First Hungarian Republic

1918–1919 unrecognized state in Central Europe

This article is about the republic in 1918–1919. For Communist-ruled Hungary, see Hungarian People's Republic.

Hungarian People's Republic

Magyar Népköztársaság (Hungarian)

1918–1919

Flag

Coat of arms

Anthem: Himnusz
(English: "Hymn")

Hungarian territory in November 1918

Status| Unrecognized rump state
Capital| Budapest
47°29′N 19°02′E﻿ / ﻿47.483°N 19.033°E﻿ / 47.483; 19.033
Official language| Hungarian

Common languages

* German
* Slovak
* Croatian
* Romanian

Demonym(s)| Hungarian
Government| People's republic
President|

• Nov. 1918 - Mar. 1919

| Mihály Károlyi

• Mar. 1919 - Aug. 1919

| interregnum

• Aug. 1919

| Gyula Peidl (acting)
Prime Minister|

• Oct. 1918 - Jan. 1919

| Mihály Károlyi

• Jan. 1919 - Mar. 1919

| Dénes Berinkey

• Mar. 1919 - Aug. 1919

| interregnum

• Aug. 1919

| Gyula Peidl

• Aug. 1919

| István Friedrich
Legislature| National Council
Historical era| Interwar period

• Aster Revolution

| 31 October 1918

• Establishment

| 16 November 1918

• Beginning of the Hungarian–Romanian War

| 13 November 1918

• Beginning of the Hungarian–Czechoslovak War

| November 1918

• Vix Note

| 26 February 1919

• Soviet overthrow

| 21 March 1919

• Re-establishment

| 1 August 1919

• Nationalist overthrow

| 8 August 1919
Area

• Total

| 282,870 km2 (109,220 sq mi)[a]
Population

• 1920

| 7,980,143
Currency|

* Austro-Hungarian korona (until 1919)
* Hungarian korona

Preceded by | Succeeded by

|

|  | Nov. 1918:
Kingdom of Hungary

|

| Aug. 1919:
Soviet Hungary
| Mar. 1919:
Soviet Hungary |

|

Aug. 1919:
Hungarian Republic |
Today part of| Hungary

1. ^ In 1918. (Tarsoly 1995, pp. 595–597.)

The First Hungarian Republic (Hungarian: Első Magyar Köztársaság),[1] until 21 March 1919 the Hungarian People's Republic (Magyar Népköztársaság), was a short-lived unrecognized country, which quickly transformed into a small rump state due to the foreign and military policy of the doctrinaire pacifist Károlyi government. It existed from 16 November 1918 until 8 August 1919, apart from a 133-day interruption in the form of the Hungarian Soviet Republic. The republic was established in the wake of the dissolution of Austria-Hungary following World War I as a replacement for the Kingdom of Hungary. During the rule of Count Mihály Károlyi's pacifist cabinet, Hungary lost control over approximately 75% of its former pre-World War I territories, which was about 325,411 km2 (125,642 sq mi), without armed resistance and was subjected to unhindered foreign occupation. It was in turn succeeded by the Hungarian Soviet Republic but re-established following its demise, and ultimately replaced by the Hungarian Republic.

## Name

[edit]

President Mihály Károlyi's speech after the proclamation of the First Hungarian Republic on 16 November, 1918 Béla Linder's pacifist speech and declaration of self-disarmament on 2 November 1918 Protest of the Transylvanian National Council against the occupation of Transylvania to Romania on 22 December 1918

"Hungarian People's Republic" was adopted as the official name of the country on 16 November 1918,[2][3][4] and remained in use until the overthrow of the Dénes Berinkey government on 21 March 1919. Following the collapse of the Hungarian Soviet Republic, the Gyula Peidl government restored the pre-communist name of the state on 2 August 1919.[5][6]

The government of István Friedrich changed the name to "Hungarian Republic" on 8 August;[7][8][9] however, the denomination "Hungarian People's Republic" appeared on some government-issued decrees during this period.[10][11]

## History

[edit]

### Károlyi era

[edit]

Part of a series on the

History of Hungary

Early history

* Hungarian prehistory
* The Carpathian Basin before the Hungarian conquest
* Roman Pannonia
* Hunnic Empire

Early medieval

| Kingdom of the Gepids| 454–567

|

Ostrogothic Kingdom| 469–553
Avar Khaganate| 567–822
Hungarian invasions of Europe| ~800–970
Hungarian conquest| 862–895

Medieval

| Principality of Hungary| 895–1000

|

Kingdom of Hungary| 1000–1301
Personal union with Croatia| 1102–1918
Golden Bull| 1222
Mongol invasion of Hungary| 1241–1242
Kingdom of Hungary| 1301–1526
Ottoman Wars| 1366–1526

Early modern

| Reformation| 1520

|

Ottoman Wars| 1526–1718
Eastern Hungarian Kingdom| 1526–1570
Royal Hungary| 1526–1699
Ottoman Hungary| 1541–1699
Principality of Transylvania| 1570–1711
Bocskai uprising| 1604–1606
Wesselényi conspiracy| 1664–1671
Principality of Upper Hungary| 1682–1685
Kingdom of Hungary| 1699–1867

Late modern

| Rákóczi's War of Independence| 1703–1711

|

Principality of Transylvania| 1711–1867
Hungarian Reform Era| 1825–1848
Revolution of 1848| 1848–1849
Hungarian State| 1849
Austro-Hungarian Monarchy| 1867–1918
Lands of the Crown of St. Stephen| 1867–1918
World War I| 1914–1918
Interwar period| 1918–1941
Hungarian People's Republic| 1918–1919
Hungarian Soviet Republic| 1919
Hungarian Republic| 1919–1920
Treaty of Trianon| 1920
Kingdom of Hungary| 1920–1946
First Vienna Award| 1938
Governorate of Subcarpathia| 1939–1945
Second Vienna Award| 1940
Revisions of Délvidék| 1941
World War II| 1941–1945

Contemporary

| Second Hungarian Republic| 1946–1949

|

Hungarian People's Republic| 1949–1989
Revolution of 1956|  1956
Goulash Communism| 1956–1989
Third Hungarian Republic| 1989–2012
Hungary| since 2012

Topics

* Hungarians
* Hungarian language
* Timeline
* Kingdom of Hungary
* History of Transylvania
* Seven chieftains of the Magyars
* Árpád dynasty
* Holy Crown
* Hungarian Kings
* Transylvanian Princes
* Nobility
* Great Officers
* Military
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* Christianity
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* Flag
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Hungary portal

* v
* t
* e

The Hungarian People's Republic was created by the Aster Revolution, which started in Budapest on 31 October 1918. That day, King Charles IV appointed the revolt's leader, Mihály Károlyi, as Hungarian prime minister. Almost his first act was to formally terminate the personal union between Austria and Hungary. On 13 November, Charles issued a proclamation withdrawing from Hungarian politics. A few days later the provisional government proclaimed Hungary a people's republic,[2] with Károlyi as both prime minister and interim president. This event ended 400 years of rule by the House of Habsburg.

The Hungarian Royal Honvéd army still had more than 1,400,000 soldiers[12][13] when Mihály Károlyi was announced as prime minister of Hungary. Károlyi yielded to U.S. President Woodrow Wilson's demand for pacifism by ordering the unilateral self- disarmament of the Hungarian army. This happened under the direction of Béla Linder, (minister of war) on 2 November 1918.[14][15] Due to the full disarmament of its army, Hungary was to remain without a national defence at a time of particular vulnerability. The Hungarian self-disarmament made the occupation of Hungary directly possible for the relatively small armies of Romania, the Franco-Serbian army and the armed forces of the newly established Czechoslovakia.

The Károlyi government's measures failed to stem popular discontent, especially when the Entente powers began distributing slices of what many considered Hungary's traditional territory to the majority ethnic groups in Kingdom of Romania, the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, and the First Czechoslovak Republic. The new government and its supporters had pinned their hopes for maintaining Hungary's territorial integrity on the abandonment of Cisleithania and Germany, the securing of a separate peace, and exploiting Károlyi's close connections in the French Third Republic. When Károlyi appointed Oszkár Jászi as the new Minister for National Minorities of Hungary, Jászi immediately offered democratic referendums about the disputed borders for minorities, however, the political leaders of those minorities refused the very idea of democratic referendums regarding disputed territories at the Paris peace conference.[16] After the Hungarian self-disarmament, Czech, Serbian, and Romanian political leaders chose to attack Hungary instead of holding democratic plebiscites concerning the disputed areas.[17]

Military and political events changed rapidly and drastically after Hungarian disarmament:

* on 5 November 1918, the Serbian army, with the help of the French army, crossed the southern borders
* on 8 November, the Czechoslovak Army crossed the northern borders
* on 13 November, the Romanian army crossed the eastern borders

The Entente considered Hungary a partner in the defeated Dual Monarchy, and dashed the Hungarians' hopes with the delivery of successive diplomatic notes. Each demanded the surrender of more land to other ethnic groups. On 20 March 1919, the French head of the Entente mission in Budapest gave Károlyi a note delineating the final postwar boundaries, which the Hungarians found unacceptable.[18] Károlyi and Prime Minister Dénes Berinkey were now in an impossible position. They knew accepting the French note would endanger the country's territorial integrity, but were in no position to reject it. In protest, Berinkey resigned.

Károlyi informed the cabinet that only the Hungarian Social Democratic Party could possibly form a new government. Unknown to Károlyi, however, the Social Democrats had merged with the Hungarian Communist Party; the latter promised that the Russian SFSR would help Hungary to restore its original borders. Although the Social Democrats held a majority in the newly merged Hungarian Socialist Party, the communists led by Béla Kun immediately seized control and announced the establishment of the Hungarian Soviet Republic on 21 March 1919.

### Re-establishment and dissolution

[edit]

After the fall of the Soviet Republic on 1 August 1919, a social democratic government—the so-called "trade union government"—came to power under the leadership of Gyula Peidl.[19] A decree was issued on 2 August restoring the form of government and the official state name back to "People's Republic".[5] During its brief existence, the Peidl government began to abrogate the edicts passed by the Communist regime.[20]

On 6 August, István Friedrich, leader of the White House Comrades Association—a right-wing, counter-revolutionary group—seized power in a bloodless coup with the backing of the Royal Romanian Army.[6] The next day, Joseph August declared himself regent of Hungary—he held the position until 23 August, when he was forced to resign[21]—and appointed Friedrich as Prime Minister. The state was formally dissolved by the new government on 8 August 1919.

## See also

[edit]

* Hungary between the World Wars
* Revolutions and interventions in Hungary
* Red Terror in Hungary
* White Terror in Hungary

## References

[edit]

### Notes

[edit]

1. ^ Lambert, S. (19 April 2014). "The First Hungarian Republic". The Orange Files. Retrieved 11 March 2019.
2. ^ a b 1918\. évi néphatározat (in Hungarian) – via Wikisource.
3. ^ Pölöskei, F.; et al. (1995). Magyarország története, 1918–1990 (in Hungarian). Budapest: Korona Kiadó. p. 17\. ISBN 963-8153-55-5.
4. ^ Minisztertanácsi jegyzőkönyvek: 1918. november 16 (in Hungarian). DigitArchiv. p. 4.
5. ^ a b A Magyar Népköztársaság Kormányának 1. számu rendelete Magyarország államformája tárgyában (in Hungarian) – via Wikisource.
6. ^ a b Pölöskei, F.; et al. (1995). Magyarország története, 1918–1990 (in Hungarian). Budapest: Korona Kiadó. pp. 32–33\. ISBN 963-8153-55-5.
7. ^ A Magyar Köztársaság miniszterelnökének 1. számu rendelete a sajtótermékekről (in Hungarian) – via Wikisource.
8. ^ 4072/1919. M. E. számú rendelet (in Hungarian) – via Wikisource.
9. ^ Raffay, E. (1990). Trianon titkai, avagy hogyan bántak el országunkkal (in Hungarian). Budapest: Tornado Damenia. p. 125\. ISBN 963-02-7639-9.
10. ^ 3923/1919. M. E. számú rendelet (in Hungarian) – via Wikisource.
11. ^ 70762/1919. K. M. számú rendelet (in Hungarian) – via Wikisource.
12. ^ Martin Kitchen (2014). Europe Between the Wars. Routledge. p. 190\. ISBN 9781317867531.
13. ^ Ignác Romsics (2002). Dismantling of Historic Hungary: The Peace Treaty of Trianon, 1920 Issue 3 of CHSP Hungarian authors series East European monographs. Social Science Monographs. p. 62\. ISBN 9780880335058.
14. ^ Dixon J. C. Defeat and Disarmament, Allied Diplomacy and Politics of Military Affairs in Austria, 1918–1922. Associated University Presses 1986. p. 34.
15. ^ Sharp A. The Versailles Settlement: Peacemaking after the First World War, 1919–1923[permanent dead link]. Palgrave Macmillan 2008. p. 156\. ISBN 9781137069689.
16. ^ Adrian Severin; Sabin Gherman; Ildiko Lipcsey (2006). Romania and Transylvania in the 20th Century. Corvinus Publications. p. 24\. ISBN 9781882785155.
17. ^ Bardo Fassbender; Anne Peters; Simone Peter; Daniel Högger (2012). The Oxford Handbook of the History of International Law. Oxford University Press. p. 41\. ISBN 9780199599752.
18. ^ Romsics, Ignác (2004). Magyarország története a XX. században (in Hungarian). Budapest: Osiris Kiadó. p. 123\. ISBN 963-389-590-1.
19. ^ Romsics, I. (2004). Magyarország története a XX. században (in Hungarian). Budapest: Osiris Kiadó. p. 132\. ISBN 963-389-590-1.
20. ^ Minisztertanácsi jegyzőkönyvek: 1919. augusztus 3 (in Hungarian). DigitArchiv. p. 6.
21. ^ "Die amtliche Meldung über den Rücktritt" (in German). Neue Freie Presse, Morgenblatt. 24 August 1919. p. 2.

### Bibliography

[edit]

* Overy, R., ed. (1996). The Times History of the 20th Century. London: Times Books. ISBN 9780723007661.
* Rokai, P.; Đere, Z.; Pal, T.; Kasaš, A. (2002). Istorija Mađara (in Serbian). Belgrade: CLIO. ISBN 9788671020350.
* Siklós, A. (1988). Revolution in Hungary and the Dissolution of the Multinational State, 1918. Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó. ISBN 9789630544665.
* Tarsoly, I. K., ed. (1995). "Magyarország". Révai nagy lexikona (in Hungarian). Budapest: Babits Kiadó. vol. XX. pp. 595–597. ISBN 9789638318701.

## External links

[edit]

* Media related to History of Hungary between the World Wars at Wikimedia Commons

* v
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Hungary articles

History|

| Overview|

* Timeline
* Name
* Christianity
* Military
* List of wars
* Seven chieftains
* Árpád dynasty
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* King
* List of monarchs
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* List of princesses consort of Transylvania
* List of regents
* List of palatines
* Nobility
* Flag
* Coat of arms
* History of Transylvania

|

Ancient|

* Hungarian prehistory
* The Carpathian Basin before the Hungarian conquest
* Roman Pannonia
* Hunnic Empire

Early Medieval|

* Kingdom of the Gepids (454–567)
* Ostrogothic Kingdom (469–553)
* Avar Khaganate (567–822)
* Hungarian invasions of Europe (~800–970)
* Hungarian conquest (862–895)

Medieval|

* Principality of Hungary (895–1000)
* Kingdom of Hungary (1000–1301)
* Personal union with Croatia (1102–1918)
* Golden Bull (1222)
* Mongol invasion of Hungary (1241–1242)
* Kingdom of Hungary (1301–1526)
* Ottoman Wars (1366–1526)

Early Modern|

* Reformation (1520)
* Ottoman Wars (1526–1718)
* Eastern Hungarian Kingdom (1526–1570)
* Royal Hungary (1526–1699)
* Ottoman Hungary (1541–1699)
* Principality of Transylvania (1570–1711)
* Bocskai uprising 1604–1606)
* Wesselényi conspiracy (1664–1671)
* Principality of Upper Hungary (1682–1685)
* Kingdom of Hungary (1699–1867)

Late Modern|

* Rákóczi's War of Independence (1703–1711)
* Principality of Transylvania (1711–1867)
* Hungarian Reform Era (1825–1848)
* Revolution of 1848 (1848–1849)
* Hungarian State (1849)
* Austro-Hungarian Monarchy (1867–1918)
* Lands of the Crown of St. Stephen (1867–1918
* World War I (1914–1918)
* Interwar period (1918–1941)
* Hungarian People's Republic (1918–1919)
* Hungarian Soviet Republic (1919)
* Hungarian Republic (1919–1920)
* Treaty of Trianon (1920)
* Kingdom of Hungary (1920–1946)
* First Vienna Award (1938)
* Governorate of Subcarpathia (1939–1945)
* Second Vienna Award (1940)
* Revisions of Délvidék (1941)
* World War II (1941–1945)

Contemporary|

* Second Hungarian Republic (1946–1949)
* Hungarian People's Republic (1949–1989)
* Revolution of 1956 (1956)
* Goulash Communism (1956–1989)
* Third Hungarian Republic (1989–2012)

Geography|

* Administrative divisions
* Atlas
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Politics|

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Economy|

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Society|

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Culture|

* Academy
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* Outline

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Dissolution of Austria-Hungary

Treaties|

* Treaty of Versailles
* Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye (for Austria)
* Treaty of Trianon (for Hungary)
* Paris Peace Conference
* 1920 Carinthian plebiscite
* 1921 Sopron plebiscite

Diplomacy|

* Armistice of Villa Giusti
* Armistice of Belgrade
* Hodža-Bartha Agreement
* Pichon Line
* Berthelot-Apáthy Agreement
* Vix Note
* Smuts Mission
* Clemenceau Note
* Clerk Mission

Successor states|

* Czechoslovakia
* State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs
* Free State of Fiume
* Italian Regency of Carnaro

| Austria|

* Republic of German-Austria
* German Bohemia
* Sudetenland
* Bohemian Forest Region
* German South Moravia
* First Austrian Republic

|

Hungary|

* First Hungarian Republic
* Hungarian Soviet Republic
* Hungarian Republic
* Kingdom of Hungary

Short-lived|

* Republic of Zakopane
* Banat, Bačka and Baranja
* Banat Republic
* Serbian-Hungarian Baranya-Baja Republic
* West Ukrainian People's Republic
* Komancza Republic
* Republic of Tarnobrzeg
* Lemko Republic
* Republic of Heinzenland
* Slovak People's Republic
* Hutsul Republic
* Republic of Prekmurje
* Slovak Soviet Republic
* Galician Soviet Socialist Republic (Russian Civil War spill over)
* Lajtabánság

Cessions|

* Galicia to Poland
* Bukovina and Transylvania to Romania
* South Tyrol and Austrian Littoral to Italy
* Austro-Hungarian concession of Tianjin to China

Post World War I
armed conflicts|

* Aster Revolution
* Polish–Ukrainian War
* Austro-Slovene conflict in Carinthia
* Polish–Czechoslovak War
* Hungarian–Romanian War
* Hungarian–Czechoslovak War
* Romanian occupation of Pokuttia
* Silesian Uprisings
* Uprising in West Hungary
* Battle of Budaörs

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