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

31, 1920. 215 French forces pulled out of Szeged on March 1.
A unique situation formed on the western edge of the country. Although the
Saint-Germain Treaty accorded a narrow strip of western Hungary to Austria,
lacking adequate military forces, the Vienna government was not able to take
effective possession for a long time. Thus, it remained under Hungarian
administration after the Trianon treaty of June 4, 1920, and even a large part of
the following year. With keen perception, the nationalistic government of
Count Pál Teleki (1879-1941), elected on July 19, 1920, set conditions for the
evacuation of the western territory ordered for handover. He would be willing
to comply with the Paris Peace Conference order only if the South Slav army
withdrew from Baranya County and its center, Pécs, and the areas surrounding
the nearby towns of Baja and Barcs, which were left to Hungary by the Trianon
decision.
In the rest of the truncated country, Miklós Horthy and the Hungarian
National Army gradually assumed control. However, concurrently, irregular
free units, similar to the ‘Ragged Guard’ [Rongyos Gárda] were being formed.
Their creation is primarily linked to Lt.Col. Pál Prónay 216 and the
215 Breit, József: A magyarországi 1918-19. évi forradalmi mozgalmak és a vörös
háború története [Hungarian revolutionary movements and the history of the Red war of
1918-1919]. Budapest, 1925; Laky, Dezső: Csonka-Magyarország megszállásának
közgazdasági kárai [Economic losses of the occupation of truncated Hungary].
Budapest, 1923. The book deals exclusively with the damages caused by the forces of
the successor states. Also, Bandholtz, Maj.Gen. Harry Hill: An Undiplomatic Diary.
Budapest, 1993.
The Romanian forces took everything movable with them that they could. From the
Royal Hungarian Railways: 1,292 engines, 2,006 coaches, 32,154 boxcars (and not
empty, either); the entire equipment of the Hungarian Cannon Foundry of Győr; 37,756
truckloads of goods. It was the personal intervention of Maj. Gen. Bandholtz on
October 5, 1919 that prevented the organized looting of the treasures of the Hungarian
National Museum in Budapest. The damages inflicted by the Romanian occupation
exclusively on the truncated territory left to Hungary after the Trianon Treaty amounted
to $29.65 billion (in US dollars as on August 15, 1919 valuation).
216 Baron Prónay, born in 1874. After a probationary year, as a professional soldier he
was promoted to lieutenant. He fought in WWI, was promoted to captain, then major.
He began to organize counter-revolutionary activities in Western Hungary in May of
1919 and joined the Anti-Bolshevik Comité in Vienna. From June, he served in the
headquarters of the Hungarian National Army, being organized under the command of
Miklós Horthy. As commander of a special unit raised by him, and bearing his name, he
was one of the chief leaders of the White Terror, in answer to the Red Terror after the
fall of the Hungarian Socialist Republic. His unit was active in Trans-Danubia, in the
region between the Danube and Tisza Rivers and, after the withdrawal of Romanian
troops, in the southeast of Hungary. In 1920, he was promoted to lieutenant colonel. He
became the leader of the Western Hungary insurrection after leaving the armed forces.
Between the two wars, he was a member, and occasionally head, of several secret
societies. During the 1944 period of the Iron Cross, he organized a new troop, several
of whose units separated and joined the resistance movement. Prónay, at the age of 71,
fought for weeks against the Russian forces trying to capture Castle Hill in Budapest.
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