File talk:Map Europe 1923-en.svg

This might just be me, but isnt Sweden spelled wrong on the picture? It says Sweeden. 87.55.59.169 (talk) 21:52, 23 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Not only that, the Netherlands should be grey (neutral), instead of green ('key countries winners'). — Preceding unsigned comment added by 84.245.14.40 (talk) 12:04, 28 April 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Also, if this in 1923, then the Irish Free State had already been established. ^Mac Tíre _Cowag 00:31, 11 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Map issues

1. Ireland is shown as a "Key Countries Winner" and includes Northern Ireland, which was part of the United Kingdom. The text "IRELAND" should be in red showing it is a new country, with a red border demarcating the Ireland/UK (Northern Ireland) border. The area of Ireland should be gray, not green.

2. The "Free Cities" label is misleading. Only Danzig ("Gdansk" on the map) became a free city. Klaipeda never was, and Fiume ("Rijeka" on the map) was just temporarily the Free State of Fiume until 1924. Note it was called a free state, not a free city. Perhaps best would be to change the label "Free Cities" to something like "Free or Disputed Cities".

"Rijeka" was Fiume its in Austria-Hungary and was still internationally known as this name in 1923). "Rijeka" is best labeled "Fiume (Rijeka)" or perhaps just "Fiume".

In English, "Gdansk" was the Free City of Danzig, not the Free City of Gdansk. "Gdansk" is best labeled " Danzig (Gdansk)" or perhaps just "Danzig".

Klaipeda did not achieve free city status. After World War I it was a temporary protectorate of the Allied Powers pending a decision on its status (free city was just one possibility). In early 1923, Lithuania simply annexed the city. Its name like Fiume/Rijeka and Danzig/Gdansk was in contention, so "Klaipeda" is best labeled " Memel (Klaipeda)".

3. "Defeated former empires" is misleading. It should be "Defeated Central Powers" or something along these lines, with Bulgaria added underneath this heading along with the other three. As the map currently is labeled, it looks as if the purple region labeled "Thrace" is contested between Greece and the Ottoman Empire when it was actually contested between Greece and Bulgaria.

4. The southern territory of Austria-Hungary is shown incorrectly, as it clearly excludes Bosnia, which was part of Austria-Hungary.

5. Montenegro and Serbia should be added to map as green parts of Yugoslavia, with their names in black. Yes, they became part of Yugoslavia after the war, but this would be indicated by the name Yugoslavia being in red (new country).

6. The label "Turkey" should be in red to indicate it is a new country. The Republic of Turkey was founded after the war from part of the Ottoman Empire.

7. The label for Greece is missing.

8. "A.F.N." is presumably the French abbreviation for French North Africa, but this has abbreviation had no meaning for most English speakers. "French North Africa" would be far more meaningful.

9. The border between the Soviet Union and Turkey is problematic. The olive-colored enclave south of the gray border and north of the brown for Turkey went to Turkey in 1920 as part of a deal between Turkey and the USSR. In keeping with the existing map scheme, the gray border should be red, since it is a new border.

10. "Thrace" is best "Western Thrace". Thrace is a larger region that just Western Thrace, so it is confusing to label Western Thrace as Thrace. For similar reasons, "Silesia" should be "Upper Silesia".

11. The border between Bulgaria and Yugoslavia is shown in red. Most of it was the old border between Bulgaria and Serbia and thus should be gray. The Strumica region of southwestern Bulgaria that was ceded to Yugoslavia after the war is large enough to show on the map. Given the current map scheme, this should be colored purple for a contested area.

12. The criteria for the "Contested areas" are unclear and seem arbitrary. If "Thrace" (Western Thrace) is contested, why isn’t the part of western Poland that used to be part of Germany? Ownership of both regions were settled by peace treaties, so they were not disputed like Bessarabia was. (The Soviets never recognized the annexation of Bessarabia, a province of the Russian Empire, into Romania.) If the criteria for contested areas are not international treaties but instead national ambitions, then far more territory should also be shown as contested. For example, both Greece and Bulgaria wanted Eastern Thrace ("Turkish" Thrace), while Germany wanted Danzig, the Saarland, etc.

13. "Soviet Union" is not in all capitals, unlike the names of all other countries on the map.

14. The eastern border of Lithuania is drawn incorrectly.

15. The island between Sweden and Finland should be colored olive (as "Former Russian Empire"), not gray. This is Aland (Aaland) Island, which was part of the Russian Empire/Finland and not Sweden.

16. The wording of some items is poor. For example, "Key Countries Winner" is awkward; "Key Victorious Countries" would be better. "Key" probably should be dropped; what is shown as key victorious countries are the Allied Powers (aka Entente) minus Romania, Serbia, and Montenegro. I think best would be to change "Key Countries Winner" to "Allied Powers", color the gray part of Romania green, and color the Serbian and Montenegran parts of Yugoslavia green.

17. Capitalization of the text in the map legend is inconsistent.

There may be other issues I have not noticed. (I have deliberately not included the name “Yugoslavia” as an issue, even though the country was named the Kingdom of the Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes at this time. This is in keeping with the map using common name like Ireland rather than Irish Free State or Eire.) Johnmastell (talk) 19:59, 17 December 2022 (UTC)[reply]