Kingdom of Hungary (1920–1946)
On the 1st of March 1920, Miklós Horthy took the oath as Regent of Hungary. He was the last commanding admiral of the Austro-Hungarian Navy. The country had just emerged from a period known as the White Terror. Anti-communist forces violently purged communists and Jews during this time. Horthy installed an authoritarian political system relying on traditional economic elites. There was no king in Hungary after World War I. Attempts by King Charles IV to return were prevented by Horthy. Charles tried to march on Budapest with rebel troops in October 1921. His attempts failed because much of the Royal Hungarian Army remained loyal to Horthy. Charles was arrested and exiled to Madeira. On the 6th of November 1921, the Diet passed a law nullifying the Pragmatic Sanction of 1713. This dethroned Charles IV and abolished the House of Habsburg's rights to the throne. Hungary became a kingdom without royalty. Civil unrest made selecting a new king impossible. Horthy remained in his powerful president-like status until he was overthrown in 1944.
In 1920, the numerus clausus law formally placed limits on minority students at university. It legalized corporal punishment for adults in criminal cases. Although the law seemingly applied equally to all minorities, the ethnicity quota system was never fully introduced. The law acted largely to conceal anti-Jewish action from foreign observers. Limitations were relaxed in 1928. Racial criteria in admitting new students were removed and replaced by social criteria. Five categories were set up: civil servants, war veterans and army officers, small landowners and artisans, industrialists, and merchant classes. A very small proportion of the population continued to control much of the country's wealth. Jews were continually pressured to assimilate into Hungarian mainstream culture. The desperate situation forced Horthy to accept far-right politician Gyula Gömbös as prime minister. Gömbös agreed to abandon his extreme antisemitism and allow some Jews into the government. In power, Gömbös moved Hungary towards a one-party government like those of Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany. Pressure by Nazi Germany for extreme antisemitism forced Gömbös out. Hungary pursued antisemitism under its Jewish Laws. Initially, the government passed laws restricting Jews to 20 percent in a number of professions.
Upon the kingdom's establishment soon after World War I, the country suffered from economic decline. Budget deficits and high inflation resulted from the loss of economically important territories under the Treaty of Trianon. Land losses caused Hungary to lose agricultural and industrial areas. It became dependent on exporting products from what agricultural land it had left to maintain its economy. Prime Minister István Bethlen dealt with the crisis by seeking large foreign loans. This allowed the country to achieve monetary stabilization in the early 1920s. He introduced a new currency in 1927 called the pengő. Industrial and farm production rose rapidly during most of the 1920s. Following the start of the Great Depression in 1929, prosperity collapsed. The failure of the Österreichische Creditanstalt bank in Vienna contributed to this collapse. From the mid-1930s to the 1940s, relations improved with Germany. Hungary's economy benefited from trade with that nation. The Hungarian economy became dependent on that of Germany.
The Italian Fascist dictator Benito Mussolini sought closer ties with Hungary. A treaty of friendship was signed between Hungary and Italy on the 5th of April 1927. Gyula Gömbös was an open admirer of fascist leaders. He attempted to forge a closer trilateral unity between Germany, Italy and Hungary. Gömbös acted as an intermediary between Germany and Italy. Their two fascist regimes nearly came to conflict in 1934 over Austrian independence. Gömbös eventually persuaded Mussolini to accept Hitler's annexation of Austria in the late 1930s. Just prior to World War II, Hungary benefited from close ties with Germany and Italy. The Munich Agreement obliged Czechoslovakia and Hungary to settle territorial disputes by negotiation. The First Vienna Award reassigned southern parts of Czechoslovakia to Hungary. Shortly after, Hungary occupied and annexed the remainder of Carpatho-Ukraine. Northern Transylvania was assigned to Hungary following the Second Vienna Award. The Kingdom of Hungary joined the Axis powers shortly afterward.
On the 27th of June 1941, László Bárdossy declared war on the Soviet Union. Fearing a potential turn of support to Romanians, Hungarian forces supported the German war effort during Operation Barbarossa. Almost the entire Second Army Group of the Royal Hungarian Army was lost during the Battle of Stalingrad. By early 1944, Soviet forces advanced fast from the east. Hungary attempted to contact British and American officials to secretly escape the war. On the 19th of March 1944, Germans invaded Hungary in Operation Margarethe. They placed Horthy under house arrest and replaced Prime Minister Miklós Kállay. Döme Sztójay became the new prime minister. He governed with aid from Nazi military governor Edmund Veesenmayer. In August 1944, Horthy removed Sztójay and installed Géza Lakatos. By October, Hungarians tried again to quit the war. Germans launched Operation Panzerfaust. They replaced Horthy with Arrow Cross leader Ferenc Szálasi. Szálasi did not replace Horthy as regent but was appointed Leader of the Nation. Antisemitic persecution increased during Szálasi's regime. His militias were responsible for murdering 10,000 to 15,000 Hungarian Jews.
From May to June 1944, Hungarian authorities rapidly rounded up hundreds of thousands of Hungarian Jews. They transported them to Nazi concentration camps where most died. After the fall of the Szálasi regime, a Soviet-backed government under Béla Miklós nominally controlled the country. A High National Council was appointed in January to assume the regency. It included members of the Hungarian Communist Party like Ernő Gerő. Later Mátyás Rákosi and László Rajk joined the council. As the months went by, Horthy became increasingly appalled by Sztójay's brutal methods. He was alarmed by the rapidly collapsing Eastern Front. In August 1944, he deposed the pro-German prime minister. He installed a more balanced government led by Géza Lakatos. This effort to engage with Allies failed when German forces overthrew Horthy in October. They installed a puppet regime led by Ferenc Szálasi of the Arrow Cross Party. The Arrow Cross Party never abolished the monarchy as a form of government. Hungarian newspapers continued to refer to the country as the Kingdom of Hungary.
On the 21st of December 1944, a Hungarian Interim Assembly met in Debrecen. It had approval from the Soviet Union. This assembly elected an interim counter-government headed by Béla Miklós. The new government declared war on Germany and concluded an armistice with Allied powers. People's Tribunals were established to prosecute accused war criminals in January 1945. Land reform was implemented in March. The government acted under supervision of the Soviet-dominated Allied Control Commission. Marshal Kliment Voroshilov headed this commission. Budapest capitulated in February 1945. A High National Council was appointed as the country's collective head of state until the monarchy was formally abolished. The regency ended on the 1st of February 1946. It was replaced by the Second Hungarian Republic. That republic was quickly followed by creation of the Hungarian People's Republic in 1949.
Common questions
When did Miklós Horthy take the oath as Regent of Hungary?
Miklós Horthy took the oath as Regent of Hungary on the 1st of March 1920. He was the last commanding admiral of the Austro-Hungarian Navy and installed an authoritarian political system relying on traditional economic elites.
Why was King Charles IV exiled from Hungary in 1921?
King Charles IV was arrested and exiled to Madeira because his attempts to return to power failed when much of the Royal Hungarian Army remained loyal to Horthy. The Diet passed a law nullifying the Pragmatic Sanction of 1713 on the 6th of November 1921, which dethroned him and abolished the House of Habsburg's rights to the throne.
What were the effects of the numerus clausus law on minority students in 1920?
The numerus clausus law formally placed limits on minority students at university and acted largely to conceal anti-Jewish action from foreign observers. Limitations were relaxed in 1928 when racial criteria were removed and replaced by social criteria favoring civil servants, war veterans, small landowners, industrialists, and merchant classes.
How did the Treaty of Trianon impact the economy of the Kingdom of Hungary after World War I?
Land losses under the Treaty of Trianon caused Hungary to lose agricultural and industrial areas, resulting in budget deficits and high inflation. The country became dependent on exporting products from its remaining agricultural land until Prime Minister István Bethlen achieved monetary stabilization through large foreign loans and introduced the pengő currency in 1927.
When did the regency of the Kingdom of Hungary officially end in 1946?
The regency ended on the 1st of February 1946 when it was replaced by the Second Hungarian Republic. A High National Council had been appointed as the collective head of state before this date following the fall of the Szálasi regime and the German occupation of Budapest.