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

Banate was declared to be Hungarian, all three languages were deemed to be
acceptable in official and private usage. As well, laws and regulations were
prescribed to be published in all three languages. It was based on this that the
organization for the setting up of the infrastructure of the new state was begun,
which, unfortunately, lasted a mere month. However, it is a fact that the
proclamation of Lajta-Banate speeded up the resolution of the Western
Hungary question.
According to the terms of the Venice Protocol, the Hungarian government
began to disarm the rebels in the second half of October, whom they sternly
instructed to lay down their arms. “A separate notice was addressed to
Hungarian functionaries and Hungarian officers who took part in the
insurrection to return home or face court action. A proclamation was aimed at
students of academies to return to their schools or face the loss of half of an
academic year. The population was warned not to support the rebels with either
money or arms, or face legal consequences. Finally, an appeal was made to the
enlisted men, and others not part of the mentioned groups, mainly officers and
non-commissioned officers, and other parties, to lay down the arms, otherwise
face legal charges of insurrection.” 439 Former prime minister Friedrich was first
to return permanently to Budapest; however, his unit came under the command
of commander Prónay. Prime Minister Bethlen tried to convince the
commander of the Lajta-Banate forces in a long October 17 letter that all
further resistance was futile and continued fighting was especially dangerous
for the results obtained in the Venice Protocol. In his reply two days later,
Prónay attempted to bear out that he was in no position to comply with the
government’s request.
The Hungarian government finally conceded Western Hungary, in return for
a plebiscite for Sopron and its surrounding area, which sealed the fate of Lajta-
Banate. The second return attempt of Charles IV (October 20 to 24) 440 only
temporarily disrupted the disarmament of the rebels active in Lajta-Banate and
the government’s evacuation of Western Hungary. Gen. Árpád Guilleaume,
commander of the Szombathely district, was assigned the execution of those
two tasks. The district command counter-intelligence section only notified
Governor Horthy and the Hungarian government at 04:30 on October 22 of the
return of Charles IV and the prior events. Since Gen. Guilleaume did not want
to swear allegiance to the king, Commissioner Sigray relieved him of his post
in the afternoon of October 21. At a special session of the Cabinet the following
morning, the decision was taken to relieve Commissioner Sigray of his position
and replace him with Gen. Guilleaume. However, the influence of Charles IV
was stronger in Szombathely and the commander of the military district, Gen.
László Horváth had Gen. Guilleaume arrested. After the failure of the
monarchists at Budaörs, Gen. Guilleaume resumed his post the same
439 Ádám T., 1939, op. cit., pp. 81–82.
440 To be covered in more detail in the next chapter.
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