Prologue
The restoration of the House of Habsburg to the throne of Hungary was never a guaranteed fate for the former Imperial family. Far from it in fact. Barred from their former Empire now made up of various ethnic nation states whose leaders hated them with a fiery passion, the family had lost most if not all legitimacy as a result of the Great War. Fate, for lack of a better word, intervened in a surprising way. So with this bare intro stated lets look into the events that made the Habsburgs restoration possible.
With the political chaos that had engulfed in the former Kingdom of Hungary a new threat had risen, the red threat of Bolshevism, it’s success saw the creation of the Hungarian Soviet Republic in March 21, 1919, whose arrogant and wasteful leadership under Bela Kun had only the barest scraps of legitimacy amongst the Hungarian people. Being in that they promised to defend the traditional borders of Hungary against the victorious powers of the Entente. Romania a serious benefactor from the destruction of Austria-Hungary was appalled by the very notion of bordering not only one but two Soviet states, sent requests to the Entente powers gathered in Paris for permission to remove the Hungarian Communists from power. Talks began and negotiations with Bela Kun with promises of recognizing the Communist government in Budapest if they abided by the infamous “Vix note” which had caused the resignation of the former government. Talks of course stalled and the Romanians prepared for war.
The Hungarian Red Army (for lack of a better term) was in the sense a true Hungarian national army, though a mixed bag when it came to quality. They were equipped with some cannons and handful of armored trains. Ad hoc in form, made up of some elite units and officers from the former Austro-Hungarian Army, and volunteers of dubious quality. With only a peculiar mixture of communist and an even more nationalist zeal which made them highly motivated against a more prepared and equipped array of enemies. Determined to maintain the integrity of their ancestral homeland and knowing full well that the Romanian attack would come sooner rather than later they fortified the mountain passes of the Western Carpathians looking down upon the Romanian lines.
However the first offensive was not done by the Romanians rather by the Hungarians themselves, who struck preemptively on the night between April 15 and 16. The attack was a success, breaking the lines, and pushing back the surprised Romanian forces which were only saved by their reserves from completely routing. The following day on April 16, the shaken and humiliated Romanian forces launched a counterattack attempting to force the passes. A bloody affair that would take over a week to fully lead to success on April 25th. The Hungarian front was broken and with the passes secure the Romanians began their march to the Tisza river. By May 1st Carei, Oradea, and Salonta were taken. The Romanians now had reached the goal limit as per the “Vix note” set by the Allies. The advance though did not stop.
Going against the wishes of the Allies the Romanian high command preferred the natural obstacle that the Tisza River provided over just the demarcation line. But they wouldn’t reach there without spilling even more blood. Due to the fighting in the passes the Hungarians had bought enough time to construct a new defensive line from Nyíregyháza, Debrecen and on to Békéscsaba. Which once more the now bloodied Romanian forces would have to slug their way through to reach the Tisza. A task made easier than the passes due to the Romanians possession of more numerous artillery and an air corps. May 10th would see the Hungarian army retreating across the Tisza after being pushed back inch by bloody inch, regardless of the constant flux of reinforcements sent from the western bank. The Székely division would be the last to make it out of the East bank cutting their way through to make it across before the Romanians took complete control of the situation. On May 12th Bela Kun sued for peace agreeing to all Romanian territorial demands, asking in exchange for a end of hostilities and no intervention in internal Hungarian affairs.The Romanians refused, offering only an armistice and only because from pressure of the Allied Supreme Command. Though under said pressure and tired from the recent fighting, they promised the Allies that they would not cross the Tisza. A lull in the fighting ensues as a result.
Béla Kun decides to take advantage of the lull in fighting against the Romanians to improve his position internationally. He orders a preparation for an attack against Czechoslovak forces, which he deems the weaker of Hungary’s enemies. This is also to gain popular support by fulfilling promises made to restore Hungarian national borders. Moreover he needed to establish a land connection to his Bolshevik allies in Soviet Russia who had at more than one time promised support for his cause. To replenish the army, Kun's regime recruits heavily from the male population in the areas left under his control. Many of whom join out of patriotic rather than communist convictions.
May 25 Czechoslovak forces at Miskolc are attacked by Hungarian forces. Though the Romanian army attempts to maintain their link with their Czechoslovak allies by attacking the Hungarian flank, it fails to prevent their rout. The Romanian would retreat to Tokaj and by May 30th had been forced back across the Tisza at risk of being outflanked. In the process they destroyed the bridges to prevent a Hungarian crossing. They would continue to attempt to hinder the two Soviet States from communicating effectively. The success of their attack on the new Czechoslovak state allows the Hungary, besides regaining Upper Hungary, to as well create a puppet Slovak Soviet Republic.By the end of the operations the Red Army had reached the old borders in the Northeastern Carpathians. In the Northwest the campaign had regained important industrial regions of Miskolc, Salgótarján and Selmecbánya. With this done the army began to move eastward to the Tisza, facing the Romanian positions.
The months of June and early July would be a time of negotiations due to the changed circumstances. The Entente leaders gathered in Paris were displeased, to put it mildly, with Romania. Not only had they advanced to the Tisza against the will of the Allied command but they had made a blood y mess of it all. Many voices called on Romanian forces to pull back to the agreed demarcation line, blaming them entirely for this current state of affairs. Romania however stood its ground, declaring that the Tisza river was the only true demarcation line till the border between themselves and Hungary could be fully established.
Talks begin with Kun, in return for ceasing advancing in Czechoslovakia, they promised a favorable attitude towards Soviet Hungary in the peace talks to follow, and moreover in delineating Hungary's new borders. With these circumstances, Hungary signed an armistice with Czechoslovakia on the 23rd of June and by July 4, the Hungarian troops retreated, establishing a demarcation line. With this accomplished the council demanded that Romania withdraw from the Tiszántúl region, back to their agreed borders. They replied that would only do so once the Hungarians had demobilized. As a result Kun replied that he would rely on the strength of his army to settle this matter. The Council turned against him and began plans for a coordinated attack with French, Serb, and Romanian forces. The Hungarians struck first.
The Hungarian army this go around was much better than what the Romanians had first met in April. It was better equipped and organized, and due to the campaign in Czechoslovakia had a high morale. Numbering well over 40,000 men. They planned to cross the Tisza in three groups: North, Central, and South. With Central being the strongest. Once crossed the army would advance to take Satu Mare, Oradea and Arad. There was hopes within the Communists of igniting a revolt in Romania itself, and the looming promise of Soviet support through Bessarabia.
The Romanians on the other hand numbered well over 60,000. They had more artillery and pretty much everything else. Their defensive plans called for strong maneuverability. For such maneuvering actions, the Romanian command planned to make use of the railway links in their control and had prepared a sufficient number of trains. They were also highly motivated knowing they were fighting for the idea of single Romanian ethnic state that's borders would encompass the greatest number of ethnic Romanians as possible. Many of whom were also veterans of the Great War.
Starting on July 17 and ending on the 20th, the Hungarians began bombarding Romanian positions along the Eastern Tisza. Early on the morning of the 20th, the Hungarians crossed the Tisza and began the assault on Romanian positions. From there the Red Army established several bridgeheads at their landing points. By July 26, through a vicious cycle of on and off fighting, the Romanians finally have cleared the Hungarian presence from the northern and southern bank of the Tisza.Now they focus solely on the Central Group which had advance from their bridgehead at Szolnok to capture the towns of Mezőtúr and Kunhegyes. Hearing of the success of the Romanians at both North and South Group bridgeheads, Central began to dig in and wait for the coming Romanian storm. They would not have to wait long.
On July 31, the Romanians struck hard. The fighting would go back and forth for well over a week, before finally the Romanians gained the necessary momentum to push the Hungarians back further and further to the Tisza. Romanian troops in the south broke through in several areas and in the north completely overran the Hungarian positions. Before long the remainder of the Hungarian forces retreated across the Tisza once more and blew up the bridge to hinder the Romanian advance. By August 10th, the bloodied but victorious Romanians firmly controlled the Eastern Tisza once again.
With this latest and most deadly attack repused the Romanian high command decided now was the time to drive the final nail into the Hungarian Soviet Republic. It was time to cross the Tisza river. To replenish their manpower the Romanians moved troops stationed in Bessarabia, where it was judged that the Russians would continue to hold. All the while the Hungarians used their remaining artillery to attack the areas where the Romanian were most concentrated. In Budapest Bela Kun, knowing that the Romanians would make the crossing, made an impassioned speech to all Hungarians to resist the Romanians at all costs lest their proud nation be destroyed. Weapons that could be spared were spread to partisan groups preparation for a active resistance. On August 15th using a series of decoys and under the cover of artillery, the Romanians crossed the Tisza at Fegyvernek where the river bends. Surprising the Hungarians defenders, who in panic retreat to Budapest, abandoning the Tisza line.
With the crossing now secured the march towards Budapest began. By August 18, the Hungarian Red Army chased and harassed by Romanian cavalry disintegrates. Bela Kun and those that can, flee the country, eventually making their way to the Soviet Union where they will eventually be purged. Representatives are sent to the Romanians to negotiate a surrender. By August 20, the Romanians under command of General. Moşoiu have taken Budapest and a parade takes place in the center of the city. Looting begins soon after.The final phase of the Hungarian–Romanian War saw the most fighting of the entire conflict, countless dead and wounded on both sides. Under Bela Kun's regime a large scale system of terror was directed against the Hungarian people, the war being the only thing preventing a large scale armed uprising against the communists. One of the hundreds of victims killed in these acts of violence was the former Admiral of the k.u.k. Navy, Miklós Horthy. Finding no one whom they felt to be reliable the Romanians began to firmly occupy Hungary. However though numerous they were stretched thin on the ground and seeing weakness partisan activity long dormant, began to take place.
Despite punitive action by the occupation authorities the Hungarian resistance grew like a weed with every retaliation growing stronger. The Entente though glad to be rid of the communists, did not approve of Romanian occupation of Hungary proper. Gone was the sympathy the Entente felt towards to the Romanians who were now seen as opportunistic aggressors. With their refusal to withdraw from Hungary proper, the Romanians were utterly excluded from any reparations from Germany, Bulgaria, and Turkey. Instead, much to the anger of the Hungarian peoples, the Romanians began a large scale looting of Hungarian goods under the guise of reparations. In this action, they lost any goodwill they had garnered from removing the terror state that was Soviet Hungary. All of this increased partisan activity rather than lessened it. With the occupation becoming more and more expensive, the Romanians, under a veneer of victory looked for an out. At this time the still technically reigning Emperor of Austria-Hungary, Karl Habsburg made them an offer. In return for allowing him to regain his throne, Karl will agree to Romanian territorial claims which by this point had expanded to the Tisza river. Reluctant at first the Romanian government pondered and while they did that more and more dead Romanian soldiers came home in coffins. It didn’t take them long to agree. By the end of 1919, Karl, leaving his exile in Switzerland, arrived in Hungary and reassumed his title as Charles IV, Apostolic King of Hungary and as promised on the same day Romanian troops began to withdraw from Hungary and by January of 1920 were completely out.
King Charles IV of Hungary. A single pillar of order in a sea of chaos . His reign would be the ultimate test of whether the Habsburgs can survive in this new order in Europe.
State Portrait of Admiral Horthy, declared a national hero and martyr for his resistance to the Communists by King Charles IV on his reassumption to the Hungarian throne.
So after a while of thought and much typing I've finally decided to give it a go and write a Habsburg TL
Writing outside the wonderful realm of ASB is a new step for me but one I've been wanting to go to as "Britannian Necks" points to so I'm hoping to take this challenge on with a smile and make this story stick. All comments and suggestions are welcome for the internet lacks much in the way of background information on postwar Hungary
The restoration of the House of Habsburg to the throne of Hungary was never a guaranteed fate for the former Imperial family. Far from it in fact. Barred from their former Empire now made up of various ethnic nation states whose leaders hated them with a fiery passion, the family had lost most if not all legitimacy as a result of the Great War. Fate, for lack of a better word, intervened in a surprising way. So with this bare intro stated lets look into the events that made the Habsburgs restoration possible.
With the political chaos that had engulfed in the former Kingdom of Hungary a new threat had risen, the red threat of Bolshevism, it’s success saw the creation of the Hungarian Soviet Republic in March 21, 1919, whose arrogant and wasteful leadership under Bela Kun had only the barest scraps of legitimacy amongst the Hungarian people. Being in that they promised to defend the traditional borders of Hungary against the victorious powers of the Entente. Romania a serious benefactor from the destruction of Austria-Hungary was appalled by the very notion of bordering not only one but two Soviet states, sent requests to the Entente powers gathered in Paris for permission to remove the Hungarian Communists from power. Talks began and negotiations with Bela Kun with promises of recognizing the Communist government in Budapest if they abided by the infamous “Vix note” which had caused the resignation of the former government. Talks of course stalled and the Romanians prepared for war.
The Hungarian Red Army (for lack of a better term) was in the sense a true Hungarian national army, though a mixed bag when it came to quality. They were equipped with some cannons and handful of armored trains. Ad hoc in form, made up of some elite units and officers from the former Austro-Hungarian Army, and volunteers of dubious quality. With only a peculiar mixture of communist and an even more nationalist zeal which made them highly motivated against a more prepared and equipped array of enemies. Determined to maintain the integrity of their ancestral homeland and knowing full well that the Romanian attack would come sooner rather than later they fortified the mountain passes of the Western Carpathians looking down upon the Romanian lines.
However the first offensive was not done by the Romanians rather by the Hungarians themselves, who struck preemptively on the night between April 15 and 16. The attack was a success, breaking the lines, and pushing back the surprised Romanian forces which were only saved by their reserves from completely routing. The following day on April 16, the shaken and humiliated Romanian forces launched a counterattack attempting to force the passes. A bloody affair that would take over a week to fully lead to success on April 25th. The Hungarian front was broken and with the passes secure the Romanians began their march to the Tisza river. By May 1st Carei, Oradea, and Salonta were taken. The Romanians now had reached the goal limit as per the “Vix note” set by the Allies. The advance though did not stop.
Going against the wishes of the Allies the Romanian high command preferred the natural obstacle that the Tisza River provided over just the demarcation line. But they wouldn’t reach there without spilling even more blood. Due to the fighting in the passes the Hungarians had bought enough time to construct a new defensive line from Nyíregyháza, Debrecen and on to Békéscsaba. Which once more the now bloodied Romanian forces would have to slug their way through to reach the Tisza. A task made easier than the passes due to the Romanians possession of more numerous artillery and an air corps. May 10th would see the Hungarian army retreating across the Tisza after being pushed back inch by bloody inch, regardless of the constant flux of reinforcements sent from the western bank. The Székely division would be the last to make it out of the East bank cutting their way through to make it across before the Romanians took complete control of the situation. On May 12th Bela Kun sued for peace agreeing to all Romanian territorial demands, asking in exchange for a end of hostilities and no intervention in internal Hungarian affairs.The Romanians refused, offering only an armistice and only because from pressure of the Allied Supreme Command. Though under said pressure and tired from the recent fighting, they promised the Allies that they would not cross the Tisza. A lull in the fighting ensues as a result.
Béla Kun decides to take advantage of the lull in fighting against the Romanians to improve his position internationally. He orders a preparation for an attack against Czechoslovak forces, which he deems the weaker of Hungary’s enemies. This is also to gain popular support by fulfilling promises made to restore Hungarian national borders. Moreover he needed to establish a land connection to his Bolshevik allies in Soviet Russia who had at more than one time promised support for his cause. To replenish the army, Kun's regime recruits heavily from the male population in the areas left under his control. Many of whom join out of patriotic rather than communist convictions.
May 25 Czechoslovak forces at Miskolc are attacked by Hungarian forces. Though the Romanian army attempts to maintain their link with their Czechoslovak allies by attacking the Hungarian flank, it fails to prevent their rout. The Romanian would retreat to Tokaj and by May 30th had been forced back across the Tisza at risk of being outflanked. In the process they destroyed the bridges to prevent a Hungarian crossing. They would continue to attempt to hinder the two Soviet States from communicating effectively. The success of their attack on the new Czechoslovak state allows the Hungary, besides regaining Upper Hungary, to as well create a puppet Slovak Soviet Republic.By the end of the operations the Red Army had reached the old borders in the Northeastern Carpathians. In the Northwest the campaign had regained important industrial regions of Miskolc, Salgótarján and Selmecbánya. With this done the army began to move eastward to the Tisza, facing the Romanian positions.
The months of June and early July would be a time of negotiations due to the changed circumstances. The Entente leaders gathered in Paris were displeased, to put it mildly, with Romania. Not only had they advanced to the Tisza against the will of the Allied command but they had made a blood y mess of it all. Many voices called on Romanian forces to pull back to the agreed demarcation line, blaming them entirely for this current state of affairs. Romania however stood its ground, declaring that the Tisza river was the only true demarcation line till the border between themselves and Hungary could be fully established.
Talks begin with Kun, in return for ceasing advancing in Czechoslovakia, they promised a favorable attitude towards Soviet Hungary in the peace talks to follow, and moreover in delineating Hungary's new borders. With these circumstances, Hungary signed an armistice with Czechoslovakia on the 23rd of June and by July 4, the Hungarian troops retreated, establishing a demarcation line. With this accomplished the council demanded that Romania withdraw from the Tiszántúl region, back to their agreed borders. They replied that would only do so once the Hungarians had demobilized. As a result Kun replied that he would rely on the strength of his army to settle this matter. The Council turned against him and began plans for a coordinated attack with French, Serb, and Romanian forces. The Hungarians struck first.
The Hungarian army this go around was much better than what the Romanians had first met in April. It was better equipped and organized, and due to the campaign in Czechoslovakia had a high morale. Numbering well over 40,000 men. They planned to cross the Tisza in three groups: North, Central, and South. With Central being the strongest. Once crossed the army would advance to take Satu Mare, Oradea and Arad. There was hopes within the Communists of igniting a revolt in Romania itself, and the looming promise of Soviet support through Bessarabia.
The Romanians on the other hand numbered well over 60,000. They had more artillery and pretty much everything else. Their defensive plans called for strong maneuverability. For such maneuvering actions, the Romanian command planned to make use of the railway links in their control and had prepared a sufficient number of trains. They were also highly motivated knowing they were fighting for the idea of single Romanian ethnic state that's borders would encompass the greatest number of ethnic Romanians as possible. Many of whom were also veterans of the Great War.
Starting on July 17 and ending on the 20th, the Hungarians began bombarding Romanian positions along the Eastern Tisza. Early on the morning of the 20th, the Hungarians crossed the Tisza and began the assault on Romanian positions. From there the Red Army established several bridgeheads at their landing points. By July 26, through a vicious cycle of on and off fighting, the Romanians finally have cleared the Hungarian presence from the northern and southern bank of the Tisza.Now they focus solely on the Central Group which had advance from their bridgehead at Szolnok to capture the towns of Mezőtúr and Kunhegyes. Hearing of the success of the Romanians at both North and South Group bridgeheads, Central began to dig in and wait for the coming Romanian storm. They would not have to wait long.
On July 31, the Romanians struck hard. The fighting would go back and forth for well over a week, before finally the Romanians gained the necessary momentum to push the Hungarians back further and further to the Tisza. Romanian troops in the south broke through in several areas and in the north completely overran the Hungarian positions. Before long the remainder of the Hungarian forces retreated across the Tisza once more and blew up the bridge to hinder the Romanian advance. By August 10th, the bloodied but victorious Romanians firmly controlled the Eastern Tisza once again.
With this latest and most deadly attack repused the Romanian high command decided now was the time to drive the final nail into the Hungarian Soviet Republic. It was time to cross the Tisza river. To replenish their manpower the Romanians moved troops stationed in Bessarabia, where it was judged that the Russians would continue to hold. All the while the Hungarians used their remaining artillery to attack the areas where the Romanian were most concentrated. In Budapest Bela Kun, knowing that the Romanians would make the crossing, made an impassioned speech to all Hungarians to resist the Romanians at all costs lest their proud nation be destroyed. Weapons that could be spared were spread to partisan groups preparation for a active resistance. On August 15th using a series of decoys and under the cover of artillery, the Romanians crossed the Tisza at Fegyvernek where the river bends. Surprising the Hungarians defenders, who in panic retreat to Budapest, abandoning the Tisza line.
With the crossing now secured the march towards Budapest began. By August 18, the Hungarian Red Army chased and harassed by Romanian cavalry disintegrates. Bela Kun and those that can, flee the country, eventually making their way to the Soviet Union where they will eventually be purged. Representatives are sent to the Romanians to negotiate a surrender. By August 20, the Romanians under command of General. Moşoiu have taken Budapest and a parade takes place in the center of the city. Looting begins soon after.The final phase of the Hungarian–Romanian War saw the most fighting of the entire conflict, countless dead and wounded on both sides. Under Bela Kun's regime a large scale system of terror was directed against the Hungarian people, the war being the only thing preventing a large scale armed uprising against the communists. One of the hundreds of victims killed in these acts of violence was the former Admiral of the k.u.k. Navy, Miklós Horthy. Finding no one whom they felt to be reliable the Romanians began to firmly occupy Hungary. However though numerous they were stretched thin on the ground and seeing weakness partisan activity long dormant, began to take place.
Despite punitive action by the occupation authorities the Hungarian resistance grew like a weed with every retaliation growing stronger. The Entente though glad to be rid of the communists, did not approve of Romanian occupation of Hungary proper. Gone was the sympathy the Entente felt towards to the Romanians who were now seen as opportunistic aggressors. With their refusal to withdraw from Hungary proper, the Romanians were utterly excluded from any reparations from Germany, Bulgaria, and Turkey. Instead, much to the anger of the Hungarian peoples, the Romanians began a large scale looting of Hungarian goods under the guise of reparations. In this action, they lost any goodwill they had garnered from removing the terror state that was Soviet Hungary. All of this increased partisan activity rather than lessened it. With the occupation becoming more and more expensive, the Romanians, under a veneer of victory looked for an out. At this time the still technically reigning Emperor of Austria-Hungary, Karl Habsburg made them an offer. In return for allowing him to regain his throne, Karl will agree to Romanian territorial claims which by this point had expanded to the Tisza river. Reluctant at first the Romanian government pondered and while they did that more and more dead Romanian soldiers came home in coffins. It didn’t take them long to agree. By the end of 1919, Karl, leaving his exile in Switzerland, arrived in Hungary and reassumed his title as Charles IV, Apostolic King of Hungary and as promised on the same day Romanian troops began to withdraw from Hungary and by January of 1920 were completely out.
King Charles IV of Hungary. A single pillar of order in a sea of chaos . His reign would be the ultimate test of whether the Habsburgs can survive in this new order in Europe.
State Portrait of Admiral Horthy, declared a national hero and martyr for his resistance to the Communists by King Charles IV on his reassumption to the Hungarian throne.
So after a while of thought and much typing I've finally decided to give it a go and write a Habsburg TL
Writing outside the wonderful realm of ASB is a new step for me but one I've been wanting to go to as "Britannian Necks" points to so I'm hoping to take this challenge on with a smile and make this story stick. All comments and suggestions are welcome for the internet lacks much in the way of background information on postwar Hungary 
