Hungarian Revolutionary War

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Date	March 28, 1919 - June 4, 1920 (O.S.)
Location	Central Europe
Result	Entente victory

Belligerents

Hungarian Soviet Republic

Slovak Soviet Republic

Czechoslovakia

Kingdom of Romania

France

Commanders

Béla Kun

Tomáš Masaryk,

Crown Prince Ferdinand

Louis Franchet d'Esperey

Strength

Hungary: 100,000

Czechoslovakia: 20,000
Romania: 250,000

Casualties and losses

Hungary: 1,000

Czechoslovakia: 1,000
Romania: 2,000

The Hungarian Revolutionary War was a conflict between Czechoslovakia, Romania, and Soviet Hungary, shortly after the end of World War I which lasted from March 28, 1919 to June 4, 1920.

With the volatile and politically unstable atmosphere of Central Europe in the inter-war years, the establishment of independent governments of the former Austro-Hungarian Empire in November 1918 would see the struggle to regain territories of the former empire.

However, Hungarian Prime Minister Mihály Károlyi resigned within four months (on March 20, 1919) in favor of Béla Kun, a pro-Bolshevik who had been sent by Lenin, quickly seizing power and establishing a dictatorship. Appealing to Hungarians with promises of liberating the provinces lost to neighboring countries in the Treaty of Versailles, within a week of his rise to power, Kun declared war upon Czechoslovakia as Hungarian forces invaded the province of Slovakia on March 28 capturing southern Slovakia within weeks. In the face of advancing Czechoslovak troops, and despite Kun's assurances of Russian support, the Allies began to put pressure on the Hungarian government and, within three weeks, Hungary was forced to withdraw from Slovakia after given an ultimatum from France together with a guarantee that Romanian forces will not advance further into Hungarian lands.

Despite the guarantee, the lack of operational Entente troops in the region encouraged Romania to disregard the guarantees of the French leadership and continued to advance upon Hungary. The Hungarian government clearly recognized the treachery of Romania, and seeing that diplomatic solutions would not stop them, resolved to clear the threat by military force once and for all by retaking Transylvania. However, Romania launched a pre-emptive strike on April 10, and despite all previous pledges, agreements and guarantees crossed the river Tisza and quickly advanced towards Budapest. The Romanians captured the capital on August 4, only three days before Kun's escape to Vienna.