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

declaration.” 3 The basis for the declaration was the Lamasch government’s
Schönbrunn Proclamation, prepared the previous day, November 11, in which
Charles IV stated: “In advance, I recognize German-Austria’s decision
regarding its future state organization.” Although the proclamation did not
contain a reference to his abdication from the throne, in light of circumstances,
it essentially meant the end of 700 years of Habsburg rule.
As a result of the visit and urging of the representatives of the Hungarian
Upper House, led by Gyula Wlassics, on the following day, November 13, king
Charles IV issued the Eckartsau Proclamation, which was essentially a repeat of
the Schönbrunn Manifesto and announced: “I resign from all participation in
the affairs of the state and agree to whatever form of state Hungary will
decide.” Subsequently, the decision of the Hungarian National Assembly
announced on November 16, according to which, henceforth Hungary was a
“sovereign and independent people’s republic.” The so-called Eckartsau
proclamation made use of the same form which the ruler accepted on
November 11 as Charles I, Emperor of Austria, not abdicating from, or
renouncing all claims to, the throne. After these two proclamations, the ruler
and his family moved to Switzerland. During his later two attempts to regain
the Hungarian throne in 1921, Charles tried to make use of the latter
proclamation as the legal basis for his claim to the Hungarian crown.
In the meantime, sensing the totally impotent actions of the Károlyi
government (according to some signs intentional) – especially the disarmament
of the Hungarian soldiers returning from the front – the German population
living in western Hungary saw a surge in the movement to separate, whose
roots stretch back a decade. In the heat of a 1905 Austrian parliamentary
debate, it was suggested that Hungary cede its western, German-populated area,
occupied by Austro-Hungarian troops as part of the terms of the 1878 Berlin
Congress, in exchange for governing power over Bosnia-Herzegovina, under
civilian public administration since 1882.
Shortly after, in the summer of 1906, Josef Patry, Austrian newspaper
reporter, from the Czech Sudeten region, once again brought up in a Viennese
paper 4 the detachment and annexation of Western Hungary. This time, in
response to the fact that, in some Hungarian political circles, the possibility of
annexation of Bosnia-Herzegovina to Hungary became a daily topic. In his
writing, Patry predicted the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian Monarch, and its
break-up. As a result, German-Austria must lay claim to the area between the
Danube and Raba rivers and, furthermore, not only Pozsony [today Bratislava]
and Győr but, for military reasons, the city of Komárom, too, as well as the
3 Wlassics, Gyula: Az eckartsaui nyilatkozat. A királykérdés. I–II. Rész [The Eckartsau
declaration. Monarchic question, part I-II]. In: Új Magyar Szemle, year II, vol. I, issue
1, January 1921, pp. 21–26; A trónöröklés. III. Rész [The Succession, part III]. In: issue
2, February 1921, pp. 133–138; Nagy, József: IV. Károly. Az utolsó magyar király
[Charles IV. The last Hungarian king]. Budapest, 1995.
4 Patry, Josef: Westungarn zu Deutschösterreich. [Western Hungary to German-
Austria.] In: Alldeutsche Tagblatt, June 17, 1906.
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