165
edits
Changes
Jump to navigation
Jump to search
Line 85:
Line 85: + + + +
→Interwar era
[[Image:Kingdom of Hungary counties.svg|thumb|250px|Map of the counties in the Lands of the Crown of St. Stephen (the Kingdom of Hungary proper and Croatia-Slavonia) around 1880.]]
[[Image:Kingdom of Hungary counties.svg|thumb|250px|Map of the counties in the Lands of the Crown of St. Stephen (the Kingdom of Hungary proper and Croatia-Slavonia) around 1880.]]
On [[June 4]], [[1920]], the [[Treaty of Trianon]] was signed, establishing Hungary's new borders. Compared with the pre-war Kingdom, post-Trianon Hungary had 71% less territory and 66% less population. About one-third of the Magyar population became minorities in neighbouring countries. Hungary also lost its only [[Port|sea port]] at Fiume (today [[Rijeka]]). Therefore, [[Politics of Hungary|Hungarian politics]] and culture of the [[interwar period]] was dominated by [[irredentism]] ( the restoration of historical "[[Greater Hungary (political concept)|Greater Hungary]]").
On [[June 4]], [[1920]], the [[Treaty of Trianon]] was signed, establishing Hungary's new borders. Compared with the pre-war Kingdom, post-Trianon Hungary had 71% less territory and 66% less population. About one-third of the Magyar population became minorities in neighbouring countries. Hungary also lost its only [[Port|sea port]] at Fiume (today [[Rijeka]]). Therefore, [[Politics of Hungary|Hungarian politics]] and culture of the [[interwar period]] was dominated by [[irredentism]] ( the restoration of historical "[[Greater Hungary (political concept)|Greater Hungary]]").
===World War II===
{{main|Hungary during the Second World War}}
The country became allied with [[Nazi Germany]] in the [[1930s]]. The Hungarians allied themselves with the Germans in the hope that the territorial loss by the [[Treaty of Trianon]] could be reversed. Initially the alliance with Germany paid off. Some lost territories were returned to Hungary in the two [[Vienna Awards]]. In [[1941]], Hungary belatedly assisted the Germans with the [[invasion of Yugoslavia]]. Hungary then occupied the [[Backa]]. On [[22 June]] [[1941]], the Germans invaded the Soviet Union ([[Operation Barbarossa]]). The Hungarians soon followed the Germans and entered [[World War II]] as a member of the [[Axis]]. In late [[1941]], the Hungarian troops on the Eastern Front experienced success at the [[Battle of Uman]]. By [[1943]], after the [[Hungarian Second Army]] suffered extremely heavy losses at the [[Battle of Stalingrad]], the Hungarian government sought to negotiate a surrender with the Allies. On [[19 March]] [[1944]], as a result of this duplicity, German troops quietly occupied Hungary in what was known as [[Operation Margarethe]]. But, by now it was clear that the Hungarians were Germany's "unwilling satellite". On [[15 October]] [[1944]], the pro-West Horthy again ran afoul of the Germans. This time the Germans launched [[Operation Panzerfaust]] and Horthy was replaced by a puppet government under the pro-German Prime Minister [[Ferenc Szálasi]]. Szálasi and his pro-Nazi [[Arrow Cross Party]] remained loyal to the Germans until the end of the war. In late [[1944]], Hungarian troops on the Eastern Front again experienced success at the [[Battle of Debrecen]]. But this was followed immediately by the Soviet invasion of Hungary and the [[Battle of Budapest]]. On [[28 December]] [[1944]], a "provisional government" was formed in Hungary under acting Prime Minister [[Béla Miklós]]. While the Miklós government immediately ousted Prime Minister [[Ferenc Szálasi]]'s government, the Germans and pro-German Hungarians loyal to Szálasi fought on in Hungary. On [[20 January]] [[1945]], representatives of the Hungarian "provisional government" went to Moscow and agreed to complete Hungarian capitulation. Again, the Germans and pro-German Hungarians loyal to Szálasi fought on in Hungary. On [[13 February]] [[1945]], the Hungarian capital city surrendered unconditionally. On [[8 May]] [[1945]], [[World War II]] in Europe officially ended.