Trianon, Treaty of 1920

a peace treaty concluded after the end of World War I on June 4, 1920, at the Grand Trianon Palace in Versailles. The parties to the treaty were Hungary, which was one of the defeated Central Powers, and the victorious Allied and Associated Powers, which included the USA, Great Britain, France, Italy, Japan, and Greece. The treaty, a component of the Versailles-Washington system, entered into force on July 26,1921.

In many respects, the Treaty of Trianon gave form to the legal situation that already existed in the Danube River basin. The treaty gave official recognition to the following territorial losses of Hungary: Transylvania and the eastern part of the Banat were annexed to Rumania; Croatia, Bačka, and the western part of the Banat were incorporated into the Kingdom of the Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes; Burgenland was transferred to Austria; and Slovakia and the Transcarpathian Ukraine became part of the new state of Czechoslovakia, even though the people of the Transcarpathian Ukraine expressed a desire to be united with the Soviet Ukraine. Hungary renounced rights to the port of Fiume (Rije-ka) as well as all rights and title to Austro-Hungarian territories in Europe that did not belong to it.

In signing the treaty, Hungary also recognized the independence of Czechoslovakia and of the Kingdom of the Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes; pledged to repect the independence of all territories that had been part of the Russian Empire on Aug. 1, 1914; accepted the abrogation of the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk (1918); and renounced all rights, titles, and privileges in or over territory outside Europe that belonged to the former Austro-Hungarian monarchy or to its allies. The number of troops in the Hungarian Army was limited to 35,000. The anti-Soviet bias of the treaty was manifested in an article that obligated Hungary to recognize “the full force of all treaties or agreements which may be entered into by the Allied and Associated Powers with States now existing or coming into existence in future in the whole or part of the former Empire of Russia.” The reparations established by the treaty coincided almost exactly with those set by the Treaty of St. Germain (1919).

The Vienna Arbitrations (1938 and 1940) led to revisions in the territorial articles of the Treaty of Trianon, which consequently lost its significance.