After World War I, Hungary lost 2/3 of its territory. The country also lost a significant part of its economic potential and access to the sea. In such a situation, the country needed a strong leader of an authoritarian plan like air. Miklós Horthy became such a leader.
Years of childhood and youth
The future regent was born on June 18, 1868 in a large family of medium landowners. The parents were educated people and believed that their children should also receive a good education. Already at the age of 8, Miklós Horthy began his studies at the Debrecen Reform College. In 1878, Miklos' parents transferred him to a German gymnasium (Sopron). In 1882, having passed the selection at the competition of 12 people for a place, Horthy became a student of the Naval Academy in the current Croatian city of Rijeka. He graduated from this educational institution in 1886.
Miklos Horthy: biography of growth
Our hero, immediately after graduating from the academy, began to show extraordinary abilities in maritime affairs. The generals of the Austro-Hungarian army noticed his talents. In 1894, the first ship withsteam traction. It was Miklos who was instructed to test this miracle of technology. Six years later, he had already become the commander of a large warship. It is clear that with each promotion he was given a new military rank.
Until 1918, Miklós Horthy (photo can be seen in the article) commanded several ships. He took part in the battles of the First World War. In the last months of the existence of Austria-Hungary, when they tried to save the fleet from disintegration, Karl Habsburg appointed Miklós Horthy as commander of the fleet.
Hungarian realities after the end of World War I
As a result of the adoption of the Versailles system of treaties, Hungary was among the affected states. In principle, the imperfection of these peace treaties was visible almost immediately, but their adoption guaranteed the end of hostilities. On the basis of Austria-Hungary, several nation-states were created. As a result of the artificial division of territories, Hungary lost 30% of its ethnic lands. This is about 3.3 million people.
The Treaty of Versailles actually humiliated the Hungarians as a nation. With Hungary they did almost the same thing as with Germany. The task of Miklós Horthy as regent was to restore the national greatness and influence of Hungary in Europe.
Internal policy of the Horthy regime
During the interwar period, Hungary had a unique system of government. Formally, the state remained a monarchy. In reality, after the overthrow of the Habsburgs in 1919, there were no kings,since the countries of the Entente forced Charles IV to abdicate. In addition, on November 1, 1921, the Hungarian government issued a decree depriving the Habsburg dynasty of the royal throne.
Post-war 1950-1980 historiography regards the stage of Miklós Horthy's rule in Hungary as a fascist dictatorship. I would like to disagree with this because:
- a bicameral parliament functioned in the state, which played an important role in decision-making at the highest level;
- a multi-party system was created;
- parties of all directions could take part in free and fair elections;
- the real work of the opposition parties in the parliament was established as an element of democracy.
In economic terms, the situation of the state turned out to be very difficult. The dictator (as Soviet historians called him) did not understand the economy very well, so it is not worth talking about any serious reforms in this area. The lack of changes led to the fact that, according to the situation in 1932, more than 800 thousand Hungarians remained unemployed. Compared to 1920, the situation has certainly improved, but not by much.
The world economic crisis of 1929-1933 hit the Hungarian economy very hard. In 1930 there was a fall on the Budapest Stock Exchange. The already modest growth of the economy was h alted. Throughout the post-war decade, factory workers' wages remained low.
Foreign policy of the regime
We have already said that Miklós Horthy is a dictator in theSoviet post-war historians. The fact is that the basis of the foreign policy of the regime was the return of ethnic territory. Horthy saw the possibility of making changes to the Versailles system only through rapprochement with Germany as the party that suffered at the end of the war and another fascist country - Italy. At the same time, the Hungarian regent did not want to fall under the influence of any state, but sought to create an equal union.
In 1927, the treaty "On Eternal Friendship" was signed with Italy. Diplomatic relations were established between the states. Rapprochement with Germany began after 1933. Adolf Hitler was also interested in this alliance, who needed the maximum number of allies in Europe. Several meetings took place between the odious leaders, during which the leaders understood each other's positions and came to a common denominator.
In the second half of the 1930s, Miklós Horthy (brief biography above) makes several important international visits. We are talking about Horthy's visits to Poland, Italy and Austria. In addition, active negotiations were underway to attract Yugoslavia to the allies.
Territorial acquisitions of the late 1930s
1938 and 1939 became the time of pre-war territorial redistribution. The acquisitions of Hungary were legalized by the so-called Vienna Arbitration. The territories of Southern Slovakia and the westernmost part of present-day Ukraine (Transcarpathia with the main city of Uzhgorod) were ceded to the state of Horthy. The total population of the newly annexed territories amounted to 1 millionHuman. As can be seen from these facts, Horthy did not fulfill his global task in 1938, and therefore continued to cooperate with Hitler.
