Bosniaks in the 1921 Uprising in West Hungary

Abstract

In the present study, I describe the struggles of the 1921. Uprising in West Hungary, and the lives and activities of the Bosnian and Albanian soldiers who took part in it. Hungary ended the First World War among the losers. The Austro-Hungarian Monarchy was dissolved, and Romania, Serbia, and the fledgling Czechoslovakia, among the states surrounding Hungary, made territorial claims on the Hungarian state. The nationalities living on the territory of Hungary declared their secession one after the other, and the country lost territory to neighbouring states one after the other. The territories under foreign occupation also included many Hungarian minorities, and more than two-thirds of the country’s territory was under foreign occupation. The population of the country was dismayed, but when the Council of State of the former ally, Austria, announced its territorial claim to Western Hungary on 17 November 1918, the population was outraged. The Hungarian leadership attempted to negotiate with the Austrian leadership, raising the possibility of partitioning the territory, but the Austrians refused to make a deal. On 10 September 1919, the Entente approved the Austrian territorial claims in the Treaty of St. Germain. On 4 June 1920, the Treaty of Trianon was signed, in which the Kingdom of Hungary lost more than two-thirds of its territory, and the annexation of Western Hungary to Austria was confirmed. After the signing of the peace treaty, Hungary was forced to evacuate Western Hungary. The territory was divided into two parts, the so-called A and B zones. The former was today’s Burgenland, the latter Sopron, and its surroundings. However, the Hungarians did not give up. In the meantime, however, the recruitment of volunteer troops had begun, the nucleus of which was the Ragged Guard, formed on 18 April 1918. under the leadership of Iván Héjjas. The rebels were mostly made up of demobilised soldiers, farmers, students, and railwaymen, but they were also joined by Bosnian and Albanian volunteers led by Hilmi Hussein Durić, one of whom, Ahmed, was later killed in action against the Austrians. I will write in detail about the antecedents of the Uprising in West Hungary, its main leaders, Pál Prónay and Iván Héjjas, and the soldiers who fought in their units. I pay special attention to the travel of the Bosnian and Albanian soldiers to Western Hungary, the organisational circumstances, and the battles themselves. I have tried to identify the Albanian and Bosnian fighters involved in the uprising, using all the sources I can find. I will also write in detail about the two battles of Ágfalva and the battle of Kirchslag and other smaller skirmishes. I will also outline the circumstances of the proclamation of Lajtabánság (Banat of Leytha), and its existence. I will also devote a great deal of attention to the aftermath of the successful uprising and the subsequent fate of the Muslim veterans. The Bosnian and Albanian Muslim fighters, veterans of the 1921. Uprising in West Hungary, kept in touch with each other and their former superiors between the two world wars and successfully integrated into Hungarian society. The focus of this paper is to present the relevant Hungarian memoir literature. In addition to these sources, I drew from the books The Uprising in West Hungary (Nyugat magyarországi felkelés) by Lajos Missuray-Krug and My Experiences of the West Hungarian War of Independence (Élményeim a nyugat-magyarországi szabadságharcból) by Viktor Maderschpach.