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

Pozsony County and, in the Paris Peace Conference, in 1920, only asked for a
plebiscite in the city of Pozsony, with the reasoning that if it was not
Hungarian, then it is more German than Slovak. 112 The Entente Powers rejected
Austria’s request.
What justification did Austria, also a loser of the war with Hungary, have to
claim Western Hungary? In their memorandum, the Austrian delegation to
Paris presented arguments based on historic ‘rights,’ the food supply of Vienna,
military-defensive reasons and the wish of the local population to separate as
the basis for the annexation of Western Hungary. The Hungarian delegation
replied to the Austrian demands, which we will cover next. The extract below,
from an undated Hungarian submission, 113 is in response to the points raised in
the June 16, 1919 Austrian memorandum. 114 “Historical rights are claimed,
based on the ancient Germanic settlers of the area and certain pledges, which
Austrian princes were granted on certain castles or estates in later centuries by
the Hungarian kings. The majority of ancient settlers of the area were Slavs,
the sparse Germanics among them being Goths, and in the same manner, Avars
too, but the population was sparse and there was no country-like formation in
this region. No one laid claim to it, as there were not even border clashes here
for three hundred years after the Conquest, only in the 13 th c. with the buildup
of population. Beginning then, Austrian princes and nobles began to grasp for
the Hungarian border castles and large estates. This ambition strengthened
with the ascension to the throne by the Habsburgs but their aspiration was not
specifically toward Western Hungary but focused on the Hungarian throne. The
collateral rights the Habsburgs acquired through their pledges, the largest
among them from the eternally fiscally pinched King Sigismund, covering many
castles and large lands, were always of a personal nature. The peace treaty of
1463 codified the matter of rights over estate collateral given in exchange for a
loan in which Frederick III agreed, verbatim, that he enters into possession of
the collateral-held properties as a Hungarian nobleman, and that they lie
within the boundary of Hungary. The peace treaty also clarified Frederick’s
claim to the Hungarian throne. Hence, Austria cannot create a historical right
from the collateral nature of these estates, as they were granted to the
Habsburgs as rulers-in-waiting of the Hungarian throne, or from the nonrepayment
of the loan underlying the collateral because that was nullified when
the Habsburgs ascended to the Hungarian throne. In fact, Hungary could lay a
112
Halmosy, Dénes: Nemzetközi szerződések 1918–1945 [International agreements
1918-1945]. Budapest, 1983, p. 95.
113
Title: Ad XV. jegyzék. A Nyugat-Magyarországról szóló jegyzék kivonata [Note
XV. Synopsis of the note regarding Western Hungary]. In: A magyar béketárgyalások.
Jelentés a magyar békeküldöttség működéséről Neuilly s /S.-ben [-sur-Seineben] 1920.
januárius–március havában. I. köt. Kiadja a Magyar Kir. Külügyminisztérium.
Budapest, 1920, p. 458.
114
The historical background, from a legal history perspective that is still noteworthy
today, is suitably analyzed by Nagy, Iván: Nyugatmagyarország Ausztriában [Western
Hungary in Austria]. Pécs, 1937, pp. 12-17.
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