Banat Republic

The Banat Republic (Romanian: Republica Bănăţeană, German: Banater Republik, Serbian: Banatska republika / Банатска република, Hungarian: Bánáti Köztársaság) was a short-lived state proclaimed in Timişoara on November 1, 1918, the day after the dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Recognized only by Hungary, the republic was invaded by the army of neighboring Serbia on November 15. The next year, its territory was divided primarily between the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes and Romania.

Origins

The Banat is a natural geographical region in the Pannonian plain. From 1552, it was an Ottoman province named the Eyalet of Temeşvar. After the 1718 Treaty of Passarowitz, the region became a Habsburg province called the Banat of Temeswar. This province was abolished in 1778. Between 1849 and 1860, the Banat region, together with the Bačka and Srem, was part of a new Habsburg province, the Voivodship of Serbia and Tamiš Banat. The capital of all these provinces was Timișoara.