Hungary then controlled the territory almost to its old borders; regained control of industrial areas around Miskolc, Salgtarjn, Selmecbnya (Bansk tiavnica), Kassa (Koice). Published by C. Scribner's sons, 1937 On 20 March 1919, Bla Kun, who had been imprisoned in the Mark Street prison, was released. The census of 1910 classified the residents of the Kingdom of Hungary by their native languages[84] and religions, so it presents the preferred language of the individual, which may or may not correspond to the individual's ethnic identity. Romania, Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia had to assume part of the financial obligations of the former Kingdom of Hungary on account of the parts of its former territory that were assigned under their sovereignty. The final borders of Hungary were defined by the Treaty of Trianon signed on 4 June 1920. [1][2][3][4] French diplomats played the major role in designing the treaty, with a mind to establishing a French-led coalition of the newly formed states. Czechoslovakia and the State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs were proclaimed and troops started deserting, disobeying orders and retreating. The truncated Kingdom had a population of 7.6 million, 36% compared to the pre-war kingdom's population of 20.9 million. There was also a division of labour present throughout the empire: that is, in the Austrian part of the Monarchy manufacturing industries were highly advanced, while in the Kingdom of Hungary an agro-industrial economy had emerged. Within the borders of "Hungary proper" numerous ethnic minorities were present: 16.1% Romanians, 10.5% Slovaks, 10.4% Germans, 2.5% Ruthenians, 2.5% Serbs and 8% others. With the economic issues facing Austria, the bankers and investors in Vienna had little reason to look towards Budapest for their investments. Their long-term goal was to build a coalition of small new nations led by France and capable of standing up to Russia or Germany. Laurence Emerson Gelfand, The Inquiry; American Preparation for Peace, 19171919 (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1963), p. 332. [20], On 28 June 1914, the heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary, the Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, was assassinated by a Serbian nationalist. [citation needed]. When I tried it was too late. [52] On 20 May 1919, a force under Colonel Aurl Stromfeld attacked and routed Czechoslovak troops from Miskolc. The ceasefire line had the character of a temporary international border until the treaty. This was, in fact, a deliberate policy. [42] Demarcation lines defining the territory to remain under Hungarian control were made. [47][48] The Hungarian Soviet Republic was a small communist rump state. On 5 November 1918, the Serbian army, with the help of the French army, crossed the southern borders. Slovensk nun slovnk, I. zvzok, Bratislava-esk Tn, 1932. [5] In the last census before the Treaty of Trianon held in 1910, which recorded population by native language and religion, but not by ethnicity, mother tongue speakers of the Hungarian language included approximately 48% of the entire population of the Kingdom of Hungary. History Learning Site Copyright 2000 - 2022. The French sided with their allies the Romanians who had a long policy of cultural ties to France since the country broke from the Ottoman Empire (due in part to the relative ease at which Romanians could learn French)[121] although Clemenceau personally detested Brtianu. For example, in the territory what is today Slovakia (then part of Upper Hungary) 18% of the Slovaks, 33% of the Hungarians and 65% of the Germans were bilingual. The treaty was signed on June 4th 1920. It outlined a policy of free trade, open agreements, and democracy. [45] On 21 March, he led a successful communist coup d'tat; Krolyi was deposed and arrested.

On 3 June, Romania was forced into further retreat but extended its line of defence along the Tisza River and reinforced its position with the 8th Division, which had been moving forward from Bukovina since 22 May. 1930); K. Rotschild, Austria's Economic Development Between the Two Wars (London, 1946). The Hungarian state was restored by the Entente powers, helping Admiral Horthy into power in November 1919. "Major trends in Hungarian foreign policy from the collapse of the monarchy to the peace treaty of Trianon. [citation needed], The Hungarian "Conditions of Peace" were dated 15 January 1920, and their "Observations" handed in on 20 February. Point ten announced Wilson's "wish" that the peoples of Austria-Hungary be given autonomya point that Vienna rejected. [29] He even organized covert contacts with British and French diplomats in Switzerland during the war. Under the forced exchange of population between Czechoslovakia and Hungary, approximately 73,000 Slovaks left Hungary and according to different estimations 120,500[101][102] or 45,000[103] Hungarians moved to present day Hungarian territory from Czechoslovakia. This could be attributed to the introduction of aggressive nationalistic policies by local political leaders. [123] Most Hungarians regarded the treaty as an insult to the nation's honour. p.37. It proved to be immensely challenging for the successor states to successfully transform their economies to adapt to the new circumstances. Romsics, Ignc. In spite of the country being under Allied blockade, the Hungarian Soviet Republic was formed and the Hungarian Red Army was rapidly set up. This poor great country, which saved both civilization and Christianity, has been treated with a bitterness which nothing can explain except the desire of greed of those surrounding her, and the fact that the weaker people, seeing the stronger overcome, wish and insist that she shall be reduced to impotence. Digitized 13 November 2008 p. 114, History of the Hungarian Nation ", Pastor, Peter. [117] For example, Hungary attracted international media attention in 1999 for passing the "status law" concerning estimated three-million ethnic Hungarian minorities in neighbouring Romania, Slovakia, Serbia and Montenegro, Croatia, Slovenia and Ukraine. 1922.". In 1918 Germany tried to overwhelm the Allies on the Western Front, but failed. Before the War Hungary had an area almost equal to that of Italy, 282,870 square kilometres, with a population of 18,264,533 inhabitants. [11], The principal beneficiaries were the Kingdom of Romania, the Czechoslovak Republic, the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (later Yugoslavia), and the First Austrian Republic. The international financiers hate her because of the violences committed against the Jews. However, after the Central Powers had noticed the military manoeuvre, the attempt was quickly choked off and Bucharest fell in the same year. One of the main elements of the treaty was the doctrine of "self-determination of peoples", and it was an attempt to give the non-Hungarians their own national states. -- and the population to 7,481,954, or 41%. [citation needed], The Kingdom of Hungary was the main supplier of wheat, rye, barley and other various goods in the empire and these comprised a large portion of the empire's exports. Before World War One, Hungary had been a major produced of grain with the Austro-Hungarian Empire and much of this was exported.

Accordingly, the Allies assumed without question that the minority ethnic groups of the pre-war kingdom wanted to leave Hungary. [51] Rather than divide the big estates among the peasants which might have gained their support for the government, but would have created a class of small-holding farmers the Communist government proclaimed the nationalization of the estates. The new state was also bereft of a healthy supply of raw materials such as iron ore as pre-war supplies of this were now found outside of Hungarys borders. [8][13], The current boundaries of Hungary are the same as those defined by the Treaty of Trianon, with some minor modifications until 1924 regarding the Hungarian-Austrian border and the notable exception of three villages that were transferred to Czechoslovakia in 1947.

This happened under the direction of Minister of War Bla Linder on 2 November 1918[33][34] When Oszkr Jszi became the new Minister for National Minorities of Hungary, he immediately offered democratic referendums about the disputed borders for minorities; however, the political leaders of those minorities refused the very idea of democratic referendums regarding disputed territories at the Paris peace conference. [citation needed]. [55], When the French promised the Hungarian government that Romanian forces would withdraw from the Tiszntl, Kun withdrew from Czechoslovakia his remaining military units who had remained loyal after the political fiasco with the Slovak Soviet Republic. [129] Such irredentism was one of the main contributing factors to Hungary's decision to enter World War II as an Axis Power; Adolf Hitler had promised to intervene on Hungary's behalf to restore majority-ethnic Hungarian lands lost after Trianon. [151][pageneeded], The drastic shift in economic climate forced the countries to re-evaluate their situation and to promote industries where they had fallen short. However, it is generally accepted that the largest ethnic group in the Kingdom of Hungary in this time were the Hungarians. A. Basch, European Economic Nationalism (Washington, 1943); L. Pasvolsky, Economic Nationalism of the Danubian States (New York, 1929). Unemployment levels in Austria, as well as in Hungary, were dangerously high, and industrial output dropped by 65%. These, while formally accepting their new government bosses, in practice retained their loyalty to the deposed aristocratic owners. [71] This opinion was not taken into account during the negotiations. For Hungarians, the outer territories were not seen as colonial territories, but rather part of the core national territory. Also other nuclei of population have been detached without reason. All the treaties signed by the defeated nations had at their core a desire to ensure that none of the Central Powers could ever become a threat to European peace again. The Hungarian political attitude towards Trianon was summed up in the phrases Nem, nem, soha! [124] The perceived humiliation of the treaty became a dominant theme in inter-war Hungarian politics, analogous with the German reaction to the Treaty of Versailles. The payment of what were effectively tolls made Hungarian exports that were moved by rail more expensive. G. Gratz and R. Schuller, Die Wirtschaftliche Zusammenbruch Oesterreich Ungarns (Vienna. [104][pageneeded], While the territories that were now outside Hungary's borders had non-Hungarian majorities overall, there also existed some sizeable areas with a majority of Hungarians, largely near the newly defined borders.