Central European Wars 1918–21

 I love obscure wars, and a new Osprey, Central European Wars 1918–21, by Philip Jowett, certainly hits the mark.

The hastily raised armies that emerged from the demise of the Habsburg Empire were soon fighting each other for control of territory and to defend their own borders. All these armies were desperately short of the necessities of war, including uniforms, equipment and weaponry. This book covers the scratch forces assembled by Romania, Hungary, Austria, Serbia, and Czechoslovakia. 

These were often short border wars, largely forgotten today. The Carinithian War started as a Slovene insurgency aimed at bringing the region into the new Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, which was to become Serbian-dominated Yugoslavia. Serbian troops got involved in the fighting in April 1919 after an earlier ceasefire ended. As they launched the first of two offensives against the Austrians, the Entente powers intervened, and a plebiscite was held, which determined that the region would remain in Austria.

Romania invaded Hungary and even occupied Budapest, although the war aim was to secure Transylvania.  Hungary was itself engaged in a civil war between left and right-wing forces, with Admiral Horthy's White forces defeating the Communist Government. 

The Polish–Czechoslovak War was fought for just seven days over a region of southeastern Silesia on the border between the newly established states of Poland and Czechoslovakia. The disputed region had a mixed population of Czechs, Poles, Germans, Silesians and Jews, who lived in relative peace before 1919. Poland was preoccupied with a separate conflict with Ukraine, and the region was subsequently incorporated into Czechoslovakia.

The Czechoslovak Republic then addressed the disputed territories around its borders and claimed rights over Slovakia and Subcarpathian Ruthenia, which were part of Hungary. There were smaller conflicts in Burgenland, allocated to Austria. Most of these disputes arose from the provisions of the Treaty of Trianon, which largely remain the current boundaries of Hungary.

For wargamers with WW1 armies, these conflicts are relatively easy to replicate on the tabletop, aided by the colour plates in this book. The uniforms and equipment were essentially the same as in WW1, with changed unit names. French equipment was also commonplace. Some can be played as skirmish games, although the Hungarian wars involved large numbers of troops.

Some of my 28mm Austro-Hungarian figures