The Treaty of Trianon (; ; ; ), often referred to in Hungary as the Peace Dictate of Trianon or Dictate of Trianon, was prepared at the Paris Peace Conference. It was signed in the Grand Trianon at Versailles on 4 June 1920, and formally terminated World War I between most of the Allies of World War I and the Kingdom of Hungary. The treaty is known for the territorial changes imposed on Hungary and recognition of its new borders after World War I.
As part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Hungary had been involved in World War I since August 1914. After its allies signed armistices with the Entente, the political elite in Budapest also opted to end the war. On 31 October 1918, the Budapest government declared independence of Hungary from Austria and began peace talks with the Allies which led to an armistice on 13 November 1918. Hungary demobilised its army and granted the Allies the right to occupy the country's south and east until a peace treaty was signed. In December 1918, Budapest allowed Czechoslovak troops to occupy the country's north. In exchange, Budapest hoped to reopen trade and a supply of coal. Despite the end of hostilities, Hungary's neighbours Czechoslovakia, Romania, and The Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes blockaded the country, preventing it from importing food, fuel, and other important goods. Successive Hungarian governments pleaded with the Entente to lift the blockade. In April 1919, Romania and Czechoslovakia moved their armies further into Hungary, provoking a renewal of hostilities. In June, the Entente ordered them to cease fighting and accept new demarcation lines that would be guaranteed as the future borders of Hungary. Romania ignored the order, however the Entente orchestrated the formation of a new government which was invited to attend the Paris Peace Conference. The treaty, received in January 1920, legalized the existing demarcation lines as the new borders, guaranteed the end of the blockade and restoration of trade between the former Habsburg lands, as well as importing of coal into Hungary.
The treaty was dictated by the Allies rather than negotiated, and Hungary faced a decision to accept or reject it in full. The Hungarian delegation signed the treaty under protest; agitation for its revision began immediately. While the government in Budapest welcomed the restoration of peace and trade, it continued to protest the cession of its former territories without plebiscites. The treaty was signed on 4 June 1920, ratified by Hungary on 16 November 1920 and came into force on 26 July 1921. The boundaries of Hungary have remained mostly the same since then, with minor modifications in 1921–24 and 1947, excepting the short-lived aggrandizement that Hungary undertook in 1938–1941. One of the treaty's elements was the "self-determination of peoples" doctrine, an attempt to give non-Hungarians of the former empire their own states. However, the Allies refused to organise plebiscites as the basis for drawing new borders which they explained in the Millerand letter accompanying the treaty. The letter explained that the lack of plebiscites was due to the belief that "a popular consultation ... would not produce significantly different results". The letter suggested that the Council of the League of Nations might offer its mediation to rectify the new borders amicably if suggested by the delimitation commission. Hungarian diplomats pointed to the letter as a Great Powers promise of territorial revisions in favour of Hungary. In 1921, one plebiscite was permitted settling a small territorial dispute between the First Austrian Republic and Kingdom of Hungary.
The post-1920 Hungary became a landlocked state of and 7.6 million people, 28% of the land and 36% of the population in the pre-war Kingdom of Hungary. The areas allocated to neighbouring countries had 3.3 million Hungarians which became minorities in the new jurisdictions. The treaty limited Hungary's army to 35,000 men, and the Austro-Hungarian Navy ceased to exist. It required Hungary to pay war reparations to its neighbours. These decisions and their consequences have caused resentment in Hungary ever since. Hungary's neighbours were the treaty's primary beneficiaries. The treaty led to international recognition of Hungary, and its sovereignty while granting Hungarian citizens abroad right of protection of their property from nationalization.
Background First World War and Austro-Hungarian Armistice
On 28 June 1914, the heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary, the Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, was assassinated by a Serbian nationalist. This caused a rapidly escalating July Crisis resulting in Austria-Hungary declaring war on Serbia, followed quickly by the entry of most European powers into the First World War. Two alliances faced off, the Central Powers (led by Germany) and the Triple Entente (led by Britain, France and Russia). In 1918 Germany tried to overwhelm the Allies on the Western Front but failed. Instead the Allies began a successful counteroffensive and forced the Armistice of 11 November 1918 that resembled a surrender by the Central Powers.Wiest, Andrew (2012) The Western Front 1917–1918: From Vimy Ridge to Amiens and the Armistice. Amber. pp. 126, 168, 200.
On 6 April 1917, the United States entered the war against Germany and in December 1917 against Austria-Hungary. The American war aim was to end aggressive militarism as shown by Berlin and Vienna; the United States never formally joined the Allies. President Woodrow Wilson acted as an independent force, and his Fourteen Points were accepted by Germany as a basis for the armistice of November 1918. It outlined a policy of free trade, open agreements, and democracy. While the term was not used, self-determination was assumed. It called for a negotiated end to the war, international disarmament, the withdrawal of the Central Powers from occupied territories, the creation of a Polish state, the redrawing of Europe's borders along ethnic lines, and the formation of a League of Nations to guarantee the political independence and territorial integrity of all states.Fourteen Points Speech. Wikisource. It called for a just and democratic peace uncompromised by territorial annexation. Point ten announced Wilson's "wish" that the peoples of Austria-Hungary be given autonomy—a point that Vienna rejected.
The Hungarian Parliament, led by Prime Minister Sándor Wekerle, agreed to the proposal to discuss peace on the basis of Wilson's Fourteen Points. At the same time, it declared that the problem of non-Hungarian nations in Hungary was an internal matter for the state. Wekerle refused to publicly admit that the war was lost. Responding to that, Count Mihály Károlyi said that "We have lost the war. Now the main thing is not to lose the peace" and called for a democratic Hungary to conclude the most advantageous peace with the Entente. Count István Tisza responded that although Károlyi was right that the war was lost, Hungary did not need further democratisation during wartime. The only important task was to preserve the territorial integrity of Hungary, which Tisza claimed did not go against Wilson's points. (Tisza was bitterly unpopular among ethnic Hungarian votersCieger András. Kormány a mérlegen – a múlt században and therefore his party National Party of Work drew most of his votes from ethnic minorities during the parliamentary elections.András Gerő (2014). Nationalities and the Hungarian Parliament (1867–1918) .) The non-Hungarian ethnic groups of Hungary would receive only small concession. The sole Slovak member of the parliament, , opened his speech by denying the right of the Hungarian parliament to speak or act in the name of the Slovaks, declared that only the Slovak National Council had the right to represent Slovaks at the peace conference and demanded the right to self-determination for all nations of Hungary. The Hungarian parliament erupted in anger, shouting, "Where is this council!? Where is the Slovak nation!? What county does it live in!? Who is this really!? Stop him speaking!!"
On 18 October Woodrow Wilson responded to the peace offer of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy, burying the hope that federalization would preserve its territorial integrity. Wilson emphasized that since his Fourteen Points on 8 January the situation has changed, that the USA has recognized the Czechoslovak National Council in Paris as a de facto government, and that the "oppressed nations of Austria-Hungary will themselves assess what will satisfy their aspirations and their rights". In his last political speech to the Hungarian parliament, Tisza bitterly complained about how the Entente powers "negotiated with the internal enemies of the state" which meant that now he was forced to enter talks with "the phantasmagoria of a Czechoslovak state". Wekerle responded that they will negotiate with them "only if they first give up on the idea of turning Hungary into Eastern Switzerland". Wekerle promised the parliament that they will tell Wilson that "we know of no Czechoslovak union, only of a Czech union". The Hungarian government agreed to begin negotiations with the nationalities, promise them some minor concessions and if these were not accepted, they would hold a plebiscite and make sure its resolution was favorable to Hungarians and the integrity of Hungary. They would inform President Wilson of the results and the conditions for peace would be fulfilled. Only a minority of Hungarian politicians, led by Mihály Károlyi, sought preservation in the democratisation of the semi-feudal kingdom, which still lacked universal suffrage. (Similar to Hungary, the most Western European countries did not have universal suffrage before the end of WW1. The UK introduced universal suffrage after WWI with the Representation of the People Act 1918). All feudal privileges of the Hungarian nobility was erased by the April Laws of 1848.
Germany, the major ally of Austria-Hungary in World War I, suffered numerous losses during the Hundred Days Offensive between August and November 1918 and was in negotiation of armistice with Allied Powers from the beginning of October 1918. Between 15 and 29 September 1918, Franchet d'Espèrey, in command of a relative small army of Greeks (9 divisions), French (6 divisions), Serbs (6 divisions), British (4 divisions) and Italians (1 division), staged a successful Vardar offensive in Vardar Macedonia that ended by taking Bulgaria out of the war. That collapse of the Southern (Italian) Front was one of several developments that effectively triggered the November 1918 armistice. By the end of October 1918, the Austro-Hungarian Army was so fatigued that its commanders were forced to seek a ceasefire. Czechoslovakia and the State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs were proclaimed, and troops started deserting, disobeying orders and retreating. Many Czechoslovak troops, in fact, started working for the Allied cause, and in September 1918, five Czechoslovak Regiments were formed in the Italian Army. The launch of an offensive by 51 Entente divisions along the whole Italian front on 24 October 1918 lead to the destruction of the Austro-Hungarian army. The troops of Austria-Hungary started a chaotic withdrawal during the Battle of Vittorio Veneto, and Austria-Hungary began to negotiate a truce on 28 October, which they signed at Padua on 3 November 1918.
The Hungarian Parliament dissolved on 23 October after learning of a revolution in Rijeka, Croatia, where the 79th Infantry regiment rebelled and occupied the town. Fearing the spread of revolution from Croatia to Hungary, Prime Minister Wekerle resigned under pressure.
Aster Revolution and the First Hungarian Republic