West Border (march)

Part of the Kingdom of Hungary, the March of the West Border is a military Captaincy that serves as a defense against the Ottoman Empire. The frontier of the march is strictly controlled, with patrols from Szombathely and Sopron regularly watching over the four hexes nearest the Ottoman Empire; a strong outpost has been established at Egerzeg.

The march has a total area of 8.7 hexes, with a density of 7,890 persons per hex. It is bordered on the south by the Duchy of Croatia; on the west by the Kingdom of the Habsburgs (Lower Styria & Styria), the March of Guns and the Duchy of Burgenland; on the north by the Principality of Nyatria. It has a population of 68,643.

History

After the region's devastation in 1532 and the fall of Buda and Pest in 1641, the combined duchies of Sopron and Raab (Turkish Yanik Kale) and the Principality of Buda were conglomerated into the present march. At least half the population consists of the descendants of displaced Hungarians from throughout the former kingdom.

Since its creation, the Habsburg monarchy has occupied the march more or less without opposition, further ensuring that the right and left wings of the country remain disunited. Order is maintained by Habsburg military law, applied indescrimately to the whole population. Raids and small-scale skirmishes are common along the whole Ottoman border, while the population remains conscious of the march being the most direct route to the Ottoman conquest of Vienna and the Danubian Plain in Austria.

Population

Production

Sopron is a distribution and collection center for the march and serves as a market town for Burgenland, Croatia, Guns and the West Border. All trade in Sopron originates from or is directed towards Vienna in Lower Austria.

References for production associated with Koszyce are as follows:

See sheet map D 02 ~ Carpathians.

World