General Information / History

Interwar era

Following World War I, Romania occupied Transylvania and Eastern Hungary, and Czechoslovakia occupied Upper Hungary. A joint Serb and French army occupied Southern Hungary. The post-War Entente backed the subsequent annexations of these territories.

In March 1919 the communists took power, and in April, Béla Kun proclaimed the Hungarian Soviet Republic. This government, like its predecessor, proved to be short-lived, despite some initial military successes against the Czechoslovak army.

On 13 June 1919, the Versailles Peace Conference ordered Hungary to evacuate the northern territories and Romania to leave Tiszántúl. Hungary fulfilled this request on 30 June, but the Romanian army refused to leave Tiszántúl.

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, while about one-third of the Magyar population became minorities in neighbouring countries. Hungary also lost its only sea port at Fiume (today Rijeka). 

World War II

The country became allied with Nazi Germany in the 1930s in the hope of reversing the losses of territory that had followed World War I. This alliance did lead to the return of some territories in the two Vienna Awards. Hungary then assisted the Germans with their occupation of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, occupied the Backa, and stepped into World War II in 1941 by fighting against the Soviet Union. After suffering heavy losses in the Soviet Union, the Hungarian government sought to negotiate a surrender with Allied leaders. As a result, German troops moved to occupy the country on 19 March 1944 (Operation Margarethe), and the pro-West Horthy was replaced on October 15 by a puppet government run by the Nazis (Operation Panzerfaust). This government, led by Ferenc Szálasi and his Arrow Cross Party, kept the country under Nazi control until the end of the war.

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