Claim:
It was a mistake that the Károlyi government signed the Belgrade Agreement on 13 November 1918.
Rebuttal:
To clarify and stabilise the situation of Hungary in foreign politics it was necessary to seek direct contact with the entente powers.
In detail:
Some claim that it was superfluous to enter into negotiations with the entente powers, since the Padova Ceasefire was clear in establishing the existent borders of Hungary as the line of the ceasefire, so these borders would have to be protected. However, we can’t disregard the fact that at this point in time a significant part of Hungarian troops were stationed abroad, and it is dubious whether the half-disbanded Hungarian army would have represented sufficient military power to make any difference. Moreover, there were a number of foreign policy circumstances in favour of the signing of the agreement: the French for instance were questioning the Padova ceasefire and were claiming that in the Danube region they themselves were meant to step in as decision makers. Germany at this point had not signed the ceasefire agreement (the talks about this were being conducted those days) and it was to be expected that part of the entente troops waiting at the southern borders of Hungary would march on towards Germany. Trying to stop them from doing so would have been equal to another declaration of war. Thus all in all it was necessary to seek direct diplomatic contact with the entente powers in order to stabilise the situation of Hungary.
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