‘Hungarian Factor’ in Central and Eastern European Politics of France (Spring — Summer 1920)
https://doi.org/10.24224/2227-1295-2024-13-8-426-443
Abstract
This article examines the role and significance of the “Hungarian factor” in the central and eastern European political landscape of France during the period from April to August 1920. The novelty of this research lies in its analysis not only of the bilateral Franco-Hungarian interactions but also of how Paris’s perceptions of Hungary’s place in Europe were intertwined with other vectors of the Third Republic’s foreign policy. The study utilizes published French diplomatic documents, the diary of General Edmond Buat, Chief of Staff of the French Army, and select reports from General Artus de la Panouse, the French military attaché in the United Kingdom. The author concludes that the “Hungarian factor” influenced the central and eastern European policy of the Third Republic in a contradictory manner. It is demonstrated that France’s view of Hungary as a defeated nation served Paris’s objectives of affirming its status as a victorious power, consolidating a belt of friendly states in Central-Eastern Europe, and expanding its financial and economic presence. At the same time, it is emphasized that Hungary was not perceived as a direct threat to the interests of the Third Republic; rather, in the context of the Red Army’s advance westward, it could potentially be integrated into an anti-Soviet coalition.
Supporting agencies: The study is supported by Russian Science Foundation, project number 24-18-00461, https://rscf.ru/project/24-18-00461/
About the Author
I. E. Magadeev
Moscow State Institute of International Relations (University) of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation
Russian Federation
Russian Federation
Iskander E. Magadeev - PhD in History, Department of History and Politics of European and American Countries.
Moscow
References
1. DDF — Documents diplomatiques français. 1920, 1. (1997). Paris: Imprimerie nationale; Bruxelles: P. I. E.–Peter Lang. 717 p. ISBN 978-2-1108-9141-9; Documents diplomatiques français. 1945, 1. (1998). Paris: Imprimerie nationale. 894 p. ISBN 978-2-1108-9146-4; Documents diplomatiques français. 1920, 2. (1999). Paris: Imprimerie nationale. 688 p. ISBN 978-2-1108-9149-5; Documents diplomatiques français. 1920, 3. (2002). Bruxelles: P. I. E.–Peter Lang. 667 p. ISBN 978-9-0520-1969-7.
2. Journal du général Buat, 1914—1923. (2015). Paris: Perrin. 1400 p. ISBN 978-2-2620-3839-7. (In Frenc.).
3. SHD/DAT — Service historique de la Défense / Département de l’armée de terre (Vincennes, France). 7 N (État-major de l’armée et attachés militaires). 7 N 2794 (Rapports des attachés militaires. Grande-Bretagne. 1920—1924). (In Frenc.).
4. Achkinazi, B. A. (2020). The problem of French security after the end of the First World War. New and modern history, 64 (3): 107—129. DOI: 10.31857/S013038640009147-9. (In Russ.).
5. Ádám, M. (1985). Les deux coups d’État de l’ex-roi Charles et la Petite Entente. Acta Historica Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae, 31 (1—2): 33—85. (In Frenc.).
6. Ádám, M. (2004). The Versailles System and Central Europe. Farnham: Ashgate. 383 p. ISBN 978-0-8607-8905-5.
7. Becker, J.-J., Berstein, S. (1990). Victoire et frustrations 1914—1929. Paris: Seuil. 480 p. ISBN 978-2-0201-2069-2. (In Frenc.).
8. Carley, M. J. (2017). Anti-Bolshevism in French foreign policy: the Polish crisis of 1920. Journal of Russian and Eastern European Historical Studies, 3 (10): 52—73. (In Russ.).
9. Davion, I. (2009). Mon voisin, cet ennemi: la politique de sécurité française face aux relations polono-tchécoslovaques entre 1919 et 1939. Bruxelles: Peter Lang. 472 p. ISBN 978-9-0520-1496-8. (In Frenc.).
10. Dessberg, F. (2009). Le triangle impossible: les relations franco-soviétiques et le facteur polonais dans les questions de sécurité en Europe (1924—1935). Bruxelles: Peter Lang. 440 p. ISBN 978-9-0520-1466-1. (In Frenc.).
11. Gradvohl, P. (2017). Les militaires français et la Hongrie en 1918—1920. In: Militaires et diplomates français face à l’Europe centrale. Paris: Eur’Orbem Éditions. 83—96. ISBN 979-10-96982-01-1. (In Frenc.).
12. Hochwald, Ch. (2008). La diplomatie française face à la crise royale en Hongrie (1921). Revue historique des armées, 251: 78—84. (In Frenc.).
13. Lannik, L. V. (2022). In the grip of bilaterality: a new generation of collections of documents on the history of bilateral relations between Russia and its Western neighbors. Journal of Russian and Eastern European Historical Studies, 2 (29): 234—256. DOI: 10.24412/2409-1413/2022-2-234-256. (In Russ.).
14. Magadeev, I. E. (2021). In the shadow of the First World War: dilemmas of European security in the 1920s. Moscow: Aspect Press. 864 p. ISBN 978-5-7567-1112-7. (In Russ.).
15. Magadeev, I. E. (2022). L’alliance franco-polonaise dans les estimations militaires et diplomatiques de Moscou dans les années 1920. Guerres mondiales et conflits contemporains, 4 (288): 51—64. DOI: 10.3917/gmcc.288.0051. (In Frenc.).
16. Marguerat, Ph. (2004). Les investissements français dans le Bassin danubien durant l’entre-deux-guerres: pour une nouvelle interprétation. Revue historique, 629: 121—162. DOI: 10.3917/rhis.041.0121. (In Frenc.).
17. Néré, J. (1975). The Foreign Policy of France from 1914 to 1945. London: Routledge. 366 p. ISBN 978-0-7100-7968-8.
18. Orde, A. (1980). France and Hungary in 1920: Revisionism and Railways. Journal of Contemporary History, 15 (3): 475—492.
19. Ormos, M. (1990). From Padua to the Trianon 1918—1920. Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó. 410 p. ISBN 978-0-8803-3195-1.
20. Peganov, A. O. (2015). Czechoslovakia in the politics of Budapest at the final stage of the Great War (from the Belgrade Armistice of 1918 to the Trianon Peace of 1920). In: The First World War and the fate of the peoples of Central and South-eastern Europe: essays on history. Moscow: Institute of Slavic Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences. 556—578. ISBN 978-5-7576-0349-0. (In Russ.).
21. Peganov, A. O. (2016). Hungary’s attempts to normalize relations with Czechoslovakia in 1920—1921. Slavic Studies, 3: 20—30. (In Russ.).
22. Popova, S. S. (1996). “They are ready to resume the struggle”: the Ministry of War and the French Foreign Ministry on white emigration in Hungary. 1920—1921. Historical Archive, 1: 41—70. (In Russ.).
23. Presnyakov, A. Z. (2014). The problem of peaceful settlement in the territory of the former Austria-Hungary: the role of the great powers (1918—1921). PhD Diss. Moscow. 287 p. (In Russ.).
24. Pushkash, A. I. (1981). The foreign policy of Hungary. November 1918 — April 1927. Moscow: Nauka. 368 p. (In Russ.).
25. Soutou, G.-H. (2015). La grande illusion: quand la France perdait la paix 1914—1920. Par-is: Tallandier. 382 p. ISBN 979-1-0210-3979-7. (In Frenc.).
26. Stykalin, A. S. (2020). The Trianon Peace Treaty of 1920 and its consequences for Hungary and Central Europe. To the 100th anniversary of the fateful anniversary in Hungarian history. Visegrad Europe, 1—2: 25—44. (In Russ.).
27. Styklin, A. S. (2014). Projects of the Danube Federation by Oscar Yasi in the context of national-territorial disputes in Central Europe (1910s — 1940s). In: The Balkans in European political projects of the XIX—XX centuries. Moscow: Institute of Slavic Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences. 373—394. ISBN 978-5-7576-0316-2. (In Russ.).
28. Yazkova, A. A. (1974). The Small Entente in European politics. 1918—1925. Moscow: Nauka. 330 p. (In Russ.).
29. Zonova, T. V. (2016). History of Italian foreign policy. Moscow: International Relations. 352 p. ISBN 978-5-7133-1530-6. (In Russ.).
Review
For citations:
Magadeev I.E. ‘Hungarian Factor’ in Central and Eastern European Politics of France (Spring — Summer 1920). Nauchnyi dialog. 2024;13(8):426-443. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.24224/2227-1295-2024-13-8-426-443
Views:
298
Email this article 