The Road of the Hungarian Armed Forces from Padua to Trianon 1919-1920

Abstract

The author introduces the Hungarian Armed Forces in the first period after the Great War. It was a very chaotic and – at the same time – very important chapter in the history of the new Hungary, because the country had to rebuild its whole existence as a new country, surrounded by hostile neighbours. The paper focuses on a narrow segment of the era: the reorganization of the Hungarian Army in the period between the Italian armistice and the ratification of the Trianon Peace Treaty. The paper highlights the problems of military and political leaders who had to repeatedly meet contradicting expectations of the Allied and Associated Powers, while lacking resources. The main objective of the Hungarian military leadership was to preserve the Army and strengthen combat readiness, while 13 governments were in office – some of them in the same time, in the different parts of Hungary. This chaotic chapter – in the field of international relations – was closed by the Trianon Peace Treaty. It was also the cradle of efforts to revise the peace treaty