HUNGARY'S ENTRY WORLD WAR II

In June 1941, Germany unexpectedly attacked the Soviet Union. Finland, Slovakia, Croatia, Romania, and even Italy joined the attack. From among the states being in alliance with Berlin, there were only two countries kept away from the war: Bulgaria and Hungary. The Hungarian Government had an anti-communist attitude, but it did not want to enter the war. The Hungarian armed forces did not have modern weapons and the economy was not prepared for war conditions. That was why, after the German attack, Hungary only took limited measures. to protect its borders. Having pushed by German claims, however, two days later, Hungary terminated its diplomatic relationship with the Soviet Union. There was a lot of pressure on the Hungarian Government. Officially, Hitler did not request Hungary to participate, so that in return he should not support Hungary's territorial demands towards Romania. German leading circles, however, made the Hungarian Government know that they expect Hungary's voluntary joining. The German military leaders inspired the Hungarian general staff to urge that Hungary enter the war. The German intelligence service mobilised its Hungarian contacts to influence the Government's viewpoint. The local extreme right wing started a wide spread agitation to push the Government to join. The minister of defence and the Chief of the General Staff tried to convince the head of state, Regent Miklos Horthy in person that Hungary also needed to participate in this war. On 26th June, 3 unidentified airplanes performed a bomb attack against Kassa. 32 people died and 100 were injured. The military leaders announced without any investigation that Soviet airplanes had been bombing. The Regent ordered an air response. The Prime Minister considered that there was no more chance to avoid participation in the war that is why the next day he announced that Hungary was at war with the Soviet Union. Until now, no document has been found that would prove unambiguously who had performed the attack. Quite probably, Soviet airplanes bombed, but not with provoking intent, just by accident. During the war, there were several such attacks against territories near the borders of various countries. However, due to the great political pressure, the Hungarian Government did not try to clarify the case through diplomatic channels: it immediately chose the most serious step and announced the state of war.