Miklós Horthy

Regent of Hungary from 1920 to 1944 (1868-1957)

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Lived 1868–1957, aged 89

Wikipedia
64 languages
Cross-language footprint
Era
1868–1957
Aged 89
Awards
40
recognised works

Summary

Updated 2026-06-08

Admiral who became regent of a kingdom with no king, Horthy ruled Hungary for a quarter-century through alliance with Nazi Germany, territorial revision, and deportations that sent nearly half a million Jews to Auschwitz before the Germans removed him for trying to switch sides.

Biography

About

Miklós Horthy rose from sub-lieutenant to rear admiral in the Austro-Hungarian Navy, commanding the fleet after mutinies in the final year of World War I. When revolutions swept Hungary, he returned to Budapest with the National Army, and in 1920 the Diet made him regent of a formally dethroned monarchy. His interwar government banned both communists and the Arrow Cross, pursued recovery of territories lost in the Treaty of Trianon, and twice turned back the former king Charles IV under Allied pressure. By the late 1930s he had aligned with Hitler, reoccupying ceded lands and joining the invas…

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