Hungary
- 11. November 1918. – Armistice day, end of WWI.
- 16. November 1918. – Proclamation of the Hungarian Republic; ex-prime minister
count Mihaly Karolyi, supported by Social Democrats, became president of
the republic.
- Rise of the communists; Bela Kun.
- February 1919. – communist demonstrations; four policemen killed in an incident;
Bela Kun arrested.
- March 1919. – “Vix note”; French colonel Fernand Vix ordered Hungarian forces to
retreat; this note created a huge national outrage among Hungarians.
- Karolyi resigned from office in favor of the Social Democrats; they made a coalition
with Communists creating Hungarian Socialist Party ; Soviet support.
Count Mihaly Karolyi
-21. March 1919. - Socialist government, called the Revolutionary Governing Council,
proclaimed the Hungarian Soviet Republic; Kun became a supreme ruler in the country.
- Abolition of aristocratic privileges, secularization of the Republic, nationalization
of industry.
- Hostile reaction from Entente powers; expansionism of Czechoslovakia and Romania
and the formation of “Red Guard” and “Lenin Boys”; Red terror.
- April 1919. – Romanian army invasion; occupation of eastern regions.
- Romanian military succes – army entered Budapest; Kun fled to Austria.
Flag of the Hungarian Soviet Republic
Bela Kun
- Istvan Bethlen and admiral Miklos Horthy took control of Western Hungary; White
terror turned against communists and Jews; 5 000 murdered.
- Retreat of Romanian troups
- March 1920. - Restoration of Hungarian kingdom; Horthy as a regent.
Admiral Miklos Horthy
Count Istvan Bethlen
- 4. June 1920. – Treaty of Trianon – Hungary lost 2/3 of its territory; valuable natural
resources, port Rijeka (Fiume), military restrictions (35 000 soldiers max.).
- Treaty (extracts):
ARTICLE 57
All persons born in Hungarian territory who are not born nationals of another State shall
ipso facto become Hungarian nationals.
ARTICLE 58.
All Hungarian nationals shall be equal before the law and shall enjoy the same civil and
political rights without distinction as to race, language or religion. Difference of religion,
creed or confession shall not prejudice any Hungarian national in matters relating
to the enjoyment of civil or political rights, as for instance admission to public
employments, functions and honours, or the exercise of professions and industries.
Treaty of Trianon
- July 1920. - Horthy appointed count Pál Teleki as Prime Minister; government started
land reforms, dividing largest estates into small holdings.
-1921. – emperor Charles IV unsuccessfully attempted to retake Hungary's throne; Teleki
resigned.
-Horthy appointed count Istvan Bethlen as Prime Minister; restoration of order in the
country; amnesty for Social Democrats; strengthening of the economy, relations with
other countries.
-1922. – Hungary joined League of Nations.
- Main political goal for the future - revision of the Treaty of Trianon.
Romania
- Huge territorial gains at the end of the WWI; Transylvania, Bukovina and Bessarabia
united with the Romanian Old Kingdom in 1919; union was ratified in 1920. by the
Treaty of Trianon.
- Creation of “Greater Romania” - România Mare.
- 1919. - War against Hungary, occupation of Budapest.
- 1918. – 1921. - The Romanian government carried out land reforms in order to prevent
a socialist revolution.
-1920. – Romania joined Czechoslovakia and Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes to
form “Little Entente”, in order to prevent Habsburg restoration; it was supported by France.
- 1922. – King Ferdinand was crowned as king of the Greater Romania.
- 1923. – New constitution; centralization of the state.
- The constitution granted equal political rights, eliminated the Romanian Orthodox
Church's legal supremacy, gave Jews citizenship rights, prohibited foreigners from
owning rural land, and provided for expropriation of rural property and nationalization
of the country's oil and mineral wealth.
- Two major political parties:
• National peasant party – Iuliu Maniu
• National liberal party – Ion Bratianu; represented the country's industrial, financial,
and commercial interests.
-Social democratic party – strongest working-class party; 1921. a faction of Social
Democrats founded the Romanian Communist party
- 1924. – Communist party was banned.
Iuliu Maniu
Ion Bratianu
Bulgaria
- Defeat in 1918. led to new territorial losses (the Western Outlands to Serbia,
Western Thrace to Greece and Southern Dobruja to Romania).
- Tsar Ferdinand abdicated in favor of his son Boris III.
- November 1919. - Treaty of Neuilly; the country had to reduce its army to 20,000 men,
and to pay reparations exceeding 400 million $.
-Treaty of Neuilly (extracts):
ARTICLE 64.
Within three months from the coming into force of the present Treaty, the military
forces of Bulgaria shall be demobilized to the extent prescribed hereinafter.
ARTICLE 65.
Universal compulsory military service shall be
abolished in Bulgaria. The Bulgarian Army
shall in future only be constituted and
recruited by means of voluntary enlistment.
ARTICLE 66.
The total number of military forces in the
Bulgarian Army shall not exceed 20,000 men,
including officers and depot troops.
-Slow economic growth, social unrest, Macedonia problem.
- March 1920. – parliamentary elections won by Bulgarian Agrarian party; Aleksandar
Stamboliyski formed Bulgaria's first peasant government.
- Stamboliyski began huge economic and land reforms; He abolished the merchants'
trade monopoly on grain, replacing it with a government consortium; broke up large
urban and rural landholdings and sold the surplus to the poor.
- He abandoned Bulgarian territorial claims and started supression of the IMRO
(Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization) in 1921.
- March 1923 - Stamboliyski signed an agreement with the Kingdom of Yugoslavia
recognising the new border.
- June 1923. – Stamboliyski was assasinated by members of IMRO.
- A right wing government under Aleksandar Tsankov took power, backed by the
army and the VMRO; White terror against the Agrarians and the Communists.
-1925. - bombing of Sveta Nedelia Cathedral in Sofia while the tsar was present in
killing over 100.
- Continuous supression against the Communists.
Albania
-1912. – Declaration of Albanian independence.
- 1913. - Treaty of London, Albania recognized as an independent country.
- February 1914. – Principality of Albania established; The Great Power's selected
Prince Wilhelm of Wied, a nephew of Queen Elisabeth of Romania.
-1914. – revolt by Essad Pasha Toptani; prince Wilhelm left the country.
- WWI and the Italian influence; country ruled by regency; Greek and Yugoslavian
interests.
- January 1920. – Paris Peace Conference – Albanian territories partition plan.
Essad-pasha Toptani
-Albanian National Assembly rejected the partition plan and appointed a four-man
regency to rule the country; USA supported Albanian independence.
-September 1920. – Italian troups retreated from Albania.
- 1921. - Yugoslavian army continued with invasion; it was finally stopped by League of
Nations order.
- Very slow economic growth and problems with illiteracy; emergence of political parties.
-Political parties:
• Progressive party – big landowners from the South.
• Popular party – reformists; bishop Fan Noli; Ahmed Zogu.
-1923. – Ahmed Zogu became a prime minister; formation of Government party.
- Fan Noli – opposition; Democratic party; Western orientated politicians; idea od the
Modernization of the country.
Bishop Fan Noli
Ahmed Zogu
-1924. – National Assembly elections; Zogu’s victory; assasination attempt; Zogu fled
to Yugoslavia; Noli became prime minister.
- Noli called for abolishing feudalism, resisting Italian domination, and establishing
a Western-style constitutional government; resistance.
-September 1924. - Zogu built mercenary army in Yugoslavia and crossed Albanian
border; Noli fled to Italy.
- January 1925. – proclamation of Albanian Republic; Zogu first president.
- 1928. – Zogu was proclaimed King as Zog I.
King Zog I