Subcarpathian Ruthenia

Transcarpathia (, ) is a historical region on the border between Central and Eastern Europe, mostly located in western Ukraine's Zakarpattia Oblast.

From the Hungarian conquest of the Carpathian Basin (at the end of the 9th century) to the end of World War I (Treaty of Trianon in 1920), most of this region was part of the Kingdom of Hungary. In the interwar period, it was part of the First and Second Czechoslovak Republics. Before World War II, the region was annexed by the Kingdom of Hungary once again when Germany dismembered the Second Czechoslovak Republic. After the war, it was annexed by the Soviet Union and became part of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic.

It is an ethnically diverse region, inhabited mostly by people who regard themselves as ethnic Ukrainians, Rusyns, Hungarians, Romanians, Slovaks, and Poles. It also has small communities of Jewish and Romani minorities. Prior to World War II, many more Jews lived in the region, constituting over 13% of its total population in 1930. The most commonly spoken languages are Rusyn, Ukrainian, Hungarian, Romanian, Slovak, and Polish.

Toponymy

The name Carpathian Ruthenia is sometimes used for the contiguous cross-border area of Ukraine, Slovakia and Poland inhabited by Ruthenians. The local Ruthenian population self-identifies in different ways: some consider themselves to be a separate and unique Slavic group of Rusyns and some consider themselves to be both Rusyns and Ukrainians. To describe their home region, most of them use the term ''Zakarpattia'' (). This is contrasted implicitly with ''Prykarpattia'' (), an unofficial geographical region in Ukraine, to the immediate north-east of the central area of the Carpathian Range, and potentially including its foothills, the Subcarpathian basin and part of the surrounding plains.

From a Hungarian (and to an extent Slovak and Czech) perspective, the region is usually described as Subcarpathia (literally "below the Carpathians"), although technically this name refers only to a long, narrow basin that flanks the northern side of the mountains.

During the period in which the region was administered by the Hungarian states, it was officially referred to in Hungarian as Kárpátalja (literally: "the base of the Carpathians") or the north-eastern regions of medieval ''Upper Hungary'', which in the 16th century was contested between the Habsburg monarchy and the Ottoman Empire.

The Romanian name of the region is Maramureș, which is geographically located in the eastern and south-eastern portions of the region.

During the period of Czechoslovak administration in the first half of the 20th century, the region was referred to for a while as ''Rusinsko'' (Ruthenia) or ''Karpatske Rusinsko'', and later as Subcarpathian Rus (Czech and Slovak: ''Podkarpatská Rus'') or Subcarpathian Ukraine (Czech and Slovak: ''Podkarpatská Ukrajina''), and from 1928 as Subcarpathian Ruthenian Land. (Czech: ''Země podkarpatoruská'', Slovak: ''Krajina podkarpatoruská'').

Alternative, unofficial names used in Czechoslovakia before World War II included Subcarpathia (Czech and Slovak: ''Podkarpatsko''), Transcarpathia (Czech and Slovak: ''Zakarpatsko''), Transcarpathian Ukraine (Czech and Slovak: ''Zakarpatská Ukrajina''), Carpathian Rus/Ruthenia (Czech and Slovak: ''Karpatská Rus'') and, occasionally, Hungarian Rus/Ruthenia (; ).

The region declared its independence as Carpatho-Ukraine on March 15, 1939, but was occupied and annexed by Hungary on the same day, and remained under Hungarian control until the end of World War II. During this period the region continued to possess a special administration and the term ''Kárpátalja'' was locally used.

In 1944–1946, the region was occupied by the Soviet Army and was a separate political formation known as Transcarpathian Ukraine or Subcarpathian Ruthenia. During this period the region possessed some form of quasi-autonomy with its own legislature, while remaining under the governance of the Communist Party of Transcarpathian Ukraine. After the signing of a treaty between Czechoslovakia and the Soviet Union as well as the decision of the regional council, Transcarpathia joined the Ukrainian SSR as the Zakarpattia Oblast.

The region has subsequently been referred to as ''Zakarpattia'' () or ''Transcarpathia'', and on occasions as ''Carpathian Rus’'' (), ''Transcarpathian Rus’'' (), or ''Subcarpathian Rus’'' ().

Geography

Carpathian Ruthenia rests on the southern slopes of the eastern Carpathian Mountains, bordered to the east and south by the Tisza River, and to the west by the Hornád and Poprad Rivers. The region borders Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, and Romania, and makes up part of the Pannonian Plain.

The region is predominantly rural and infrastructurally underdeveloped. The landscape is mostly mountainous; it is geographically separated from Ukraine, Slovakia, and Romania by mountains, and from Hungary by the Tisza river. The two major cities are Uzhhorod and Mukachevo, both with populations around 100,000. The population of the other five cities (including Khust and Berehove) varies between 10,000 and 30,000. Other urban and rural populated places have a population of less than 10,000.

History

Prehistoric cultures

During the Late Bronze Age in the 2nd millennium BC, the region was characterized by Stanove culture; however, it only gained more advanced metalworking skills with the arrival of Thracians from the South with Kushtanovytsia culture in the 6th-3rd century BC. In the 5th-3rd century BC, Celts arrived from the West, bringing iron-melting skills and La Tène culture. A Thracian-Celtic symbiosis existed for a time in the region, after which appeared the Bastarnae. At that time, the Iranian-speaking Scythians and later a Sarmatian tribe called the Iazyges were present in the region. Proto-Slavic settlement began between the 2nd-century BCE and 2nd century CE, and during the Migration Period, the region was traversed by Huns and Gepids (4th century) and Pannonian Avars (6th century).

Slavic settlement

By the 8th and 9th century, the valleys of the Northern and Southern slopes of the Carpathian Mountains were "densely" settled by Slavic tribe of White Croats, who were closely related to East Slavic tribes who inhabited Prykarpattia, Volhynia, Transnistria and Dnieper Ukraine. Whereas some White Croats remained behind in Carpathian Ruthenia, others moved southward into the Balkans in the 7th century. Those who remained were conquered by Kievan Rus' in the late 10th century.

Hungarian arrival

In 896 the Hungarians crossed the Carpathian Range and migrated into the Pannonian Basin. Nestor's Chronicle wrote that Hungarian tribes had to fight against the Volochi and settled among Slavs when on their way to Pannonia. Prince Laborec fell from power under the efforts of the Hungarians and the Kievan forces. According to Gesta Hungarorum, the Hungarians defeated a united Bulgarian and Byzantine army led by Salan in the early 10th century on the plains of Alpár, who ruled over territory that was finally conquered by Hungarians. During the tenth and for most of the eleventh century the territory remained a borderland between the Kingdom of Hungary to the south and the Kievan Rus' Principality of Halych to the north.

Slavs from the north ( Galicia) and east—who actually arrived from Podolia via the mountain passes of Transylvania—continued to settle in small numbers in various parts of the Carpathian borderland, which the Hungarians and other medieval writers referred to as the Marchia Ruthenorum—the Rus' March. These new immigrants, from the north and east, like the Slavs already living in Carpathian Ruthenia, had by the eleventh century come to be known as the people of Rus', or Rusyns. Local Slavic nobility often intermarried with the Hungarian nobles to the south. Prince Rostislav, a Ruthenian noble unable to continue his family's rule of Kiev, governed a great deal of Transcarpathia from 1243 to 1261 for his father-in-law, Béla IV of Hungary. The territory's ethnic diversity increased with the influx of some 40,000 Cuman settlers, who came to the Pannonian Basin after their defeat by Vladimir II (Monomakh) in the 12th century and their ultimate defeat at the hands of the Mongols in 1238.

During the early period of Hungarian administration, part of the area was included into the Gyepű border region, while the other part was under county authority and was included into the counties of Ung, Borsova and Szatmár. Later, the county administrative system was expanded to the whole of Transcarpathia, and the area was divided between the counties of Ung, Bereg, Ugocsa, and Máramaros. At the end of the 13th and beginning of the 14th century, during the collapse of the central power in the Kingdom of Hungary, the region was part of the domains of semi-independent oligarchs Amadeus Aba and Nicholas Pok. Although King Leo I of Galicia–Volhynia (Lev Danylovych) attempted to extend his influence over parts of the Carpathian region during the late 13th century, there is no reliable historical evidence that north-western Carpathian Ruthenia was permanently annexed to his kingdom. Contemporary Hungarian royal charters from the period confirm that the region — including key fortresses like Huszt and Munkács — remained under the control of the Kingdom of Hungary.

Historians such as Gyula Kristó and Pál Engel agree that Leo's interventions were temporary and opportunistic, taking advantage of internal conflicts within Hungary, but they did not lead to lasting occupation.

Thus, the claim that north-western Carpathian Ruthenia belonged to the Kingdom of Galicia–Volhynia between 1280 and 1320 is not supported by primary sources or mainstream historical scholarship.

The assumption that Transcarpathia briefly came under the rule of the Kingdom of Galicia–Volhynia is, in this context, primarily the result of Ukrainian historiography’s attempt to establish historical rights and continuity over the region — suggesting that "medieval Ukraine" had annexed it even before 1946.

This narrative is further reinforced by the frequent appearance of Transcarpathia on maps of Kievan Rus' as if it had been part of, or directly linked to, Kievan Rus'. However, this claim is not supported by either archaeological or historical evidence. On the contrary, both the historical sources — which indicate the settlement of Ruthenians in the region during the 13th and 14th centuries — and the archaeological record — which shows a lack of Orthodox church remains from that period — argue against such interpretations.

Between the 12th and 15th centuries, the area was probably colonized by Eastern Orthodox groups of Vlach ( Romanian) highlanders with accompanying Ruthenian populations. Initially, the Romanians were organized into the Voivodeship of Maramureș, formally integrated into Hungary in 1402. All the groups, including local Slavic population, blended together, creating a distinctive culture from the main Ruthenian-speaking areas. Over time, because of geographical and political isolation from the main Ruthenian-speaking territory, the inhabitants developed distinctive features.

Part of Hungary and Transylvania

In 1526 the region was divided between the Habsburg Kingdom of Hungary and the Eastern Hungarian Kingdom. Beginning in 1570 the latter transformed to the Principality of Transylvania, which soon fell under Ottoman suzerainty. The part of Transcarpathia under Habsburg administration was included into the Captaincy of Upper Hungary, which was one of the administrative units of the Habsburg Kingdom of Hungary. During this period, an important factor in the Ruthenian cultural identity, namely religion, came to the forefront. The Union of Brest (1595) and Union of Uzhhorod (1646) were instituted, causing the Byzantine Orthodox Churches of Carpathian and Transcarpathian Rus' to come under the jurisdiction of Rome, thus establishing the so-called "Unia" of Eastern Catholic churches, the Ruthenian Catholic Church and the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church.

In the 17th century (until 1648) the entire region was part of the Principality of Transylvania and between 1682 and 1685 its north-western part was administered by the Ottoman vassal state of Upper Hungary, while the south-eastern parts remained under the administration of Transylvania. From 1699 the entire region eventually became part of the Habsburg monarchy, divided between the Kingdom of Hungary and the Principality of Transylvania. Later, the entire region was included into the Kingdom of Hungary. Between 1850 and 1860 the Habsburg Kingdom of Hungary was divided into five military districts, and the region was part of the Military District of Kaschau.

Lands of the Crown of Saint Stephen

After 1867, the region was administratively included into Transleithania or the Hungarian part of Austria-Hungary.

In the 19th and 20th centuries, many nationalist groups vied for unification or alignment with many different possible nationalities, all arguing that the Rus people would be better off uniting with that nation for security or staying within the nation of Hungary. Many of these groups utilized the ethnic makeup of the region, with ideas such as the Lemko-Boiko-Hutsul schema looking to prove the Slavic nature of the Rus, and therefore justifying union with Russia (or later a Ukrainian state) under the claim that the Rus were part of that Slavic cultural sphere. These Rus or Ruthenians would argue this point until the early 1900s when action would be taken.

In 1910, the population of Transcarpathia was 605,942, of which 330,010 (54.5%) were speakers of Ruthenian, 185,433 (30.6%) were speakers of Hungarian, 64,257 (10.6%) were speakers of German, 11,668 (1.9%) were speakers of Romanian, 6,346 (1%) were speakers of Slovak or Czech, and 8,228 (1.4%) were speakers of other languages.

* Ung County, Ungvár (Uzhhorod)
* Bereg County, Beregszász (Berehove)
* Ugocsa County, Nagyszőllős ( Vynohradiv)
* Máramaros County (only the northern part), Máramarossziget (Sighetu Marmației)

Transitional period (1918–1919)

After World War I, the Austro-Hungarian monarchy collapsed and the region was briefly (in 1918 and 1919) claimed as part of the independent West Ukraine Republic. However, for most of this period the region was controlled by the newly formed independent Hungarian Democratic Republic, with a short period of West Ukrainian control.

On November 8, 1918, the first National Council (the Ľubovňa Council, which later reconvened as the Prešov Council) was held in western Ruthenia. The first of many councils, it simply stated the desire of its members to separate from the newly formed Hungarian state but did not specify a particular alternative—only that it must involve the right to self-determination.Preclík, Vratislav. Masaryk a legie (Masaryk and legions), váz. kniha, 219 pages, first issue vydalo nakladatelství Paris Karviná, Žižkova 2379 (734 01 Karvina, Czech Republic) ve spolupráci s Masarykovým demokratickým hnutím (Masaryk Democratic Movement, Prague), 2019, , pp. 35–53, 106–107, 111–112, 124–125, 128, 129, 132, 140–148, 184–199.

Other councils, such as the Carpatho-Ruthenian National Council meetings in Huszt ( Khust) (November 1918), called for unification with the West Ukrainian People's Republic. Only in early January 1919 were the first calls heard in Ruthenia for union with Czechoslovakia.

Rus'ka Krajina

Throughout November and the following few months, councils met every few weeks, calling for various solutions. Some wanted to remain part of the Hungarian Democratic Republic, but with greater autonomy; the most notable of these, the Uzhhorod Council (November 9, 1918), declared itself the representative of the Rusyn people and began negotiations with Hungarian authorities. These negotiations ultimately resulted in the passage of ''Law no. 10'' by the Hungarian government on December 21, 1918, thereby establishing the autonymous Rusyn province of Rus'ka Krajina from the Rusyn-inhabited parts of four eastern counties (Máramaros County, Ugocha County, Bereg County, Ung County.

On February 5, 1919, a provisional government for Rus'ka Krajina was established. The "Rus'ka rada" (or Rusyn Council), was made up of 42 representatives from the four constituent counties and headed by a chairman, Orest Sabov, and vice-chairman, Avhustyn Shtefan. The following month, on March 4, elections were held for a formal diet of 36 deputies. Upon election, the new diet requested the Hungarian government define the borders of the autonomous region, which had not yet been elaborated; without an established territory, the deputies argued that the diet was useless.

On March 21, 1919, the Democratic Republic of Hungary was replaced by the Hungarian Soviet Republic, which then announced the existence of a "Soviet Rus'ka Krajina". Elections organized by the new Hungarian government of a people's soviet (council) on April 6 and 7, 1919 led to Rus'ka Krajina then had two councils: the original diet, and the newly elected soviet. Representatives from both councils then decided to join, forming the ''Uriadova rada'' ("Governing Council) of Rus'ka Krajina.

Fall of Soviet Hungary

Prior to this, in July 1918, Rusyn immigrants in the United States had convened and called for complete independence. Failing that, they would try to unite with Galicia and Bukovina; and failing that, they would demand autonomy, though they did not specify under which state. They approached the American government and were told that the only viable option was unification with Czechoslovakia. Their leader, Gregory Zatkovich, then signed the "Philadelphia Agreement" with Czechoslovak President Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk, guaranteeing Rusyn autonomy upon unification with Czechoslovakia on 25 October 1918. A referendum was held among American Rusyn parishes in November 1918, with a resulting 67% in favor. Another 28% voted for union with Ukraine, and less than one percent each for Galicia, Hungary and Russia. Less than 2% desired complete independence.

In April 1919, Czechoslovak control on the ground was established, when Czechoslovak Army troops acting in coordination with Royal Romanian Army forces arriving from the east—both acting under French auspices—entered the area. In a series of battles they defeated and crushed the local militias of the newly formed Hungarian Soviet Republic, which had created the Slovak Soviet Republic and whose proclaimed aim was to "unite the Hungarian, Rusyn and Jewish toilers against the exploiters of the same nationalities". Communist sympathizers accused the Czechoslovaks and Romanians of atrocities, such as public hangings and the clubbing to death of wounded prisoners. This fighting prevented the arrival of Soviet aid, for which the Hungarian Communists hoped in vain; the Bolsheviks were also too preoccupied with their own civil war to assist.

In May 1919, a Central National Council convened in the United States under Zatkovich and voted unanimously to accept the admission of Carpathian Ruthenia to Czechoslovakia. Back in Ruthenia, on May 8, 1919, a general meeting of representatives from all the previous councils was held, and declared that "The Central Russian National Council... completely endorse the decision of the American Uhro-Rusin Council to unite with the Czech-Slovak nation on the basis of full national autonomy." Note that the Central Russian National Council was an offshoot of the Central Ruthenian National Council and represented a Carpathian branch of the Russophiles movement that existed in the Austrian Galicia.

The Hungarian left-wing writer Béla Illés claimed that the meeting was little more than a farce, with various "notables" fetched from their homes by police, formed into a "National Assembly" without any semblance of a democratic process, and effectively ordered to endorse incorporation into Czechoslovakia. He further asserts that Clemenceau had personally instructed the French general on the spot to get the area incorporated into Czechoslovakia "at all costs", so as to create a buffer separating Soviet Ukraine from Hungary, as part of the French anti-Communist " Cordon sanitaire" policy, and that it was the French rather than the Czechoslovaks who made the effective decisions.

Part of Czechoslovakia (1920–1938)

The Article 53, Treaty of St. Germain (September 10, 1919) granted the Carpathian Ruthenians autonomy, which was later upheld to some extent by the Czechoslovak constitution. Some rights were, however, withheld by Prague, which justified its actions by claiming that the process was to be a gradual one; and Ruthenians representation in the national sphere was less than that hoped for. Carpathian Ruthenia included former Hungarian territories of Ung County, Bereg County, Ugocsa County and Máramaros County.

After the Paris Peace Conference, Transcarpathia became part of Czechoslovakia. Whether this was widely popular among the mainly peasant population, is debatable; clearly, however, what mattered most to Ruthenians was not which country they would join, but that they be granted autonomy within it. After their experience of Magyarization, few Carpathian Rusyns were eager to remain under Hungarian rule, and they desired to ensure self-determination. According to the Czechoslovak Constitution of 1920, the former region of the Kingdom of Hungary, Ruthenian Land (''Ruszka Krajna''), was officially renamed to Subcarpathian Ruthenia (''Podkarpatská Rus'').

In 1920, the area was used as a conduit for arms and ammunition for the anti-Soviet Poles fighting in the Polish-Soviet War directly to the north, while local Communists sabotaged the trains and tried to help the Soviet side. During and after the war many Ukrainian nationalists in East Galicia who opposed both Polish and Soviet rule fled to Carpathian Ruthenia.

Gregory Žatkovich was appointed governor of the province by Masaryk on April 20, 1920, and resigned almost a year later, on April 17, 1921, to return to his law practice in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, US. The reason for his resignation was dissatisfaction with the borders with Slovakia. His tenure is a historical anomaly as the only American citizen ever acting as governor of a province that later became a part of the USSR.

Subcarpathian Rus' (1928–1939)

In 1928, Czechoslovakia was divided into four provinces: Bohemia, Moravia-Silesia, Slovakia, and the Subcarpathian Rus'. The main town of the region, and its capital until 1938, was Užhorod. It had an area of , and its 1921 population was estimated as being 592,044.

In the period 1918–1938 the Czechoslovak government attempted to bring the Subcarpathian Rus', with 70% of the population illiterate, no industry, and a herdsman way of life, up to the level of the rest of Czechoslovakia. Thousands of Czech teachers, policemen, clerks and businessmen went to the region. The Czechoslovak government built thousands of kilometers of railways, roads, airports, and hundreds of schools and residential buildings.

The Rusyn people decided to join the new state of Czechoslovakia, a decision that happened parallel to other events that affected these proceedings. At the Paris Peace Conference, several other countries (including Hungary, Ukraine and Russia) laid claim to Carpathian Rus'. The Allies, however, had few alternatives to choosing Czechoslovakia. Hungary had lost the war and therefore gave up its claims; Ukraine was seen as politically unviable; and Russia was in the midst of a civil war. Thus the only importance of Rusyns' decision to become part of Czechoslovakia was in creating, at least initially, good relations between the leaders of Carpathian Rus' and Czechoslovakia. The Ukrainian language was not actively persecuted in Czechoslovakia during the interwar period, unlike in Poland and Romania. Serhy Yekelchyk ''"Ukraine: Birth of a Modern Nation"'', Oxford University Press (2007), , pp. 128–130 73 percent of local parents voted against Ukrainian language education for their children in a referendum conducted in Subcarpathian Rus' in 1937.

Carpathian Ukraine (1938–1939)

In November 1938, under the First Vienna Award—a result of the Munich Agreement—Czechoslovakia ceded southern Carpathian Rus to Hungary. The remainder of Subcarpathian Rus' received autonomy, with Andrej Bródy as prime minister of the autonomous government. After the resignation of the government following a local political crisis, Avhustyn Voloshyn became prime minister of the new government. In December 1938, Subcarpathian Rus' was renamed to Carpathian Ukraine.

Following the Slovak proclamation of independence on March 14, 1939, and the Nazis' seizure of the Czech lands on March 15, Carpathian Ukraine declared its independence as the Republic of Carpatho-Ukraine, with Avhustyn Voloshyn as head of state, and was immediately occupied and annexed by Hungary, restoring provisionally the former counties of Ung, Bereg and partially Máramaros.

Governorate of Subcarpathia (1939–1945)

On March 23, 1939, Hungary annexed further territories disputed with Slovakia bordering with the west of the former Carpatho-Rus. The Hungarian invasion was followed by a few weeks of terror in which more than 27,000 people were shot dead without trial and investigation. Over 75,000 Ukrainians decided to seek asylum in the Soviet Union; of those almost 60,000 of them died in Gulag prison-camps. Others joined the remaining Czech troops from the Czechoslovak army-in-exile.Today is the 80th anniversary of the proclamation of the Carpathian Ukraine
Ukrinform