On December 1, 1918, about a hundred thousand Romanians mobilized from Transylvania and beyond the Carpathians traveled to Gyulafehérvár. The Hungarian government ensured that the Romanians reached the venue of their assembly on time with special trains.
The Armistice Agreement in Belgrade had not yet been concluded when, on November 9, 1918, the Romanian National Council sent a memorandum to Budapest and called on the Hungarian government to hand over the territory of Eastern Hungary - the historical Transylvania, Partium and Bánság. Although the Belgrade military convention signed on November 13 marked the Maros River, it was not a border line, but merely a demarcation line. Based on the request of the Hungarian side, the agreement should have guaranteed the inviolability of Hungary's borders, but no one complied. A few days later, for example, Romanian Prime Minister Maniu requested and received permission from the Entente for the advance of the Romanian army through Maros.
On December 1, 1918, about a hundred thousand Romanians mobilized from Transylvania and beyond the Carpathians traveled to Gyulafehérvár. The Hungarian government ensured that the Romanians reached the venue of their assembly on time with special trains. At the general assembly in Gyulafehérvár, a resolution was passed on the unification of Transylvania, Bánság, Körös-vidék and Máramaros with the Kingdom of Romania. The decision made was strengthened by the presence of the crowd, because only the 1,228 delegates could vote.
Only the first point of the nine-point Gyulafehérvár decision - with which Romania declared the union of Transylvania with the Regatta - was signed into law on December 13, 1918. At a time when the victorious powers had not even met for peace negotiations, let alone made a decision. However, at the Paris peace talks, it was possible to refer to the actually existing status quo.
The other points of the Gyulafehérvár decision remained for posterity in the form of unfulfilled promises.
The Romanian text of the document found in the collection of the Governing Council at the Bucharest office of the Romanian National Archives is translated as follows:
- The National Assembly of all the Romanians of Transylvania, Bánság and Partium, in which their authorized representatives gathered in Gyulafehérvár on November 18/December 1, 1918, declares the union of these Romanians and the territories they inhabit with Romania. In particular, the National Assembly declares the inalienable right of the Romanian nation to the entire territory of Bánság, which is bordered by the Maros, Tisza and Danube rivers.
- The National Assembly grants temporary autonomy to the above-mentioned areas until the assembly of the constitutional body to be elected by general vote.
- In this regard, based on the basic principles of the formation of the new Romanian State, the National Assembly declares the following:
a/ Complete national freedom for all peoples living together. It provides education, public administration, and jurisprudence for each people in their own language by individuals from that people, and each people is given the right of representation in the legislative body and in the government of the country in proportion to its number.
b/ Equal rights and full autonomous religious freedom for all religions of the state.
c/ The perfect implementation of a purely democratic system in all areas of public life. Direct, general, secret, equal right to vote for all citizens over the age of 21, regardless of gender, in the village, county and parliamentary representation.
d/ Complete freedom of press, assembly and association, free advertisement of all ideas.
e/ Radical agrarian reform. All estates are listed, especially large estates. Based on the census, the religious commission is abolished, and by reducing the size of the large estates as necessary, the peasants are enabled to acquire at least as much land (arable land, pasture, forest) that provides work for them and their families. The basic principle of this agricultural policy is, on the one hand, to reduce social differences and, on the other hand, to increase productivity.
f/ Industrial workers are granted the same rights and benefits as those provided by the laws of the most developed industrial states of the West.
- The National Assembly expresses its wish that, in order to regulate international relations, the Peace Congress should form a community of free nations in such a way that both small and large nations will receive justice and freedom, and that war will not take place in the future.
- The Romanians gathered at the National Assembly welcome their brothers from Bukovina, who freed themselves from the yoke of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy and united with their motherland, Romania.
- The National Assembly welcomes with love and enthusiasm the liberation of the nations subjugated by the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy, namely the Czechoslovak, Austrian German, Yugoslav, Polish and Ruthenian nations, and resolves to make this greeting known to all the listed nations.
- The National Assembly humbly bows to the memory of the Romanian heroes who shed their blood and died in this war for the realization of our ideal, for the freedom and unity of the Romanian nation.
- The National Assembly expresses its gratitude and admiration to the Allied Powers, which fought steadfastly against the enemy that had been preparing for war for decades in brilliant battles, liberating civilization from the clutches of barbarism.
- In order to carry forward the Romanian national affairs of Transylvania, Banság and Partium, the National Assembly decides to establish a Great Romanian National Council, which can represent the Romanian nation before the other nations of the world with full rights, at any time and anywhere, and can take all measures aimed at promoting national interests .
The decision was signed by dr. Laurențiu Oanea and Ștefan C[icio] Pop, secretary and vice-president of the National Assembly, respectively.
The legal fulfillment of the unification was the signing of the peace treaty between the victorious powers in the First World War and Germany (Versailles, June 28, 1919), Austria (Saint Germain en Laye, September 10, 1919) and Hungary (Trianon, June 4, 1920).
The author is a historian
Source: Magyar Hírlap
