Claim:
It was the revisionist goals of Hungary that obliged the country to enter the war on the side of Germany
Rebuttal:
When Hungary entered the war, there was no pressure from the Germans whatsoever, and by that time, there were no more realistic revisionist goals left either. True, holding on to the already reclaimed territories was a consideration when entering the war.
In detail:
Hungary entered the war in June 1941 by joining the German attack invasion of the Soviet Union. The German high command at this point was not counting on Hungary’s participation. German diplomacy was extremely wary of stoking any of the Hungarian expectations that could be interpreted as any kind of pressure for them to enter the war. Moreover, by June 1941 Hungary could formulate no revisionist claims that could be underpinned by human rights or ethnic considerations, since the majority of ethnic Hungarians were now living in reannexed territories – and the country now had over 3 million ethnic citizens from neighbouring ethnicities. Yet Hungarian internal politics was still using the motto ’we want everything back’, chasing a dream of restoring the ’thousand-year-old borders’, and used this to justify its overcompliance to Germany.[1] Thus revisionist goals (keeping the reclaimed territories and possibly getting back further ones) played a role in Hungary entering the war, but there was no obligation or pressure at this point.
[1] An analysis of Hungary declaring war on the Soviet Union: Dombrády Lóránd: Werth Henrik. Akiről nem beszélünk. Budapest, 2005 Argumentum.
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