The Kingdom of Hungary was viewed as one of the successor states of the Austro-Hungarian Empire which collapsed following its defeat in the First World War.
The treaty was controversial in Hungary, because the New Kingdom only covered 28% of the land area and had 36% of the population of the pre-war Kingdom of Hungary (the Hungarian half of Austria-Hungary).
It also left 3.3 million Hungarians outside of the new smaller Kingdom.
The map above is an attempt to show what this would translate to if the same thing happened to the United States.
That said the map is very much a product of its time in terms of language use and reflects the very racist attitudes that existed at the time.
Interestingly, despite everything that happened between 1920 and today, Hungary’s borders are almost exactly the same today as those set-up in the Treaty.
Here is another comparison to other states:
Why did Hungary lose so much territory with Treaty of Trianon?
Hungary lost so much territory under the Treaty of Trianon (1920) because the victorious Allied Powers after World War I wanted to dismantle the Austro-Hungarian Empire and redraw the map of Central Europe along (what they believed were) ethnic and strategic lines.
Several factors explain the severity of the losses:
Collapse of Austria-Hungary
- Austria-Hungary, of which Hungary was one half, ceased to exist after its defeat in WWI.
- The Allies treated Hungary as a successor state of a defeated empire rather than a neutral or independent country.
- The goal was to prevent any revival of a powerful Habsburg monarchy that could threaten the new order in Europe.
Self-Determination & Ethnic Diversity
- U.S. President Woodrow Wilson’s Fourteen Points called for redrawing borders along ethnic lines (“self-determination”).
- Prewar Hungary (the “Lands of the Crown of Saint Stephen”) was extremely multi-ethnic:
- Hungarians (Magyars) were only about 48% of the population.
- Large populations of Romanians, Slovaks, Croats, Serbs, Ukrainians, and Germans lived in the kingdom.
- The Allies gave many of these groups’ lands to new or enlarged states where they formed majorities:
- Transylvania → Romania
- Slovakia & Ruthenia → Czechoslovakia
- Croatia-Slavonia, parts of Banat, Bačka → Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes (later Yugoslavia)
Strategic & Political Goals of the Allies
- The Allies wanted to weaken Hungary so it could not dominate its neighbours as it had under the Dual Monarchy.
- They sought to create buffer states against both a resurgent Germany and Bolshevik Russia.
- Some decisions favoured strategic borders (mountains, rivers) over purely ethnic ones, meaning many Hungarians ended up outside the new Hungarian state.
Military Situation & Hungarian Politics
- After the war, Hungary experienced political chaos, including the short-lived Hungarian Soviet Republic (1919).
- Romanian and Czechoslovak troops occupied much of Hungary’s territory during this period, strengthening their bargaining position at the peace talks.
- Hungary was weak, isolated, and had little leverage at Trianon.
Resulting Losses
- Hungary lost about two-thirds of its territory and over half of its population.
- Roughly 3.3 million ethnic Hungarians suddenly became minorities in neighbouring countries.
- The treaty left deep resentment in Hungary and became a central issue in its politics for decades.
A final map from Forum Mapping:
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Peter says
Hungarians Never forget this time!! This “peace” was disgusting and showed to everyone where is Democracy!! France, Romania, Czechoslovakia, this 3 country broken a Hungarian nation. Romania took a land with they fake history and they lied all the time, same as in present! More than 3 million Hungarians changed nationality one day to next day.
How strange when Romanian historian professor said Transylvania never was part of Romania, but when you open a history book you can read totally different. Romanians killed lots of Hungarians but the western European countrys don’t care nothing just a money and powerful position in a European parliament. Germany lost 13% (!!) Bulgaria 8%, Hungary 72(!!!)
Trianon is not eternal!!!
Gabriel says
This is a very chauvinistic remark…and what about the Slovaks, Romanians, Germans, Ruthenians, Croats or Serbs who made up half of the population of the old Hungarian kingdom? Did anybody in Budapest ask them before Trianon actually occured what would they prefer?
The Little One says
The Hungarian Government continue to be racist also in the present days! 😀
Martin says
Look at what happened to the UK or France when their colonial empires broke. This is what happens to nations that try to colonise and oppress others. Plus the Hungarians themselves started the process of disintegration when insisting on the Ausgleich in 1867 in which they attempted to secede from the Austrian Empire. I wonder why they think the disintegration they had started should have stopped mid-way just because it suited their selfish purposes.
Las says
Not to mention that the Hungarians have had an uncanny nose to always join the wrong side of history. This is how they lost everything after WWI, then got Transylvania back, just to lose it again to the Rumanians who jumped out from the unholy alliance with Hitler in WWII just weeks before the war ended. The Hungarians stuck with Hitler all the way.
Agustin says
I found very interesting how despicable was for Hungarians the creation of Yugoslavia, to the point that they compared it in the map as to how horrified (at least, at that time) the U.S. would have felt if the Caribbean countries would have joined into a Independent Nigger State!
Daniel says
It’s like United Kingdom would cry after India, Egypt, South Africa, Ireland…. They where minoritary in lost teritories.
Ava says
Indians, Irish, Egyptians, etc are not form the same gene pool, not to mention the physical distance, with those lands you refer to, unlike the Hungarian case.
Plus, not to mention the fact, that Hungary never colonized other nations.
Frobin Jojo says
This map is totally reactionist and based on a weird and wrong view on the world. While it is true that Hungary lost a very big share of his territory after World War I by the treaty of Trianon, the comparsion is totally crude (by the way: don’t know how old this map is … but “Indep. Nigger State” isn’t a proper term and should reveal the quality of this map).
First, the territory of Hungary in the Austria-Hungary monarchy was (same for the Austrian part) multiethnic:
– The part going to Czechoslovakia was mostly populated by Slovaks, but also a minority of Hungarians.
– The part going to Yugoslavia was mostly populated by Croats and Serbs, again with a Hungarian minority population (mostly in the Vojvodina, North of Belgrade).
– The small part going to Austria was populated by German-, Hungarian- and Croat-speaking people, a typical border region. But Hungary also managed to get the biggest city and natural capital of the region, Sopron (then called Ödenburg), which had a german-speaking majority. And by the way: the outcome of the referendum to choose Hungary and not Austria was faked to the advantage of Hungary.
– Only in the part going to Romania had a Hungarian population majority, but also strong Romanian an German minority population. So it is true, at least the separation of big parts of this now Romanian territory has been unfair and not justified by demography. The Hungarians living outside the borders were mainly living in the now Romanian part (with minority groups in the border regions of the other parts).
Germany, Austria, Turkey and other losers of WW1 can also moan about the unfair victory treaties, but for what? Its over 100 years in the past. The population has totally changed. Just look on other states territory changes. Bolivia lost its coast region to Chile, for example. This moaning is so counterproductive, stuck and so not forward-looking!
Mar says
“Only in the part going to Romania had a Hungarian population majority, but also strong Romanian an German minority population.”
False statement, please recheck the facts. Overall, in Transylvania (that territory you’re talking about) the last census organized by Hungarian authorities in 1910, came out with these results:
Total: 5,262,495. Romanians 53.8%, Hungarians 31.6%, Germans 10.7% – Austro-Hungarian population census (based on primary used language).
And in general, at this link can be observed the evolution of demographics in Transylvania since 13th century until these days.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Transylvania
So,
Frobin Jojo says
Even as a historical map of 1920 one should point the crude perspective of this map nowadays. It’s only value is the historical view on world views long gone …
D S J says
This is the sort of map that truly belongs in an archive because it was based upon a spurious view of the supposed superiority of Magyar culture, a superiority that denied other nationalities their rights in the formation of nation states so that a very small aristocracy could dictate policy to tens of millions. It was a sign of how out of kilter the settlement of 1849 had become in that the Austro Hungarian empire had to defer to Magyar sensibilities even if that meant antagonizing the very many separate people’s and nationalities who’s support would be needed later.