The real tragedy of the Trianon Peace Treaty

A conservative columnist thinks that the Trianon peace agreement was the result of nationalism, triggered by the Hungarian independence movements of the 19^th century. He contends that the real tragedy of the Treaty was the dissolution of the Habsburg Empire.

In Mandiner, Kristóf Trombitás writes that “Trianon has become kitsch” in Hungarian nationalist imagination. The conservative columnist contends that national independence movements in the Habsburg Empire were inspired by the Hungarian national independence movement in the 19^th century. Thus the application of the principle of national self-determination and the loss of Greater Hungary after the end of the First World War is the logical consequence of Hungarian nationalism, Trombitás claims. He considers the creation of nation states and the break-up of the Empire as the main cause of 20^th century violence and conflict in the region. Had the Habsburg Empire survived, Central Europe would be the strongest state in Europe, Trombitás concludes.

Tags: nationalism, Trianon