Bethlen Government

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Red Terror campaign of terror by Bela Kuns communist forces in Hungary. White Terror response by Admiral Horthy by right wing extremists

Teleki Government

First priorities Appease peasants Re-establish law and end brutality of the white terror and resist anti-semitism 1/3rd of people unemployed Jews were continually punished Reduced amount of Jews entering university No longer allowed to conduct businesses in which the state had a monopoly Land frequently expropriated by the state Land reform of 1919 was repealed, but peasants were promised redistribution Bethlen, at Horthys requested negotiated a deal for land reform in light of the danger of possible peasant land seizures o Didnt do anything to help poverty o Big land owners argued that losing any more land would result in an economic loss for Hungary Resigned following a potential coup by exiled Charles IV Bethlen Regime of Consolidation: intended to place Hungary once more in the hands of the gentry and their Christian National Ideology. Unified his party with the smallholders to become the Government Party, which he controlled Considerable influence on politics Formed the Old Right Governmental control of the media and the police

Helped by the fact that apart from the Social Democrats, most of

the political parties in Hungary were very liquid and small o Left Wing Parties had been discredited due to the Soviet and Romanian occupations As prime minister announced the dethronement of the Habsburgs after Charles tried to return for a second time. Gombos turned the scales in the civil warfare Tried to control outbreaks of the white terror from right-wing extremists who received protection under Horthy Also did not condone anti-Semitism o Bethlen knew this would create a bad foreign image o Jews had also assimilated well into Hungarian culture o BUT did limit the amount of Jews in the civil service Bethlen restored order and reduced the privileged position that the armed forces had had. Bethlen Peyer Act reduced the opposition role of the Social Democracts against Horthy Bethlen very much against land reform Argued that the small holding was less economically effective than the large one

Depression ruined Bethlens ideals 1932: Agricultural production only 44% of 1929 levels o collapse of exports Strikes became more common o Massive demonstration in Budapest on 1st September 1931 Movement towards the right No active left wing alternative Universities producing students at a high rate who were actively inclined to extremism No more bureaucratic jobs to be had due to depression o Move towards nationalism Many held the Jews responsible

Gombos Regime, 1932-1936

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Gombos appointed prime minister because he was considered the most likely to pacify the masses Initially an admirer of Hitler, he had assisted in the Beer Hall Putsch in 1923 o After this became more enamoured with Mussolini, gained the nickname Gombolini Gombos had no time fore gentry: his cabinet was the first, bar Kuns, to have no counts in it. Wanted heavy land distribution, didnt care for industrialisation Wanted Hungary to be a corporate state o Introduced the 8 hour day and the 48 hours week. Land ownership came second to national priorities The old right looked at this in abhorrence o Gombos needed money from somewhere Gombos initially promised a series of radical reforms, but these were never realised even after 1935 elections when he had a stronger cabinet. His land and entails settlements made little difference Did achieve a trade agreement with Germany in 1934 though o Helped Hungary out of depression o Made non-Jewish farmers, merchants and manufacturers increasingly pro-German Gombos argued that Germany was helping Hungary break free of the Jewish Middleman Gombos radicalism was curtailed somewhat by Horthys requirements on his acceptance of the post of Prime Minister He couldnt dissolve parliament o Meant that until 1935 he had to work with a parliament

tailored to Bethlens ideals Couldnt tackle land reform until economic health was restored Jewish issue could not be legislated against However, did try to make fascist headway Demanded to be made head of Government Party which he renamed to Party of National Unity Refused to defend Government Party deputies from attacks from Independent Smallholders Party

Tried to fuse party and government o Made foispans presidents of local Government Party branches o Government control of press was strengthened o Security forces monitoring communications o Tried to replace senior officers in the army with his own nominations, vetoed initially but succeeded after a mass resignation of officers following League of Nations report into the assassination of Alexander of Yugoslavia

Old versus New Right

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New Right continued to grow following death of Gombos Arrow Cross gained up to 200,000 in 1939 o Secured of the national vote in the elections in 1939 1938 restored the secret ballot and made voting compulsory 1938 Electoral Law Rearmament programme First Jewish Law Showed that the government noted the increasing strength of the right Concessions followed pressure from the army and Germany Second Jewish law placed harsher caps for Jewish presence in Industry, government and Business Second land reform bill promised redistribution of unoccupied, Jewish and large-magnated land. o Never fully realised due to the war though However, New Right didnt make much headway Lack of unification o Arrow Cross had good following but other groups didnt cooperate with it o No clear leader after the death of Gombos o Imredy, before he resigned, flirted with the New Right but no one in his social circle followed him Lack of unity meant the New Right could never really break the hold the Old Right had on instruments of power Nominees of Bethlen continued to dominate most industries Also Horthy still had power and viewed the New Right with disdain Also lacked a clearly defined ideology Most wanted economic autarky Medieval idea of privileged estates Szalasis ideas revolved around Hungarianism, an idea that Hungary would form the third pillar to a German and Japanese dominated world. Even the association with Hitler which had returned Ruthenia and Slovakia to Hungary threatened the right if Hitler decided to exploit nationalist sentiments through his domination

Non-Belligerence

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Due to German pressure, Hungary declared themselves non-belligerent instead of neutral However, Germany could not use Hungarian railways or pass troops through, whilst Polish refugees were allowed into Hungary and Polish soldiers allowed to leave Horthy called for an internal truce, which all parties except the major extremities of the Left and Right agreed to. Prime Minister Teleki used this though to place further restrictions on the trade unions at the time. Externally, Hungary refused to ally with Germany 1941, an eternal pact of friendship with Yugoslavia

However, with the fall of France, nationalists appetites in Hungary increased Many of the smaller right-wing parties allied, engineered by Germany, and this gave 33 MPs in parliament October 1940 Szalasi was released from prison and soon had 300,000 supporters When Germany demanded to move troops through Hungary to attack Yugoslavia Teleki was overruled by the cabinet and Horthy, he committed suicide and on 11th of April Hungary joined the German offensive.