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

Westungarn, but continued to ask for a plebiscite among the population,
directed by the Entente Powers, to decide if the people wanted to belong to
Austria or Hungary. Renner’s advisors brought up that the deciding point of the
peace treaty’s decision, to increase the viability of Austria, becomes totally
irrelevant if Moson County is divided into two. Austria would be deprived of
exactly the part of the county that plays a deciding role in feeding Vienna.
Moreover, they asked for a plebiscite in the Kőszeg and Szentgotthárd districts,
with its large German population. The previous action may seem generous but,
in reality, it was not for Hungary’s benefit. They were trying to create a
precedent for a future plebiscite in Styria, where Austria lost significant
territories. 133 A few days later, Chancellor Renner modified his previous
position and sent a note to President Clemenceau offering to send Austrian
military units to liquidate remaining pockets of Hungarian communists.
During these weeks, especially in August of 1919, the Western Hungary
situation was very murky. Grabbing the opportunity, the Czech-Slovak and
Serb armies began a concerted campaign for the creation of the Western
Hungarian Slav corridor, in spite of the fact that this plan of Beneš was rejected
by the Peace Conference on March 8. After the occupation of the
Muraköz/Međimurje region in the previous year, between August 12 and 17,
Serb forces advanced and took the part of Zala and Vas Counties today called
Muravidék (the portion of the former Alsólendva, Muraszombat, Szentgotthárd,
Letenye and Nagykanizsa districts, totaling 894 km 2 , 155 villages with a
population of 67,800. 134 (The events between the end of 1918 and August of
1919 in southern Vas County, the Vend area and the Mura River region will be
treated in the next chapter.)
In the meantime, the Czech-Slovak armies were not idle in the North. On
August 14, they crossed the line of demarcation on August 14 at the village of
Pozsonyligetfalu on the Danube’s right bank and disarmed the local 50-man
Hungarian outpost, the so-called Danube sentries. On hearing this, the district
military commander in Szombathely ordered the local command headquarters
of Moson County to ask, through a peace negotiator, for the withdrawal of
Czech-Slovak forces. The invaders refused. In fact, they stated that they crossed
the line of demarcation to secure the bridgehead South of Pozsony, that their
aim was not to occupy Moson County. Later, they pressed South of the
bridgehead but soon returned to their former positions. 135 The reason was that
the Entente Powers prohibited fresh military action by the Serb and Czech-
Slovak armies for the creation of the Slav corridor.
Meanwhile, the Austrian government became emboldened and sent irregular
units into Vas County on August8, which the Hungarian forces quickly
repelled. The Hungarian government sent a diplomatic note to Vienna on
133 Soós, 1971, op. cit., pp. 30–31.
134 Zsiga, Tibor: Horthy ellen, a királyért [Against Horthy, for the King]. Budapest,
1989, p. 32.
135 Ibid, p. 33.
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