Dividing history into periods is notoriously artificial, but by any historical standard,
1919 marked a new beginning in central and eastern Europe. Politically, it had been
largely divided for at least two centuries, and in many areas for much longer, between
the competing empires of Austria, Germany, Russia and Turkey. (See map.) In 1917,
however, the Russian Empire had been defeated by Germany. That German victory
was overtaken the following year by the defeat of Austria–Hungary, Germany and
Turkey, which marked the end of the First World War in November 1918. This defeat
of all the imperial powers created a vacuum unparallelled before or since in which
the political system could be completely reordered in accordance with the nationality
principle. Poland and Lithuania returned to the map of Europe as sovereign states.
Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia appeared for the first time, Estonia and Latvia for
the first time as independent entities. Further east, Georgia and the Ukraine briefly
enjoyed autonomy