THE SETTLEMENT:

THE TREATY OF TRIANON CONCERNING HUNGARY: JUNE 1920

Acknowledgements

Map:  americanhungarianfederation.org/news    The Grab:  Szakc.sk

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    Signed on the 4th June, 1920, the Treaty of Trianon dealt with the future of the newly formed independent state of Hungary. By it (see map), the Hungarians gave up a vast amount of land to Czechoslovakia, Romania and what was to become Yugoslavia. This loss of territory – put at close on 75% of the country’s former size – together with a massive reduction in population that this entailed – seriously affected Hungary’s economic strength and excluded it from the payment of reparations. And, despite the argument for self-determination as proposed by Woodrow Wilson, this concept played no part concerning the future of the Hungarian population. Almost 33% of ethnic Hungarians found themselves living outside of their former country, with over 800,000 living in the new Czechoslovakia; 1.6 million in Romania, and some 420,000 in Serbia. In reverse, Hungary’s population contained 700,000 people of German or Slovak origin. Furthermore, the treaty made it clear that Hungarians living outside of Hungary would lose their Hungarian nationality within one year of the treaty being signed!

    But the loss of so much territory, and the wide displacement of ethnic Hungarians were not the only cause for anger within the Hungarian government. The territorial settlement, making Hungary a land-locked state, meant that there was no longer access to the Mediterranean via the Adriatic Sea. This was a bitter and costly blow to the country’s economy. The export of grain, for example, once a major source of income, was reduced by 30% because the cost of tariffs and tolls made it much less competitive. And vital raw materials, like iron ore, had to be imported because they were no longer available within the state itself. Given such reduced circumstances, Budapest lost its place in the world’s financial markets. In post-Trianon, for example, investment in Hungary by Viennese bankers was only 5% of the pre-war total. Finally, as in the case of Austria, the army was limited to 30,000, and the provision of a navy and air force was prohibited.

     These terms dealt an extremely bitter blow to the Hungarian nation, or what was left of it. The Hungarian government argued that they had not declared war against the Allies, but had been obliged to honour their undertaking to the German government, but this cut no ice. The Allies wanted revenge and, above all, an assurance that Hungary would no longer be a threat. Ironically, their very action worked against that very assumption!

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FOR THE TREATY OF NEUILLY CONCERNING BULGARIA (NOV 1919)