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

Based on the Czechoslovak’s demands and the Beneš memorandum, the
representatives of the Kingdom of Serbs-Croats-Slovenes immediately joined
with the Western Hungary Slav corridor plan and without delay came forward
with new territorial demands. Their plan would have seen the establishment of
the corridor running through Trans-Danubia from the town of Baja, North of
Pécs in a western direction to the southwestern corner of Lake Balaton,
following the course of the Zala and Rába Rivers, to end at Lake Fertő. The
hastily composed demand of the Belgrade government would have
encompassed two-thirds of the Hungarian populated counties of Somogy and
Zala, the eastern part of Vas County and even the eastern third of Sopron
County. This additional new claim of approx. 7,000 km 2 brought Serbian
claims of Hungarian territory to a total of 52,065 km 2 . (approx. 1.25 million
acres).
These unrealistic claims could only be justified by astonishing feats of logic.
The South Slav Kingdom always preferred to use two: spreading of fictitious
data and military power. Under this plan, Czechoslovakia would have received
all of Moson County and the western portions of Sopron and Vas counties. On
top of it all, the Serb military command demanded in a February 10 note the
permanent annexation of the already occupied city of Pécs and its surrounding
coalfields. Satisfying the new territorial claim would have meant that the
entirety of the southern Trans-Danubia, including the Mecsek Mountains, and
even a part of western Trans-Danubia, would have been attached to the
Kingdom of Serbs-Croats-Slovenes.
Subsequently, a new Belgrade plan was formulated, this one far more
modest in its demands. According to this one, the Hungarian territory to come
under South Slav control would lie South of the Barcs–Nagykanizsa–
Szentgotthárd line. North of this line and West of a straight line from
Nagykanizsa to Győr would have become a part of Czechoslovakia. In the
meantime, at the end of February, the Czech-Slovak representatives presented
their final plan concerning the Slav corridor to the Peace Conference, which,
naturally enough, was supported by the South Slav delegates. Compared to the
plan presented during the war, the then 150-200 km. wide Western Hungary
corridor had now shrunk to about 100km. with its eastern boundary now
running between Magyaróvár to Nagykanizsa. This demand was based not on
ethic principles but historical (claiming the area was Slav populated before the
Hungarian conquest) and strategic ones (separating the Hungarians and
Germans). None of the Entente representatives were in support of the plan.
In the end, the proposed Slav corridor failed to materialize because the
British authorities were sharply against annexing the Vend/Slovene populated
area between Szentgotthárd and the Mura River to the South Slav state.
Leaving this area with Hungary was beneficial for Hungary because it
indirectly rejected the territorial claims of Czechoslovakia and the Serb-Croat-
Slovene Kingdom against Western Hungary. Subsequently, the appropriate
1914], pp. 74, 77.
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