Why Hungarians still feel bitter about Treaty of Trianon in 2026?

Posted by PutridCurrency8383@reddit | askhungary | View on Reddit | 22 comments

I understand that the treaty was devastating to the country as it was before. It took away a lot of land, citizens, and power.

My question is why does it still come up so often these days? It seems like many Hungarians still actively feel personally betrayed and hurt by it as if it happened yesterday to them personally, rather than to monarchs over a hundred years ago. I see it brought up in social media all the time.

Explain like I'm five - what motivates some people of Hungarian descent to actively bring this up over and over again at any opportunity they get, considering they have essentially nothing to gain from mentioning or even theoretically restoring the pre-triannon Hungary, from the point of view of ordinary citizens?

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ananasz27@reddit

I have hungarian friends living in Transylvania who got beaten up for speaking hungarian in a pub in Kolozsvár (Cluj-Napoca). The Benes decrees are still in place and used against hungarians in Slovakia. To me it seems that most of our neighbors use the hungarian minority as a punching bag. But here on Reddit there are mostly leftist hungarians so a lot of them will say that Trianon was just and well deserved, and we should forget about it.

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MarkMew@reddit

But here on Reddit there are mostly leftist hungarians so a lot of them will say that Trianon was just and well deserved,

Which makes no sense to me at all. "Get over Trianon and shut up" people tend to be the same as the ones who lecture everyone about racism if someone dares to mention that the person who robbed them happened to not be white. Either stand up for all minorities, including Hungarians being or having been oppressed in other countries or just don't, but this double standard bugs me.

You can be a non-revisionist non-far right person and admit that it was unjust and just fucked over civilians' lives majorly. I am the most "capitalism is unfair, redistribute wealth via taxation, create equal opportunities, workfare" type of person you could possibly imagine but I think denying the significance of one of the most devastating relatively recent historical event of the country just because a shitty populist autocratic government has been using the diaspore Hungarians for votes is pure clownery.

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GeneralAd1047@reddit

Unfortunately minorities (not just ethnic, but sexual, religious etc) are used as a punching bag everywhere in Europe since it is much easier for the populists to blame them than actually addressing problems. I somewhat share the thoughts of your leftists friends, I believe we should move on and try to make the most of what we have today and embrace cooperation and diplomatic pressure with and within the EU to ensure that all Hungarians have their minority rights respected.

I still can't believe how the Benes decrees are still in place in 2026 and the Orban government didn't do basically anything to force Slovakia to change corse while officially being big supporters of transborder Hungarians.

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rendszerkiugro@reddit

Yes you can post memes and shit but as someone who is a descendant of ethnic Hungarians (but diesnt live there anymore) abroad I think most people dont realize that this was likely the biggest and most lasting trauma in the Hungarys history. 1/3 of the population was cut off, along with the biggest cities, natural resources and infrastructure. You could argue that the social side is healing since borders have opened but the other aspects still affect the country very disproportianally.

Just an example, Budapest is by far the biggest city, all the highways go through the country leading to pollution and congestion in the capital and lack of public investment elsewhere. Similarly, trains were only allowed to have one track between cities for a long amount of time making rail transport difficult. Lack of housing with all the immigrants in the twenties and thirties also stirred up social tension adding to the existing rural-cosmopolitan divide. Lastly, political relationships remain difficult because playing the ethnic card is always easy in neighbouring countries (Benes-decrees or autonomy in Transylvania) but all of this has become such a big part of every day life here that most people dont even realize how this treaty or rather the aftermath even affected the population.

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captain_pannonia@reddit

Liberals tend to mock the dismemberment of the country under the Treaty of Trianon because they enjoy taking jabs at a country whose citizens, as Hungarian nationals, despise and look down on the nation to which they belong by citizenship.

I know it sounds strange, but Hungarians hate each other—they hate one another and their country.

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Spiritual-Bet-9057@reddit

Why are greeks still upset about Cyprus? Why are romanians still upset about Moldova? ...and so on and so forth.

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_palmTreeInTheCorner@reddit

I don’t care about it, and it makes me uncomfortable how many other Hungarians get so upset about it. It happened over 100 years ago, get over it. We should focus on making the most out of what we have today.

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boopookie@reddit

TRIANON MENTIONED 🦅🦅🇭🇺🇭🇺

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DatteEU@reddit

Well i don't care... My Mother's Father born in Nagyvárad (today Romania), my father's mother born in Hidaskürt (today Slovakia). I would not even exist without Trianon, and the WW2 deportations...

It happend, it will not gonna do a reverse, i don't care.

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Puncius_Pinatus@reddit

3 categories

-sarcastic people, for shits and giggles

-ultranationalists, they want either the majority hungarian areas back or even the whole greater hungary

-minority rights advocaters, just look at the benes decree, or just minority rights around in general. Plus the ukranian minority suffered the crossfire on top of that for the last 4 years, because orbans rethoric

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chamundafaya@reddit

First, the scale of the loss was huge. Hungary lost about 72% of its territory and a large part of its population. Millions of ethnic Hungarians suddenly found themselves living outside the new borders, which still shapes national consciousness today.

Second, it’s not just history—it’s a living issue. Significant Hungarian communities still live in neighboring countries like Romania, Slovakia, and Serbia. Questions about minority rights, language use, and cultural identity keep the topic relevant.

Third, it’s tied to identity and memory. Trianon is taught in schools, discussed in media, and remembered in public life. For many, it symbolizes injustice and loss, not just geopolitics...

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Pedicel_R_E@reddit

Well basically only the rednecks are still hurt by that.

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CalmPanda5470@reddit

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Familiar-Excuse-8917@reddit

Please reveal your diplomas and IQ certification

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Leviv8@reddit

You know the expression : loud minority ? That's exactly what is happening on this topic.

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aurawitch@reddit

They don't.

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Merwenus@reddit

Van egy hatalmas házad, aminek van egy csomó szobája, aztán valaki addig hergelt, amíg vissza nem ütsz. Elítélnek és ahelyett, hogy börtönbe menj, elveszik a házad nagy részét. Persze a kajával teli kamra és a raktár pont köztük van.

Sokat segít Fico, aki még üldözi is a magyarokat akik ott maradtak.

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GeneralAd1047@reddit

Most people don't care. Some people thinks all bad things in their life is rooted in this treaty and otherwise we would be the most rich and successful nation on the planet.

To be frank, life had not been great for the Hungarians that got stuck behind the borders and those who were force relocated back to Hungary. These are some transgenerational trauma that is still with some.

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