Czech Corridor

The proposal would have carved out a strip of land between Austria and Hungary to serve as a corridor between two newly formed Slavic countries with shared interests, the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (Yugoslavia) and Czechoslovakia.

The corridor would have consisted of Burgenland and neighboring areas that would be found along the future border of Austria and Hungary.

Czechoslovak delegates used the principle of self-determination, which was used as legitimate basis for creation of many nation states in Europe after World War I, as an argument for the creation of the corridor; however it is unlikely that the proposal would have been accepted on that principle, since of the 1.17 million people that lived in the area at the time, some 662,000 were ethnic Germans, 220,000 were Slavs (mostly Croats and Slovenes) and 289,000 belonged to other ethnolinguistic groups (mostly Hungarians).

[2] They argued that since Austria-Hungary no longer existed, there was no reason for Austria and Hungary to share a border and the creation of such a corridor would discourage both countries from harboring any thoughts of future alliance.

Violating the self-determination of the majority of inhabitants and opposing the interests of Yugoslavia's rival Italy, the plan was eventually rejected.