1차 세계대전 이후 헝가리의 ‘정상화’ 시도

A Trial for normalization of Hungary after World War Ⅰ - The Bethlen’s Reformation Policty

Count Istvan Bethlen was a Hungarian aristocrat and statesman and served as Prime Minister from 1921 to 1931. The scion of a noble Transylvanian family, Bethlen was elected to the Hungarian parliament as a Liberal during 1901-1918. Later, He participated many political activity and institution until 1920. As a Prime minister, He took his position in Hungarian Politics since 1921. After the attempted return of King Karoly Ⅳ to the throne of Hungary in 1921, Horthy asked Bethlen to form a strong government to eliminate the possibility of other such threats to the new country. Bethlen founded the Party of National Unity. Through a system of ballot manipulation, handing out government jobs, and changing the electoral law to enfranchise supporters, he was able to form a political machine that was unstoppable in Hungarian politics. Bethlen was also able to unite the two most powerful factors in Hungarian society, the wealthy, primarily Jewish industrialists in Budapest and the old Magyar gentry in rural Hungary, into a lasting coalition; this effectively checked the rise of Fascism in the country for at least a decade. During his decade, Bethlen lead Hungary into the League of Nations and arranged a close alliance with Fascist Italy, in order to further the nation’s revisionist hopes. However, he was defeated in his attempts to change the Treaty of Trianon, which stripped Hungary of most of its territory after the First World War. After resign of his position, Bethlen stood out as one of the few voices in Hungary actively opposed to an alliance with Nazi Germany during the W.W. Ⅱ. When Budapest fell to the advancing Soviet troops in April 1945, Bethlen was captured and taken to Moscow, where he died in prison on October 5, 1946.