On 6 August 1919
István Friedrich, leader of the White House Comrades Association (a
right-wing,
counter-revolutionary group), ousted the government of
Gyula Peidl and seized power in a coup with the backing of the
Royal Romanian Army. The coup d'état was met with widespread approval within Hungary. The next day,
Joseph August declared himself
regent of Hungary (he held the position until 23 August, when he was forced to resign) and appointed Friedrich as
Prime Minister. He was succeeded by
Károly Huszár on 24 November, who served as prime minister and
interim president until the restoration of the
monarchy a few months later. entering Budapest as the head of the
National Army on 16 November 1919. He is being greeted by city officials in front of the
Hotel Gellért. A militantly
anti-communist authoritarian government composed of military officers entered Budapest in November on the heels of the Romanians. A "
White Terror" ensued that led to the imprisonment, torture, and execution without trial of
communists,
socialists,
Jews, leftist intellectuals, sympathizers with the
Károlyi and
Kun regimes, and others who threatened the traditional Hungarian political order that the officers sought to re-establish. Estimates placed the number of executions at approximately 5,000. In addition, about 75,000 people were jailed. In particular, the Hungarian right-wing and the Romanian forces targeted Jews for retribution. Ultimately, the White Terror forced nearly 100,000 people to leave the country, most of them socialists, intellectuals, and middle-class Jews. In 1920 and 1921, internal chaos racked Hungary. The White Terror continued to plague Jews and leftists, unemployment and inflation soared, and penniless Hungarian refugees poured across the border from neighboring countries and burdened the floundering economy. The government offered the population little succour. In January 1920, Hungarian men and women cast the
first secret ballots in the country's political history and elected a large counter-revolutionary and agrarian majority to the
unicameral parliament. Two main political parties emerged: the socially conservative
Christian National Union Party and the
National Smallholders and Agricultural Labourers Party, which advocated land reform. On 29 February 1920, the parliament restored the
Hungarian monarchy, ending the republic, and in March, annulled both the
Pragmatic Sanction of 1723 and the
Compromise of 1867. The parliament postponed electing a
king until civil disorder had subsided. Former Austro-Hungarian admiral
Miklós Horthy became
regent, a position he would hold until 1944. == See also ==