Atitudinea Marilor Puteri europene faţă de crizele internaţionale majore din anii 1938-1939, reflectată în paginile cotidianului bănăţean Vestul. Studiu de caz: Anschluss-ul

Author(s): Eusebiu Narai / Language(s): Romanian Issue: 2/2020

A press body of the National Peasant Party, the West newspaper, founded by Sever Bocu, the leader of the Banat organization, in the town of Bega, in 1930, will surprise in his pages, with great accuracy, the place of the Great Powers against the international crises in the years 1938-1939: the Anschluss, the annexation of Austria to National Socialist Germany, prepared in February 1938, following talks between von Papen (German Chancellor Deputy) and Schuschnigg (Austrian Chancellor), and the audience of the Hitler, and materialized on March 12, 1938; the Sudeten crisis, resolved through the ,,mediation” of Germany and Italy, assisted by France and the United Kingdom, which, through the conciliatory promotion, ,,gave” this province from the south of the Czechoslovak state, founded in 1918, with a majority population German, Third Reich, through the Munich Agreement (September 29, 1938); the Polish ultimatum addressed to the Czechoslovak government to surrender part of the Cieszyn mining region (September 30, 1938) settled in favor of Warsaw on 3 October 1938; the Hungarian-Czechoslovak negotiations started in Komarno (October 12, 1938), resolved by the Vienna agreement concluded at the end of October 1938), with only Germany and Italy being arbitrators, by the surrender of Slovakia and Ruthenia; the actual liquidation of the Czechoslovak state through the triumphal entrance of the Wehrmacht in Prague (March 15, 1939); the annexation of Albania by Italy, under the guise of a personal union, under the scepter of King Victor Emmanuel III (April 14, 1939); the attack on Poland by Germany (September 1, 1939), which marks the beginning of the Second World War.

Az olasz külpolitika és Magyarország. A liberálisból a fasiszta rendszerbe történő átmenet idején

Author(s): Alessandro Vagnini / Language(s): Hungarian Issue: 4/2019

Relations between Italy and Hungary have been constant and complex over time and of particular importance in the interwar period. The Treaty of Trianon represented an epoch-making moment for Hungarian history, a trauma with long and dangerous consequences, which characterized the country’s choices in the following two decades. An analysis of Italian foreign policy in the transition period from Liberalism to Fascism can show whether and how elements of continuity were present in the definition of Italian foreign policy towards Hungary. This paper, through the study of Italian diplomatic documents, intends to clarify whether Mussolini’s arrival in power and the establishment of the Fascist regime have represented a change in the Italian strategic vision with respect to Hungary; whether new elements have been introduced in the management of foreign policy and possibly through which dynamics it is possible to speak of a Fascistization of foreign policy during the first years of the regime. An important element in the analysis of this period is undoubtedly the value that Rome attached to Hungary within the framework of its policy in the Danube–Balkan region. The analysis of these elements can offer an interesting point of view on the dynamics of relations in the Danube–Balkan area in the interwar period.

A fasizmus katonapolitikája és a magyarországi katonai kölcsönök

Author(s): Balázs Juhász / Language(s): Hungarian Issue: 4/2019

Italy, trying to insert itself in the power vacuum created in Central Europe after the end of the Great War, also used the financial means to expand. The loans, and especially the military ones, had a special importance also because without them the rearmament of the Hungarian Army would not have been possible. Although military loans were the organic result of Italian economic policy aimed at encouraging the export of war materials, after having spoken for the first time in April 1928, the first money arrived in Hungary only at the end of 1932. Simply because it still needed to find the formula accepted by both parties in order to legally resolve the illegal movement of money. The study shows how a series of military loans arrived in the 1930s, how and why they were granted, and who was to take advantage of them.

A fasizmus változatai Spanyolországban

Author(s): András Lénárt T. / Language(s): Hungarian Issue: 4/2019

In the 1920s and 30s, while fascism reached its heyday in Italy, this ideology arrived in Spain as well through journalists and politicians who admired Benito Mussolini. During the Spanish Civil War and the early years of General Francisco Franco’s dictatorship, members of the Falange political party gained protagonism in all major positions of the administration. Nevertheless, it was not evident whether they were real fascists, or they just admired Mussolini’s fascism and tried to follow a couple of its principles. The aim of my paper is to highlight the major characteristic features of the fascism’s Spanish versions, arguing that in this case we may face a special Spanish interpretation instead of the direct adaptation of the Italian fascist ideology.

A fasizmus ausztriai exportjának kezdetei. Bethlen és a Heimwehrek kapcsolati hálózata, 1927–1929

Author(s): Ibolya Murber / Language(s): Hungarian Issue: 4/2019

The Hungarian foreign policy, which was connected to István Bethlen in the late 1920s, strived to expand its geopolitical influence and space of manoeuvre. Bethlen tried to put the Austrian radical Heimwehr movement to the service of Hungarian peace revision efforts. To achieve his goals, he played a mediator role between Mussolini and the leaders of the heterogeneous Heimwehr movement, thus prepared the penetration of fascism into Austria, which at the same time reduced the space of manoeuvre in the Hungarian foreign policy. The focus of this study is on the Hungarian help for the Austrian paramilitary movement between 1927 and 1929. The purpose of this support was to install an Austrian right-wing leadership (even with the help of a violent government coup) that would pursue a more tolerant policy towards Hungary.

Rákosi Mátyás, az olasz baloldali pártok és a fasiszta hatalomátvétel

Author(s): András Fejérdy / Language(s): Hungarian Issue: 4/2019

An important but so far rather unexplored phase in the career of Mátyás Rákosi is the five-year period that he spent in the III. Communist International organising the international workers’ movement after the collapse of the Soviet Republic of Hungary. An important area of his activity was Italy where, after several brief journeys, he was delegated by the Comintern in 1922–1923 to work for the alliance of the leftist forces against fascism, with limited success. A politician of originally radical ideas, in this period Rákosi adopted a peculiar mediatory role between the Italian communists, who regarded proletarian revolution as of prime importance, and the international leaders, who preferred the establishment of a common front, a role that he used profitably in the course of his later career.

Személyiség és történelem. Benito Mussolini és Gömbös Gyula némely pályafordulójának példáján

Author(s): Pál Pritz / Language(s): Hungarian Issue: 4/2019

The study contests the traditional approach, in which the weight of personality assumes a place unwarranted by reality. For, in point of fact, the historical weight of even the most important players is dwarfed by the force of historical structures. The common features of the lives of Gömbös and Mussolini are in fact much more vague than one finds in the traditional narratives. The great differences are rooted in the divergences between Hungarian and Italian social development. The Great War was a key experience for both men. Yet their combative personality was put to the test on different grounds, and with different perspectives. Unequal development affected both Italy and Hungary severely, while, on the whole, Hungary remained more underdeveloped. Mussolini’s life features more radical turns than that of Gömbös. In 1932 it was a meeting between leaders who strongly sympathised with each other. Yet even then, as in later years, what determined merit was not personal feeling but the constriction of personal will on both sides. Finally, the paper offers a realistic interpretation of the famous anecdote written down by Ciano, proving on the basis of German material that it was in fact a wandering motif.

Reproduction between Health and Sickness: Doctors’ Attitudes to Reproductive Issues in Interwar Czechoslovakia

Author(s): Veronika Lacinová Najmanová / Language(s): English Issue: 2/2021

The study examines how doctors in interwar Czechoslovakia intervened in reproductive issues and related areas of life in an attempt to combat the declining birthrate, a trend that was considered a threat to society. Inspired by Foucault’s concept of medicalization and biopower, through the analysis of medical literature and articles from the press in the interwar period, I will demonstrate how Czechoslovak doctors, not only but especially under the influence of eugenics, foregrounded the categories of health and sickness in order to assert definitions of “correct” forms of reproduction while attempting to stigmatize and discourage forms of reproduction that they considered detrimental to the health of society or the nation. The aim of the study is not only to expand the body of knowledge about the activities and attitudes of Czechoslovak doctors in the interwar period but also to call attention to the still current topic of the political background of reproductive policy.

Paramilitarism in the Balkans: Yugoslavia, Bulgaria, and Albania, 1917–192

Author(s): Filip Lyapov / Language(s): English Issue: 2/2021

Paramilitarism in the Balkans: Yugoslavia, Bulgaria, and Albania, 1917–1924. By Dmitar Tasić. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2020. 288 pp.

Bethlen István miniszterelnöksége 1921–1931

Author(s): Ignác Romsics / Language(s): Hungarian Issue: 08/2021

Count István Bethlen was one of the most significant politicians of 20th Century Hungary. From the moment he was elected to Parliament in 1901 until the end of World War II, “making politics” was an integral part of his life. Between 1901 and 1918 he was a regional politician with peculiarly Transylvanian traits; in 1918-1920 he was a major organizer of the counter-revolutionary forces and then a leader of the Hungarian peace delegation; from 1921 to 1931 he served as prime minister of Hungary; and subsequently, until 1945, he proved to be the leading representative of the anti-Naci and pro-Western political orientation. In his essay Ignác Romsics who produced the most comprehensive biography on István Bethlen, analyses his ten years premiership. The author states that Bethlen is rightly considered the architect of the so-called Horthy regime. He successfully tackled a whole host of problems of crucial importance to the to the consolidation and stabilization of the regime. He managed to pull the economy out of the deep crisis after 1920 in little over half a decade. He stabilized political life which was very confuse during the revolutionary and counter-revolutionary time in 1918-1920. The created political regime assumed authoritarian character typical of that of most other countries in the region. Secondary and higher education maintained high standards, while public education also improved. New universities were built in Szeged and Pécs, replacing those left behind in the areas lost in the Trianon peace treaty, Kolozsvár/Cluj and Pozsony/Bratislava. The most important aim of his foreign policy was revision of this treaty. By means of skillful diplomacy, he secured to return to Hungary the Pécs area occupied by Yugoslavia while Sopron and its surrounding district were returned by Austria as a result of the plebiscite of December 1921. His foreign policy success was a treaty of friendship with Italy in 1927 too, although it had little immediate impact. The conditions for further border revisions were created only by the end of the 1930s. Facing the social consequences of the Great Depression, Bethlen resigned in August 1931. He died in 1946, in Soviet captivity.

„THE SWORD STRETCHED BETWEEN TWO WORLDS”: THE IMAGE OF THE CHARISMATIC LEADER IN LEGIONARY IDEOLOGY

Author(s): Răzvan Ciobanu / Language(s): English Issue: Sp.Issue/2021

Inspired by recent historiographical contributions concerning the complex implications of the notion of charisma for the various expressions of fascism, this article attempts to explore some of the main characteristics and functions of charismatic leadership in the case of the Legion of the “Archangel Michael”. Drawing upon the classical ideal-typical model developed by Max Weber and building on the conclusions of some of its most significant refinements within the field of fascist studies, the present analysis will provide a brief outlook on the manner in which charismatic authority was theoretically developed in the case of Corneliu Zelea Codreanu, the founder and ruler of the Legionary Movement.

Theodore Brentano – The first American minister for Hungary, 1922–1927

Author(s): Zoltán Peterecz / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2021

The history of American-Hungarian relations has enjoyed renewed interest in the past thirty years. Despite this fact, there are still many uncovered or poorly documented episodes and persons concerning this academic territory. This article wishes to shed some light on one such character and period. It was in 1922 that the United States and Hungary established official diplomatic relations for the first time. Consequently the two countries exchanged ministers; thus, a long line of American ministers began to come and reside in Hungary. The very first of them was Theodore Brentano, who served five years in Budapest, between 1922 and 1927, but who seems to have disappeared from historical memory in both countries. Since 2022 marks the centenary of establishing diplomatic relations between the two countries, this article will introduce Theodore Brentano, the first American minister for Hungary and his work there. Brentano's years coincided with momentous events in Hungary in the post-Trianon era and were a time of relatively active relations between Washington and Budapest. Using primary and secondary sources alike, this article will hopefully illustrate a sorely missed part of the history of American-Hungarian history and rekindle interest in what took place a century ago.

RELIGIA ŞI MORALITATEA SOVIETICĂ. PERCEPŢII PARLAMENTARE INTERBELICE ROMÂNEŞTI

Author(s): Radu Filipescu / Language(s): Romanian Issue: XIII/2012

The most reports about religion in the interwar U.S.S.R. belong to the right-wing MP-ies. Romanian left was not generally interested in these issues. The right presented the Communist state as a mechanism designed to promote atheism and persecution of the of the Soviet Christians. Also, the Romanian Orthodox Church's influence in the Balkans, Bessarabian churches restoration were pragmatically considered by some MPs in close connection with religious situation in the Soviet Union. In the same manner, the Soviet family and morality secularization was received with suspicion by some Romanian MP-ies, who considered it a measure in order to increase state control over citizens. The Soviet law divorce, very lax, has sparked a wave of indignation in Parliament, being perceived as a sign of promiscuity. However, sexual permissiveness did not place strict Soviet society. Subsequently, hints about the lack of decent families lives have ceased to be presented to Romanian Parliament tribune.

“MOTHER’S DAY” IN THE YEAR 1939 – OPPORTUNITY FOR CELEBRATION AND PROPAGANDA: OLT COUNTY

Author(s): Diana-Mihaela Păunoiu / Language(s): English Issue: XII/2011

“Mother’s Day” represented a festive and propagandistic episodeduring personal regime of King Carol II that can be fitted into the category of thecelebrations dedicated to creation, in population’s ranks, of a mentalityfavourable to increase of life’s quality, through propagation of some messagesthat targeted the concern for environmental, for human’s health and, especiallyfor the children’s. Reconstitution and analysis of the mentioned festive momentare focused on realities of 1939 on the Olt County level. The analysis of studieddocuments sustain the affirmation that: the celebration called “Mother’s Day”,beyond the declared purpose of stimulating the increase of birth rate andprevent the infantile mortality, offered, through his ceremony, the propagation ofKing Carol II’ image as architect of a new national solidarity.

A Horthy-korszak – egy gyorsan változó társadalom

Author(s): Artur Lakatos / Language(s): Hungarian Issue: 12/2021

A Horthy-korszak vitatott kérdései. Konferencia, 2020. szeptember 14–15. Kossuth Kiadó, Bp., 2020.

PARLIAMENTARY ELECTIONS ON DECEMBER 1937 IN OLTENIA COUNTY

Author(s): Diana-Mihaela Păunoiu / Language(s): English Issue: XI/2010

In this paper we present two principal issues. In first part of the paper,we present the election campaign realized by local organizations of the mainRomanian parties engaged in competition, the focus being on the actions ofLegionary Movement. The sources used for documentation are, especially,confidential reports and bulletins elaborated in that period by the RegionalInspectorate of Gendarmes Craiova. In the second part of the paper, we presentthe results of the Parliament election, the accent being set on the options of theOltenian electorate. Thru this paper, we want to integrate the political localevents in the national history and to fill a blank space in the speciality literature

ROMANIAN-YUGOSLAV MILITARY RELATIONS BETWEEN 1934-1939

Author(s): Mihaela Bărbieru / Language(s): English Issue: XI/2010

The present paper deals with the history of military relations betweentwo states from Eastern Europe. Using both diplomatic and military documentswe try to underline the importance of such relations in a period when bothRomania and Yugoslavia were actively implied in foreign policies regarding thenational independence and sovereignty, equal rights, international cooperation,defense of territorial status quo and the international treaties concluded after theFirst World War. Regional security system in central and southeastern Europeduring this period was based on two documents of great importance: The Pact ofthe Reorganization of the Little Entente (February 1933) and Balkan Pact(February 1934).

Women and Politics: Nationalism and Femininity in Interwar Hungary

Author(s): Dóra Czeferner / Language(s): English Issue: 3/2021

Women and Politics: Nationalism and Femininity in Interwar Hungary. By Balázs Sipos. Trondheim: Trondheim Studies on East European Cultures & Societies, 2019. 163 pp.

Horthy brit diplomatája. Thomas Beaumont Hohler és szerepe az ellenforradalmi rendszer megszilárdulásában

Author(s): László Bernát Veszprémy / Language(s): Hungarian Issue: 2-3/2020

A Horthy-korszak legnépszerűbb politikusa

Author(s): Dávid Turbucz / Language(s): Hungarian Issue: 4/2020

Bartha Ákos: Bajcsy-Zsilinszky Endre. Életút és utóélet. MTA Bölcsészettudományi Kutatóközpont Történettudományi Intézet, Budapest, 2019. (Magyar Történelmi Emlékek. Értekezések) 657 oldal