Given the nature and purpose of our site, the issue of the Treaty of Trianon is simply unavoidable. Transylvania NOW does not advocate neither support any views that would make territorial claims on any other state. But neither will we stay silent about it, because it is part – and a particularly painful part at that – of our history.
Many ethnic Hungarians from Transylvania or other territories Hungary has lost as a result of the Treaty of Trianon (Serbia, Slovakia and the Ukraine), most likely find themselves quite often in a situation when they must explain to those unfamiliar with modern European history: how come they are Hungarians, but come from one of the above-mentioned countries? Words are often insufficient and even unsuccessful in conveying the fact that as a result of the treaty Hungary lost 72 percent of its territory and 64 percent to its population to neighboring countries.
At the time, these were Kingdom of Romania, the Czechoslovak Republic, the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, and – most ironically – the First Austrian Republic, the half of the Austro-Hungarian Empire which was in fact responsible for igniting (even if not the root cause of) World War I.
But just save the title image of this article to your phone and the next time a foreigner asks that unavoidable question, show it to them as it is a good visual aid.
Title image: Map of France after a hypothetical Treaty of Trianon affecting the country to the extent it affected Hungary.
