How was the border with Hungary negotiated?

1916–1918

In August 1916 Romania enters the war on the Entente's side, and the secret Treaty of Bucharest promises it the Romanian-inhabited lands of Austria-Hungary — with the frontier drawn on the Tisza.

The treaty of 4/17 August 1916 (articles 4 and 5) recognizes Romania's right over Transylvania, the Banat, Crișana, Maramureș and Bukovina, plus a seat at the peace table. Article IV draws the line in the plain: it joins the Tisza on a line with Algyő village, north of Szeged, then follows the river's thalweg to its Danube confluence. Eleven days later the proclamation of 28 August 1916 promises the army “a great and free Rumania from the Tisza to the Black Sea”. Two years of war later, on 1 December 1918, Alba Iulia votes the union — and the promise of 1916 becomes a file on the Paris table.

1919

In Paris, Romania's delegation discovers that the 1916 treaty is treated as void — Romania signed a separate peace in 1918 — and that the border will be drawn by a committee, not by the alliance text.

On 29 January 1919 Brătianu reads “The Problem of the Banat” before the Supreme Council: the whole Banat, per the 1916 treaty, with equal rights for every minority. On 18 March the experts split it anyway — two thirds to Romania, one third to Serbia, cutting the Bega canal and leaving some 100,000 Romanians in the Serbian part. Inside the frontier committee the Americans propose a line 20 to 50 kilometres east of today's border and the Italians one some 100 kilometres east toward the Royal Pass; the Franco-British proposal wins, favouring Romania's economic and military advantage over ethnic lines — Oradea ends up fourteen kilometres east of the border.

1919

The minorities treaty breaks the delegation: Brătianu reads foreign interference in it, leaves Paris on 2 July 1919, and resigns on 12 September rather than sign.

Saint-Germain is signed with Austria on 10 September 1919 — Article 59 cedes Bukovina to Romania, Article 60 demands the minorities treaty. When the Supreme Council's ultimatum of 15 November orders Romania to sign “without commentaries, reserves and conditions”, the Văitoianu cabinet refuses and falls on 30 November. Alexandru Vaida-Voevod, prime minister from 1 December, unblocks Paris: on 9 December 1919 Romania signs the treaties with Austria and Bulgaria and the minorities treaty, with minimal concessions — and the hands that signed are disputed to this day (see D1 in SOURCES.md).

1920

Hungary is heard at last — Apponyi pleads on 16 January 1920 — but the text of 6 May 1920 is unalterable, and on 4 June two minor figures sign it in the Grand Trianon.

The Hungarian delegation receives the terms on 15 January; Apponyi speaks the next day before every major leader except Wilson — by then, Hungary's fate “was already sealed”. In early March Lloyd George protests that the treaty consigns some 2,750,000 ethnic Hungarians, one third of the nation, to the successor states; by 7 March the frontiers are confirmed unchanged. The final text of 6 May answers 38 Hungarian notes and changes “not … a single word” of the territorial clauses; the Millerand cover letter promises only minor adjustments. On 31 May Budapest sends Ágost Benárd and Alfréd Drasche-Lázár to France; on 4 June they sign alongside Ion Cantacuzino and Nicolae Titulescu, Romania's delegates by royal decree — while bells toll in Budapest and silence falls.