Bunjevci Croats within the framework of Hungarian federalism at the end of World War I

Abstract Due to the precarious circumstances in which the entire Austro-Hungarian Monarchy found itself during World War I, Hungarian intellectual circles intensified their deliberations on the future position and internal structure of Hungary (the Land of the Crown of St. Stephen) to ensure its possible survival within its historical borders even after the end of the war. These deliberations led to two specific federalist proposals for the territory of the former Kingdom of Hungary, presented at the end of 1918. The first proposal was the draft by Oszkár Jászi, Minister of National Affairs in the government of Mihály Károlyi, entitled “Keleti Svájc” (Eng. “Switzerland of the East”) and the other was a proposal by Miksa Strobl entitled “Az új Magyarország mint keleti Svájc (27 teljes sólógárnú kantonnal)” (Eng. “New Hungary as Eastern Switzerland (with 27 self-governing cantons)”), published in the newspaper Új Magyarország . Both proposals rest on the principle of ethnofederalism, i.e., an attempt to do justice to the emancipation efforts of the national minorities on Hungarian territory. The article analyzes the probable position of the Bunjevci Croats within the framework of these proposals, taking into account the circumstances, i.e., the end of World War I and the emergence of new international relations that would shape the political architecture of Central and Southeastern Europe in the post-war period.