Hungarian Civil War
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Battles
The battle for Burgenland
- Outcome - won by Austria
- Link - Resistance War of Burgenland
- Began - 5th September 2009
- Ended - 6th September 2009
- Started By - Csokolanyi Edomer
- Hero for Resistance - samu126 (-15973)
- Hero for Defense - Shaok (10922)
Sum up
In the early hours of 5th of September 2009. Csokolanyi Edomer shot the first bullet in the Resistance War of Burgenland, a region formerly belonging to Austria, but for a long time being part of Hungary - in the war that later became known as the Civil War of Hungary. His comrades, the members of the Invisible Legion, many sympathizers and many members of the Hungarian Elit fought with him - but a great part of the population, who considered this act a betrayal of the country fought against them, to defend the region. The issue divided the Hungarian community so much that the conflict rightly deserves the name of a Civil War - being even after a year a sore point in many still.
Prelude
The issue of Burgenland is rooted in RL history - many Hungarian players have openly expressed their intentions to re-create ingame the so-called Great-Hungary, which is nearly impossible IRL. For not-Hungarian readers, please refer to the Treaty of Trianon which effectively shorn 70 % of Hungary's land to the neighbouring countries, and many ethnic Hungarians who lived there were stranded in foreign countries. Burgenland is one such region, in Hungarian, named Őrvidék (Guardian land). Ingame it was the first region that Hungary conquered after the Romanian war, during the Austria-Germany merger, at first for training war purposes. It was also the region for the longest time in Hungarian occupation.
So, most Hungarians took Burgenland as a core region of Hungary, by both IRL reasons, and such long ingame occupation. Also, as there are not many ethnic Austrian players, Hungarians did not think it necessary to return the region - and there used to be no wish for it either from the Austrian side. But in August 2009. things started to change. Austria was populated by PEACE players from mainly South America, who declared their intentions to live there. As perhaps a little power-play in high PEACE circles, they also demanded the return of all Austrian regions - including Burgenland. Austria at the time played an important part in the Europen military movements, so it was diplomatically advisable to comply with their wish. It was at the time a no-hospital, sparsely populated region, where (during the North-American campaign) Atlantis forces regularly started damage-dissipating RW-s that the Hungarian population hit happily. So there were arguments both for and against returning it - mainly ingame arguments for and emotional ones against.
In August, after the impeachment of Falban as President, under the leadership of rlazol, in a very chaotic and scandalous internal political scene, the issue surfaced again. Rlazol was for giving the region back but he could not make the congress understanding this - the Congress wanted to force him to observe more and more strict restrictions in the negotiations, until he gave up convincing them. The Congress made its decision in a later highly contested session, and it was so that it did not give permission to the President to negotiate with Austria as to the release of the region (the wording also became important later, as tempers rose, and the decision was communicated differently to the public). But not all of the Hungarian community were against it, and the controversial decision did nothing to alleviate arguments.
The Battle
On the day before the RW started, people started to seek out others on the chat. Friends called friends, trusted people were notified, to be up in the morning, and act as they see fit. The leading force behind this movement was the Láthatatlan Légió (Invisible Legion), but many army members and irregular units joined later. Just before the day change, Csokolanyi Edomer started the RW, and those who were notified joined it - not only Hungarians, but also Austrians, and some members of the PEACE. As the opposing side realized what happened, they quickly took up arms too, and rallied the population to defend the region. During the day it was sheer chaos both in the chatrooms and in the Hungarian media - as it was the last day of rlazol's presidency, in the middle of an election campaign, it wasn't until much later that the battle-order and the Military Bulletin was updated (rlazol, who came online later at first thought it as a regular Atlantis RW)- and even then it was not deemed important either pro or contra. The Military Bulletin stated[1]:
"A Burgenlandban indított RW nem hivatalos, de nem is minősíthető ellenséges szabotázsnak. Burgenlandot BÁRMIKOR visszavesszük, vagy visszaadjuk, ha arról van szó, ezért jelenleg a parancs: MONTANA - ZÖLD"
Meaning that the RW in Burgenland is not deemed official, but neither is enemy sabotage; declaring that Burgenland can be taken again at any time, therefore the order is Montana RW GREEN.
It must be noted that both the official Military Bulletin, and the battle order script was rewritten many times during the day, urging alternately for fighting green and red in the RW, and false Military Bulletin was published during the day, as well as numerous advertisements for both sides. It shows clearly how deeply this seemingly simple issue divided the population - warranting, therefore, the name of a Civil War. Also, the situation was complicated by the theft of the Romanian president's password, and consequently the Romanian attack against Hungary - and the waiting for the admins' decision in that matter.
The battle that raged all day though was almost always in the conquer zone, and not even the fairly heavy tanking later could pull it up. By morning, before the day-change, it was clear that the RW will be successful and only sporadic tanking tried to change the outcome. In terms of a military exercise, it was a fairly straightforward battle, with no surprises on either side. It gave back Burgenland to Austria - but left the Hungarian community divided...
Aftermath
The aftermath of the battle is manyfold, and reaches even up to today's events occasionally. The region of Burgenland might be termed as the Achilles-heel of Hungary, as ever since it caused an uproar both when taken and when lost again... Many players lost their will to play because of this event, either because of the returning of Burgenland or because of how people handled it in the media, in their connections and smaller communities. Even half a year after the actual event in the Congress it was suggested that those responsible for starting and fighting red in it should be put to trial, named as traitors and even punished for it. Although Congress denied this notion, it reheated again the slumbering ambers. It also caused people to put forward suggestions to admins that regions should become core region after a certain time under occupation, enjoying the protection that original regions enjoy.
