# Hungarian–Czechoslovak War

The Hungarian-Czechoslovakian War, also known as the War for Slovakia, was a military conflict between Czechoslovakia and Hungary. It lasted from 1918 until August 1919.

## Background

On October 28, 1918, an independent Czechoslovak state was proclaimed. The territory of Slovakia (then Upper Hungary), which until now belonged to Hungary, was supposed to be part of Czechoslovakia. At the beginning of November 1918, clashes began to occur between Hungarians and Czechoslovak military units. However, on December 2, French lieutenant colonel Ferdinand Vix, who was the head of the Entente military mission in Budapest, informed Hungary that the Czechoslovak army was recognized as part of the Entente army. He also drew attention to the fact that Slovakia is part of the Czechoslovak Republic, which has the right to militarily occupy the territory of Slovakia, and Hungary has the obligation to withdraw its troops from there.

## Takeover of Slovakia by Czechoslovak troops 1918-1919

Czechoslovak soldiers began occupying the newly forming Slovakia (largely the territories of the former Upper Hungary) on November 2, 1918. A Holíč detachment of 120 men penetrated as far as Malacky. The Hungarian prefect in Bratislava sent several dozen soldiers against them, but they were unable to push them back. The tension was calmed by the drawing of a temporary demarcation line leading from Děvínská Nová Ves to the Little Carpathians. Bratislava remained in Hungarian hands. Based on the agreement, Czechoslovak soldiers occupied the area from Stupava to Devín Lake. They managed to take control of Trenčín on November 10 and Žilina two days later. However, when 120 Czechoslovak soldiers occupied Trnava on November 9, the local guard, supported by Hungarian soldiers sent from Bratislava, pushed them back to Senica, where the Hungarian advance was halted on November 17. Czechoslovak soldiers advancing on Ružomberok also had to retreat to Žilina. Under Hungarian pressure, they had to retreat to Ostrava. The provisional border between Czechoslovakia and Hungary was then established on November 28; it was formed by the river Ipeľ up to Lučenac and continued through Rimavská Sobota to Uzhhorod. The new commander of the Czechoslovak troops in Slovakia, Colonel František Schöbl, who took office on November 25, decided to occupy the Nitra Valley on December 6. On December 4, however, he already faced a Hungarian attack on Hlohovec, and the first company of Czechoslovak sailors had to repulse an attack at Žilina a day later, which it succeeded in, and occupied the town. After securing Hlohovec, Sereď and Pezinok were also occupied. Nitra, from which the Hungarians retreated to Nové Zámky, was occupied on December 11. This was followed by an operation whose goal was to control the center and east of Slovakia. Poprad was captured with the support of an armored train on December 15, and Spišská Nová Ves was occupied a day later. After the clash with the Poles near Kežmarok, the demarcation line between Czechoslovakia and Poland had to be established, which ran from Lomnický štít through Magura to Stará Ľubovna. Zvolen was occupied on December 22, Banská Štiavnica and Banská Bystrica a day later. By December 25, all of Považie and the territory extending to Spišská Nová Ves were already under control. Only eastern Slovakia remained to be secured, and this was not done until the end of the year. Prešov was occupied on December 28 and Košice a day later. On the same day, the Italian general Luigi Piccione took command of the Czechoslovak troops. The occupation of southern Slovakia was given the task of the Czechoslovak army legionary corps from Italy. Piccione started the advance to Bratislava on December 30. He controlled the city from January 1 to 2, 1919. Lučenec was occupied on the night of January 2 to 3, Nové Zámka was occupied on January 9 without a fight, and Komárno a day later. By January 11, the northern bank of the Ipeľ was cleaned. As Piccione's line of demarcation crossed the key railway line from Bratislava to the east, Piccione decided to advance south. The southern bank of Ipeľ was occupied on January 16, and by January 20 the entire territory of Slovakia was under control. Since Czechoslovakia was not satisfied with the border established on November 28, because the railway line leading to the east did not remain on the Czechoslovak side of the border, the Council of the Agreement in February 1919 allowed that the Czechoslovak troops occupied a line much more southerly, leading from Esztergom through Mátra to Chop.

## War between Czechoslovakia and Soviet Hungary
### The doctrine of proletarian internationalism

The leaders of the Hungarian Soviet Republic stubbornly clung to the utopian belief in an imminent global proletarian revolution. Convinced that national borders, countries and nations themselves were bourgeois constructs that would soon disappear in favor of a unified socialist world order, they prioritized defending their communist regime, spreading revolutionary ideals, and attempting to export revolution through military campaigns. They prioritized class struggle and loyalty to international communism, openly dismissed Hungarian patriotism as bourgeois sentiment and an obstacle to world revolutionary unity. They rejected Hungarian territorial integrity, national pride and identity in their rhetoric, and framed the 'patriotism' and the existence of Hungarian national identity as a distraction from their ultimate goal: a borderless global proletarian state united under international communism.
One practical manifestation of this internationalist doctrine was the Northern campaign. This military campaign, conducted in the territory of the former Upper Hungary, ostensibly "aimed" to reclaim lost lands. However, its true objective — the establishment of an independent Slovak Soviet Republic — remained concealed from the Hungarian public until the Slovak Soviet republic’s official proclamation on June 16.

### War

On 26 April Hungarian troops left the border areas with Czechoslovakia. The withdrawal facilitated the operation of the Czechoslovak troops, who joined the Romanians on April 27, based on the order of April 7. Their task was not only to secure the territory of the new state, but also to prevent the connection of the Hungarian Red Army with Russia. Therefore, part of the soldiers headed east, where, after crossing the Carpathian passes, they penetrated Transcarpathian Rus (today's Subcarpathian Ukraine), which they controlled by April 30. As the Hungarians withdrew, the advance to the south was also rapid. The units led by the Italian general Luigi Piccione did not stop at the newly drawn demarcation line, but continued on and entered Miskolc on May 2. The Romanians stopped on the Tisza on May 1 because Bessarabia, which they had taken over after the fall of Tsarist Russia, was threatened. On May 1, Soviet Foreign Minister Gerogii Chicherin gave Bucharest an ultimatum to withdraw from Bessarabia or face attack. Therefore, on May 2, Romania agreed to a truce with Budapest so that they could defend Bessarabia. This was used by the Hungarian forces who decided to more focus on Czechoslovakia. Appealing to Hungarians with promises of regaining the land lost to neighbouring countries within a week of his rise to power, communist revolutioner Béla Kun declared war upon Czechoslovakia. That increased Kun's domestic support by making good on his promise to restore Hungary's borders. The Hungarian Army recruited men aged between 19 and 25. Industrial workers from Budapest volunteered, and many former Austro-Hungarian officers re-enlisted through patriotism. The Hungarian army moved its 1st and 5th artillery divisions (40 battalions) to Upper Hungary (partially modern day Slovakia). The Hungarian counterattack launched on 9 May 1919 in the area of Hatvan. On 20 May 1919 Colonel Aurél Stromfeld, attacked in force and routed Czechoslovak troops from Miskolc (Miškovec), also recapturing Košice (Kassa) and Prešov (Eperjes), thus successfully separated the Czechoslovak and Romanian Armies from each other. Through that successful action, Hungary controlled territory up to its old northern borders and regained control of industrial areas around Miskolc, Salgótarján and Banská Štiavnica (Selmecbánya). Despite the communists' promises on the restoration of the former borders of Hungary, they declared the establishment of the independent Slovak Soviet Republic in Prešov on 16 June 1919. After that proclamation, the Hungarian nationalists and patriots soon realized that the new communist government had no intentions to recapture the lost territories, only to spread communist ideology and establish other communist states in Europe, and was thus sacrificing Hungarian national interests. Despite the series of military victories against the Czechoslovak Army, the Hungarian Red Army started to disintegrate because of the fundamental tension between patriots and communists during the establishment of the Slovak Soviet Republic, and that concession shook the popular and military support of the communist government, particularly among professional military officers, patriots and nationalists in the Hungarian Red Army. In fact, even the chief of the general staff, Aurél Stromfeld, resigned his post in protest.
Meanwhile, the Czechoslovak Army had changed. The few unreliable Italian commanders were replaced by French generals and officers. The head of the newly organized Czechoslovak 2nd Infantry Division was the French Legion Colonel and veteran Foreign Legion Josef Šnejdárek. Battalions and regiments broken in previous battles were formed and, along with new units, receded in mountainous terrain from one defensive line to another. It was enough for a week for Šnejdárek to consolidate subordinate troops and prepare them for offensive actions.

### Battle of Zvolen (Zólyom)

On the morning of 10 June the 2nd Infantry Brigade launched a demonstration attack on Zvolen (Zólyom). Its left wing surprisingly appeared in the side of the Hungarian troops, the right wing entered Banská Štiavnica (Selmecbánya). All Hungarian attacks on the following day were repelled, and the 2nd Division continued to attack. Šnejdárek changed the direction of the strike, and on 13 June he ordered a by-passing attack on Zvolen. After four hours of fighting, his troops occupied the dominant dimensions and began attacking the key positions of the Hungarian defense. At around noon, the first unit of the Elected, and the queue were punched to a depth of 10 km. The whole central flow of Hron (Garam) was given to the Czechoslovak control, and the Hungarian command no longer had advances to break the breakthrough. The recapture of Zvolen meant a turnaround of combat. The Czechoslovak Army took the initiative and attacked the Hungarians in two directions: Levice (Léva) and Lučenec (Losonc). Weekly battles exploded, and all of the Hungarian advances were exhausted. The Hungarian Army Command agreed with the ceasefire and retreated to the demarcation line. The Czech soldiers, most of whom had fought in World War I in the ranks of the Austro-Hungarian Army, as well as Slovak Army volunteers, showed that they were as good as the Czechoslovak Legions, which were still in Russia in 1919.

### Czechoslovak occupation of Hungary

In August 1919, the Bolshevik regime in Hungary collapsed and the Romanians occupied central parts of the country, including its capital. Czechoslovakia also took advantage of the situation. The offer that it could take part in the occupation of Budapest was rejected, but on August 14 it captured Petržalka and Salgótarján. While they had to leave Salgotarjan, Petrželka became part of Bratislava. Transcarpathia was occupied in September 1919.

## Aftermath

The defeat of the Hungarian Soviet Republic, the Slovak Soviet Republic and the Romanian occupation of Budapest in August 1919 ended the war. Romanian troops withdrew from the occupied territory in March 1920. In this war, Czechoslovakia gained control over the territory of Slovakia, which before the war was part of Hungary. In the final phase of the war, there were more than 120,000 soldiers on both sides. Volunteers signed up for the Czechoslovak army, and Slovak volunteer units were established in Slovakia - Jánošík's troupe, Zbor Turčianských volunůník, Dobrovoľnická družina Slovákov, Tisovský volunůníci. Slovak volunteers mainly came from northern Slovak counties - they fought mainly in the battles for Zvolen, Banská Bystrica and Košice. According to historian Zdenek Kárník, 90 fallen soldiers on the side of the Czechoslovak army came from Slovakia and Subcarpathian Rus; 895 fallen soldiers (of which 640 were volunteers) came from the Czech Republic.