The Burgenland Question 1919–1924. A bilateral and international problem

Abstract

Richard Lein, The Burgenland Question 1919–1924. A bilateral and international problem The question of border demarcation between Austria and Hungary after 1918 is mostly mentioned only in passing in the historiography on the Paris peace conference and on the European post-war order. This does not surprise since other territorial conflicts of the immediate post-war period in East-Central and Southeast Europe appeared too important for researchers to pay greater attention to the dispute over the West Hungarian territory. In fact, however, the Burgenland Question, later referred to as such, proved to be exceedingly conflictual from both the bilateral as well as the international perspective. Thus, Hungary’s refusal to cede the territory granted to Austria at the Paris peace conference not only strained bilateral relations between Vienna and Budapest. What is more, Hungary’s behaviour, which contradicted the provisions of the Treaty of Trianon, was a test for the entire system of the Paris Peace Treaties. The victorious powers of the First World War, attempting to keep the system intact, struggled visibly trying to find a peaceful solution for the Burgenland Question. However, the conflict was also shaped by the active intervention of Italy and Czechoslovakia. With their interferences, Rome and Prague were primarily pursuing the goal of gaining political and economic influence in Central Europe. In view of the diverging interests of the two powers in the region, this tended to fuel the conflict rather than resolving it. In the end, however, international mediation succeeded in brokering a compromise between Austria and Hungary in the Burgenland Question. This compromise represents the starting point for the good neighbourly relations between the two countries to this day.