On the Link between the Miles Mission Reports and 1919 Plebiscite Decision in Paris. What is the Evidence of the Reports Themselves?

Abstract

On the basis of a linguistic analysis of twelve documents of American origin, dealing with the situation in Carinthia, on which, at a peace conference after the First World War, the US based its decision on the determination of the border between Austria and the Yugoslav stale, as well as the areas in which a plebiscite was to be carried out in October 1920, the author presents the emphases which were decisive in the taking of these decisions. He further presents the message of these reports: whether they emphasized territorial (geographical) factors or nationalistic (ethnic) ones - or the territorial (economic) unity of Carinthia or the ethnic structure of its population. He also presents the views of Austrian and Slovene historiography on the geographical and nationalistic factors in the context of the 1920 Carinthian plebiscite.