Consequences of the First World War in Hungary

1. Hungary in WWI
Assassination of Franz Ferdinand: 28 June 1914

Reasons for joining the war

­ general support towards joining the war, majority of the government and the
opposition was in favour
­ to strengthen the position of the Au-Hu monarchy in the Balkan
­ strong German influence
­ feared that Serbia would encourage other minorities to rebel against the government
­ hoped for a short war

Reasons against the war

­ the PM, Tisza István (1914-17) was strongly against at first
­ was afraid of Russia
­ didn’t think that the country is strong enough to join a war
­ didn’t want territorial gains → more territories = more minorities = more conflicts
­ in the end he was convinced by Germany and decided to support the war

The war
Time Place Events
→ fought against Russia
Eastern Front
1914 → no real victories
Serbia → no real victories
Eastern Front → no change
→ Bulgaria joined the Central Powers
Serbia
→ Serbia was defeated in the beginning of 1916
1915
→ Italy joined the Entente
Italian Fronts → a third front opened
→ war of stalemate at Doberdo
→ Brusilov offensive launched by Russia
● started with a massive, accurate but brief artillery barrage
that caused chaos among defenders
Eastern Front
● followed by the advance of infantry
● led to serious loss of life on both sides
→ both armies were exhausted
Serbia → ended with the joining of Bulgaria
→ Romania was promised Transylvania by the Entente so joined
Transylvania
1916 → was quickly defeated
Italian Fronts → still war of stalemate
→ death of Franz Joseph, new ruler: Charles IV
→ he started negotiations with the Entente and the minorities
● lack of supplies
Negotiations ● weaker Au-Hu army than the powers of the Entente
● neverending conflicts with the minorities
→ proposed a federal reorganisation of the monarchy but the
discussions had no real results
 → ended, Russia quit the war because of the Bolshevik
Eastern Front
Revolution
1917
→ some Au-Hu successes since they could move their army from
Italian Fronts
the Eastern front to here
Eastern Front → officially ended in March, Treaty of Brest-Litovsk
→ defeat of the Au-Hu army
1918 → armistice at Padova, 3 of November
Italian Fronts
→ soldiers deserted
→ minorities declared independence

Homefront
­ at first general support, people were even buying war bonds
→ later the war bonds caused social tension because the government was unable
to pay them back properly (this was after the war)
­ government printed more money to support eg. the arms industry → inflation
­ rationing
→ lack of agricultural workers
→ bad harvest
­ low standard of living led to an increase in
trade union membership

2. Premiership of Károlyi Mihály

Political changes during the war

­ at first the government supported the war
­ by the end of 1914 they realised that it’s going to be a long conflict
­ Károlyi Mihály suggested quitting the war first at the end of 1915
­ by 1916 most of the opposition joined him
­ Tisza István resigned in 1917
→ the bad harvest of 1916 worsened the living standard and he couldn’t offer a
solution to the social tension
→ with the death of Franz Joseph he lost an important political ally
­ by this time there were 4 distinctive political movements
→ government party
▪ the Party of National Work
▪ still supported the war
→ moderate opposition
▪ suggested reforms to reduce the social tension (eg. universal suffrage,
land reform)
▪ supported the war as well
→ Károlyi’s Independence Party and the Radical Party
▪ wanted to end the war
▪ civil rights, land reform, universal suffrage
→ extreme right
▪ was against any democratic reforms
­ the new PM-s after Tisza (Esterházy Móric, Wekerle Sándor) couldn’t solve the
problems
Aster Revolution
­ 31 October 1918
­ 22 October: the Hungarian National Council was formed out of Károlyi’s Party, Jászi
Oszkár’s Radical Party and Garami Ernő’s Social Democratic Party
­ Charles IV didn’t want to appoint Károlyi as PM
­ strikes started
­ soldiers arriving home from the front joined
­ later the police joined as well
­ protesters occupied the strategic points of Budapest
­ Charles IV gave up and appointed Károlyi as PM
­ Tisza István was murdered during the revolution

Programme
­ to end the war without annexation and with minimal losses
­ to make peace with the minorities and offer them autonomy
­ independence of Hungary
­ to solve the economic problems and improve the standard of living
­ civil rights
­ universal suffrage
­ land reform
­ new borders based on Wilson’s principle of national self-determination

How successful was he?

Success Failure
minorities autonomy was offered to them they decided to secede
Charles IV resigned, a
independence People’s Republic was created
with Károlyi as the president
since the Entente Blockade
economic problems abolished rationing still existed, this only made
matters worse
universal suffrage introduced no elections
landowners couldn’t be
land reform introduced forced to carry it out + short
amount of time
foreign policy see next point

Foreign policy
­ Károlyi trusted the Entente in drawing the borders based on Wilson’s principle
­ Hungarian army was disarmed and it basically ceased to exist
­ Belgrade convention drew a demarcation line in the South and East of Hungary (13
Nov) - Hungarians had to withdraw behind it
­
­ neighbouring states took advantage of this situation adn during the winter crossed this
line:
→ Czechs occupied Upper Hungary
→ Romanians Transylvania
 → Serbians Southern Hungary
→ became clear that the Entente disregards Hungarian interests
→ no defense against it since the army no longer existed
­ Vix-note
→ 20 March 1919
→ its acceptance would have meant further losses of predominantly
Hungarian-inhabited territories on the Great Plain
→ the government didn’t want to accept it but couldn’t reject it, so resigned
→ hoped that a new government with a foreign ally could solve the situation →
Soviet Republic

3. Soviet/Council Republic

Rise to power
­ 21 March 1919: Social Democrats and the Communists led by Kun Béla merged and
created the Hungarian Socialist Party and the Soviet Republic
­ created a communist dictatorship for 133 days
­ most influential politician in the party and the government was Kun Béla, the
commissioner of foreign affairs

Policies
­ extended suffrage
→ even to women over 18
→ but they excluded the ‘exploiters’ (priests, politicians of previous regimes) thus
eliminating their political opposition
­ nationalisation of almost all factories
­ factory regulations (eg. 8-hour workdays, unemployment benefit, standardisation of
wages)
­ confiscation of land of the big landowners, collectivisation of this land
→ dissatisfied peasants
→ poor remained poor, rich lost their land
­ further decrease in the standard of living → still rationing
­ red terror
­ nationalisation of schools
­ reorganisation of the administrative system by following the soviet example
­ only supported by workers and very few intellectuals

Foreign policy
­ rejected the Vix-note
­ Romanians still started the occupation of the territories they were promised in the
note, Czechs and Serbs occupied further territories as well
­ Hungary needed defense so the Red Army was created
­ the Red Army first fought against the Czechs in the North and had some victories
­ Clemenceau-memorandum/note
→ answer of the Entente to the Hungarian victories
→ the first one simply wanted to stop the Hungarian army
→ the second included new borders and wanted the Hungarians to withdraw
beyond these lines → would have meant the loss of Upper Hungary
 → in exchange promised the withdrawal of Romanian troops from the Tiszántúl
and the invitation of Hungary to the peace conference
­ the government accepted the second memorandum and withdrew the army
→ this caused conflict with the army leaders especially after the realisation that
the Romanians disregard the memorandum and kept occupying territories
(Romanian counter-offensive)
→ the army fell apart
→ they tried to stop the Romanian troops with the remaining Hungarian soldiers
but it ended in failure

Fall of the Soviet Republic

­ causes
→ failure of the army against the Romanians
→ the Entente was only willing to lift the Blockade if Hungary sets up a
government that meets their requirements
­ the leaders of the Soviet Republic emigrated and a new government was created
­ Actually a power vacuum appeared during which the Romanian army occupied
Budapest.
­ Consolidation:
­ - with the help of the Entente mission, negotiating with Horthy
­ - parliamentary election (Jan 1920), then Horthy was elected regent (March 1920)

4. Trianon
Intentions of the Big 3
­ France
→ reducing the power of Germany
­ GB
→ restoring the balance of  power
→ consolidation of the British Empire by gaining some of the German colonies
­ USA
→ economic development

The peace conference

­ Wilson’s principle of national self-determination greatly influenced the treaties
→ this meant the carving up of Au-Hu monarchy into several nation states based
on ethnicity
→ Great Britain supported this but still wanted a strong central power against
Russia
­ the Hungarian delegation consisted of Apponyi Albert, Teleki Pál and Bethlen István
­ they tried to prove the indivisibility of the Carpathian Basin based on historic, ethnic,
geographic, infrastructural and economic evidence
­ they rejected the conditions that were offered by the Entente
→ found it too harsh
→ disregarded the ethnic composition along the borders
→ created the red map to prove this, but it was also disregarded and the treaty
wasn’t changed at all
­ the delegation was unwilling to accept the treaty so it was signed by two other
politicians
Territorial consequences
­ the area of Hungary decreased to 33% of its original size
­ Romania
→ gained the most territories
→ Transylvania
→ part of Tiszántúl
→ Eastern Bánát
­ Czechoslovakia
→ Upper Hungary
→ Kárpátalja
­ Serbian-Croatian-Slovenian Kingdom
→ Bácska
→ Western Bánát
­ Austria
→ Burgenland
­ the treaty prohibited the union of Hungary and Austria

Demographic consequences
­ the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy was dissolved and divided into a number of nation
states (though only Austria and Hungary became real nation states, others were
multi-ethnic)
­ ethnic composition was disregarded along the borders
­ only plebiscite in Sopron and some villages (at the border of 2 loser states)
­ 3.2 million Hungarians got detached from Hungary
­ Hungary became a nation state (90% Hungarian)

Economic consequences
­ loss of mines
­ loss of arable land which meant a lack of wheat to the milling industry
­ loss of raw materials while the majority of the factories remained within the country
­ Budapest became the only great industrial centre of the country
­ loss of railways and rivers
­ no trading partners
­ Hungary lost her only connection to the sea
­ reparations

Military consequences
­ limited the number of soldiers to 35 thousand
­ general disarmament, couldn’t have any modern weapons eg. tanks, airplanes
­ Hungary became weaker than her neighbours
­

Reaction
­ found it unfair and called it a national tragedy
­ revision became the government’s most important goal in politics
→ in politics they wanted a revision based on ethnicity and autonomy (eg.
plebiscites)
→ a significant amount of people also believed in irredentism and wanted to gain
back all lost territories