A Case Study on Trianon

The work of Professor Peter Pastor, one of the editors, was greatly facilitated by the release time granted by his institution, Montclair State College of New Jersey.

Professor Batkay of Montclair State College of New Jersey translated from the Hungarian original the essay of Magda Adam; Dr. Mario Fenyo of New York City translated from the Hungarian original the essays of Maria Ormos, Zsuzsa L. Nagy and Karoly Vigh. The maps and chart were prepared by our cartographer, Ida F. Romann.

The preparation of the manuscript for publication was done by Mrs. Dorothy Meyerson and Mr. Jonathan A. Chanis, both on the staff of Brooklyn College Program on Society in Change.

For all these institutions and personalities, I wish to express my most sincere appreciation and thanks.

Highland Lakes, New Jersey, October 23, 1982.

Bela K. Kiraly
Professor of History
Editor-in-Chief

These volumes deal with the peoples whose homelands lie between the Germans to the west, the Russians to the east and north, and the Mediterranean and Adriatic seas to the south. They constitute a particular civilization, an integral part of Europe, yet substantially different from the West. Within the area there are intriguing variations in language, religion, and government; so, too, are there differences in concepts of national defense, of the characters of the armed forces, and of the ways of waging war. Study of this complex subject demands a multidisciplinary approach; therefore, we have involved scholars from several disciplines, from universities and other scholarly institutions of the USA, Canada, and Western Europe, as well as the East Central European socialist countries.

Our investigation focuses on a comparative survey of military behavior and organization in these various nations and ethnic groups to see what is peculiar to them, what has been socially and culturally determined, and what in their conduct of war was due to circumstance. Besides making a historical survey, we try to define different patterns of military behavior, including the decision-making processes, the attitudes and actions of diverse social classes, and the restraints or lack of them shown in war.

We endeavor to present considerable material on the effects of social, economic, political, and technological changes, and of changes in the sciences and in international relations on the development of doctrines of national defense and practices in military organization, command, strategy, and tactics. We shall also present data on the social origins and mobility of the officer corps and the rank and file, on the differences between the officer corps of the various services, and above all, on the civil-military relationship and

the origins of the East Central European brand of militarism. These studies will, we hope, result in a better understanding of the societies, governments, and politics of East Central Europe, most of whose states are now members of the Warsaw Treaty Organization, although one is a member of NATO and two are neutral.

Our methodology takes into account that in the last three decades the study of war and national defense systems has moved away from narrow concern with battles, campaigns, and leaders and has come to concern itself with the evolution of the entire society. In fact, the interdependence of changes in society and changes in warfare, and the proposition that military institutions closely reflect the character of the society of which they are a part have come to be accepted by historians, political scientists, sociologists, philosophers, and other students of war and national defense. Recognition of this fact constitutes one of the keystones of our approach to the subject.

Works in Western languages adequately cover the diplomatic, political, intellectual, social, and economic histories of these peoples and this area. In contrast, few substantial studies of their national defense systems have yet appeared in Western languages. Similarly, though some substantial, comprehensive accounts of the nonmilitary aspects of the history of the whole region have been published in the West, nothing has yet appeared in any Western language about the national defense systems of the area as a whole. Nor is there any study of the mutual effects of the concepts and practices of national defense in East Central Europe. Thus, this comprehensive study on War and Society in East Central Europe is a pioneering work.

The Editor-in-Chief, of course, has the duty of assuring the comprehensive coverage, cohesion, internal balance, and scholarly standards of the series he has launched. He cheerfully accepts this responsibility and intends this work to be neither a justification nor a condemnation of the policies, attitudes, or activities of any of the nations involved. At the same time, because so many different disciplines, languages, interpretations, and schools of thought are represented, the policy in this and in future volumes was and shall be not to interfere with the contributions of the various participants, but to present them as a sampling of the schools of thought and the standards of scholarship in the many countries to which the contributors belong.

The Editor-in-Chief

The treaty of Versailles and its consequences have been the subject of innumerable studies in the English language; the effects of the Treaty of Trianon on the other hand have been examined in only one scholarly monograph, Francis Deak's, which was published some forty years ago. We felt there was a genuine gap here, so in 1980, on the sixtieth anniversary of the Treaty, we decided to publish a collection of essays which would deal with the process of peacemaking and with the causes and consequences of this momentous treaty.

Our aim was not to write a new history of the Peace Treaty, but to complement and update the older analyses with new evidence and interpretations which are often based on recently opened archives and/or on recent publications. To facilitate this endeavor, we held a University Symposium on November 12, 1980, where we discussed the most important aspects of the Treaty and solicited additional contributions from experts. Our aim was to make this book as comprehensive as possible, thus a degree of repetitiveness became unavoidable. It was also necessary to give a chance for scholars with opposing viewpoints to treat the same evidence differently. It may even appear, at times, that one contributor's interpretation and conclusion undermine those offered by another. But this is one more reason why we felt that a reexamination of the different aspects of a still controversial subject is more than justified. At no time did we, the editors, attempt to interfere with the contributors' views and interpretations. The contents of the book will, we hope, attest to this. Trianon was a controversial act; present-day evaluations of it are also bound to be that. Calling the readers' attention to these controversies was the fundamental goal of the editors.

Bela K. Kiraly, Peter Pastor, Ivan Sanders

A Case Study on Trianon