History Book: Titanic artifacts

NICK EICHER, HOST: Today is Monday, July 24th. Good morning! This is The World and Everything in It from listener-supported WORLD Radio. I’m Nick Eicher.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: And I’m Mary Reichard. Next up: the WORLD History Book. With last month’s loss of the Titan submersible, we return today to the first successful Titanic salvage mission.

And, the armistice agreement that brought an official end to the fighting in Korea.

But first, 100 years ago, a treaty that set international boundaries in the Anatolian and Balkan Peninsulas. Here’s Paul Butler.

PAUL BUTLER: Setting international borders is a tricky thing after wars. And fall-out from those decisions often have far reaching effects.

On July 24th, 1923, representatives of the Ottoman Empire, the kingdom of Greece, and six other countries sign a treaty in Lausanne, Switzerland:

NEWSREEL: The first signature to the historic treaty is Mr McDonald, on behalf of Great Britain.

Nearly five years after the end of World War I the Treaty of Lausanne finally settles the internationally recognized boundaries of Greece, Bulgaria, and Turkey.

NEWSREEL: [SOUND OF EUROPEAN RATIFICATION OF TREATY]

Generally speaking, the treaty sets Turkish sovereignty as extending three miles from its Asia Minor shores. Most of the islands beyond that distance are ceded to Greece.

The treaty does more than set borders though. It also grants immunity to those responsible for crimes connected to political events between 1914 and 1922, putting an end to efforts to prosecute war crimes such as the Armenian, Assyrian, and Greek genocides.

NEWSREEL: Peace mutual, that it has ended successfully, not only for itself but has opened up new doors, broader ways for the further advance of peace in the whole world.

Many within Turkey wrongly believe the treaty is set to expire today on its 100th anniversary, but it has no sunset clause. However, since at least 2018 Turkey’s President Erdogan has been publicly calling for changes to the treaty in an attempt to recapture some of the lost territory after World War I.

Next, thirty years later after the Lausanne Treaty, another historic agreement. July 27th, 1953: the United States, China, and North Korea sign an armistice.

NEWSREEL: At long last, the misery and the bloodshed of the war in Korea has been halted. Let's hope indeed that it's been ended.

The Korean War officially began on June 25th, 1950 when North Korea invaded South Korea. But the conflict began long before. Japan annexed the Korean peninsula in 1910. After World War II, the country was divided in half along the 38th parallel—with the Soviet Union administering the north, and the United States the south. The somewhat arbitrary division soon becomes the frontlines of a devastating war. China and the Soviet Union jump in supporting North Korea and the United States and United Nations back South Korea.

Ceasefire negotiations begin as early as 1951, but questions over POWs prove a difficult sticking point. Talks are slow. But after three years of bloodshed and little to show for it, the three world powers eventually agree to a cessation of hostilities.

NEWSREEL: Pathe news cameramen record the last vital moments of the Korean War as a convoy of army vehicles brings United Nations officers to the truce site at Panmunjom for the signing of the armistice. Within the camp stands a communist built Peace Pagoda.

While the communists sign the armistice agreement at the Peace Pagoda, United Nations Commander: General Mark Clark signs six copies of the document at the U.N. basecamp:

NEWSREEL, GENERAL CLARK: We have stopped the shooting. That means much to the fighting men and their families and it will allow some of the grievous wounds of Korea to heal. Therefore, I am thankful.

The agreement establishes the Korean Demilitarized Zone—or DMZ—as the new border between the two nations.

NEWSREEL, GENERAL CLARK: I cannot find it in me to exult in this hour rather, it is a time for prayer that we may succeed in our difficult endeavor to turn this armistice to the advantage of mankind.

The President of South Korea refuses to sign the armistice but pledges to observe it. However that refusal means the war between North and South Korea isn’t officially over and continues to this day.

And finally, July 27th, 1987 – RMS Titanic Inc. begins its first salvage expedition of the Titanic wreckage.

From July 27th to September 10th, RMS Titanic Inc. collects more than 18-hundred artifacts from the ocean floor. The company returns five more times over the next 13 years and in the end, brings up more than 6-thousand artifacts.

The salvage expeditions and the succeeding auctions of Titanic artifacts don’t sit well with many families touched by the tragedy. Rob Gordon lost two relatives in the sinking, and in 2012 he told CBS Morning News he believes the site should be protected, and left alone.

ROB GORDON: I find it offensive. My great aunt’s wedding dress is down there. I just think it’s wrong to sift through them and put a price tag on them.

As the Titanic lies in international waters, no single country can claim rights to the artifacts. But 100 years after the accident the United Nations officially declared the underwater wreckage a “Cultural Heritage” site, protecting it from future looting.

That didn’t stop companies like Ocean Gate from attempting to exploit the site in other ways—such as tourism. But with last month’s destruction of the Titan submersible, Ocean Gate has terminated all commercial operations. Perhaps it will lead others to once again treat the Titanic’s final resting place with more reverence—like the grave site that it is.

That’s this week’s World History Book, I’m Paul Butler

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