There was a period of revolutions and interventions in Hungary between 1918 and 1920. The First Hungarian Republic was founded from the ruins of the Austro-Hungarian Empire by Mihály Károlyi during the Aster Revolution in 1918, at the end of

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

. In March 1919, the republic was overturned by another revolution, and the Hungarian Soviet Republic was created. Unresolved conflicts led to wars between Hungary and its neighbor states (

Kingdom of Romania The Kingdom of Romania () was a constitutional monarchy that existed from with the crowning of prince Karl of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen as King of Romania, King Carol I of Romania, Carol I (thus beginning the Romanian royal family), until 1947 wit ...

,David Parker
Revolutions and the revolutionary tradition in the West, 1560-1991
Routledge, 2000, p. 170. Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes and the evolving

Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia ( ; Czech language, Czech and , ''Česko-Slovensko'') was a landlocked country in Central Europe, created in 1918, when it declared its independence from Austria-Hungary. In 1938, after the Munich Agreement, the Sudetenland beca ...

) in 1919. The Hungarian Soviet Republic ceased to exist after the Romanian occupation. The 1920 Treaty of Trianon in Versailles created the

Kingdom of Hungary The Kingdom of Hungary was a monarchy in Central Europe that existed for nearly a millennium, from 1000 to 1946 and was a key part of the Habsburg monarchy from 1526-1918. The Principality of Hungary emerged as a Christian kingdom upon the Coro ...

Background

The dissolution of Austria-Hungary after its defeat in WWI created the volatile and politically unstable atmosphere in Central Europe. The armistice of Belgrade signed on 13 November 1918 defined a demarcation line marking the southern limit of deployment of most Hungarian armed forces. It left large parts of the Lands of the Crown of Saint Stephen (the Hungarian part of

Austria-Hungary Austria-Hungary, also referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Dual Monarchy or the Habsburg Monarchy, was a multi-national constitutional monarchy in Central Europe#Before World War I, Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. A military ...

) outside Hungarian control – including parts or entire regions of

Transylvania Transylvania ( or ; ; or ; Transylvanian Saxon dialect, Transylvanian Saxon: ''Siweberjen'') is a List of historical regions of Central Europe, historical and cultural region in Central Europe, encompassing central Romania. To the east and ...

Banat Banat ( , ; ; ; ) is a geographical and Historical regions of Central Europe, historical region located in the Pannonian Basin that straddles Central Europe, Central and Eastern Europe. It is divided among three countries: the eastern part lie ...

, Bačka, Baranya, as well as Croatia-Slavonia. It also spelled out in eighteen points the obligations imposed on Hungary by the Allies. Those obligations included Hungary's armed forces being reduced to eight divisions, the clearing of

naval mine A naval mine is a self-contained explosive weapon placed in water to damage or destroy surface ships or submarines. Similar to anti-personnel mine, anti-personnel and other land mines, and unlike purpose launched naval depth charges, they are ...

s, as well as the turning over of certain quantities of rolling stock, river ships,

tugboat A tugboat or tug is a marine vessel that manoeuvres other vessels by pushing or pulling them, with direct contact or a tow line. These boats typically tug ships in circumstances where they cannot or should not move under their own power, suc ...

barge A barge is typically a flat-bottomed boat, flat-bottomed vessel which does not have its own means of mechanical propulsion. Original use was on inland waterways, while modern use is on both inland and ocean, marine water environments. The firs ...

s, river monitors, horses and other

materiel Materiel or matériel (; ) is supplies, equipment, and weapons in military supply-chain management, and typically supplies and equipment in a commerce, commercial supply chain management, supply chain context. Military In a military context, ...

to the Allies. Hungary was also obliged to make certain personnel available to repair wartime damage inflicted on

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's telegraph infrastructure, as well as to provide personnel to staff railways. The terms of the armistice and the subsequent actions of the Allies embittered a significant part of Hungary's population and caused the downfall of the First Hungarian Republic, which had been established only days after its signing. In 1919, the First Hungarian Republic was replaced by the communist-ruled Hungarian Soviet Republic.

Military conflicts

During the war, the Hungarian communists fought separate battles against troops from

and

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

, and

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

was also highly involved diplomatically in the conflicts. By the war's final stage, more than 120,000 troops on both sides were involved. Appealing to Hungarians with promises of regaining the land lost to neighboring countries within a week of his rise to power, Kun declared war upon Czechoslovakia as Hungarian forces invaded Upper Hungary on May 20, capturing southern territories within weeks. In the face of advancing Hungarian troops, the Allies began to put pressure on the Hungarian government, and within three weeks with Kun's assurances of Russian support failing to materialise, Hungary was forced to withdraw from the just-proclaimed Slovak Soviet Republic after Kun had been given an ultimatum by France, together with a guarantee that Romanian forces would retreat from Tiszántúl. The Romanians disregarded the guarantees of the French leadership and remained on the eastern banks of the Tisza River. The Hungarian government, claiming to impose the will of the Allies on Romania and seeing that it would not be compelled by diplomatic solutions, resolved to clear the threat by military force once and for all. Hungary planned to throw the Romanians out of Tiszántúl, destroy the Romanian Army and even retake

. However, the Hungarian offensive was defeated by the Romanian Army, and despite all previous pledges, agreements, and guarantees, the Romanians crossed the Tisza and quickly advanced towards the Hungarian capital,

Budapest Budapest is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns of Hungary, most populous city of Hungary. It is the List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, tenth-largest city in the European Union by popul ...

. It fell on August 4, only three days before Kun escaped to

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

. The destruction of the Hungarian Soviet Republic and the Romanian occupation of parts of Hungary proper, including Budapest in August 1919, ended the war. The Romanian troops withdrew from Hungary in March 1920 after they had seized large amounts of goods from Hungary, which they regarded as war reparations.

Prekmurje and Yugoslav Clashes against Hungary

''See also 1918 occupation of Međimurje and

Creation of Yugoslavia Yugoslavia was a State (polity), state concept among the South Slavs, South Slavic intelligentsia and later popular masses from the 19th to early 20th centuries that culminated in its realization after the 1918 collapse of Austria-Hungary at th ...

'' Shortly after the

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was liberated, the new Banat republic was proclaimed on 1 November, but it was not able to achieve control over most of the territory it claimed; the Belgrade Agreement of 15 November 1918 and previous Allied promises had mandated Serbian control, and the Serbian army entered western and central parts of Banat (including Temeschwar) and abolished the republic; the Romanian army entered the eastern part of the region. Bačka and Baranja were also handed over to a provisional local Serbian administration that governed from

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. Meanwhile a revolt erupted in several villages in the eastern Međimurje and quickly spread across the region among the population. The next day the revolt was suppressed and some of the revolutionaries were executed. On 13 of November, the State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs launched an attempt to capture Međimurje. Finally, on December 24, the Kingdom of Yugoslavia launched another offensive on Međimurje, which was successful and managed to take control all over Međimurje. The fighting in the region ended after the Yugoslav offensive. On 29 May, the new Republic of Prekmurje was proclaimed, which was invaded and occupied by the Hungarian Soviet Republic one week after its independence. On 1 August, the Hungarian Soviet Republic was overthrown by

n forces, and soon, the Yugoslav Army marched into Prekmurje and ended the communist rule there. The Treaty of Trianon assigned most of the Baranja region to Hungary, which led to massive protests and to a group of people, under the painter Petar Dobrović, to proclaim a Serb-Hungarian Baranya-Baja Republic. The republic lasted only a few days, and on 25 August 1921 it was invaded and annexed by Hungary, in accordance with Hungarian borders defined by the Treaty of Trianon.

Aftermath

After the Hungarian–Romanian War, the country was totally defeated. In the name of what they considered to be war reparations, the Romanian government requested the delivery of 50% of the country's rolling stock, 30% of its livestock and 20,000 carloads of fodder and even assessed payment for their expenditures. By early 1920, it had seized much from Hungary, including food, trucks, locomotives and railroad cars, factory equipment and even the telephones and typewriters from government offices;Cecil D. Eby
Hungary at war: civilians and soldiers in World War II

Penn State University Press The Penn State University Press, also known as The Pennsylvania State University Press, is a non-profit publisher of scholarly books and journals. Established in 1956, it is the independent publishing branch of the Pennsylvania State University ...

, 2007, p. 4 the Hungarians regarded the Romanian seizures as looting. The Romanian occupation lasted for nearly six months.Louise Chipley Slavicek
The Treaty of Versailles
Infobase Publishing, 2010, p. 84 After the Romanian occupation, Miklós Horthy's " White Terror" was carried out in response to the previous "

Red Terror The Red Terror () was a campaign of political repression and Mass killing, executions in Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, Soviet Russia which was carried out by the Bolsheviks, chiefly through the Cheka, the Bolshevik secret police ...

". The Hungarians had to cede all war materials except weapons that were necessary for the troops under Horthy's command.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Revolutions and interventions in Hungary (1918-20) 20th-century revolutions Communism in Hungary Communist revolutions Revolutions in Hungary Wars involving Czechoslovakia Wars involving France Wars involving Hungary Wars involving Romania Proxy wars Revolutions of 1917–1923 Subsidiary conflicts of World War I Wars between the Czech Republic and Hungary Wars involving Slovenia Wars involving Croatia Wars involving Yugoslavia Croatia–Hungary relations Hungary–Yugoslavia relations 20th-century military history of France Hungary 1918–1920