Yugoslav-Hungarian Boundary Commission

Lt. Col. Cree
Col. Luigi Valvassori
Lt Col. Marminia
Lt. Col. Yanagawa Heisuke
Col. Vojin Čolak-Antić
Col. Károly Vassel

The Yugoslav-Hungarian Boundary Commission (French: Commission de délimitation des frontières entre la Yougoslavie et la Hongrie) was the main body in charge of defining the new frontier between Hungary and the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes after the First World War, following the Paris Peace Conference and the dissolution of Austria-Hungary.^[2]

History

In 1920 the Treaty of Trianon ratified the decision to define the independent Hungarian state new borders with its neighbouring states.^[3] The Yugoslav-Hungarian Boundary Commission was tasked with defining a definitive delimitation between the two states. The commission work involved studies from lawyers, historians, geographers and other members of the academic community, in order to prepare border documentation, on the basis of Article 29 of the Peace Treaty.^[4] Article 43 provided the legal framework for the formation and work of this Commission:

A Commission consisting of seven members, five nominated by the Principal Allied and Associated Powers, one by the Serb-Croat-Slovene State, and one by Hungary, shall be constituted within fifteen days from the coming into force of the present Treaty to trace on the spot the frontier line described in Article 27 (2), Part II (Frontiers of Hungary)
— Treaty of Trianon, Article 43, ^[5]

The British delegate Lt. Col. David Cree was appointed as its chairman, the other members were Col. Luigi Valvassori (Italy), Lt Col. Maurice Marminia (France), Lt. Col. Yanagawa Heisuke (Japan) while Col. Károly Vassel and Col. Vojin Čolak-Antić represented respectively Hungary and the newly formed Kingdom of the Serbs, Croats and Slovenes.

By the Treaty's conclusions, Hungary ceded the regions of western Banat, Bačka, Međimurje and Prekmurje to the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes. The region of Baranja, with its administrative seat of government in the town of Pécs, was divided with the southern part annexed to the Kingdom of SCS according to a new boundary line, the so-called Clemenceau line.^[6] The city of Varaždin in Croatia was chosen as the seat of the border commission, the Commission met for the first time in Paris in the rooms of the Geographic Service of the French Army on 1 August 1921, a further meeting was organised for 18 August 1921.^[7] In November 1922 the six members of the Border Commission signed the border list.^[3]

Many historians and scholars agree that the definition of the Yugoslav-Hungarian border was a major reason for the stabilisation of Europe after the First World War and the establishment of a new regional balance.^[8]

The Yugoslav-Hungarian Border Commission played a pivotal role in defining the current border separating Slovenia and Hungary. Following the war, the region of Prekmurje, primarily inhabited by Slovenes but historically governed by Hungary since the 11th century, became an integral part of Slovene national territory. This event marked a significant milestone in the historical process of strengthening Slovene nationhood.^[9]

References

^ Grumel-Jacquignon 1999, p. 78.
^ Kasperson & Minghi 2011, p. 153.
^ ^a ^b Biagini & Motta 2014, p. 310.
^ Domonkos 1999, p. 64.
^ Treaty of Trianon 1920.
^ United States Congress 1948, p. 116.
^ Biagini & Motta 2014, p. 311.
^ Biagini & Motta 2014, p. 317.
^ Romsics 2002, p. 53.

Sources

United States Congress (1948). Congressional Record: Proceedings and Debates of the ... Congress. U.S. Government Printing Office. p. 1-PA116.
Domonkos, L. (1999). 33 months in Baranya, 1918-1921 (in Hungarian). Püski. ISBN 978-963-9188-39-6.
Biagini, A.; Motta, G. (2014). Empires and Nations from the Eighteenth to the Twentieth Century: Drafting the Hungarian-Yugoslav border. Cambridge Scholars Publisher. ISBN 978-1-4438-6542-5.
Grumel-Jacquignon, F. (1999). La Yougoslavie dans la stratégie française de l'entre-deux-guerres (1918-1935) (in French). Peter Lang. ISBN 978-3-906762-88-3.
Kasperson, R.E.; Minghi, J.V. (2011). The Structure of Political Geography. Transaction Publishers. ISBN 978-1-4128-1854-4.
Romsics, I. (2002). The Dismantling of Historic Hungary: The Peace Treaty of Trianon, 1920. CHSP Hungarian authors series. Social Science Monographs. ISBN 978-0-88033-505-8.
"Treaty of Trianon". World War I Document Archive. 1920-06-04. Retrieved 2020-12-22.

External links

Lt. Colonel Cree. “Yugoslav-Hungarian Boundary Commission.” The Geographical Journal, vol. 65, no. 2, 1925,
Lt. Col. Yanagawa Heisuke. A Japanese Account of the Yugoslav-Hungarian Border Commission’s Activities