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Miklós Horthy

Miklós Horthy de Nagybánya (Hungarian: Vitéz[1] Nagybányai Horthy Miklós; Hungarian pronunciation: [ˈviteːz ˈnɒɟbaːɲɒi ˈhorti ˈmikloːʃ]; English: Nicholas Horthy;[2] German: Nikolaus Horthy von Nagybánya; 18 June 1868 – 9 February 1957) was a Hungarian admiral and statesman who served as 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" redirects here. For the surname, see Horthy (surname).

Miklós Horthy
Prince of Otranto & Szeged

Vacant

Károly Huszár
(as acting head of state)

Ferenc Szálasi
(as Leader of the Nation)

Miklós Horthy de Nagybánya

(1868-06-18)18 June 1868
Kenderes, Hungary, Austria-Hungary

9 February 1957(1957-02-09) (aged 88)
Estoril, Lisbon, Portugal

(m. 1901)

4, including István and Miklós

István Horthy
Paula Halassy

1896–1918

Flottenkommandant

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 appointed him as 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 parliament invited him to become the regent of the kingdom.


Throughout the interwar period, Horthy led an administration characterized by national conservatism and antisemitism.[3][4] Under his leadership, Hungary banned the Hungarian Communist Party and the Arrow Cross Party, and pursued an irredentist foreign policy in response to the 1920 Treaty of Trianon. Emperor Charles I of Austria-Hungary, the former king, 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.[5][6][7] 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 in 1939 and participated in the Axis 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 to several attempts 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 in Operation Margarethe. However, prior to the Nazi occupation of Hungary, 63,000 Jews were killed. In late 1944, 437,000 Jews were deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau, where the majority were gassed on arrival.[8] 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.[9]


In October 1944, Horthy announced that Hungary had declared an armistice with the Allies and had withdrawn from the Axis. He was forced to resign, placed under arrest by the Germans and taken to Bavaria. At the end of the war, he came under the custody of American troops.[10] 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 memoir, Ein Leben für Ungarn (A Life for Hungary),[11] was first published in 1953. He has a reputation as a controversial historical figure in contemporary Hungary.[12][13][14][15]

Miklós Horthy's parents: Paula Halassy and István Horthy

Miklós Horthy's parents: Paula Halassy and István Horthy

Magdolna Purgly, Horthy's wife, and Horthy as an ensign in the Navy

Magdolna Purgly, Horthy's wife, and Horthy as an ensign in the Navy

Magdolna Purgly, wife of Admiral Miklós Horthy

Magdolna Purgly, wife of Admiral Miklós Horthy

Admiral Miklós Horthy during World War I

Admiral Miklós Horthy during World War I

Film and television portrayals[edit]

In the 1985 NBC TV film Wallenberg: A Hero's Story, the role of Horthy was taken by Hungarian-born actor Guy Deghy, who appeared bearded although Horthy (as photographs bore out) appeared consistently clean-shaven throughout his life.


In the 2011 Spanish TV film series, El ángel de Budapest (The angel of Budapest), also set during Wallenberg's time in Hungary in 1944, he is portrayed by actor László Agárdi. In the 2014 American action drama film Walking with the Enemy, Horthy is portrayed by Ben Kingsley. The movie depicts a story of a young man during the Arrow Cross Party takeover in Hungary.

[93]

Military Order of Maria Theresa Grand Cross

Military Order of Maria Theresa Knight's Cross

Royal Hungarian Order of Saint Stephen Grand Cross

Cross of Merit of the Kingdom of Hungary Grand Cross

Order of Merit of the Kingdom of Hungary Grand Cross

Order of Merit of the Kingdom of Hungary imposed with the Holy Crown of Hungary Grand Cross

Hungarian Red Cross Decoration Star

Military Merit Cross 2nd Class with war decoration

Order of Leopold Knight's Cross with war decoration

Order of the Iron Crown 3rd Class with war decoration

Military Merit Cross 1st Class with war decoration and swords

Bronze Military Merit Medal "Signum Laudis" with war ribbon and swords

Bronze Military Merit Medal "Signum Laudis" on red civil ribbon

Order of the Iron Crown 3rd Class with war decoration and swords

Hungarian Bronze Military Merit Medal "Signum Laudis"

Hungarian Bronze Military Merit Medal "Signum Laudis" on war ribbon

Franz Joseph Commemorative Badge 1st Class

Karl Troop Cross

Wound Medal

Hungarian War Memorial Medal with Swords

Military Service Cross 1st Class for 50 years of continuous service

Military Service Cross 2nd Class for 30 years of continuous service

Military Service Cross 3rd Class for 25 years of continuous service

1898 Jubilee Medal (Signum Memoriae)

1908 Jubilee Cross

Mobilization Cross 1912/13

Order of Vitéz

El ángel de Budapest

European interwar dictatorships

History of Hungary

Mediterranean naval engagements during World War I

Bodó, Béla, Paramilitary Violence in Hungary After the First World War. East European Quarterly, No. 2, Vol. 38, 22 June 2004

Deák, István, Europe on Trial: The Story of Collaboration, Resistance, and Retribution During World War II (2015), 9, 88—102.

Deák, István. "Admiral and Regent Miklós Horthy: Some Thoughts on a Controversial Statesman" Hungarian Quarterly (Fall 1996) 37#143 pp 78–89.

Dreisziger, N. F. "Introduction. Miklos Horthy and the Second World War: Some Historiographical Perspectives." Hungarian Studies Review 23.1 (1996): 5–16.

Dreisziger, Nandor F. "Bridges to the West: The Horthy Regime's ‘Reinsurance Policies’ in 1941." War & Society 7.1 (1989): 1–23.

Fenyo, Mario D. Hitler, Horthy, and Hungary: German-Hungarian Relations, 1941–1944 (Yale UP, 1972).

Kállay, Nicholas. Hungarian Premier: A Personal Account of a Nation's Struggle in the Second World War (1954)

online review

Regent of Hungary: The Authorized Life of Admiral Nicholas Horthy London, Rich and Cowan, 1938

Rutter, Owen

Sakmyster, Thomas. Hungary's Admiral on Horseback. (East European Monographs, Boulder, CO 1994).  0-88033-293-X

ISBN

Sakmyster, Thomas. "From Habsburg Admiral to Hungarian Regent: The Political Metamorphosis of Miklós Horthy, 1918–1921." East European Quarterly 17.2 (1983): 129–148.

Trianon Hungary. U.S. Library of Congress Country Study

Horthy, Miklós: The Annotated Memoirs (pdf)

e-book version on historicaltextarchive.com

John Flournoy Montgomery, The Unwilling Satellite

Archived 6 March 2006 at the Wayback Machine

Miklós Horthy Association

Biography of Admiral Miklós Horthy

Montgomery,John,Flournoy: Hungary-The unwilling satellite