revolutionary French Government, the French invaded the Italian peninsula, unified many of the Italian states, and turned them into republics.
• After Napoleon’s rise to power, the Italian peninsula was once again conquered by the French.
• The period of French invasion and occupation was important in many ways such as revolutionary ideas about government and society, the ideals of freedom and equality, etc.
• With the downfall of Napoleon in 1814 and the redistribution of territory by the Congress of Vienna (1814-15), most of the Italian states were reconstituted.
• However, the Italian peninsula remained fragmented through the mid-1800s, and the concept of a united Italy began to take root. Secret societies were formed to oppose the conservative regimes in Italian states.
• One such society(Carbonaris) was the group Young Italy, founded in 1831 by Guiseppe Mazzini.
• He was a fervent supporter of the idea that Italy must be united through the desires and deeds of its people. Thus, by the middle of the twentieth century, the campaign for Italian unity, also known as the Risorgimento (resurgence), had become popular.
• His plan for creating a free, independent, republican and united country with Rome as its capital was developed while he was imprisoned.
• Mazzini used secret propaganda to awaken the people from their lethargy and motivate them to engage in a war for independence and unity. That is why he is referred to as the “Heart” of unification.
• The revolutions of 1848 ignited nationalist sentiment throughout the Italian peninsula mostly by the professional classes (such as doctors, lawyers, and shopkeepers) as well as students.
• Although these Italian uprisings were unsuccessful, the idea of the Risorgimento continued to gain adherents after 1848.
• The final push for Italian unification came in 1859, led by the Kingdom of Piedmont (especially by Piedmont’s Prime Minister, Count Camillo di Cavour).
• For unification, he tried with the help of military, diplomacy, and international cooperation.
• He is known as the ‘Brain’ and ‘Hand’ of unification.
• The northern Italian states held elections in 1859 and 1860 and voted to join the Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia, a major step towards unification.
• Giuseppe Garibaldi, a native of Piedmont-Sardinia, was instrumental in bringing the southern Italian states into the unification process.
• He was a nationalist and a republican.
• He committed himself after hearing praise from his people that he would free and unite Italy before he passed away.
• He served as Italy’s “Sword” in the process of unification.
• In 1866, Italy joined Prussia in a campaign against Austria (the 1866 Austro-Prussian War) and thus won Venetia.

The Italian army reached Rome during the Franco-Prussian War (1870–1871). Rome and the Papal States were united with Italy that year, and the Risorgimento was finished. The Italian capital shifted from Florence to Rome in the summer of 1871.

Unification of Germany

• Before the German unification of 1871, the German states existed as a loose confederation that had limited economic and political cooperation. Germany was split into 39 tiny states by the Vienna Congress.
• Otto von Bismarck, Prussia’s prime minister, played a clever game of combining diplomacy and war to bring the German states together under its rule by the middle of the 1800s when Prussia had grown to be the more powerful of the two.
• The 1860s saw a string of wars that culminated in the Prussian defeat of France in 1871, leading to the unification of Germany in 1871 under Prussian rule.
• Bismarck’s Iron and Blood policy’s objective was to bring down the German Confederation to unite Germany under the Prussian Monarchy.
• Bismarck’s Prussia first fought a war in 1864 in alliance with Austria against Denmark, annexing most of the territory of the German Confederation.
• Prussia gave Austria a humiliating loss at the Battle of Sadowa (1886), also referred to as the “Battle of Six Weeks.”
• Bismarck established the North German Confederation in 1867. It brought together 22 German states but left aside independent Southern German states like Bavaria.
• Although the Southern states had a pro-Austrian stance, they were compelled to come together after Germany’s victory in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870(Prussia defeated France in the Battle of Sedan in 1870).
• The Franco-Prussian War of 1870 was the catalyst for Germany’s complete unification.

Ist Balkan War (1912)

• In the First Balkan War (1912), the Balkan League (Montenegro, Serbia, Greece, and Bulgaria) attacked Turkey and seized the majority of the European possessions of the Ottoman Empire.
• The land of the Ottoman Empire in Europe was split among the Balkan States as part of the peace agreement.

IInd Balkan War(1913)

• Greece, Romania, Turkey, and Serbia engaged in this conflict with Bulgaria. All the territory Bulgaria had captured during the First Balkan War was lost to it after the war.
• Hence, Germany and Italy’s birth changed the political landscape of Europe and eventually sparked the most significant global catastrophe in human history, World War I.

World War I and National Boundaries

• The Treaty of Frankfurt (1871) caused France and Germany to be in hostilities constantly. Therefore, German Chancellor Bismarck made an effort to exclude France from European politics as a preventative step.
• This resulted in the establishment of both allies and adversaries. Consequently, up until the early 20th century a diplomatic revolution already took place in Europe.

Europe in 1914

The First World War was a global conflict in true nature because the battle was fought not just in trenches of the western front but in Africa, the Middle-east and Asia. World war changed the map of the world in general and Europe in particular to a certain extent.

How WWI changed the map

• Austro-Hungarian, Russian, and Ottoman empires that had endured for centuries eventually disintegrated after four years of bloodshed, more than 16 million killed soldiers and citizens, and several new states arose.
• Alsace-Lorraine went to France, and Eupen-Malmédy went to Belgium. Silesia and Northern Schleswig were given to Poland and Denmark, respectively, as a result of plebiscites.
• Poland was reconstituted in the East(created from lands lost from Austria, Russia, and Germany); Ukraine, the Baltic republics of Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia were established.
• Trieste was acquired by Italy.
• The Austro-Hungarian Empire, this vast zone to the southern part of Europe, split into separate entities based on nationality: Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia were created; Galicia went to Poland; Transylvania went to Romania.
• Sykes-Picot Agreement – After World War I, Britain and France secretly agreed to build “spheres of influence” that would eventually give rise to modern Western Asia. The major goals of the agreement were to divide the Ottoman Empire’s territories between England and France and to protect each country’s colonial interests.
• One of the 14 points Woodrow Wilson was self-government for the non-Turkish people of the Ottoman empire and the permanent opening of Dardanelles.
• Treaty of Versailles-
• Alsace-Lorraine was transferred to France, costing Germany territory in Europe.
• The nations of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania became independent. Poland, Lithuania, Belgium, Denmark, and other countries received portions of German territory.
• Despite Austria’s sizable German population, union with Germany was forbidden.
• With the signing of the Treaties of St. Germain (1919) and Trianon (1920) with Austria and Hungary, respectively, Austria and Hungary were reduced in size in contrast to the size of the Habsburg empire.
• The Treaty of Sevres (1920) with Turkey, was signed.
• Significant land was lost to Greece, including Eastern Thrace and Smyrna.
• The colonies of the Ottoman Empire were changed into mandates and given to Britain and France. France got Syria, while British mandates included Palestine, Iraq, and Transjordan.

World War II and Redrawal of National Boundaries

The following were the events post World War II.

Interwar period

• The old international order was destroyed after World War I, and a new one was established when Europe had been reorganized. The Great War left its economic and social effects on the European countries that had participated in it.
• The League of Nations was an attempt to end the pattern of conventional power politics and bring about an open and cooperative platform for discussing international relations in the interest of peace and stability. The League of Nations, however, was a fruitless effort.
• The extreme nature of these fundamentally opposed ideas transformed European politics into a scene for violent confrontation. When Adolf Hitler’s authoritarian Nazi Party took control of Germany in the 1930s, it once again prepared to wage war on Europe.

The road to World War II was clear since both Britain and France were preoccupied with internal issues.

Europe after World War II

The expansionist policies of Hitler and Mussolini were one of the primary causes of World War II. The war caused the redrawing of country borders, especially in Europe.

• After the devastation caused by the war, the nations that fought in them placed a high priority on domestically reorganizing.
• The border of Poland changed completely and a decision was taken at the Potsdam Conference held in 1945.
• The Prussian Kingdom fell apart. It was absorbed into Germany. Later Germany was split into two parts: East Germany and West Germany. The Soviet Union was in charge of East Germany. It was transformed into a communist nation. A republic existed in West Germany also known as the Non-Communist West.
• The Baltic nations and portions of Czechoslovakia and Romania were seized by Russia.

Major Events after WWII

The following were the other major events:

United Nations

• To replace the unsuccessful League of Nations, the United Nations Organization was established in the USA in 1945. The United Nations Organization’s mission was to uphold world peace, promote international harmony, and foster international collaboration.
• The UN mandate is to respect and secure the sovereignty of nations.
• The Trusteeship Council, one of the main organs of the UN, was established to supervise the administration of trust territories as they transitioned from colonies to sovereign nations.
• In several boundary-related wars, including those in the Middle East, the Middle East and the Korean War, the UN has stepped in.

The era of the Cold War (1945-1990)

• Together, the Soviet Union, the UK, and the USA battled against Fascist aggression during World War II, and this display of power was what led to the victory of the Allied troops. However, tensions between these two parties started to grow after the war.
• Even though there was no overt aggression, the Cold War was triggered by the policies employed.

Decolonization and boundary resettlement

• Decolonization aims to give Indigenous people “cultural, psychological, and economic freedom” to realize Indigenous sovereignty, which is the right and capacity of Indigenous people to exercise self-determination over their lands, cultures, and political, and economic systems.
• Decolonization entails either nonviolent revolution or national liberation battles conducted by pro-independence groups.

What led to decolonization?

• It was declared in the Atlantic Charter (1941) that people should have the right to choose their government.
• The United Nations has defined the fundamental right to self-determination as central to decolonization.
• The colonial powers suffered a significant hit as a result of World War II, losing their former prominence. The Netherlands, Belgium, and France, for example, had been defeated and conquered, while the United Kingdom had been severely depleted.
• The rise of two anti-colonialist superpowers, the United States and the Soviet Union, as well as the changing international climate following 1945, encouraged the colonies to seek independence.
• Lack of resources- Following World War II, several governments had a financial crisis, ran out of financial resources, and experienced poor management, making it impossible for them to maintain colonies.
• Independence movements- Many independence movements began in colonial states.
• Impact of newly decolonized countries – Many states were inspired by neighbouring countries to decolonize, and they were mutually supportive.
• Establishment of Non-Aligned Movement (NAM)

The emergence of New Nations

Between 1945 and 1960, three dozen new states in Asia and Africa achieved autonomy or outright independence from their European colonial rulers. There was no one process of decolonization.

In some areas, it was peaceful and orderly. In many others, independence was achieved only after a protracted revolution.

Asia

Asia’s decolonization was a gradual process, with various areas of Asia decolonized during 50 years between 1945 and 1997.

Despite the emergence of new nations, boundary disputes remain in Asia, especially in the West Asian region.

Middle east

• Since the 14th century AD, the Ottoman Empire has ruled over the majority of Western Asia. The empire had a multi-racial, religious, and culturally diverse populace.
• It was difficult to rule such a large number of people without incident, but the Ottomans created an effective administrative structure that rewarded the meritorious and loyal, guaranteeing regional peace.
• However, this position changed following the end of World War I in the early twentieth century.
• The Sykes-Picot Agreement was an unofficial pact signed in 1916 by the United Kingdom and France, with approval from the Russian Empire and Italy, to outline mutually agreed-upon zones of influence and governance in the event of the Ottoman Empire’s split.
• The British- and French-controlled countries were divided by the Sykes-Picot line. The agreement allocated to Britain control of what is today southern Israel and Palestine, Jordan and southern Iraq, and an additional small area that included the ports of Haifa and Acre to allow access to the Mediterranean.

Israel -Palestine conflict

• The Balfour Declaration was a public statement issued by the British government in 1917 during the First World War announcing support for the establishment of a “national home for the Jewish people” in Palestine.
• According to a history written by the University of Central Arkansas, over 60,000 Jews departed in 1935 and approximately 75,000 Jews went to Palestine between 1922 and 1926.
• It also states that Palestinian Arabs urged the UK to stop Jewish emigration, but that the UK disregarded their requests. There were violent episodes that resulted in 500 fatalities.
• In 1936, the UK government recommended the partition of Palestine into Jewish and Arab states.
• The UN developed a partition plan after receiving a referral from Britain over Palestine in 1947.
• Israeli independence was proclaimed in May 1948.
• Egypt, Lebanon, Syria, and Syria were the first Arab nations to invade the newly constituted nation.
• After the conflict, Israel reclaimed some of the territories that had been given to Palestinian Arabs by the 1947 UN decision.
• The two-state solution refers to an arrangement where Israeli and Palestinian states co-exist in the region.
• However, such a solution has not materialized over the decades.

Africa

• Africa was decolonized between the mid-to-late 1950s and 1975. The changes that occurred during the process were abrupt and radical, as the colonies forged their way toward independence, which was sometimes marred by political violence.
• The Second World War, like Asian decolonization, was a critical component in the independence of African states.

Scramble of Africa:

The Colonization of Africa: During the 19th-20th century, the African continent was colonized mainly by European powers like Britain, France, Spain, Portugal, and Russia.

Colonialism reached its logical conclusion with the rise of new industrial powers in Europe – Germany, and Italy. This led to a competition for accruing larger and larger empires that meant more power and prestige to these countries.

This was most pronounced in the tragic event of Scramble for Africa.

• This happened during the period of New Imperialism (1881-1914). The increasing rivalry between European powers – Britain, France, Germany, etc – meant that they needed more and more markets and sources for cheap raw materials.
• The starting point of the Scramble for Africa was the Berlin Conference in 1884. The conference regulated European colonization and trade in Africa.
• The settlement was reached at the Berlin Conference of 1884. In 1870, less than 10% of African territory was under European control. By 1914, it had increased to almost 90%! This is known as the scramble of Africa.

Decolonization of Africa

• Nationalist movements – Through the effects of westernization and opening up, colonies acquired enlightened leadership and many developed strong nationalist movements.
• Most colonies were extensive police states. Massive unrest made them simply unviable.
• Second World War
• A feeling of brotherhood was growing within the indigenous people of Africa. This meant a pooling of resources and external support in the struggle for independence. As more and more countries attained freedom, the entire process was hastened.
• The USA and USSR actively pressured colonial powers. Eg: President Truman of the US pressured the British government to make India independent.

Other Important Events

The following are some other important events:

The Korean war

The Soviet Union and the United States decided to temporarily split Korea at the 38th parallel of latitude north of the equator after the country was freed from Japanese rule at the end of World War II.

The upshot of this divide was the creation of two nations: South Korea (supported by the United States) and communist North Korea, which was backed by the Soviet Union.

• Kim Il Sung, the communist ruler of North Korea, decided to try to reunite Korea under his rule five years after the country was divided. Kim led a surprise invasion of South Korea on June 25, 1950.
• In 1950, At the head of a United Nations force made up of more than a dozen nations, the United States assisted South Korea.
• In November 1950, Communist China sided with North Korea in the conflict, launching a large Chinese military attack against American forces. Additionally, the Soviet Union secretly backed North Korea.
• The border between North and South Korea(38 parallel) was nearly where it had been at the start of the war when the three years of warfare came to an end in a standoff.
• The United States demonstrated its continued commitment to containment during this first heated conflict of the Cold War (the idea that the US would ultimately defeat communism by containing its spread).

The Truman Doctrine, which pledged support for the “free peoples of the world” who sought to prevent communist aggression, was put into action in Korea by the United States.

The United States and its allies did succeed in stopping communism from taking over South Korea, even if the war came to a conclusion where it started.

The Vietnam war

• When World War II first broke out, Japan threatened to invade Indochina (an Area comprised of the presence of Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia). By 1938, France and Japan had both organized their armies to seize control of the area. When World War II started, the Japanese took control of the nation. Political leader Ho Chi Minh founded the Viet Minh to push out both the Japanese occupiers and the French colonial authorities.
• The communism of the Soviet Union and China, however, had a significant impact on the Viet Minh.
• Emperor Bao Dai was left in charge of the government after the Japanese were defeated in 1945, but his position was not particularly strong. Taking advantage of the situation, the Viet Minh revolted, took over North Vietnam, and established the Democratic Republic of Vietnam, which is centred in Hanoi.
• . Both Bao and Ho Chi Minh, who were currently in power in North Vietnam, favoured the unification of Vietnam but with a different approach. Ho desired a communist state, whereas Bao wanted better ties with the Western capitalist powers.
• A treaty dividing Vietnam in two was signed in July 1954 during a conference in Geneva. Ho maintained sway over the North, and Bao held the South. But in the meantime, the anti-communist politician Ngo Dinh Diem toppled Bao’s government to become the President of South Vietnam.
• A prolonged military fight between free-market democracy and international communism, the Vietnam War began as an anti-colonial conflict against the French and developed into one throughout the Cold War.
• The Soviet Union, China, and other communist nations backed the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV) in the north, while the Republic of Vietnam (ROV) in the south was backed by the United States and its anticommunist allies.
• The conflict was intensified by the ongoing Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union. More than 3 million people (including over 58,000 Americans) were killed in the Vietnam War, and more than half of the dead were Vietnamese civilians.
• The more conventionally trained army of South Vietnam was no match for the guerrilla tactics of the North, so in February 1965 America decided to get involved with Operation Rolling Thunder.
• Agent Orange, a potent herbicide, was used by US military forces during the Vietnam War to clear crops and forest cover out of the way of North Vietnamese and Viet Cong troops.(During the tenure of US President Lyndon Johnson)
• The North Vietnamese army unexpectedly attacked US forces in the South in 1968. The American public was shocked by the attack’s sudden severity.
• Nixon(Who won the election after defeating Johnson) started a slow withdrawal of US forces to calm public opposition to the Vietnam War, but he kept up the bombing campaigns started by his predecessor.
• In January 1973, North Vietnam and the United States reached their final peace accord. Ho Chi Minh City replaced the name Saigon.

Political and economic changes in the communist nation started in 1986, assisting Vietnam’s slow but steady integration into the world economy. It joined the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 2007.

The Vietnam War had an ongoing impact on US foreign policy. In a clear attempt to reestablish some kind of control over the formulation of foreign policy and to place limits on presidential power, Congress approved the War Powers Act in 1973.

The idea of foreign intervention was opposed by the American public for well over ten years. The “Vietnam syndrome” was the term used for this.

1971 War and rise of Bangladesh

The south-central Asian nation of Bangladesh, officially the People’s Republic of Bangladesh with  Dhaka as the Capital. Bengalis make up the large majority of the population.

• East Bengal became a part of Pakistan known as East Pakistan after the British left the subcontinent in 1947.
• After Pakistan became an independent nation, Bengali nationalism grew.
• In 1948, Jinnah declared that Urdu would be the official language and the people of East Pakistan who were bangle speaking, will have to comply. This led to widespread protests in East Pakistan.
• The language movement was led by Sheikh Mujibur Rehman, who joined the Awami League party.
• The 1954 provincial elections saw a landslide victory of Mujibur Rehman’s Awami League over the Muslim league. However, west Pakistan was not willing to let a leader from its eastern provincial wing rule the country.
• Their six demands of Sheikh Mujibur Rehman for more autonomy were: a federal state; all subjects, excluding defence and foreign affairs; independent fiscal and monetary policies; taxing powers; commerce and foreign exchange reserves; and separate navies and armed forces.
• The 1970 election again saw a sweeping victory by the Awami League, but Zulfikar Bhutto-led PPP who won in West Pakistan refused to acknowledge Mujibur Rahman’s win
• Violence broke out in 1971, killing about a million Bengalis and forcing millions more to flee to India.
• On 25th March 1971 (Operation Searchlight), the Pakistan army struck at the Bengali independence movement at night.
• Mujibur Rahman was arrested and flown to West Pakistan, and many Bengali students and intellectuals were fired upon and arrested at Dhaka University.
• The Bengali armed resistance Mukhti Bahini arose against the Pakistan army and the Indian forces helped them with arms and training.
• On 16 December, Pakistan surrendered to India, and 93000 soldiers of Pakistan laid down their arms in Bangladesh.
• Mujirbur Rahman was released from prison in January and went on to become the first Prime Minister of Bangladesh.

The Shimla Agreement was signed between India and Pakistan on 2nd July 1972- The LoC was recognized, and India gave occupied land back to Pakistan.

On a global scale, the U.S –Soviet tensions were high. India had signed a Friendship treaty in 1971 with Russia hence the U.S. was supporting Pakistan throughout all this.

Reunification of Germany

After World War II, Germany was divided and emerged as two republics in 1949  – West Germany—officially known as the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG)—and East Germany—officially known as the German Democratic Republic(GDR).

• In 1961, when the Berlin Wall was built by the East Germans as a barrier between itself and the West.
• The West was strongly in favour of reunification but as long as the Soviet Union was able to pursue its ideological war with the West, the authorities in the East were not about to give up.
• Despite having the most successful economy in the Soviet Union, East Germany’s citizens yearned for the freedoms experienced by their compatriots in the West.
• When Mikhail Gorbachev visited East Berlin in October 1989, he urged the East German government to embrace change.
• Almost 1 million East Germans took part in a demonstration on November 4th, 1989 in East Berlin. The Berlin Wall eventually came down five days later, allowing civilians to enter West Berlin without restriction. East Germany began breaking down the Berlin Wall on November 12.
• This helped pave the way for the first free elections in East Germany, which were held on March 18, 1990.

On September 12, the two German States, the Soviet Union, the United States, France, and Great Britain signed the Treaty on the Final Settlement About Germany.

On October 3, 1990, East Germany joined West Germany, uniting the two countries politically.

The disintegration of the Erstwhile Soviet Union and the Rebirth of Central Asian republicans

The Russian Empire was overthrown in the 1917 Russian Revolution. The Russian Civil War resulted in the establishment of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) in 1922.

Major reasons for the disintegration of the USSR:

• The fall of the Berlin Wall and the reunification of Germany
• People in many East European countries(socialist bloc) started to protest against their governments and the USSR.
• Political and Economic reforms proposed by Mikhail Gorbachev – he presented two measures to address the economic crisis that, in his estimation, would turn the Soviet Union into a prosperous nation.
• Glasnost – The political openness – gave a degree of freedom to citizens of the USSR. For instance, Now, Newspaper could print criticism of government policies
• ‘Perestroika’ or economic restructuring – By enabling private property ownership and business establishment while promoting foreign investment in Soviet businesses, it renounced the former command economy doctrine.
• However, these changes were too little, too late. Gorbachev’s new policies appeared to have no effect other than rationing, food shortages, and long lines for necessities, fueling discontent with his regime.
• The rise of nationalism among countries like Russia, Baltic republics (Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania), Ukraine, Georgia etc is the most important and immediate cause of the disintegration of the USSR.
• Communist Party members put Gorbachev under house arrest on August 18, 1991, citing “bad health” as their justification. State of emergency was proclaimed by the coup leaders.
• After some time, Gorbachev was released and he travelled to Minsk to negotiate a separation agreement( Belavezha Accords) from the USSR with the presidents of Belarus and Ukraine. After a summit in Alma-Ata, modern-day Kazakhstan, additional Soviet Republics in Central Asia joined them a few weeks later.
• On December 25, 1991, Mikhail Gorbachev tendered his resignation as the last premier of the Soviet Union.

There was no longer a Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. From 1991 to 1999, Boris Yeltsin presided as Russia’s first president.

Consequences of the disintegration of the USSR:

1. Birth of 15 new republics including Central Asian countries – Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan.
2. End of the Cold War: End of the arms race, end of ideological confrontations.
3. Change in power equations: Unipolar world, capitalist ideology, IMF, World Bank etc.

It was in 1991 that the Cold War came to an end with the disintegration of the USSR.

Contemporary Boundary Problems

In the world, there are still several ongoing boundary disputes, including:

• Ethiopia – Eritrea issue was solved in 2012 and The birth of South Sudan in 2012.
• France – Madagascar dispute in the Indian Ocean
• Border disputes between India and China, China and Taiwan, China and Hong Kong, China in the South China Sea (9-dash line dispute), and
• The boundary conflicts between India and Pakistan and India and Nepal
• The conflict between the UK, Mauritius, Maldives, and Seychelles regarding Chagos Island.
• Conflict in Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, and numerous more Middle Eastern nation
• The Israeli-Palestinian conflict
• The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia.
• A territorial dispute sparked the Russia-Ukraine war.
• The Kuril Islands: Russia and Japan, etc

South Sudan, which separated from Sudan in 2011, is the youngest state in the world. Bavaria, North Cyprus, Belize, Tibet, French-speaking Quebec in Canada, and other places also claim to have had an independence movement.

Separatist movements can be found across three continents.

The number of countries in the United Nations has grown from 51 recognized states in 1945 to 193 states today. Hence redrawing of the boundaries of and demand for new separate countries is still ongoing.

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Article written by: Ankit Sharma