We found a match
Your institution may have access to this item. Find your institution then sign in to continue.
- Title
RESPUBLIKA MÖRSKA - MURSKA REPUBLIKA, 1919.
- Authors
LORENČIČ, Darjan; HOZJAN, Andrej
- Abstract
The events in central Europe at the end of the First World War had an important impact on the history of Prekmurje borderland, which had up to that point belonged to the Kingdom of Hungary. The newly created states that sprang up from the ruins of the Austro-Hungarian Empire were, with the approval of the Entente, competing for broken parts of the fallen empire, which had an especially painful impact on Hungary - the state turning up on the losing side of the war. The country was surrounded by enemies ambitiously eyeing its territory, in addition to the catastrophic chaos on its domestic front. Towards the end of the war, the rising tide of its citizen's dissatisfaction soon resulted in a relatively bloodless revolution, the end of the monarchy and the founding of the Hungarian Democratic Republic. However, the new regime was powerless when it came to solving looming domestic problems and protecting its borders, which resulted in the resignation of the Prime Minister Mihály Károly. The reins had fallen into the hands of the social democrats, who had allied themselves with the communist party. The communists took power, and the new authorities renamed the state to Hungarian Soviet Republic on March 21, 1919, the new regime being headed by Béla Kun. This dictatorship of the proletariat was the last-ditch effort for Hungary to retain its territorial integrity, which failed because of the pressure from the Entente forces. In August 1919, the Romanian army marched into Budapest, signifying the end of the short era of Hungarian Soviet Republic. From the ruins of the old order, a new one was slowly rising, and the people of Prekmurje found themselves at a crossroads. They could remain a part of the new Hungarian state and eventually gain a level of autonomy, or they could choose to cut themselves off from the centuries long link with the Hungarians, joining the newly established South Slavic state. The intellectual and spiritual leaders in the region, many of the most important of them serving as catholic priests, remained undecided, pragmatically waiting for the resolution of the Paris Peace Conference. Even Jožef Klekl Sr., a priest with strong influence in the region, started campaigning for the integration of Prekmurje with the Slavic state only after the creation of the Hungarian Soviet Republic. With that question still on the table, the situation in the region was volatile due to the shocks and post-war effects, an important one being the new ideas the returning soldiers brought with them. The first signs of unrest and open riots appeared in the region of Medmurje (Međimurje), spreading to the lower Prekmurje region in early November 1918. At this point, the first appearance of Vilmoš Tkalec in the history of Prekmurje and Medmurje can be registered. The Hungarian troops under his command violently suppressed the unrest in the region. After that, he disappeared from the region's history until the establishment of the Hungarian Soviet Republic. His uncle, Béla Obál, who was at that point the highest government official of Vas County, named him his deputy for that region, where he was based out of Murska Sobota. This marks the beginning of his spectacular political ascent and an even swifter fall from power. Vilmoš Tkalec had ambitions of power, which led him to be increasingly more independent in his actions, disregarding official orders and guidelines from Vas and Zala Counties, with the central leadership being too preoccupied with the Romanian and Czech intervention forces to deal with a lone rogue official. At the same time, Béla Obál was convinced that his nephew was trying to establish Mura County, which would bring to life some of his ideas of Prekmurje's regional autonomy. However, the only thing on Tkalec's mind was the consolidation of his own power. With that in mind, he and some of his people became entangled in smuggling operations along the Austrian border in order to raise finances needed to fuel his ambitions, which he then used to fund a mercenary army in the region that in turn now answered to him, not the high command in Budapest. However, his plan to rise to power encountered an issue in the form of a complaint to the central command, which promptly sent auditors to Murska Sobota. These auditors were quickly sent packing by Tkalec's forces, leaving him with two options: he could give up the region and power, giving himself up or he could take a risk and declare Prekmurje's independence from Hungary. He chose the latter and travelled to Austria in search of Hungarian aristocrats in exile, with the intention of acquiring financial and martial support. He was promised both. The aristocrats, however, had a different plan for him and his republic, seeing this as an opportunity, a steppingstone to help start a counter-revolution in Hungary. Tkalec also sought support from the newly established Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, but only got an assurance of the state's neutrality in the event of a Hungarian invasion. Returning to Murska Sobota, he declared independence and the creation of Republic of Mura (Prekmurje) on May 29, 1919. However, the authorities in Budapest could not tolerate such a blow. The day after the establishment of the republic, the Hungarian Red Army started to mobilize for an intervention in the region. The Hungarian authorities were well aware of the possibility of a domino effect this event could bring into motion, the possibility of a counter-revolution and the possibility of the establishment of several more similar secessionist republics on Hungarian soil. At first, the mercenary army Tkalec had put together managed to repel the Red Army but could not hold against a ferocious second offensive. Murska Sobota fell to the Red Army on June 3, 1919, and the promised help from Austria had arrived too late to stop its downfall. On the 6th of June, the last vestiges of the Republic of Mura were completely dismantled. Tkalec and some of his people managed to escape to Austria, returning to Prekmurje after the fall of the Hungarian Soviet Republic a few months later. His opportunism knew no bounds, soon he turned his coat and tried to become an officer of the "white army", which, of course, was unsuccessful. He was imprisoned in Dolnja Lendava, where he managed to escape from the prison with the help of some of the guards, and settled down in a small village near Budapest, where he started a new life as a teacher and a poet. He was known as a strict, but fair teacher, close-mouthed about his past, with the fact that he once used to be the leader of the short-lasting Republic of Mura remaining unknown to his fellow villagers.
- Subjects
BUDAPEST (Hungary); RESIGNATION from public office; WORLD War I; CATHOLIC priests; RELIGIOUS leaders; PUBLIC officers; PRIESTS; AUSTRIAN history; SOCIAL unrest
- Publication
Acta Histriae, 2020, Vol 28, Issue 4, p679
- ISSN
1318-0185
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.19233/AH.2020.35