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

Hungary. 175 According to Count Sigray, all these came to be under difficult
circumstances. “While threatened from the East by Romanian occupation
(meaning Romanian troops wanted to capture Sopron and Szombathely—J.B.),
we had to be continually alert on the western border in case the Austrians
wanted to wanted to make use of the unreadiness resulting from the change in
government to take possession by arms of the German-populated areas of the
western counties. (…) We attributed great importance here to the question of
Western Hungary not only from a local perspective but from the perspective of
Hungary’s future, which the upper circles – with the exception of a few – did
not perhaps consider in its entire gravity. While those territorial areas which our
adversarial neighbors have simply taken, under various pretexts and without
opposition following the revolution, have de facto been under different
governments for long periods but Western Hungary, whose ownership is
demanded by our loyal ally in arms during the war, has never had Hungarian
rule interrupted, not even during the revolutionary period and not today – it
remains under Hungarian sovereignty.” 176 After the Saint-Germain treaty that
the Vienna government was forced to sign on September 10, 1919, the strip of
western Hungary awarded to Austria continued to be under Hungarian
administration because Austrian troops were still unable to occupy the territory.
The Supreme Council of the Paris Peace Conference notified Hungary on
December 1, almost three months after the signing of the Saint-Germain treaty,
to send representatives to receive and sign the peace treaty. The uninhibitedness
and contemptuousness of the Entente politicians was shown by the fact that
Hungary’s borders were decided and drawn by February – March of 1919,
while the summons to appear at the Peace Conference was only forwarded to
the Hungarian government nine months later. The Hungarian delegation, led by
Count Albert Apponyi (1846-1933), arrived in Paris on January 7, 1920. They
were quartered in the suburb of Neuilly. In a humiliating fashion – similar to
the other losers: Germany, Austria, Bulgaria – no direct negotiations were made
with Hungary. Apponyi was only able to make one address to the Council of
Five on January 16. He was even unable to contact the Entente representatives
in writing; mail was forwarded through Lt.Col. Henry, the head of the military
mission assigned to the Hungarian delegates to the peace ‘conference.’ Contact
with Budapest was through the French telephone and radio service (the French
naturally listened in) and couriers. 177
After their arrival, the members of the Hungarian delegation were
“immediately housed in a building, the Chateau de Madrid, under police guard.
The Hungarian delegates were forbidden to contact other members of the
conference, except by writing. As they were cut off from all personal contact,
the delegation members sent one memorandum after another and dispatched
175 Sigray, Antal: Nyugatmagyarország az ellenforradalomban [Western Hungary in the
counter-revolution]. In: Új Magyar Szemle, vol. II, 1920, issue 2, pp. 147–154.
176 Ibid, p. 151.
177 A magyar béketárgyalások [Hungarian peace negotiations]. Vol. I, pp 20-21.
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