History, World War II

At the outbreak of World War II in 1939 the Hungarian government proclaimed official neutrality, but its actions indicated sympathy with the objectives of the Axis Powers. Nationalist demands for the return of Transylvania were partially satisfied in 1940, when Italy and Germany awarded Hungary the northern portion of the Romanian province. In April 1941 the Hungarian regime, taking advantage of the German attack on Yugoslavia, ordered its troops into the part of Croatia that had been awarded to Yugoslavia by the Treaty of Trianon. On June 27, 1941, Hungary declared war on the USSR and on December 13, on the United States. The Hungarian army suffered heavy losses on the Russian front, and in the early fall of 1943 the government began secret negotiations with the Allied powers. In March 1944 German troops occupied the country and with Horthy’s consent, installed a puppet regime. This regime immediately embarked on a campaign of terror against all dissidents; several hundred thousand Jews were shipped to German concentration camps where most of them were put to death. In early October 1944 Soviet armies invaded Hungary. Horthy was deposed by the Germans a few days later.

On January 20, 1945, representatives of a Soviet-sponsored provisional government signed an armistice with the Allied nations, and on February 13 Budapest fell to Soviet troops. The provisional government instituted large-scale economic reforms, including distributing land among the country’s peasants. Elections to the National Assembly were held in November 1945, and were won by the Independent Smallholders’ Party, led by Zoltan Tildy. Hungary was declared a republic, and Tildy was elected president. A coalition cabinet was formed, with Ferenc Nagy, a prominent member of the Smallholders’ Party, as premier and Matyas Rakosi, the general secretary of the Hungarian Communist Party, as vice-premier.