Security challenges of Ung County in the context of cross-border espionage, 1914 – 1915

Abstract

Abstract. The study aims to explore the security challenges of Ung County during the First World War in the context of cross-border espionage and intelligence operations. The research focuses on the activities of the Royal Hungarian Gendarmerie and the Uzhorod Municipal Police, both of which played a crucial role between 1914 and 1915 in maintaining internal security in the northeastern counties of the Kingdom of Hungary that were declared operational military zones, including Ung County itself. The primary objective of the study was to present, on the basis of archival sources (notably the materials of Fonds 4 and 7 of the State Archives of the Transcarpathian Region) and contemporary press reports, how the gendarmerie and police organized counter-espionage operations, cooperated with the military, and applied various methods to identify and detain suspicious or hostile individuals. Furthermore, the study examines how the introduction of military administration and the expansion of law enforcement powers following the outbreak of war affected the everyday life of the civilian population and led, in several instances, to abuses committed in the name of state security. The research methodology is based on the content analysis of archival documents, the reconstruction of specific case studies, and the historical interpretation of the security-political context. The study’s scientific novelty lies in its comprehensive presentation of Ung County’s counter-espionage experience, interpreted through the lens of local social and ethnic relations, thereby contributing to a deeper understanding of the First World War security history of present-day Transcarpathia. The findings reveal that in the border regions—particularly in districts inhabited predominantly by Ruthenian populations—state distrust and suspicion were markedly intensified, frequently resulting in unfounded accusations, internments, and police excesses. The study also demonstrates that the weaknesses of the counter-espionage apparatus, combined with the ethnic heterogeneity of the frontier zone, created a new form of security threat that the central authorities were unable to manage effectively.