Treaty of Trianon

The Treaty of Trianon was a major peace agreement that formally ended the state of war between the Kingdom of Hungary and the Allied and Associated Powers. It was signed on June 4, 1920, at the Grand Trianon château in Versailles, France.

This treaty is most significant because it established the new international borders for Hungary following World War I. These borders fundamentally changed the size and shape of the Hungarian state. The treaty was not a negotiation between equals. Instead, the Allies dictated the terms to the Hungarian government. This meant Hungary had to accept the entire document or reject it completely.

To understand the treaty, one must look at the chaos following World War I. Before the war, Hungary was part of the large Austro-Hungarian Empire. After the war ended, the political situation in Budapest shifted rapidly. On October 31, 1918, the Hungarian government declared independence from Austria. This move was intended to begin peace talks with the Allies. However, neighboring countries like Romania and Czechoslovakia placed an economic blockade on Hungary. This blockade prevented the import of vital goods like food and fuel, including coal and petrol.

This economic crisis made the situation for Hungarian citizens very difficult.

The process of defining borders involved several military and political stages. In November 1918, an armistice was signed in Belgrade. This agreement required Hungary to demobilize its army and allow Allied occupation of certain areas. Specifically, the Allies were granted rights to occupy the east and south of Hungary. In April 1919, tensions rose when Romania and Czechoslovakia moved their armies further into Hungarian territory. This caused a renewal of hostilities between these nations. By June 1919, the Entente powers ordered a ceasefire and established new demarcation lines. These lines were intended to serve as the future borders of the country.

The treaty was heavily influenced by the doctrine of "self-determination of peoples." This concept was championed by U.S. President Woodrow Wilson in his Fourteen Points. The idea suggested that different ethnic groups should have the right to form their own national states.

In theory, this would allow the non-Hungarian groups of the former empire to govern themselves. However, the Allies did not use plebiscites, which are local votes, to decide the new borders. A cover letter from the Paris Peace Conference stated that the Allies believed such consultations would not change the results significantly. This decision meant that borders were drawn by the Great Powers rather than by the people living in those regions.

The mathematical impact of the treaty on Hungary was profound. The new Hungary became a landlocked state, meaning it had no access to the sea. It retained only 28% of the territory that had made up the pre-war Kingdom of Hungary. The population also saw a massive reduction. The population fell from 20.9 million people to just 7.6 million.

This change left 3.3 million ethnic Hungarians living outside the new borders. These people became minorities in the new jurisdictions of neighboring countries. This demographic shift remains one of the most important aspects of the treaty's legacy.

The treaty also imposed strict military and economic limitations on the nation. The Hungarian army was restricted to a maximum of 35,000 officers and men. Additionally, the Austro-Hungarian Navy ceased to exist entirely. Hungary was also required to pay war reparations to its neighboring countries. To help the economy, the treaty guaranteed free trade between Hungary, Austria, and Czechoslovakia for five years. It also required Czechoslovakia and Poland to supply coal to Hungary in reasonable quantities.

These economic rules were meant to stabilize the region after the war.

Despite the hardships, the treaty provided some legal protections and recognitions. It granted Hungary international recognition and sovereignty as a nation. It also canceled the previous Belgrade armistice and the Allied right to occupy Hungarian land. Furthermore, the treaty protected the property rights of Hungarian citizens living abroad from nationalization. While the Hungarian delegation signed the document under protest, they did so to restore trade and peace. The treaty's borders remained largely the same for decades. Even after minor changes in the 1920s and 1940s, the modern boundaries of Hungary are still based on the lines set at Trianon.