Page:General History of Europe 1921.djvu/882

 66o General History of Europe The hostility to the Bolsheviki continued after the armistice. Attacked from abroad, threatened with civil war from within and by attempts to assassinate their leaders, the Bolsheviki inaugu- rated a reign of terror which lasted several months. The threat was made that the Russian socialist revolution would be carried to other countries, and indeed such efforts were made in Germany and Hungary. It was charged that the Bolsheviki did not really represent the Russian people as a whole, and anti-Bolshevik governments were set up in Russia, but all of these were over- thrown. The foreign troops, except those of the Japanese in eastern Siberia, were withdrawn, and the Bolsheviki became the masters of Russia. 1192. War between Poland and Russia. A war broke out between Poland and Russia in 1919. The Poles declared that they were merely seeking to recover territory that belonged to them "by historic right." The Bolsheviki accused them of being "capitalist imperialists" bent on seizing Russian land and sup- pressing "the government of the workingmen and peasants." For about a year the conflict between Russia and Poland raged with- out a positive decision, but late in 1920 the contestants agreed to an armistice. 1193. The Fiume Affair. In the meantime the world was wit- nessing another instance of violence, in Fiume on the Adriatic. Both Italy and Jugoslavia claimed this city at the Peace Con- ference. President Wilson rendered himself highly unpopular with the Italians by opposing the Italian demands. While diplomats discussed, D'Annunzio, the Italian poet at the head of an armed force, seized Fiume. After long disputes the Italian and Jugoslav governments agreed on a compromise in November, 1920, and D'Annunzio was expelled by soldiers from his own country. 1194. Disposal of the Turkish Realms. The treaty with Turkey reduced the ancient empire to the limits of Asia Minor. It was hoped that the old question of Constantinople and the Dar- danelles might be settled by creating a "zone of the Straits" governed by an international commission and open freely to the ships of all countries. Smyrna became a Greek mandatory, and