Miklós Horthy

Miklós Horthy de Nagybánya (18 June 1868 – 9 February 1957) was a Hungarian admiral and statesman who was the regent of the Kingdom of Hungary during the interwar period and most of World War II, from 1 March 1920 to 15 October 1944.

Horthy began his career as a sub-lieutenant in the Austro-Hungarian Navy in 1896 and attained the rank of rear admiral by 1918. He participated in the Battle of the Strait of Otranto and ascended to the position of commander-in-chief of the Navy in the final year of World War I. Following mutinies, Emperor-King Charles I and IV appointed him a vice admiral and commander of the Fleet, dismissing the previous admiral. During the revolutions and interventions in Hungary from Czechoslovakia, Romania and Yugoslavia, Horthy returned to Budapest with the National Army. Subsequently, the Diet of Hungary offered him the position of Regent of Hungary, while the House of Habsburg and Hungarian monarchy was formally dethroned.

Throughout the interwar period, Horthy led an administration characterized by national conservatism and antisemitism. Under his leadership, Hungary banned the Hungarian Communist Party and the far-right Arrow Cross Party led by Ferenc Szálasi, and pursued a revanchist foreign policy in response to the 1920 Treaty of Trianon. The former King of Hungary, Charles IV, attempted to return to Hungary twice before the Hungarian government yielded to Allied threats of renewed hostilities in 1921. Subsequently, Charles was escorted out of Hungary and into exile.

Ideologically a national conservative, Horthy has sometimes been labelled as a fascist. In the late 1930s, Horthy's foreign policy led him into an alliance with Nazi Germany against the Soviet Union. With the support of Adolf Hitler, Hungary succeeded in reoccupying certain areas ceded to neighbouring countries by the Treaty of Trianon. Under Horthy's leadership, Hungary provided support to Polish refugees when Germany attacked their country in 1939 and participated in the Axis powers' invasion of the Soviet Union in June 1941. Some historians view Horthy as unenthusiastic about contributing to the German war effort and the Holocaust in Hungary (out of fear that it may sabotage peace deals with Allied forces); in addition, several attempts were made to strike a secret deal with the Allies of World War II after it had become obvious that the Axis would lose the war, therefore eventually leading the Germans to invade and take control of the country in March 1944 (Operation Margarethe). However, prior to the Nazi occupation of Hungary, 63,000 Jews were murdered. In late 1944, 437,000 Jews were deported to Auschwitz II-Birkenau, where the majority (80%) were exterminated on arrival in gas chambers. Serbian historian Zvonimir Golubović has claimed that not only was Horthy aware of these genocidal massacres, but had approved of them, such as those in the Novi Sad raid.

In October 1944, Horthy announced that Hungary had declared an armistice with the Soviets and had withdrawn from the Axis. He was forced to resign, placed under arrest by the Germans and taken to Bavaria, while the Arrow Cross Party ruled Hungary. At the end of the war, he came under the custody of American troops. After providing evidence for the Ministries Trial of war crimes in 1948, Horthy settled and lived out his remaining years in exile in Portugal. His memoirs, Ein Leben für Ungarn (A Life for Hungary), was first published in 1953. He has a reputation as a controversial historical figure in contemporary Hungary.