Changes in the Recruitment of Transylvanian Local Government Representatives (Lord Lieutenants and Prefects) During and After the First World War

Abstract

The study explores the changes in the Transylvanian Lord Lieutenants’ corps during and after the First World War, using a prosopographical approach. The comparative analysis of the Lord Lieutenants’ and prefects’ corps in 1918-1919 aims to examine the impact of various political and regime changes on the recruitment of these high officials. In the autumn of 1918, one can already talk of a partial change of the elite, since part of the newly appointed Lord Lieutenants had a very different social and family background than their predecessors. When the political status of Transylvania changed, at the end of 1918 and in 1919, it brought further, more radical changes atop the administrative elite: the Hungarian Lord Lieutenants were replaced by Romanian prefects, who did have the necessary qualifications, but who had no prior experience in local government. Keywords: Lord Lieutenant, prefect, elite change, Transylvania, 1918, First World War, recruitment