As borders were redrawn in Central Europe after World War I, a surprising idea of unification briefly emerged: the merging of Romania and Hungary into a single state. This sounds crazy, but this was an actual proposal after WWI. The two states had been rivals for decades. So, how could this union benefit both countries?
For Romania, it would secure its western front. So later on, Hungary cannot rise to become a threat to Romania in the future, like in our timeline. Romania would be way closer to Vienna, ensuring that there is no Habsburg revival in Austria-Hungary, which was actually a concern for a little bit after the war. Finally, it would put Romania in a better position in European geopolitics as a whole. In our timeline, Romania was on the outskirts of Europe, barely able to assist their allies if it came down to it, only being able to contest Hungary and Bulgaria.
Hungary gets some benefits too, chiefly preventing its isolation post-war. All of Hungary’s neighbours had seized their territories, and were all very anti-Hungarian, and even in an alliance to prevent Hungary from expanding, the “Little Entente”. Hungary’s army became restricted by the treaty, and its economy collapsed. All of these issues can be improved upon by union with their strongest neighbor, Romania. Beyond that, it gives Hungary a way to influence the Hungarians stuck in Romanian Transylvania. Finally, there was a vague hope for Romania to help Hungary gain back some territories it had lost in WWI.
So, why did the proposal fail? It should be fairly obvious why the proposal ultimately failed. The two countries and their people hated each other, and few actually wanted this proposal to come to life. Even if somehow the proposal got as far as the talking stage, it would probably never get out of it since disagreements over sovereignty and the exact nature of the state, as well as confrontation over the future of Transylvania, would lead to either state walking out of the plan.
At the end of the day, we can’t ignore that Hungary was a defeated power, and Romania was a militarily ascendant state, and had double the population compared to Hungary. There is likely not a realistic solution that both powers would agree to. Foreign powers also didn’t like the idea; Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia would instantly protest. Fearing that this re-militarization and normalization of Hungary with influence over Romania might be disastrous. The Entente likewise saw no benefit, since all it represented was an unknown quantity. What could easily turn into a threat, either through external aggression or internal instability. But what if it happened anyway?
With the Magyar-Romanian Kingdom now in place, we could easily say that this new state would be on the Allied side in WWII, with France being the major player in helping this state form, with them having the most interest in Central Europe. With no Hungarian ally of Germany, and the Union keeping Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia on their feet in the war, it’s safe to say that Nazi Germany would lose WWII, way faster than in our timeline.
In conclusion, although this potential union between Romania and Hungary could not be realized due to the political realities of the time, it nevertheless held the capacity to fundamentally alter the balance of power in Central Europe, reshaping regional alliances and possibly even influencing the broader course of twentieth-century European history. This scenario demonstrates how fragile post-war borders and alliances are, and how even a small diplomatic decision can completely change the course of European history.
Thanks for reading…