Claim:
Horthy did everything he could to extricate Hungary from the war
Rebuttal:
The claim is just partially true, it was to some degree he who led Hungary into the war in the first place, and then while trying to get out of it, he made a lot of mistakes
In detail:
It significantly diminished Horthy’s merits that Hungary got engaged in war against the Soviet Union as a result of his exclusive decision. Since he was close to the USA and Great Britain, he didn’t agree with declaring war with these powers and after the US entered the war, Horthy realised Germany is going to lose and tried to extricate Hungary from the conflict. Although the task he had undertaken was near-impossible (as the western allies considered Hungary to belong to the Soviet sphere of influence and to play only a secondary role after Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia), he committed serious political mistakes. He is responsible for inaugurating the extremist Sztójay-government and tolerating its atrocious measures. He is also responsible for having organised the attempted exit of Hungary from the war from September 1944 belatedly and without conviction and ardour, and altogether poorly. What moderates his responsibility is that he had to rely on unreliable military leaders (who, however, were in those positions as a result of his earlier bad decisions). Also, he was indeed very old at the time, 77 years of age in 1944, and his family had suffered a couple of terrible blows (they lost their daughter and older son), both of which contributed to his uncertainty and lack of resolve.[1]
[1] There are numerous biographies published about Miklós Horthy. That by Gábor Bencsik is highly apologetic, it portrays him so favourably as to verge on the falsification of history. In contrast, a reliable summary would be Turbucz Dávid: Horthy Miklós
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