The impact of the Treaty of Rapallo on Hungarian diplomacy

It is well known how at, the end of the Great War, a bitter dispute between Rome and Belgrade arose on the issue of Fiume (Rijeka). The city had been part of the Kingdom of Hungary, though its size and the distance from the core of the Hungarian territory –also given the very limited Magyar presence in the city– made it an undisputed loss for Budapest. However, strategically relevant due to location and its important shipyard, the city assumed a political value that went far beyond simple revisionism. To monopolize Hungarian interest on its future was the possibility that Italo-Yugoslav rivalry could secure Italian support to Hungarian claims elsewhere, since Italy was in fact the only great power that could have favoured Hungarian interests. The Treaty of Rapallo was an unexpected and dangerous turn that Hungary could not easily accept and that could eventually jeopardize the relations with Rome. It temporarily improved the relations between the Italians and the Yugoslavs and finally put an end to the diplomatic deadlock. Rapallo and its consequences went far beyond the treaties of Saint-Germain and Trianon. It represented their natural completion and, at the same time, it could have been the beginning of a new political phase that Budapest could not afford to ignore. This article will include a brief description of the situation in Hungary after the Treaty of Trianon, the impact of the Fiume question and reactions to Rapallo in Hungary.