The History of the Creation of the Austro-Hungarian Border After the First World War

The border demarcation between Austria and Hungary after 1918 is considered a prime example of the general turmoil that occurred in East-Central Europe in the wake of the war. At the beginning of the 20th century, a rather feeble political discussion flared up in Vienna (led by Georg von Schönerer, Aurel Constantin Popovici, and Josef Patry) about the administrative affiliation of the western fringe of Hungary, the population of which was mainly German-speaking. Before 1918, however, no one seriously expected these German nationalist demands to be realized. After World War I, a three-year dispute between Austria and Hungary over the territory began. State actors and the local population alike tried to help shape the demarcation of the border, but the decision was ultimately made by the victorious states in Paris and the territorial decrees of the peace treaties were only minimally modified. Although the actual ethnic and economic value of the new Austrian province of Burgenland was not in line with the diplomatic, economic, or military endeavors of the two states, the new state border was never seriously questioned again.

The counties counties County, in Hungarian "megye", is the name for a Hungarian administrative district, of which there are 19 in present-day Hungary. Introduced by King Stephen I, counties as an institution have existed continuously since the 11th century, although their form has changed over time. of , , , and  were not significantly different from other Hungarian counties in terms of their character. These Hungarian administrative entities included the eastern foothills of the Alps as well as adjoining fertile plains with major rivers (such as the Danube and the Raba). It was a densely populated rural region and had a few cities, where industrialization did not begin until the turn of the century. The proximity to the Austrian border, the well-developed railroad network and the purchasing power of large eastern Austrian cities were very important for the trade relations of the counties. In the late 19th century, the western periphery of the Hungarian Kingdom had closer economic ties to eastern Austria than to Hungary. The population of the western Hungarian administrative areas spoke Hungarian, German, Croatian and Romani; bilingualism or trilingualism was part of everyday life in this border area. At the beginning of the 20th century, a rather feeble political discussion flared up in Vienna (led by Georg von Schönerer, Aurel Constantin Popovici, and Josef Patry) about the administrative affiliation of the western fringe of Hungary, the population of which was mainly German-speaking. Before 1918, however, no one seriously expected these German nationalist demands to be realized. After World War I, a three-year dispute between Austria and Hungary over the territory began. The rural Catholic majority was opposed by a Protestant minority. A number of other small communities also lived here, around half the inhabitants of which were Jewish. Regardless of the region’s ethno-linguistic and confessional diversity, the local population considered itself part of the Hungarian "political nation." This concept of a Hungarian political elite gained popularity and there were efforts to represent the desired, though nonexistent, Hungarian majority over and above ethno-linguistic minorities. The intellectual centers of the region included the cities, where secondary schools were favored as places of “Magyarization”. They served to educate a loyal Hungarian middle class and to further the abovementioned efforts to preserve the leading role of “Hungarianness” in the society. According to the 1910 census, Germans made up 10% of Hungary's total population. Thus, they were the third largest ethno-linguistic minority after the Romanians and Slovaks.1 Nearly one-fifth of all Hungarian Germans lived in western Hungary. However, they had no political or national group identity.

For centuries, the Leitha, March and Lafnitz Rivers had formed the border between the "Habsburg hereditary lands" "Habsburg hereditary lands" The term "Habsburg hereditary lands" refers to the territories ruled by the Habsburg dynasty from the late 13th century until the end of the First World War. In contrast to the modern, centrally controlled nation-state, the hereditary lands were independent territories linked only by their common monarch. Their common name in the 19th century was the Austrian Empire, which after the Compromise of 1867 constituted the western half of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. and the lands of the Hungarian Kingdom.

This traditional border between the two halves of the Austro-Hungarian Empire was reaffirmed by the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of 1867; the border was consequently considered an administrative internal border. Stricter border controls were introduced during World War I (partly because of the war economy and the flourishing contraband trade contraband trade Contraband trade is an outdated word for smuggling, but also means the sale of goods on the black market. ). Because the state failed to provide adequately for the Austrian civilian population illicit trade from Hungary became lucrative. In this way, the West Hungarian food surplus found its way onto the black markets in Vienna, Graz and Wiener Neustadt.

At first, the victorious states did not expect any change in the Austro-Hungarian border. In March 1919, the new borders of Hungary were established in Paris, but no modification was made to the border between Austria and Hungary. Although Paris knew about Austria's territorial claim, the representatives of the victorious states did not consider it necessary to comply with Austria's wishes in the spring of 1919. For them, it was only a trivial matter between two losing states. However, the proclamation of  changed this indifference on the part of the decision-makers. The Treaty of Saint-Germain, which was signed on September 10, 1919 in Saint-Germain-en-Laye, awarded  to Austria. The existence of the Hungarian Soviet Dictatorship (March 21 until August 1, 1919) did not trigger the border shift, but the fear of the spread of communism ("world revolution") facilitated a decision in favor of Austria. The assumption prevailed in Paris that German West Hungary could increase Austria's immunity to communism and also the viability of the “Alpine Republic”. However, after the collapse of the Hungarian Soviet Republic, the decision-makers in Paris did not attach much importance to a quick transfer of territory, which caused the border-drawing process to drag on. The Hungarian peace treaty of June 4, 1920, signed in Trianon, reaffirmed that Burgenland including Sopron/Ödenburg belonged to Austria. But Austria still had to wait years for this prescribed transfer of territory – and, in the end, Sopron was not included.

The victorious nations did not leave the two states to their own devices. They sent military missions to Sopron/Ödenburg to carry out observation and controls and called for intergovernmental talks in order that a solution be found as quickly as possible. Negotiations began, but they did not bring about a rapprochement of the Austrian and Hungarian positions. Since the Austrian territorial demand was made public in November 1918, several demonstrations by the local German-speaking population had taken place in favor of annexation. Nevertheless, Hans Cnobloch, the Austrian envoy to Budapest, assessed the actual desire for annexation as rather moderate. "Today, since communism has been overcome in Hungary and politics seems to want to steer into conservative, though not reactionary, waters, German Austria has become much less attractive to the mostly peasant and partly even monarchist-minded population there than it did previously. In my opinion, economic considerations should not be given too much importance in this respect either. The area remaining with Hungary, with its populous capital, offers a profitable market for the agricultural products of the West, and exports to German Austria should not be significantly hampered by any customs barriers that might be erected. For the localities situated directly on the border, such customs barriers would even enable the emergence of a very lucrative smuggling trade."5 After the soviet dictatorship ended, the state's monopoly on the use of force collapsed once again in Hungary. The lack of state power encouraged a flurry of paramilitary activity, which escalated political violence in western Hungary as well. In July 1921, the Trianon Peace Treaty came into force, and the Conference of Ambassadors in Paris demanded that Hungary vacate German West Hungary by August 27, 1921. The western zone "A" was cleared by the Hungarian executive, but paramilitary militias tolerated by the government obstructed the advance of Austria's gendarmerie unit, which was close to two thousand strong. On August 28, the Hungarian government also stopped the transfer of zone "B" around Sopron. On October 4, 1921, the right-wing radical officer Pál Prónay proclaimed the existence of the Lajtabánság Lajtabánság  Lajtabánság was mini-state that existed between October and November 1921 on the territory of today's Central Burgenland, but was not internationally recognized. The Hungarian army officer Pál Prónay announced the existence of the Banate of Leitha on October 4, 1921 and appointed himself its president. According to Prónay's views, the mini-state should have prevented the transfer of territory to Austria and created a free space for its paramilitaries. The vacant existence of the mini-state ended under pressure from the Hungarian government. (Banate of Leitha) in Felsőőr/Oberwart to prevent the next evacuation of Burgenland. This mini-state in the hands of the Hungarian government was seen as a welcome means of exerting pressure on Austria to obtain minimal territorial concessions for Hungary. After much back and forth, a compromise was finally reached in Venice. Chancellor Johannes Schober and Prime Minister István Bethlen signed the protocol on October 13, 1921. In it, Hungary agreed to cede German West Hungary in exchange for Austria agreeing to the referendum in Sopron. This concession and the conclusion of the border dispute were an economic necessity since the normalization of mutual trade relations was highly relevant for both states.

Between November 13 and December 4, 1921, the evacuation and handover of Burgenland to Austria proceeded without incident. The referendum took place on December 14-16, 1921 in Sopron and in the surrounding eight villages. 90% of the eligible voters took part in the election. As a result, Sopron and the area around it remained with Hungary. Hungarian propaganda managed to present the results of the plebiscite as a great gain and the first step towards a revision of the Treaty of Trianon. After the detailed course of the border was determined by an international border-drawing committee in 1922, Austria was additionally granted three more smaller villages and Hungary ten villages. In reality, possession of these narrow border strips had more symbolic value than real, socioeconomically measurable gain or loss. The political, military, and diplomatic efforts to gain the territory were out of all proportion to its economic or ethnographic importance. The political leadership of Hungary and Austria needed foreign policy successes to aid internal consolidation. Austria had achieved this success with the granting of Burgenland in the peace treaties. The national-conservative leadership of Hungary did everything to delay the prescribed transfer of territory and to bring about at least a minimal modification, a small success, which they achieved with the plebiscite in Sopron and the surrounding areas. In ceding Burgenland, Hungary lost almost 4,000 km², which accounted for approximately 1.5% of the country’s total post-war loss. After territory was transferred, ethnic-linguistic and confessional minorities now found themselves living on both sides of a new state border. Over the following decades, these communities were exposed to the trend of ethnic homogenization that developed in both Austria and Hungary.

English translation: William Connor