The Hungarian Armed Forces between 1914–1945

Abstract

The armed forces of the Hungarian state underwent several changes between 1914 and 1945. During World War I, Hungarian soldiers fought on all fronts, even in Palestine. In the autumn of 1918, the Hungarian state and its weak Army became independent, but could not withstand external political and military pressure. The armed forces of the Hungarian Soviet Republic were forced to fight for national defense rather than international revolutionary expansion. Between 1919 and 1944, the Hungarian Army became national. Between 1920 and 1938, the Trianon Peace Treaty restricted the Hungarian military development. The Hungarian Royal Army was trained and equipped to recapture Hungarian territories attached to neighboring countries. This Hungarian military potential in the campaign against the Soviet Union between 1941 and 1944 proved to be limited. In 1944-1945, Hungarian troops fought excellently on several occasions in the battles in Hungary, but from October 1944, the psychological destruction of the Army began.