Lajtabánság (; ), or the Banate of Leitha, was a short-lived western Hungarian state in the region where the Austrian federal state of Burgenland now exists. It existed between 4 October and 10 November 1921, following the Treaty of Trianon and the departure of the rump Kingdom of Hungary's army and after the Sopron plebiscite was held in the area according to the Venice protocol. The principal leaders of the state were Pál Prónay, Count Gyula Ostenburg-Moravek and former Hungarian prime minister István Friedrich. Its military was the Rongyos Gárda ("Ragged Guards" or "Scrubby Guards"), recruited from former army soldiers, peasants and students devoted to retaining the region rather than surrender it to Austria. Etymology Lajta (or Leitha in German) refers to the Leitha River, which the region of Lajtabánság was East of. Leitha originated from Old High German , which was possibly derived from the Pannonian word for mud. refers to the lands held by a Ban (regional administrator), a word generally seen to be borrowed from Turkic languages by Slavs and used in Hungary and Croatia. Geography and People Burgenland is a flat area, with some swamps and big settlements divided by large tracts of land. It was predominantly German, with the local Germans identifying themselves as Hungarians, known as Hungarus in German. In 1920, Burgenland was 75% Austrian German, 15% Croat, and 8% Hungarian, most of which were concentrated in the ethnic exclaves of Oberpullendorf and Oberwart. According to a 1918 census, Burgenland also had a 1.2% Jewish population. According to the Austrians, Burgenland was historically, ethnically, and religiously Austrian German. The area was mostly Catholic, and German monks were important in shaping the culture and people of Burgenland. Geologist Hans Mohr of the technical college in Graz argued, in 1920, that: Hungarian-born Austrian teacher Benno Immendörfer argued for the integration of Burgenland into Austria to secure Austria's supply of food, stating that: However, according to Hungarians, there were no antecedents for an Austrian takeover and integration of Burgenland. It was argued that places in Burgenland like Kismarton/Eisenstadt and Fraknó/Forchenstein had been Hungarian royal domains for centuries. Burgenland had only been partly Germanized due to Austrian influence, and the original ancestors of its inhabitants were Hungarians, sent to protect the Hungarian borderlands. Until the Treaty of Trianon, Burgenland had been a part of Hungary. History After the Hungarian Soviet Republic After the fall of the Hungarian Soviet