Editing First Vienna Award (section)

== Background ==
{{See also|Little Entente}}

=== International situation ===
[[File:Carte ethnographique de L’Europe Centrale.jpg|thumb|Ethnic groups in 1938 in the former territory of the [[Kingdom of Hungary]], the state borders before the [[Treaty of Trianon]] of 1920 is marked on the map. {{legend|#f84048|[[Hungarians]]}}{{legend|#d5b3b2|[[Bunjevci]]}}{{legend|#c5dcd6|[[Croatians]]}}{{legend|#fad1a3|[[Germans]]}}{{legend|#fff177|[[Serbs]]}}{{legend|#bed9c6|[[Slovaks]]}}{{legend|#c0a065|[[Slovenes]]}}{{legend|#fce1d6|[[Romanians]]}}{{legend|#e2e073|[[Ruthenians]]}}{{legend|#ffffff|Unpopulated regions (high mountains, large forests, marshes)}}]]
From 1933 Hungary closely coordinated its foreign policies with those of Nazi Germany, in the hope of revising Hungary's borders{{sfn|Deák|2008|p=9}} as established in the 1920 [[Treaty of Trianon]]. In March 1933 Hungary's prime minister declared that Hungary "wanted justice on the historical principle" and desired the restoration to Hungary of Hungarian-inhabited territories that Hungary had lost after World War I. In June 1933 Hungarian Prime Minister [[Gyula Gömbös]] visited Germany, meeting with [[Adolf Hitler]], and they concluded that Czechoslovakia was a principal obstacle to a "rearrangement" of [[Central Europe]] and therefore should be subverted internally, isolated internationally, and finally eliminated by military force.{{sfn|Deák|1991|p=30}} During a meeting with Hitler in August 1936, [[Miklós Horthy]] advocated a common attack against Czechoslovakia to excise a "cancerous tumor from the heart of Europe".{{sfn|Deák|1991|p=46}}

In late 1937 Hitler decided to open a campaign against Czechoslovakia. In 1938 Germany and Hungary focused on creating a common platform to that end, and in November 1938 Hitler negotiated with the Hungarian government concerning the fate of Czechoslovakia.{{sfn|Deák|1991|p=52}}

Hungarian representatives considered an overt attack on Czechoslovakia too dangerous and wanted to preserve that country's relations with France and Britain, whose support in the question of Hungarian minorities was conditional on Hungary's not joining with Germany in military actions.{{sfn|Deák|2008|p=9}} This outraged Hitler and led to a change in Germany's view of Hungarian territorial demands in eastern Czechoslovakia.

Before the [[Munich Agreement]], a Hungarian government emissary had officially asked the German and Italian delegations to resolve Hungarian demands together with the questions of [[Sudeten Germans]]. However, Hitler did not agree because he was not satisfied with the previous passivity of Hungary and because he had his own plans for Central Europe. The French and British delegates, Prime Minister [[Édouard Daladier]] and [[Neville Chamberlain]], saw potential danger in such a complex solution, but the Italian delegate, Prime Minister [[Benito Mussolini]], allowed Hungarian demands to be reflected in an appendix to the agreement. It requested Czechoslovakia to resolve  questions with Hungary and Poland within three months by bilateral negotiations, or matters would be resolved by the four signatories of the agreement.{{sfn|Deák|2008|p=10}}

After the acceptance of the ultimatum concerning [[Trans-Olza]], which had been annexed by Czechoslovakia in 1920 after the Czechoslovak invasion that triggered the [[Polish-Czechoslovak War]], up to the armistice line, and smaller disputed border areas by Poland, the Hungarian question had remained open. Poland later annexed further small border territories in northern Slovakia (on 1 December 1938, villages in [[Kysuce]], [[Orava (region)|Orava]] and [[Spiš]]) comprising 226&nbsp;km<sup>2</sup>, with 4,280 inhabitants (see separate article, [[Polish–Czechoslovak border conflicts#Annexations by Poland in 1938|Polish–Czechoslovak border conflicts]]). The Hungarian government understood the appendix of the Munich Agreement as an agreement of the Great Powers for the revision of peace treaties and emphasised that it did not mean only the revision of borders based on ethnicity but also the eventual restoration of Hungarian territory before 1918{{sfn|Deák|2008|p=11}} and the creation of a common border with Poland. Official Hungarian circles were aware that Hungary alone was too weak to enforce its territorial demands towards Czechoslovakia because they knew that any attack would encounter the resistance of the more modern [[Czechoslovak Army]].<ref group="note">Horthy declared to Polish Envoy [[Leon Orłowski]] in Budapest on October 16, 1938, "A Hungarian military intervention would be a disaster for Hungary at this moment, because the Czechoslovak army has currently the best arms in Europe and [[Budapest]] is only five minutes from the border for Czechoslovak aircraft. They would neutralize me before I could get up from my bed". Deák 1991, p. 149</ref>

Therefore, Hungary decided to fight Czechoslovakia in the diplomatic field instead and to push for territorial revision in the spirit of Munich Agreement.{{sfn|Deák|1991|p=150}}

=== Border conflicts and sabotage ===
The Munich Agreement had defined a three-month period to resolve Hungarian demands, but the Hungarian government pushed to start negotiations immediately. The pressure was increased by the Hungarians with border conflicts and diversion actions in Czechoslovakia. The first conflict occurred in the early morning of October 5, 1938, when troops of the [[Royal Hungarian Army]] crossed the border and attacked Czechoslovak positions near [[Jesenské, Rimavská Sobota District|Jesenské]]{{sfn|Čaplovič|2008|p=51}} with the goal of capturing [[Rimavská Sobota]].{{sfn|Chorvát|2008|p=58}} Hungarian troops withdrew after the arrival of Czechoslovak reinforcements, which killed nine Hungarians and captured prisoners. Two days later, Hungarian troops again attempted to cross the Danube near [[Štúrovo|Parkan]] (Párkány).{{sfn|Chorvát|2008|p=58}} The Czechoslovak situation was worse in [[Carpathian Ruthenia]], with its lower density of fortifications; there paramilitary units of the [[Rongyos Gárda]] infiltrated Czechoslovakia. The first two units of the Rongyos Gárda crossed the border on October 6, 1938, and two days later, they blew up the bridge over the [[Borzhava (river)|Borozhava River]].

Such actions continued during the negotiations and after the First Vienna Award. During the second day of bilateral negotiations (October 10, 1938), Hungarian troops murdered a railway officer in [[Borozhava]] and damaged railway facilities.{{sfn|Čaplovič|2008|p=62}}

=== Internal situation in Czechoslovakia ===
Czechoslovakia had an interest in stabilising the situation because its foreign ministry had to resolve problems with Poland and Germany and did not want to start negotiations before October 15. The Czechoslovak minister of foreign affairs was focused on building new relationships with Germany and Italy to negotiate guarantees for new borders.{{sfn|Deák|1998|p=20}} After the Munich Agreement, all political subjects in Slovakia concluded that it is necessary to change the Slovak position and declared its autonomy on October 6, 1938. The new autonomous government understood the definition of borders as a priority, and the [[Slovak People's Party]] requested to participate in the negotiations.{{sfn|Bystrický|2008|p=37}} The central government in [[Prague]] was aware that the delegation should be led by a Slovak and considered [[Milan Hodža]] or [[Imrich Karvaš]]. However, after the creation of an autonomous government, Foreign Minister [[František Chvalkovský]] proposed its representatives: [[Jozef Tiso]] or [[Ferdinand Ďurčanský]]. Both politicians at first refused on the justification that the role was in competition with the central government. After it had been emphasised that it is mainly the interest of Slovakia, they decided to accept.{{sfn|Bystrický|2008|p=38}} Moreover, Tiso hoped that his Hungarian partners would more likely accept concessions if they did not negotiate with representatives of the central government.{{sfn|Bystrický|2008|p=39}}

Under the pressure of the threat of internal destabilisation of Czechoslovakia because of diverting actions and the further radicalisation of the situation in Hungary, Czechoslovakia agreed to begin negotiations on October 9.