Half of Hungary admires while the other half hates Governor Horthy – why?

There are only a few people in Hungarian history who provoke such antagonistic feelings as Governor Miklós Horthy, who led Hungary between 1919 and 1944. Some say that he was a hero who saved Hungary while others state that he was a dictator who created an authoritarian regime and drove the country into a catastrophic situation.

And why do I write all this today? Because today is the 100th anniversary that Admiral Miklós Horthy led his troops into Budapest and took control over the remains of Hungary. After WWI, in Hungary, a democratic regime came into power led by Mihály Károlyi, but they could not deal with the many problems caused by the lost war, the economic crisis, the Romanian, Serbian, and Czech attack, and those groups who openly declared to destroy democracy and create the dictatorship of the proletariat. Therefore, after the successful coup d’etat of March 21st, the Communists took control, but their horrific rule was crushed by the

Romanian troops that even captured Budapest.

At this point in Hungarian history, even the existence of the country was in danger, but in the end, the Great Powers decided not to eradicate Hungary from the map of Europe.

The last admiral of the Austro-Hungarian fleet, Miklós Horthy, was at this time in Siófok. The British found the man who can stabilise the situation in Hungary in him since he was the only one who had more or less organised armed forces. As a result, he could march into Budapest with his National Army on November 16th, 1919.

Some units of the National Army began to kill mostly Communists, Social Democrats, and Jews already before occupying Budapest. But after November 16th, their activities got stronger.

Many say that Horthy was responsible for those killings

while others state that the National Army was not so well-organised, so different units could act freely, and the moment Horthy got information about the massacres, he stopped them.

Anyway, those who are in favour of the former governor say that the Peace Treaty of Trianon in 1920 and the economic crisis of the first half of the 1920s would have ruined Hungary without Horthy. There is no doubt that Horthy re-established order, but at the same time, he did not fulfil essential reforms in agriculture (land distribution), social affairs, or economy, according to the other side. For sure, the political-economic-social system he created in 1920 remained mostly unchanged until 1944, which was bad and unjust for the millions of poor.