the anti-communist military campaign started off well but soon fell apart. In Murska Sobota the socialist Vilmos Tkálecz, a former schoolmaster and soldier in the first World War, was involved in illegal trade, which the communist statutes forbade. Tkálecz was not a leftist, Yugoslav, or pro-Hungarian. On May 29, Tkálecz and some followers declared independence from Hungary. Tkálecz invoked the Fourteen Points of Woodrow Wilson, which granted autonomy rights for national minorities. The new state recognized Austria in order to receive some weapons, together with those from Hungarian military units. However, Tkálecz frustrated the Catholics; the people of Prekmurje did not support the republic. The Prekmurje Republic sought to expand its boundaries and received minute pieces of land: In Murska Sobota, the Republic received the territory of the districts of Murska Sobota, Lendava, Szentgotthárd, and some villages in the Őrség area, and already possessed the northern, central, and southwestern Mura march districts. The principal settlements of the republic were Murska Sobota, Szentgotthárd, Lendava, Beltinci, and Dobrovnik. Aftermath On June 6, 1919, the Hungarian Red Army marched into Prekmurje and overthrew the republic. Tkálecz fled to Austria. A communist militia spread over the land and murdered all their opponents. In addition, a five million crown indemnity was laid upon the people and a harsh Red Terror was continued by the occupying militia. On August 1, 1919, the Hungarian Soviet Republic was overthrown by Romanian forces, and soon the Serbian Army marched into Prekmurje, ending communist rule there. In 1920, Tkálecz was living in Hungary in the village of Nagykarácsony in (Fejér County) as a schoolmaster. The 1920 Treaty of Trianon established the present Hungarian borders. Population The population of the Prekmurje Republic was approximately 100,000, of which 20,000 to 22,000 were Hungarians; other large minorities included a German minority of 8,000 (especially in the villages of Alsószölnök, Fikšinci, Kramarovci and Ocinje) and a Croat minority of 3,000. Other ethnic groups included Jews and Roma. The religious composition was one third Lutheran, over half Catholic, and some Calvinist and Jewish minorities. In a few villages, Roma speak Prekmurje Slovenian or Hungarian as their native languages. See also Banat Republic Former countries in Europe after 1815 Hungarian Slovenes List of historical unrecognized countries Pro-independence movements in the Russian Civil War Serbian-Hungarian Baranya-Baja Republic Slovene March (Kingdom of Hungary) External links Republic Aftermath of World War I in Hungary Former states and territories in