Treaty of Trianon

The Treaty of Trianon was an agreement that regulated the situation of the new Hungarian state that replaced the Kingdom of Hungary, part of former Austro-Hungarian Monarchy, after the World War I. It was signed on June 4, 1920, at the Grand Trianon Palace at Versailles, France.

The main parties to the Treaty were the winning powers, their allied countries, and the losing side. The winning powers included the United States, Britain, France and Italy; their allies were Romania, Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia; and the losing side was the former Austro-Hungarian Monarchy represented by Hungary.

Table of contents

1 Frontiers of Hungary
2 Demographic consequences
3 Other consequences
4 See also
5 External links

Frontiers of Hungary

Comparing with the former Kingdom, the size and population of Hungary was reduced by about two thirds.

Hungary lost most of its peripheral provinces:

the region of Transylvania went to Romania
Slovakia and Carpathian Ruthenia went to Czechoslovakia
Croatia, Slavonia and the western part of the Banat (Vojvodina) joined the newly formed Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes
the most part of Burgenland went to Austria, as was previously decided by the Treaty of Saint Germain; the district of Sopron opted to remain with Hungary after a plebiscite held in december 1921.

Under the treaty, Hungary lost the access to the sea it had through Croatia since 1102. It also lost Bosnia, an Austro-Hungarian province since 1878.

Hungary recovered some of the lost territories before and at the outset of World War II, under the Munich Agreement (1938), the Vienna Arbitrations (1938 and 1940) and following German aggression against Yugoslavia, but the post-war boundaries agreed on at the Treaty of Paris in 1947 were nearly identical with those of 1920.

Demographic consequences

In 1910, the Hungarian population of the Kingdom of Hungary was about 45% of the entire population. The provinces Hungary lost in the treaty had a majority population of non-Magyars, but also a significant Magyar minority. The number of Hungarians in the provinces based on census data of 1910:

In Slovakia: 884,000 - 30%
In Transylvania (now in Romania): 1,662,000 - 32%
In Vojvodina (now in Serbia and Montenegro): 420,000 - 28%
In Transcarpathia (now in Ukraine): 183,000 - 30%
In Croatia: 121,000 - 3.5%
In Slovenia: 20,800 - 1.6%
In Burgerland (now in Austria): 26,200 - 9%

The Hungarian population in all those regions decreased in percentage after that. Magyars can still be found in these countries today.

Other consequences

Economically, 61.4% of the arable land, 88% of the timber, 62.2% of the railroads, 64.5% of the hard surface roads, 83.1% of the pig-iron output, 55.7% of the industrial plants, and 67% of the credit and banking institutions of the former Kingdom of Hungary became part of other countries. Romania and Yugoslavia had to assume part of the financial obligations of Hungary on account of the territory placed under their sovereignty. The military conditions was similar those imposed to Germany by the Treaty of Versailles. The Hungary army was to be restricted to 35,000 men and there was to be no conscription.

Further provisions stated that in Hungary, no railway shall be built with more than one track.

Hungary also renounced all privileges in territory outside Europe which belonged to the former Austro-Hungarian Monarchy.

External links

Text of the Treaty
(Hungary's) Government Office for Hungarian Minorities Abroad (in Hungarian)
Hungarian Railroad (in Hungarian)