V ČESKO-SLOVENSKEJ ČI ČESKO-SLOVENSKO-RUSKEJ REPUBLIKE? PODKARPATSKÁ RUS A VÝCHODNÉ SLOVENSKO V PRELOMOVOM ROKU 1919

When Czechoslovakia was founded, Slovaks and Rusyns became state-forming nations with competences and ambitions they did not have in pre-1918 Hungary. Having found themselves in this position, the Rusyns, in 1919, requested a change in the name from the Czecho-Slovak Republic (CSR) to the Czecho-Slovak-Rusyn Republic which, de facto, reflected the actual situation after the Treaty of Saint-Germain was signed in September 1919, when Carpathian Ruthenia became a part of the CSR. Rusyns, however, faced radical rejection and were given an explanation that Czechoslovakia had been internationally recognised as a new state and it was under that name the country was referred to in the key peace agreements, which was why any changes at that point were impossible. In the CSR, Rusyns and Slovaks got into conflict over the contact territory (North-Eastern Slovakia) and the shared (administrative) border dividing Slovakia from autonomous Carpathian Ruthenia. The conflict started in 1919 and continued throughout the entire interwar period.