Hungarian–Romanian War

The Hungarian–Romanian War (; ) was fought between Hungary and Romania from 13 November 1918 to 3 August 1919. The conflict had a complex background, with often contradictory motivations for the parties involved.

After the unilateral self-disarmament of the Hungarian army by the pacifist Hungarian prime minister Count Mihály Károlyi, the Allies of World War I intended that Romania's Army, the Czechoslovak army and the Franco-Serbian armies to occupy various parts of Kingdom of Hungary. At the same time, there was a reluctance to allow Romania to occupy Hungary fully, although their intention was to, at least in part, satisfy the Romanian claims in accordance with the Treaty of Bucharest (1916) which proposed that Hungary cede Transylvania, Partium and parts of Banat to Romania. The situation was further complicated by the strained relationship between the Romanian delegation at the Paris Peace Conference and the Great Powers. France, in particular, was keen on the participation of Romania in the intervention against the Bolshevik forces in Russia while the Romanian authorities conditioned this involvement on the fulfillment of the promises made by the Allies in 1916. Some Allied leaders in Paris supported the advance of the Romanian Army while the Council of Four withheld its approval of the military actions. The French General Staff encouraged a continued Romanian advance to Budapest, with Generals Ferdinand Foch, Louis Franchet d'Espèrey, and Henri Mathias Berthelot particularly in favor of this approach.

In Transylvania there were political and ethnic tensions between various Romanian, Hungarian, Saxon, and other ethnic groups. However, Romania's motivations to enter the neutral zone and cross the demarcation lines were not limited only to protecting the ethnic Romanians, but also to occupy the territory in accordance with the 1916 agreement, thus presenting the Allies with a ''fait accompli''.

In the aftermath of World War I and the proclamation of the independence of Hungary from the Dual Monarchy, the Hungarians tried to convince the Allies that "Hungary should not be penalized too harshly for the sins of the old". Despite the Hungarian government offering concessions to the ethnic minorities, it was "too little, too late". The political leaders of ethnic Romanians, as well as Serbs, Slovaks, Croats, and other minorities, had already decided to secede. Moreover, the decision of the Council of Four to establish a neutral zone that largely reflected the treaty between Romania and the Allies in 1916 contributed to the liberal president Count Mihály Károlyi's resignation and the subsequent creation of the Hungarian Soviet Republic. The threat of Béla Kun's Hungarian Red Army and Red Guards linking up with other Bolshevik forces was decisive in the joint decision of several Allied representatives and the Romanian authorities to "settle the Hungarian question immediately".

Background

Postwar Hungary

Aster Revolution, liberal republic and self-disarmament of Hungary

In 1918, Austria-Hungary collapsed politically and disintegrated as a result of its defeat on the Italian Front. During the war, the liberal Hungarian aristocrat Count Mihály Károlyi had led a small but very active pacifist antiwar maverick faction in the Hungarian Parliament. He had even organised covert contacts with British and French diplomats in Switzerland during the war. On 31 October 1918, the Aster Revolution in Budapest brought to power Károlyi, a supporter of the Allies. The Hungarian Royal Honvéd army still consisted of 1,400,000 soldiers, who had been recruited from the territory of Kingdom of Hungary when Mihály Károlyi was announced as Hungarian prime minister. Károlyi yielded to US President Woodrow Wilson's demand for pacifism by ordering the disarmament of the Hungarian Army, which happened under the direction of War Minister Béla Linder on 2 November 1918.. The unilateral disarmament of its army made Hungary remain without national defence. Thus it became particularly vulnerable. Oszkár Jászi, the new Minister for National Minorities of Hungary, offered referendums on the disputed borders for minorities (such as the Romanians in Transylvania), but the political leaders of those minorities refused the very idea of referendums regarding disputed territories at the Paris Peace Conference.

International reactions after Hungarian unilateral disarmament

Six days later, on 5 November 1918, the Serbian Army, with the help of the French Army, crossed the southern border of the Kingdom of Hungary. On 8 November, the Czechoslovak Army crossed the northern border, and on 13 November, the Romanian Army crossed the eastern border. That day, Károlyi signed an armistice with the Allies in Belgrade, which limited the size of the Hungarian Army to six infantry and two cavalry divisions. Demarcation lines defining the territory to remain under Hungarian control were made.

The lines would apply until definitive borders could be established. Under the terms of the armistice, Serbian and French troops advanced from the south and took control of the Banat and Croatia. Czechoslovakia took control of Upper Hungary (today mostly Slovakia) and Carpathian Ruthenia. Romanian forces were permitted to advance to the Mureș River. However, on 14 November, Serbia occupied Pécs.Breit J. ''Hungarian Revolutionary Movements of 1918–19 and the History of the Red War'' in ''Main Events of the Károlyi Era'' Budapest 1929. pp. 115–116. The Hungarian unilateral disarmament made the occupation of Hungary possible for the relatively small Romanian Army, Franco-Serbian army and the armed forces of the newly-established Czechoslovakia. During the rule of Károlyi's pacifist cabinet, Hungary lost control of approximately 75% of its former prewar territories ( .

Romania during the First World War

On August 27, 1916, the Kingdom of Romania declared war against Austria-Hungary and entered the First World War on the side of the Allies. In doing so, Romania's goal was to unite all the territories in which a Romanian population existed in a single state. In the Treaty of Bucharest of August 17, 1916, terms for Romania's acquisition of territories in Austria-Hungary were stipulated. However, in military and geopolitical sense, the key factor in Romania's entry into the war was the successes of the Russian Brusilov offensive against Austria-Hungary. After a short Romanian initial success, the campaign turned into a military disaster for Romania.
After three months of war, two thirds of the territory of the Kingdom of Romania were occupied by the Central Powers. Bucharest, the capital city of Romania, was captured by the Central Powers on 6 December 1916. German General August von Mackensen was appointed as the "military governor" of the occupied territories of Romania. Following Russia's ceasefire agreements, the Romanian army was forced to sign the Armistice of Focșani on 9 December 1917.

In 1918, after the October Revolution, the Bolsheviks signed a separate peace with the Central Powers in the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk. Romania was alone on the Eastern Front, a situation that far surpassed its military capabilities. Therefore, on 7 May 1918, Romania sued for peace. Romanian Prime Minister Alexandru Marghiloman signed the Treaty of Bucharest (1918) with the Central Powers, but the treaty was never signed by King Ferdinand I of Romania.

At the end of 1918, Romania's situation was dire. It was suffering from the consequences of punitive war reparations. Dobruja was under Bulgarian occupation. The bulk of the Romanian Army was demobilised and had only four full-strength divisions. A further eight divisions were left in a reserve status. Only the 9th and 10th infantry divisions and the 1st and 2nd cavalry divisions were at full strength. However, those units were engaged in the protection of Bessarabia against Soviet Russia.

On 11 November 1918, Germany signed an armistice with Allies under which they had to immediately withdraw all German troops in Romania and in the Ottoman Empire, the Austro-Hungarian Empire and the Russian Empire back to German territory. The Allies were to have access to those countries. After the German armistice, the units of the German Army, under the command of Marshal August von Mackensen, were ordered to retreat to Germany.

November 1918 – March 1919

On 10 November 1918, Romania re-entered the war on the side of the Allied forces, with similar objectives to those of 1916. King Ferdinand called for the mobilisation of the Romanian Army and ordered it to attack by crossing the Carpathian Mountains into Transylvania. The 1st Vânători and the 7th and 8th Infantry divisions, stationed in Moldavia, were the first units to be mobilised. The 8th was sent to Bukovina and the other two were sent to Transylvania. On 13 November, the 7th entered Transylvania at the Prisăcani River in the Eastern Carpathians. The 1st then entered Transylvania at Palanca, Bacău.

On 1 December, the Union of Transylvania with Romania was officiated by the 1,228 elected representatives of the Romanian people of Transylvania, Banat, Crișana and Maramureș, who proclaimed the union with Romania. Later, the Transylvanian Saxons and Banat Swabians also supported the union. On 7 December, Brașov was occupied by the Romanian Army. Later that month, Romanian units reached the line of the Mureș River, a demarcation line that had been agreed upon by the representatives of the Allies and Hungary at the Armistice of Belgrade.

Following a request from Romania, the Allied Command in the east, led by French General Louis Franchet d'Espèrey, allowed the Romanian Army to advance to the line of the western Carpathians. The 7th Infantry division advanced toward Cluj, and the 1st division advanced in toward Alba Iulia. On 24 December, units of the Romanian Army entered Cluj-Napoca. By 22 January 1919, the Romanian army controlled all the territory to the Mureș River. The 7th and 1st divisions were spread thinly and so the 2nd Division was sent to Sibiu and the 6th Division to Brașov. Two new infantry divisions, the 16th and 18th, were formed from soldiers previously mobilised in the Austro-Hungarian Army. A unified command of the Romanian Army in Transylvania was established. Its headquarters were at Sibiu, with General Traian Moșoiu in command. Although Romania controlled new territories, it did not encompass all ethnic Romanians in the region.

On 28 February 1919, at the Paris Peace Conference, the Allies notified Hungary of a new demarcation line to which the Romanian army would advance. The line coincided with railways connecting Satu Mare, Oradea, and Arad. However, the Romanian Army was not to enter those cities. A demilitarised zone was to be created extending from the new demarcation line to beyond the line. The demilitarised zone represented the extent of Romanian territorial requests on Hungary. The retreat of the Hungarian Army behind the western border of the demilitarised zone was to begin on 22 March.

On 19 March, Hungary received notification of the new demarcation line and demilitaritarised zone from French Lieutenant Colonel Fernand Vix (the " Vix Note"). The Károlyi government would not accept the terms, which was a trigger for the coup d'état by Béla Kun, who formed the Hungarian Soviet Republic. Meanwhile, limited sporadic skirmishes took place between Romanian army and small local Hungarian civil insurgent groups. Some Hungarian elements engaged in the harassing the Romanians outside the area controlled by the Romanian Army.

Interventions, fall of liberal regime and communist coup

The pacifist Károlyi government failed to manage domestic and military issues and lost popular support. On 20 March 1919, Béla Kun, who had been imprisoned in the Markó Street prison, was released. On 21 March, he led a successful communist coup d'état. President Károlyi was deposed and arrested by the new government. Kun formed a social democratic communist coalition government and proclaimed the Hungarian Soviet Republic. Days later, the communists purged the Social Democrats from the government. The Hungarian Soviet Republic was a small communist rump state. When the Republic of Councils in Hungary was established, it controlled only approximately 23% of the Hungary's historic territory.

The communists remained bitterly unpopular in the Hungarian countryside, where the authority of that government was often nonexistent. The communist had real popular support only among the proletarian masses of large industrial centres, especially in Budapest, where the working class represented a high proportion of the population. The communist government followed the soviet model. The party established its terror groups (like the infamous Lenin Boys) to "overcome the obstacles" in the Hungarian countryside, which was later known as the Red Terror in Hungary.

The new government promised equality and social justice. It proposed that Hungary be restructured as a federation. The proposal was designed to appeal to both domestic and foreign opinion. Domestic considerations included maintaining the territorial integrity and economic unity of former crown lands and protecting the nation's borders. The government had popular support in the cities and the support of the army. Most of the officers in the Hungarian Army came from regions that had been forcibly occupied during the First World War, which heightened their patriotic mood. Hungary as a federation would appeal to Wilson under his doctrine of self-determination of peoples because of the nation's multiethnic composition. In addition, self-governed and self-directed institutions for the non-Magyar peoples of Hungary would lessen the dominance of the Magyar people.

April–June 1919

After 21 March 1919, Romania found itself between two nations with communist governments: Hungary to the west and Soviet Russia to the east. The Romanian delegation at the Paris Peace Conference asked the Romanian Army to be allowed to oust Kun's communist government in Hungary. The Allies were aware of the communist danger to Romania. However, there was a climate of dissension in the council among United States President Woodrow Wilson, British Prime Minister David Lloyd George, and French Prime Minister Georges Clemenceau about guarantees required by France on its borders with Germany. In particular, the American delegation was convinced that French hardliners around Marshal Ferdinand Foch were trying to initiate a new conflict with Germany and Soviet Russia. The Allied council tried to defuse the situation between Romania and Hungary.

On 4 April, South African General Jan Smuts was sent to Hungary and discussed with the Hungarian communist government a proposition that they abide by the conditions previously presented to Károlyi in the Vix Note. Smuts's mission also represented official recognition of the Kun government by the Allies. He may have asked if Kun would act as a conduit for communication between the Allies and the Soviet Russians. In exchange for Hungary's agreement to the conditions set out in the Vix Note, the Allies promised to lift the blockade of Hungary and to take a benevolent attitude towards Hungary's loss of territory to Romania, Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia. Kun refused the terms and demanded the Romanian forces return to the line of the Maros (Mureș) River. Smuts' negotiations ceased.

Kun stalled for time to build a force capable of fighting Romania and Czechoslovakia. Hungary had 20,000 troops facing the Romanian Army and mobilised a further 60,000. There were recruitment centres in towns such as Nagyvárad, Gyula, Debrecen and Szolnok. There were some elite units and officers from the former Austro-Hungarian Army, but some were volunteers with little training. The Hungarian troops were equipped with 137 cannons and five armoured trains and were motivated by sentiments of Hungarian nationalism, rather than communist ideals. Kun hoped that Soviet Russia would attack Romania from the east.

When Kun declined the terms of the Vix Note, Romania acted to enforce the new railway demarcation line. The Romanian Army in Transylvania included 64 infantry battalions, 28 cavalry squadrons, 160 cannons, 32 howitzers, one armoured train, three air squadrons and two pioneer battalions, one north and one south. General Gheorghe Mărdărescu commanded the Romanian Army in Transylvania. The commander of the north battalion was General Moșoiu. Romania planned to take offensive action on 16 April 1919. The north battalion was to take Nagykároly ( Carei) and Nagyvárad (Oradea), which would separate the elite Hungarian from the rest of the Hungarian Army. The north battalion would then outflank the Hungarian Army. Simultaneously, the south battalion would advance to Máriaradna (now part of Lipova) and Belényes ( Beiuș).

Hostilities begin

When Kun became aware of Romanian preparations for an offensive, he fortified mountain passes in the territory controlled by the Hungarian Red Army. Then, on the night of 15–16 April, the Hungarians launched a pre-emptive attack, but the Romanian lines held. On 16 April, the Romanian Army commenced its offensive. After heavy fighting, the Romanians took the mountain passes. On the front of the 2nd Vânători Division, a battalion of Hungarian cadets offered strong resistance; however, they were defeated by the 9th Regiment.

By 18 April, the first elements of the Romanian offensive had been completed, and the Hungarian front had been broken. On 19 April, Romanian forces took Carei (Nagykároly), and on 20 April, they took Oradea (Nagyvárad) and Salonta (Nagyszalonta). Rather than following the instructions of the Vix Note, the Romanian Army pressed on for the Tisza River, an easily defended natural military obstacle.

The Romanian Army reaches the Tisza River

On 23 April, Debrecen was occupied by Romanian forces. The Romanian Army then began preparations for an assault on Békéscsaba. On 25–26 April, after some heavy fighting, Békéscsaba fell to Romanian forces. The Hungarians retreated to Szolnok and, from there, across the Tisza River. They established two concentric defense lines extending from the Tisza River around Szolnok. Between 29 April and 1 May, the Romanian Army broke through the lines. On the evening of 1 May, the entire east bank of the Tisza River was under the control of the Romanian Army.

On 30 April, French Foreign Minister Stéphen Pichon summoned Ion I.C. Brătianu, the Romanian representative to the Paris Peace Conference. Romania was told to cease its advance at the Tisza River and to retreat to the first demarcation line imposed by the Allied council. Brătianu promised that the Romanian troops would not cross the Tisza River. On 2 May, Hungary sued for peace by a request delivered by its representative, Lieutenant Colonel Henrik Werth. Kun was prepared to recognise all of Romania's territorial demands, request the cessation of hostilities and ask for ongoing control of Hungarian internal affairs.

Romania offered an armistice but gave it only under pressure from the Allies. General Moșoiu became the governor of the military district between the Romanian border and the Tisza River. General Mihăescu became commander of the north battalion. The 7th Division was moved to the Russian front in Moldavia. On 24 May, King Ferdinand I of Romania and Iuliu Maniu (the head of ) visited the frontline area and met with generals Constantin Prezan, Gheorghe Mărdărescu, and at Békéscsaba.

Foreign policy scandal: establishment of Slovak Soviet Republic

In late May, after the Entente military representative demanded more territorial concessions from Hungary, Kun attempted to "fulfill" his promise to adhere to Hungary's historic borders. Kun ordered the preparation of an offensive against Czechoslovakia, which would increase his domestic support by making good on his promise to "restore" Hungary's borders. The men of the Hungarian Red Army were recruited mainly from the volunteers of the Budapest proletariat.

In June, the Hungarian Red Army invaded the eastern part of the newly forming Czechoslovakia: Slovakia and Carpathian Ruthenia (approximately the former Upper Hungary). The Hungarian Red Army achieved some early military success. Under the leadership of Colonel Aurél Stromfeld, it ousted Czechoslovak troops from the north and planned to march against the Romanian Army in the east.
The Hungarian Red Army recruited men between 19 and 25 years old. Industrial workers from Budapest volunteered. Many former Austro-Hungarian officers re-enlisted for patriotic reasons. The Hungarian Red Army moved its 1st and 5th artillery divisions (40 battalions) northwards to Czechoslovakia.

On 20 May 1919, a force under Colonel Aurél Stromfeld attacked and routed Czechoslovak troops from Miskolc. The Romanian Army attacked the Hungarian flank with troops from the 16th Infantry Division and the Second Vânători Division and aimed to maintain contact with the Czechoslovak Army. Hungarian troops prevailed and the Romanian Army retreated to its bridgehead at Tokaj. There, between 25 and 30 May, Romanian forces were required to defend their position against Hungarian attacks.

On 3 June, the Romanian Army was forced into further retreat but extended its line of defence along the Tisza River and reinforced its position with the 8th Division, which had been moving forward from Bukovina since 22 May. Hungary at the time controlled the territory from its old borders and had regained control of industrial areas around Miskolc, Salgótarján, Banská Štiavnica (Selmecbánya), and Košice (Kassa).

Demoralisation of the Red Army

Despite promises for the restoration of the former borders of Hungary, after the military successes the communists immediately declared the establishment of the Slovak Soviet Republic in Prešov (Eperjes) on 16 June 1919. After the proclamation of the Slovak Soviet Republic, the Hungarian nationalists and patriots soon realised that the new communist government had no intention to recapture the lost territories but only to spread communist ideology and establish other communist states in Europe, thus sacrificing Hungarian national interests.

The Hungarian patriots and the professional military officers in the Red Army saw the establishment of the Slovak Soviet Republic as a betrayal, and their support for the government began to erode (the communists and their government supported the establishment of a Slovak communist state, while the Hungarian patriots wanted to keep the reoccupied territories for Hungary). Despite a series of military victories against the Czechoslovak Army, the Hungarian Red Army started to disintegrate because of tensions between nationalists and communists during the establishment of the Slovak Soviet Republic. The concession eroded the support of the communist government by professional military officers and nationalists in the Hungarian Red Army. Even the chief of general staff, Aurél Stromfeld, resigned his post in protest.

When the French promised the Hungarian government that Romanian forces would withdraw from the Tiszántúl, Kun withdrew from Czechoslovakia his remaining military units that had remained loyal after the political fiasco with the Slovak Soviet Republic. Kun then unsuccessfully tried to turn the remaining units of the demoralized Hungarian Red Army on the Romanians.

Anti-communist conflicts with Soviet Russia

The Union of Bessarabia with Romania was signed on 9 April 1918. It brought these lands within the modern Romanian state was not recognised by Soviet Russia, which was however, occupied in fighting the White movement, Poland, and Ukraine in its war for independence and so resources were not available to challenge Romania. The Bolshevik Soviet Russians might have used the Ukrainian paramilitary leader Nykyfor Hryhoriv to challenge Romania, but circumstances for that plan did not prove to be favourable.

Prior to communist rule in Hungary, Soviet Russia had engaged the Odessa Soviet Republic to invade Romania and make sporadic attacks across the Dniester River to reclaim territory from the Bessarabia Governorate. The Moldavian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, established in 1924, was later used the same way. Romania successfully repelled both incursions. After the commencement of communist rule in Hungary, Soviet Russia pressured Romania with ultimatums and threats of war. Although a Romanian army division and some other newly formed units were moved from the Hungarian front to Bessarabia, those threats did not deter Romania's actions in Hungary.

On 9 February 1918, the Central Powers and Ukraine signed the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, which recognised Ukraine as a neutral and independent state. Incursions into Romanian territory ceased. From January–May 1919, there were some further limited actions by Soviet forces against Romania. In late January, the Ukrainian Army, under Bolshevik command, moved towards Zbruch

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