The Fate of Western Hungary 1918-1921 - Corvinus Library ...

trade concessions. This was justified by reasoning that its original claims were
already reduced to a quarter, while the Austrian leadership consistently rejected
every one of its counter-proposals. The Hungarian government sought
assurances in its final (August 18) proposal: 1. Austria agrees that the claimed
areas – at least Sopron and its surroundings – remain a part of Hungary until the
conclusion of the dialogue. 2. This fact to be conveyed to the Council of
Ambassadors in Paris. 3. That public administration officials in the ceded area
remain in their jobs. 264
The Hungarian government also stated that, in the matter of the affiliation of
contested areas, as a final solution, it will agree to a decision by plebiscite, with
the proviso that the affected areas do not first come under Austrian
administration. If the Austrian government is not willing to accept this, then
Hungary requested agreement primarily to the following issues: exchange of
currency, assurance on tax arrears, settlement of the government’s debts and
war bonds resulting from the war, as well as various guarantees for the
Hungarian state assets in Western Hungary. The Bethlen government estimated
that the common Austrian-Hungarian assets on the to-be-annexed territory ran
to 3.971 billion Kroner. Of that, Hungary tried to tie the recovery of its
proportion to the handover of Western Hungary, as well as the withdrawal of
South Slav troops from southern Hungary. In fact, it stated that, if it was unable
to come to an agreement with the Vienna government, Budapest would only
cede Western Hungary if it was forced to do so by an ultimatum from the
Entente.
From the above negotiations, it can clearly be seen that the earlier Teleki
government, and from the middle of April, 1921, the Bethlen government,
strongly defended Western Hungary, and indeed generally Hungarian, interests
to the last possible moment. We will later show numerous examples of it. The
very fixed stance of the Bethlen government finally forced the Austrian Foreign
Affairs committee to make concessions to Hungary’s demands at their August
27 session. The committee authorized the Vienna government, with the
agreement of the signatories of the Saint-Germain treaty, to solve the border
dispute one year after the handover of Western Hungary by the expressed wish
of the people. Although they did not use the term ‘plebiscite,’ the Austrian
decision was clearly a political victory for the Hungarian government.
The giving up of the millennial western border region caused great mental
anguish in the population remaining in a Hungary dismembered after the
Trianon Peace Decree. Popular opinion was most upset by the fact that its ally
and co-loser in the war, Austria, also grew in territory torn from Hungary. The
events greatly influenced the population of Sopron, mainly German-speaking
but of Hungarian-sentiment, who were especially dispirited and embittered on
August 20, 1921 [Hungary’s national day-ed.]. This was the day that posters
appeared all around the city whereby the Entente Mission announced the
handover plan of Western Hungary. The time and date of the official handover
264 Soós, 1971, op. cit., pp. 132–133.
109