Kingdom of Hungary (1920-1946)

Origins

After the fall of the Hungarian Soviet Republic, a national assembly restored the monarchy in 1920 but, with the Habsburgs barred, elected Admiral Miklós Horthy regent on 1 March. The Treaty of Trianon in June 1920 took two-thirds of the former Kingdom of Hungary (1867-1918). Former king Charles IV twice tried to return in 1921 and failed.

Rule and society

Prime Minister István Bethlen stabilised the conservative regime in the 1920s, with restricted voting and dominance of landowners. Revision of Trianon was the central aim, and through the Vienna Awards of 1938 and 1940 Hungary regained southern Slovakia and northern Transylvania with German and Italian support. Antisemitic laws began with the numerus clausus of 1920 and tightened from 1938.

Decline and legacy

Hungary joined the war against the Soviet Union in 1941. Germany occupied it in March 1944, and around 437,000 Jews were deported, most to Auschwitz. Horthy's attempt to leave the war in October 1944 led to Ferenc Szálasi's Government of National Unity. The monarchy was abolished in February 1946.