Authors

Arpad Hornyak¹;  ¹ University of Pecs, Hungary

Discussion

Pécs and Baranya are located on the southern border of Hungary. The special feature of these areas is that they were occupied along with many other areas by the Serbs after the Great War. However, while the the occupying forces left the other territories after the conclusion of the Treaty of Trianon, this area remained under the control of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes for a further 14 months. As a result, although the war ended in November 1918 and the peace treaty was signed in June 1920, it was two and a half years after the end of the war that the era of peace and free, predictable and peaceful economic development could begin. In my lecture I will discuss the history of this occupation from a Hungarian and Serbian perspective. I will show what led to the occupation and its prolongation, what changes the occupation underwent. The unequal struggle between two states for sovereignty over territory and international power relations provide the broader framework for this story, in which the local population had to develop its own survival strategies. The relationship of the Hungarian population of the area, and the significant Southern Slav population living there, with the occupying authorities was an exciting one. The region was one of the most ethnically mixed areas of pre-war Hungary and still has the largest number of ethnic groups in Hungary. However, the key issue of the period, beyond the occupation of the territories, was the struggle between the Hungarian and the South Slav authorities to control the administration, which resulted in de facto dual administration throughout the period.