Hungary and the German War Economy

Abstract

Although Hungary may have preferred to remain neutral at the start of World War II, early German battle successes, and the desire on the part of the Hungarian government to regain lost territories, forced its hand. Hungary eventually joined on the side of the Axis powers. The second Vienna awards of 30 August 1940, in particular, put the Hungarian government squarely in the middle between the Soviet Union and Germany. Protests from the Soviet Foreign Minister, Molotov, to the effect that the German-Soviet Non-Agression pact of 1939 had been violated by the Vienna awards, together with the pro-German reforms engineered in Romania, soon followed. This meant that repeated requests for use of Hungary’s rail system by German military personnel, which could no longer be denied or put off, effectively resulted in the beginning of direct German military involvement in Hungary. Count Paul Teleki’s government, though apparently attempting to steer a middle course between a fully independent foreign policy toward Germany and that of a vassal state, nevertheless must have recognized that it had compromised its situation vis-à-vis the issue of independence from Germany, especially after the Second Vienna award and Hungary’s declaration of war against the Soviet Union. Later, Hungary had been warned to cease hostilities against the Soviet Union or face a declaration of war.