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

Hungarian Cabinet meeting, that under the terms of the Saint-Germain and
Trianon treaties, it was to be the recipient of Western Hungary. Chancellor
Michael Mayr informed the Foreign Committee of the Austrian government of
it and added: the Czechoslovak and South Slav governments offered military
assistance to help take control over the area, and rejected the plebiscite once
again suggested by Hungary. 236
The January 13 note of Hungary – authoritatively worded, legally based on
the Millerand letter and extensively reasoned – was answered on January 27
when the president of the Council of Ambassadors, Jules Cambon, handed
Hungarian chargé d’affaires in Paris, Iván Praznovszky, its reply. The tone of
the note made it clear that the Peace Conference retreated because it fell into a
trap of its own making by the promises contained in the Millerand letter, its
own creation. It no longer demanded the Hungarian government’s immediate
handover of Western Hungary to the Entente Mission in Sopron. In fact, it
stated the Great Powers wished direct discussions between the Hungarian and
Austrian governments regarding the Western Hungary question. Thus, official
Hungarian-Austrian talks were held in Vienna on February 23 and 24. The
Hungarian delegation tried to convince the Austrian party that the Hungarian
solution to the question, i.e.- retaining the current millennial border, was in the
interest of Vienna. East of it, no better natural geographic line could be found.
The Hungarian government alluded to the already noted Millerand letter; the
Austrian government alluded to the complete harmonization of the Saint-
Germain and Trianon treaties.
The fourth Hungarian-Austrian meeting took place in Budapest on March
19, where the Hungarian government – reviewing its earlier position – came
forward with a suggestion which, “given Austria’s understandable and
economically justified claims is, at the same time, acceptable to the local
population.” The Austrian delegation rejected the proposal. In April, their
proposition was to annex the economically ‘active’ Moson County to Austria,
leaving the ‘passive’ Vas County with Hungary and that the two countries split
Sopron County, lying between the two. 237
This was also the time of the first royal coup d’état 238 attempt. Charles IV of
the House of Habsburg 239 crossed the Austrian-Hungarian border on March 26,
1921 at Pinkafő. Around midnight, he reached the bishop’s palace in
Szombathely, to meet the Catholic prelate, Count János Mikes. His goal was to
regain the Hungarian throne, based on his Eckartsau proclamation. At the time
of his arrival, József Vass (1877-1930), prelate and Minister of Education,
‘happened’ to be in the city. Prime Minister Pál Teleki and the American High
236 Fogarassy, 1971, op. cit., p. 299.
237 Soós, 1971, op. cit., pp. 125-126.
238 IV. Károly visszatérési kísérletei [Charles IV’s return attempts]. I. füzet. Kiadja a
Magyar Kir. Minisztérium. Budapest. 1921, pp. 8-29.
239 As noted earlier, Charles IV announced the suspension of his regal rights as ruler of
Hungary in Eckartsau on November 13, 1918.
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