Versenyfutás Erdélyért
Contest for Transylvania

Summary/Abstract: After the Second Vienna Award of 1940, which divided Transylvania into a Hungarian and a Romanian part, a contest started between the two countries for gaining control of the whole region. In order to reach this goal, both countries joined the alliance system of Nazi Germany and in June 1941 entered the war against the Soviet Union. After the battle of Stalingrad, the strategies of the competitors started to change. The two rivals realized that Germany would lose the war, and therefore the peace, including the settlement of territorial disputes and border changes, would be shaped by the Allies. Although they continued to fight on the side of Germany, they prepared for the victory of the Allies. In this new phase of the race, Romania proved to be more successful. In August 1944, she turned the tables on the Wehrmacht while Hungary continued to fight Germany’s side. Despite the successful Romanian volte-face, the future of Northern Transylvania which had belonged to Hungary since 1940, was still undecided. The armistice agreement with Romania signed on September 12, 1944 stipulated that “Transylvania or greater part thereof should be returned to Romania, subject to confirmation at the peace settlement”. The dispute was settled in 1945-1946 by the victorious Allied Powers. The United States and – less firmly – Great Britain and France favored “an adjustment of the Hungarian-Rumanian frontier in Transylvania along ethnic lines which would transfer a small strip from Arad to Szatmár/Satu Mare to Hungary”. The Soviet Union, however, stubbornly opposed any modification of the post-1920 borders, including even symbolic changes. This meant that the final decision taken by the Paris Peace Conference in Fall of 1946 accomplished the restoration of the pre-war frontiers. The race was won by Romania.

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