Hungarian-Romanian War
Romanian infantry in Budapest
| date | April - August 1919 |
|---|---|
| place | Transylvania , Hungary |
| output | Romanian victory |
| Parties to the conflict | |
|---|---|
| Commander | |
|
|
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| Troop strength | |
| ~ 65,000 | ~ 65,000 |
| losses | |
|
Dead: unknown; Prisoners: ~ 41,000 |
Deaths: 3,670; Prisoners: 11,666 |
The Hungarian-Romanian War was a military aftermath of the First World War in East Central Europe - similar to the Polish-Ukrainian War and the Polish-Soviet War . The Soviet Republic of Hungary and the Kingdom of Romania faced each other. Both claimed the regions of the fallen Austro-Hungarian Empire inhabited by their ethnic groups .
After the First World War in Western Europe had ended in November 1918, the Romanian army occupied areas that belonged to Hungary but were mostly Romanian populated. Since April 1919, a Soviet republic established in Hungary tried to militarily preserve the country's territorial existence. During the war also were revolutionary Russia and Czechoslovakia involved.
The fighting ended in August 1919 with the invasion of the Romanians under the orders of the former Austro-Hungarian field marshal lieutenant , Baron Johann Boeriu von Polichna (Ioan Boeriu) in the Hungarian capital Budapest and the dissolution of the Soviet Republic. In June 1920, in the Treaty of Trianon, the affiliation of the Romanian-majority regions to Romania was confirmed under international law.
prehistory
Hungary
Since the compromise of 1867 Austria-Hungary was a dual monarchy, in the south-eastern part of which Hungary secured internal autonomy. The Austrian emperor stood at the head of the state as the Hungarian king. In addition to the Magyar heartland, the Hungarian part of the empire included several areas predominantly populated by minorities: Slovakia , Croatia , the Banat and Transylvania. The Hungarians made up just under half of the population in their part of the empire.
Austria-Hungary fought against the Russian Empire , Italy , Serbia and Romania in the First World War . Militarily it was dependent on the allied German Reich . With the defeat of the Central Powers in 1918, the dual monarchy collapsed. In the aster revolution , Hungary became completely independent in October 1918. The new republic was headed by a liberal government under Mihály Károlyi .
Romania
Between 1859 and 1881 the Romanian nation state known as Altreich was formed . This consisted only of the former principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia , while the third large region inhabited by Romanians, Transylvania , belonged to the Habsburg Monarchy Austria-Hungary. When the First World War broke out in 1914, Romania initially remained neutral. In August 1916, however, it signed the Treaty of Bucharest with the Entente . In return for entering the war, Romania was promised all territories predominantly populated by Romanians in Austria-Hungary.
The First World War was militarily unsuccessful for Romania. Although parts of southern Transylvania were conquered after the start of the war, a pincer attack by the Central Powers led to the loss of these areas as well as Wallachia and Dobruja . Romania limited itself in January 1917 to the Moldova , which was held with the help of the allied Russia. In the course of the October Revolution , Russia withdrew from the war, which was finally sealed in the Brest-Litovsk Peace Treaty in March 1918. On its own, Romania had already signed the Focșani armistice with the Central Powers in December 1917 . It used the Russian Civil War in April 1918 to annex the predominantly Romanian-populated Bessarabia . In May 1918, under pressure from the Central Powers, Romania signed the Treaty of Bucharest , which included territorial losses, but was not carried out by the victory of the Entente in Western Europe in November 1918.
Course of war
Unification of Transylvania with Romania
The Romanian army had been partially demobilized under the Bucharest Treaty of May 1918. Half a year later, the defeat of the Central Powers offered the opportunity to win the Romanian-populated areas in Austria-Hungary. One day before the end of the First World War in Western Europe, Romania declared its re-entry into the war on November 10, 1918. The oriental high command of the Entente under the French general Franchet d'Esperey established a provisional demarcation line in the former Hungarian eastern territories: Rumania should occupy Transylvania up to the river Mieresch , Serbia the Banat; while Northern Transylvania , the Kreischgebiet (Crișana) and the Maramures should remain with Hungary until further notice.
From November 12th, Romanian troops advanced into southern Transylvania, but initially remained in the area prescribed by the Entente. The situation was less difficult in the former Austrian crown land of Bukovina , which was occupied by Romanian units between November 8th and 11th and where on November 28th the “General Congress of Bukovina” (Romanian National Council, representatives of the German and Polish National Council as well as some Ukrainian ones Farmers) voted for union with Romania. On December 1, 1918, the National Assembly in Alba Iulia decided to unite Transylvania, the Banat, the Kreischgebiet and the Maramures with the Kingdom of Romania. This led to an agreement with the Entente to expand the Romanian territory to include all of Transylvania. By January 22, 1919, the Romanian army occupied the area as far as the Western Romanian Carpathians .
Proclamation of the Hungarian Soviet Republic
The remaining Hungarian troops had to withdraw into the Kreischgebiet under political pressure from the Entente, while the Banat continued to be controlled by Serbia. The newly created Czechoslovakia occupied Slovakia. The Entente disagreed about what future borders in south-eastern Europe should look like. Great Britain wanted a balance of power, France, however, a clear strengthening of its own allies against the opponents of the First World War. Hungary should therefore accept territorial losses vis-à-vis Romania, Serbia and Czechoslovakia.
On March 20, 1919, the Entente informed the Hungarian government that the territories including the Satu Mare - Oradea - Arad line should also be granted to Romania. The liberal government of Hungary under Károlyi had lost its domestic political popularity due to the previous territorial losses and resigned on March 21. Power now fell to the Hungarian communists under their leader Béla Kun . He proclaimed the Hungarian Soviet Republic with the promise to restore the old national borders.
Battle for Transylvania and the Kreischgebiet
Negotiations between Kun and the Entente about the future borders of Hungary failed. The communists then strengthened the army and relied on a military solution, as did the Romanian government, which wanted to create political facts through a victory. It also recruited new troops, especially in the newly attached territories. Hungary's hopes were directed not only towards its own efforts, but also towards intervention by Bolshevik Russia. This was restricted by the civil war in their own country, but had troops deployed on the Romanian border to regain Bessarabia. Romania therefore had to prepare for a two-front war and station parts of its army in Bessarabia.
If there had only been minor skirmishes in the previous course of the war, the actual fighting between Hungary and Romania began now. From 15./16. April 1919 both armies met in the mountain passes of western Transylvania. The Romanians broke through the Hungarian lines on April 19, after which they brought the Crișana under their control in the following days. However, they did not stop at the demarcation line established by the Entente, but advanced further west to an area largely populated by Hungarians. The Hungarian army built a new defense on the Nyíregyháza - Debrecen - Békéscsaba line, but this was also breached. By May 1, 1919, the Romanians conquered all Hungarian territories east of the Tisza River .
Expansion of the war to Slovakia and Bessarabia
Serbia had held back during the fighting between Romania and Hungary. Czechoslovakia, on the other hand, took advantage of the favorable military situation, conquered parts of Carpathian Ukraine and invaded northern (present-day) Hungary.
Nevertheless, Hungary's strategic situation improved from the beginning of May 1919, when Russia intervened in the war. Romania's annexation of Bessarabia was not recognized by Bolshevik Russia. However, due to the civil war in its own country, it was only able to provide small combat units for the reconquest of its territories. The first significant military action was the brief conquest of the city of Hotin at the end of January 1919, when the Russians, under Romanian pressure, had withdrawn behind the Dniester River . After the Romanian advance on the Tisza, Russia intensified its attacks in Bessarabia. However, an attack on Tighina was repulsed by the Romanians. They received support from the remains of a Franco-Greek army that had landed in Odessa to fight the communists, but had to retreat to Bessarabia.
Hungary and Romania signed an armistice. The communists needed time to reorganize their army , while the Romanians moved troops from the Tisza to the Dniester to repel Russia. Even if the Russian operations were unsuccessful, they were important for the Hungarian-Romanian War, as Romanian troops remained tied to the Eastern Front.
International negotiations
The armistice with Romania opened up new room for maneuver for the Hungarian communists. On their northern front, the Czechoslovaks had occupied Slovakia, a region that had a Hungarian majority in some areas. Under the leadership of their chief of staff, Aurél Stromfeld , the Hungarians brought southern Slovakia back under their control from May 20, 1919 (and later established the Slovak Soviet Republic there ); a Romanian relief attack failed. The Soviet Republic had thus broken the military connection between Romania and Czechoslovakia and gained domestic political prestige as a defender of state integrity.
In mid-June the Entente brokered an armistice between the warring parties. The agreement stipulated that the Romanian army would retreat behind the line Satu Mare-Oradea-Arad as soon as the Hungarians had left Czechoslovak territory. The communists accepted this plan because they feared a coordinated attack by their opponents and also hoped for an accommodation in future demarcation. However, the Romanian government declared that it only wanted to fulfill its part of the agreement after the Hungarian army was demobilized. Hungary then broke off the negotiations.
So far, France was the only member of the Entente to be a declared opponent of the Hungarian Soviet Republic. Great Britain and the United States, on the other hand, advocated a friendly solution in East Central Europe in order to have their hands free for a possible new war against Germany . However, the interest of the two great powers slackened after Germany signed the Versailles Treaty on June 28, 1919, so that from now on France determined the policy in East Central Europe and supported Romania's military action against the Hungarian Soviet Republic.
Battle on the Tisza
In view of the negative diplomatic stance of its neighboring powers, Hungary returned to a military policy. On July 17, 1919, Hungarian troops attacked the 250 kilometer long Tisza front in several places. If only a few hundred fighters were used in each of the battles in Bessarabia, significantly larger armies faced each other here. Both sides had about 50,000 infantrymen ; however, the Romanians could fall back on significantly more cavalry (12,000) than the Hungarians (less than 1,500). Although these had less artillery (69 versus 80), the Hungarian guns were larger.
After several days of bombardment, the Hungarians crossed the river in three places on July 20. They conquered some villages, but could not break through the Romanian defense line. The counterattack by the Romanians forced all Hungarian units to retreat across the Tisza by July 26th.
Conquest of Budapest
After their victory on the Tisza, the Romanians moved troops from Bessarabia to the west. After several days of fighting, they crossed the river on July 30, 1919 and established themselves on the western bank. The Hungarians then took up positions in front of their capital Budapest . On August 1, 1919, the southern Hungarian Army Group surrendered after fighting near Szolnok . Béla Kun then went to Russia via Austria. By August 3, the northern troops were also encircled by the Romanians and had to surrender. The Romanian army then marched into Budapest, and shortly thereafter also into Győr , where they ended their advance.
The fall of the Hungarian capital meant, on the one hand, the end of the Soviet republic and, on the other hand, the military victory of the Romanian troops. In the period that followed, they brought all of Hungary under their control, except for the south-west of the country ( Szeged ). With Romania's consent, Hungarian troops ruled there under the conservative Admiral Miklós Horthy . The Romanian army did not leave Budapest again until November 1919 and the rest of the rest of Hungary only between February 14 and March 28, 1920, drawing in war contributions .
consequences
Hungary
After the end of the Soviet Republic, Archduke Joseph August of Austria tried to form the new government in Hungary. However, he could not establish himself because the Entente did not want a Habsburg at the head of Hungary. On November 16, 1919, Admiral Horthy entered Budapest with his troops and on March 1, 1920 became the de facto head of state of Hungary. Domestically, this led to the persecution of Hungarian communists and Jews who were held responsible for the Soviet republic.
In terms of foreign policy, Hungary lost all leeway due to its defeat and on June 4, 1920, in the Treaty of Trianon, it accepted conditions dictated by the Entente. It lost Slovakia and Carpathian Ukraine in the north to Czechoslovakia, in the east Transylvania, the Kreisch area, Maramures and the eastern Banat to Romania, in the south Croatia and the western Banat to the new SHS state (Yugoslavia). Hungary had to agree to the transfer of around two thirds of its national territory and its population. In the period that followed, a revisionist movement emerged in Hungary which sought to restore the former state.
Romania
Romania had achieved its war goals , which were still from the First World War . Not only had it won the Austro-Hungarian territories promised in the 1916 Treaty of Bucharest, but also Bessarabia, a region that had belonged to its former ally Russia. Thus in 1920 all the predominantly Romanian populated areas had become part of Greater Romania . However, now large ethnic minorities also lived in the previously homogeneous nation-state. The largest were by far the Hungarians, who made up the majority of the population in the Szeklerland and some border areas. The Treaty of Trianon doubled the territory of Romania and increased its population from 7.2 to 18 million, the proportion of minorities in the total population from 8 to 30 percent.
In terms of foreign policy, Romania found itself in a precarious situation after 1920, as it had revisionist neighbors on three fronts. In addition to Russia and Hungary, the Romanians also made Bulgaria an enemy when they annexed southern Dobruja after the Second Balkan War of 1913 and insisted on its possession after the First World War. After Romania's domestic and foreign political situation deteriorated in the 1930s, it had to give up some of its acquisitions between 1940 and 1948. It permanently lost Bessarabia, northern Bukovina and southern Dobruja. Due to the Second Vienna Arbitration, Hungary temporarily got northern Transylvania back during this period, but lost it again to Romania after the Second World War .
Individual evidence
- ^ A b c d e Gyula Juhász: Hungarian Foreign Policy 1919–1945. Budapest 1979, pp. 14-27.
- ↑ Othmar Kolar: Romania and its national minorities, 1918 until today. Böhlau, Vienna 1997, p. 43.
- ^ A b Grecu Dan: The Romanian military Occupation of Hungary. In: Romanian Postal History Bulletin, No. 17, August 1995. Online version ( Memento of the original from September 30, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ^ A b Maria Ormos: The Hungarian Soviet Republic and Intervention by the Entente. In: Bela Kiraly, Peter Pastor, Ivan Sanders (Eds.): War and Society in East Central Europe, Essays on World War I. Total War and Peacemaking, A Case Study on Trianon. Volume 6. New York 1982. Online version ( Memento of the original from July 26, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ^ Elke Bornemann: The Peace of Bucharest 1918. Frankfurt am Main 1978, ISBN 3-261-01921-2 , p. 109.
