Count Mihály Ádám György Miklós Károlyi de Nagykároly (; ; or in short simple form: Michael Károlyi; 4 March 1875 – 19 March 1955) was a Hungarian politician who served as a leader of the short-lived and unrecognized
First Hungarian Republic from 1918 to 1919. He served as
prime minister
A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...
between 1 and 16 November 1918 and as
president
President most commonly refers to:
*President (corporate title)
* President (education), a leader of a college or university
*President (government title)
President may also refer to:
Arts and entertainment Film and television
*'' Præsident ...
between 16 November 1918 and 21 March 1919.
The assessment of his political activities is strikingly contradictory, although there is a general consensus that he was a weak and unsuccessful leader. Beyond this, during the Horthy era, he was identified as one of the main causes of
Treaty of Trianon
The Treaty of Trianon (; ; ; ), often referred to in Hungary as the Peace Dictate of Trianon or Dictate of Trianon, was prepared at the Paris Peace Conference (1919–1920), Paris Peace Conference. It was signed on the one side by Hungary ...
and officially sentenced as a traitor by the legal court. Conversely, according to the political left, he was respected as a statesman who recognized that the culpable war policies of the leaders of the Monarchy were leading Hungary into the disaster of World War I, and he attempted, in his own way, to counteract this. These contradictions in his evaluation still continue to resonate among various political factions of Hungarian domestic political life even in the early 21st century.
His half-brother, Count
József Károlyi (1884–1934), was the head of Fejér County, a member of parliament, and one of the prominent legitimist politicians of the Horthy era. When he learned that Mihály Károlyi had become prime minister as a result of the 1918
Aster Revolution, Count József Károlyi resigned from his position and became one of the most aggressive critics and opponents of Mihály Károlyi's government, as he considered Mihály intellectually unfit for a leadership role.
Early life and career
Early life
The Károlyi family were an illustrious, extremely wealthy,
Catholic
The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...
aristocratic family who had played an important role in Hungarian society since the 17th century. His parents were cousins: his father was Count Gyula (Julius) Károlyi (1837 - 1890), his mother was Countess Georgine Károlyi.
Mihály Károlyi was born on March 4, 1875, in the Károlyi Palace in the aristocratic palace district of Pest. Károlyi's parents were cousins, and he was born with a
cleft lip and cleft palate, which deeply determined his entire childhood and personality development. His mother died early from
tuberculosis
Tuberculosis (TB), also known colloquially as the "white death", or historically as consumption, is a contagious disease usually caused by ''Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can al ...
and his father soon remarried. His father considered Mihály unsuitable for a more serious career, because of his
speech disorder
Speech disorders, impairments, or impediments, are a type of communication disorder in which normal speech is disrupted. This can mean fluency disorders like stuttering and cluttering. Someone who is unable to speak due to a speech disorder is c ...
. Due to his cleft lip and cleft palate, the young Mihály was often mocked and humiliated during his childhood by his cousins and other relatives of similar age, despite the power and wealth of his family, which influenced his subsequent vanity, ambition and desire for power.
Mihály was raised with great devotion in the castle of his grandmother at Fót, because his politician father, Count Julius Károlyi, had not enough time for Mihály. At the age of 14, his grandmother sent him to a Viennese clinic, where he underwent special surgery to restore his palate and mouth. This surgery proved to be a sharp turning point; for, after a couple of weeks of recovery, Mihály started to speak quickly, fluently and very elaborately, despite the fact that the family and relatives formerly thought that he was too dumb to speak. His severe developmental disorder was a decisive factor in the development of Karolyi's personality. His struggle to learn to speak and to live a full life after his cleft palate surgery sapped his willpower. As an adult, "iron will, ambition, stubbornness and the security of his immense wealth drove him on his political career." Throughout his life, he has learned three foreign languages at almost native level: English, German and French. His mindset and character were shaped by external influences: including hatred towards the Habsburg dynasty, the traditional
anti-German sentiment
Anti-German sentiment (also known as anti-Germanism, Germanophobia or Teutophobia) is fear or dislike of Germany, its Germans, people, and its Culture of Germany, culture. Its opposite is Germanophile, Germanophilia.
Anti-German sentiment main ...
of his family, his foster father, the world-view of uncle Sándor Károlyi, his adoration of the
1848 revolution in Hungary, his idea of organizing peasants into farming cooperatives. Having unbroken optimistic faith in the rapid development of science and technology, which he thought would solve all problems of humankind, he developed an idealistic devotion to the cause of social justice based on his reading experiences, including the French Encyclopédie and
Jules Verne
Jules Gabriel Verne (;''Longman Pronunciation Dictionary''. ; 8 February 1828 – 24 March 1905) was a French novelist, poet and playwright.
His collaboration with the publisher Pierre-Jules Hetzel led to the creation of the ''Voyages extraor ...
novels. Although he was not interested in university lectures, he managed to pass his exams with the help of a tutor and obtained a law degree. At the age of 24, he became an unbridled adult. He wanted to make up for what he had missed as a teenager, throwing himself into the nightlife, with enthusiasm; he spent his time flagrantly, playing cards, having fun hunting. He lived in French spa towns, attended many international horse races and early automobile races in various European countries. Although his political opponents later sought to denounce his hedonistic lifestyle as a youth, the truth is that Karolyi's youthful life was no different from that of aristocrats of his age. He loved travelling most of all, even going as far as the island of Ceylon, but he also travelled to almost every country in Europe and visited the USA four times. When he was at home, his favourite pastimes were horse riding, polo and hunting, but he also enjoyed playing cards and chess.
He was interested in all technical innovations: he enjoyed driving cars and became a passionate collector of race cars and yachts. On one occasion a fellow pilot of
Louis Blériot
Louis Charles Joseph Blériot ( , also , ; 1 July 1872 – 1 August 1936) was a French aviator, inventor, and engineer. He developed the first practical headlamp for cars and established a profitable business manufacturing them, using much of t ...
flew the plane to Hungary that had crossed the
English Channel
The English Channel, also known as the Channel, is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that separates Southern England from northern France. It links to the southern part of the North Sea by the Strait of Dover at its northeastern end. It is the busi ...
. Károlyi bargained with the pilot to board the famous plane and make a flight over Budapest. It was characteristic of the young Károlyi's recklessness that he sat on the frame of the one-seater airplane and clung to the iron bars, making his flight with legs hanging in the air. Being a Francophone, as was the tradition in his family, he spent several years in Paris; he also traveled across the United Kingdom and the United States. As a gambling addict, he was known for his card battles, his losses and for his "dandy" lifestyle in famous casinos across Western Europe. Around the age of 30, the young tycoon started to get serious and subsequently developed an interest in politics and public life.
File:Fóti Károlyi-kastély.jpg, One of his grandmother's Castle at Fót, where Mihály grew up
File:Fehervarcsurgo kastelycivertanlegi4.jpg, Fehérvárcsurgó Castle
File:Nagymágocs - Palace.jpg, Nagymágocs Castle
File:CivertanlegifotoFuzerradvany2.jpg, Füzérradvány Castle
File:Károlyi-palota, Budapest.jpg, Károlyi-palota, Budapest downtown
File:Károlyi-kastély (Kastélyhotel Sasvár) (5819. számú műemlék).jpg, Parádsasvár hunting lodge
Early political career
In his youth, he was a wastrel, but, as he grew older, he became devoted to more serious pursuits. In 1909, he became the President of the OMGE (National Agricultural Society), the main rural organization of the nobility. Initially a supporter of the existing political and social system in Hungary, Károlyi gradually became more progressive, leaning to
left-wing
Left-wing politics describes the range of Ideology#Political ideologies, political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy either as a whole or of certain social ...
orientation during his career.
He ran in the 1901 and 1905 and 1906 parliamentary elections in the lower house of parliament (House of Representatives) without success; however, as a count, he had a right to participate in the Upper house (House of Magnates) of parliament. In 1910, Károlyi was elected to Parliament as a member of the opposition Party of Independence, so he could participate in political life as a member of the House of representatives in parliament.
István Tisza
Count István Imre Lajos Pál Tisza de Borosjenő et Szeged (, English: Stephen Emery Louis Paul Tisza, short name: Stephen Tisza); (22 April 1861 – 31 October 1918) was a politician who served as Prime Minister of Hungary, prime minister ...
and Mihály Károlyi became implacable political enemies following the 1905 elections. Their debates in parliament further increased their mutual personal antagonism with time.
An important milestone in his confrontation with liberal conservatism was when, in June 1912, after the vote on the Defence Act, the parliamentary speaker István Tisza put an end to the opposition's protests with police violence. Opposition members, who had been removed from the chamber, then joined forces with the democratic and socialist opposition outside parliament to organise joint people's rallies. At one of the first of these, on 16 June 1912 in Miskolc, Károlyi appeared as a speaker alongside the Civic Radical Democrat
Oszkár Jászi and the social democrat
Jenő Landler.
In January 1913, Károlyi was challenged to a duel by prime minister István Tisza, after refusing to shake Tisza's hand following a political disagreement.
The 34-bout duel with cavalry sabres lasted an hour until Tisza cut Károlyi's arm and the seconds ended the duel.
World War I, political campaign for the Allied Powers
In 1914, at the time of the assassination of Archduke
Franz Ferdinand, Károlyi was on his American tour, where he gave lectures at various universities with his friend
Zsigmond Kunfi.
During his American tour, he sent telegram messages to Budapest for the Magyarország magazine, where he shared his geopolitical opinion about the deepening crisis in Europe.
On August 5, when the war broke out, his ship arrived in
Le Havre
Le Havre is a major port city in the Seine-Maritime department in the Normandy (administrative region), Normandy region of northern France. It is situated on the right bank of the estuary of the Seine, river Seine on the English Channel, Channe ...
after returning from his long trip to the United States. He was promptly arrested, as a citizen of a belligerent country, despite the fact that Austria-Hungary was not yet at war with the French Republic. Consequently, he was released from prison. Later, he was arrested again for several weeks in
Bordeaux
Bordeaux ( ; ; Gascon language, Gascon ; ) is a city on the river Garonne in the Gironde Departments of France, department, southwestern France. A port city, it is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the Prefectures in F ...
for being a citizen of a belligerent country. However, after promising that he wouldn't fight against the French during the war, he finally got a passport from the Bordeaux authorities. Afterwards he travelled to
Genoa
Genoa ( ; ; ) is a city in and the capital of the Italian region of Liguria, and the sixth-largest city in Italy. As of 2025, 563,947 people live within the city's administrative limits. While its metropolitan city has 818,651 inhabitan ...
via
Madrid
Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...
and
Barcelona
Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...
and then returned home. On his way home to the Kingdom of Hungary, he crossed
Italy
Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...
at a time when Italy had not yet declared war on the
Central powers
The Central Powers, also known as the Central Empires,; ; , ; were one of the two main coalitions that fought in World War I (1914–1918). It consisted of the German Empire, Austria-Hungary, the Ottoman Empire, and the Kingdom of Bulga ...
and was therefore considered a
neutral country
A neutral country is a sovereign state, state that is neutral towards belligerents in a specific war or holds itself as permanently neutral in all future conflicts (including avoiding entering into military alliances such as NATO, Collective Sec ...
.
Károlyi was opposed to the involvement in the
First World War
World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
. Initially, he remained silent on these feelings, and even read a pro-war declaration from his party. He did this as a result of internal pressure, having faced indignation after refusing to support war loans. In 1915, he volunteered in the 1st Hungarian Hussar Regiment in Budapest after being called for service. Later on, in his memoirs, he regretted having ever reluctantly supported the war due to political pressure. The horrors of the war prompted him to accept isolation to openly oppose the war. From 1916 onward, he openly demanded that the war be ended and peace concluded immediately, even at the price of dissolving the alliance of Germany. Károlyi became part of a small but very active pacifist anti-war maverick faction in the Hungarian parliament. He and his followers withdrew to create their own separate party, which initially had only no more than 20 members. According to Tibor Hajdu, Károlyi's movement soon grew in popularity.
Far from being at the forefront of politics until 1916, "the public heard far more about his motor car speeding, car accidents and card battles than his speeches in parliament." It was only after the Hungarian public opinion began to become disillusioned with the war that Károlyi began to look like a real alternative to the governing forces. His consistent and firm support for peace in his speeches made him very popular in the last year of the war.
With this step began Károlyi's break with his own class. In high politics he became isolated, but he gained the trust and affection of simple people. He wrote in his memoirs:
''"I received, day after day, heaps of telegrams and letters in which hundreds of simple people assured me that I had spoken after their own heart, and asked me to persevere. When I travelled from Parád to Budapest in the middle of July (1917), common soldiers surrounded me at a railway station. One of them addressed me a speech. He called me an apostle of peace."''
He, who wants a democratic foreign policy, has to become, heart and soul, a democrat also in internal politics. In splitting the party of independence, Károlyi turned against those who proclaimed war but had their own sons exempted from military service.
In his parliamentary speeches, Károlyi opposed the alliance of the
Austro-Hungarian Monarchy and the
German Empire
The German Empire (),; ; World Book, Inc. ''The World Book dictionary, Volume 1''. World Book, Inc., 2003. p. 572. States that Deutsches Reich translates as "German Realm" and was a former official name of Germany. also referred to as Imperia ...
: instead he advocated friendship between the peoples and argued against war and supported a pro-
Entente foreign policy.
[Balogh Gábor: ''A Károlyi-kultusz nyomában (történelmi mítosz a hatalom szolgálatában)''. ''Nagy-Magyarország'' (Történelmi Magazin), II. évf. 3. sz. (2010. jún.); 28–33. o.] Károlyi made contact with British and French Entente diplomats behind the scenes in Switzerland during the war. He argued for peace with the Allies, loosing ties between Austria and Hungary, abolishing the property-based franchise requirements that allowed only 5.8% of the population to vote and run for office before the war, and giving women the right to vote and hold office. In particular, Károlyi demanded in 1915 that veterans should be granted the right to vote, which won so much popular support that it enraged Prime Minister, Count
István Tisza
Count István Imre Lajos Pál Tisza de Borosjenő et Szeged (, English: Stephen Emery Louis Paul Tisza, short name: Stephen Tisza); (22 April 1861 – 31 October 1918) was a politician who served as Prime Minister of Hungary, prime minister ...
. In 1916 Károlyi broke off with his party, which had found his openly pro-Entente attitude to be too radical and dangerous for a war-time pacifist faction in parliament. Therefore, Károlyi formed a new party, called the United Party of Independence of 1848; generally known as the Károlyi Party.
In January 1918, Károlyi proclaimed himself a follower of
Woodrow Wilson
Thomas Woodrow Wilson (December 28, 1856February 3, 1924) was the 28th president of the United States, serving from 1913 to 1921. He was the only History of the Democratic Party (United States), Democrat to serve as president during the Prog ...
's
Fourteen Points
The Fourteen Points was a statement of principles for peace that was to be used for peace negotiations in order to end World War I. The principles were outlined in a January 8, 1918 speech on war aims and peace terms to the United States Congress ...
.
Marriage and family
On 7 November 1914 in
Budapest
Budapest is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns of Hungary, most populous city of Hungary. It is the List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, tenth-largest city in the European Union by popul ...
, Károlyi married Countess Katalin Andrássy de Csíkszentkirály et Krasznahorka, with whom he had three children. As Károlyi's wife was a member of one of Hungary's most powerful families; by the marriage, Károlyi got under the protection of his influential father-in-law. His only son, Adam Károlyi served in the
Royal Air Force
The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the Air force, air and space force of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. It was formed towards the end of the World War I, First World War on 1 April 1918, on the merger of t ...
, who crashed due to a technical fault while testing an aircraft over the
Isle of Wight
The Isle of Wight (Help:IPA/English, /waɪt/ Help:Pronunciation respelling key, ''WYTE'') is an island off the south coast of England which, together with its surrounding uninhabited islets and Skerry, skerries, is also a ceremonial county. T ...
in 1939.
Leading the Democratic Republic
On 25 October 1918 Károlyi had formed the Hungarian National Council. Károlyi as the most prominent opponent of continued union with Austria, seized power during the
Aster Revolution on 31 October. In 1918, when the Aster Revolution broke out and it became clear that Mihály Károlyi would become head of government, his half-brother, Count József Károlyi (1884-1934), (chief bailiff of Fejér county, member of parliament), resigned from his post and became the most aggressive political opponent of Mihály Károlyi's government.
King Charles IV. was all but forced to appoint Károlyi as his Hungarian prime minister. One of Károlyi's first acts was to repudiate the compromise agreement on 31 October, effectively terminating the personal union with Austria and thus officially dissolving the Austro-Hungarian monarchy and state. On the 1st of November, Károlyi's new government decided to recall all of the troops, who were conscripted from the territory of Kingdom of Hungary, which was a major blow for the Habsburg's armies on the fronts.
Károlyi would have preferred to keep the monarchy and some link to
Austria
Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...
if possible. Only after Charles's withdrawal from government on 16 November 1918 made Károlyi proclaim the
Hungarian Democratic Republic, with himself as provisional president. On 11 January 1919 the National Council formally recognized him as president.
Sigmund Freud
Sigmund Freud ( ; ; born Sigismund Schlomo Freud; 6 May 1856 – 23 September 1939) was an Austrian neurologist and the founder of psychoanalysis, a clinical method for evaluating and treating psychopathology, pathologies seen as originating fro ...
, the Austrian psychologist—who had known the two politicians personally—wrote about the assassination of
István Tisza
Count István Imre Lajos Pál Tisza de Borosjenő et Szeged (, English: Stephen Emery Louis Paul Tisza, short name: Stephen Tisza); (22 April 1861 – 31 October 1918) was a politician who served as Prime Minister of Hungary, prime minister ...
and the appointment of Mihály Károlyi as new prime minister of Hungary:
In the same vein, the British writer
Harold Nicolson
Sir Harold George Nicolson (21 November 1886 – 1 May 1968) was a British politician, writer, broadcaster and gardener. His wife was Vita Sackville-West.
Early life and education
Nicolson was born in Tehran, Persia, the youngest son of dipl ...
, who had known Károlyi during his exile in Britain, when reviewing Károlyi's memoirs in 1957 noted that:
Baron
Lajos Hatvany described Károlyi's leadership noting:
Károlyi's cabinet
(From 31 October 1918 to 19 January 1919)
*Prime minister: Mihály Károlyi
*Minister of Defense:
Béla Linder (31 October 1918 to 9 November 1918);
Albert Bartha (9 November 1918 to 12 December 1918); Mihály Károlyi (12 December 1918 to 29 December 1918;
Sándor Festetics (29 December 1918 to 19 January 1919)
*Minister of the Interior:
Tivadar Batthyány (31 October 1918 to 12 December 1918);
Vince Nagy (12 December 1918 to 19 January 1919)
*Minister of Justice:
Barna Buza (31 October 1918 to 3 November 1918);
Dénes Berinkey (3 November 1918 to 19 January 1919)
*King's Personal Minister:
Tivadar Batthyány (31 October 1918 to 1 November 1918)
*Minister of Agriculture:
Barna Buza
*Minister of Commerce:
Ernő Garami
*Minister of Finance: Mihály Károlyi (31 October 1918 to 25 November 1918);
Pál Szende (25 November 1918 to 19 January 1919)
*Minister of Food: Ferenc Nagy
*Minister of Religion and Education:
Márton Lovászy (31 October 1918 to 22 December 1918); Sándor Juhász Nagy (22 December 1918 to 19 January 1919)
*Minister of Welfare and Labour:
Zsigmond Kunfi (12 December 1918 to 19 January 1919)
*Minister Without Portfolio:
Oszkár Jászi (31 October 1918 to 1 November 1918);
Zsigmond Kunfi (31 October 1918 to 12 November 1918);
Béla Linder (9 November 1918 to 12 December 1918)
*Minister Without Portfolio for Croatia-Slavonia and Dalmatia:
Zsigmond Kunfi (6 November 1918 to 19 January 1919)
*Minister Without Portfolio for Nationalities: Oszkár Jászi (1 November 1918 to 19 January 1919)
Berinkey cabinet
(19 January 1919 to 21 March 1919)
On 19 January 1919, Károlyi resigned as Prime Minister to concentrate exclusively on his duties as President of the Republic. He appointed
Dénes Berinkey to form the new government.
*Prime minister:
Dénes Berinkey
*Minister of Foreign Affairs: (19 January 1919 to 24 January 1919); later
Ferenc Harrer (24 January 1919 to 21 March 1919)
*Minister of Defense:
Vilmos Böhm (19 January 1919 to 21 March 1919)
*Minister of the Interior:
Vince Nagy (19 January 1919 to 21 March 1919)
*Minister of Finance:
Pál Szende (19 January 1919 to 21 March 1919)
*Minister of Food:
Ernő Baloghy (19 January 1919 to 21 March 1919)
*Minister of Religion:
János Vass (19 January 1919 to 21 March 1919)
*Minister of Education:
Zsigmond Kunfi (19 January 1919 to 21 March 1919)
*Minister of Justice: Dénes Berinkey (19 January 1919 to 24 January 1919) later Sándor Nagy Juhász (24 January 1919 to 21 March 1919)
*Minister of Commerce:
Ernő Garami (19 January 1919 to 21 March 1919)
*Minister of Welfare and Labour:
Gyula Peidl (19 January 1919 to 21 March 1919)
*Minister for Rusyn minority: Oreszt Szabó (19 January 1919 to 21 March 1919)
*Minister for German minority: János Junker (19 January 1919 to 21 March 1919)
*Minister of Agrarian land reforms:
István Szabó de Nagyatád (19 January 1919 to 21 March 1919)
Foreign policy
On the 1st of November, his new Hungarian government decided to recall all of the troops, who were conscripted from the territory of Kingdom of Hungary. It became a major blow for the Habsburg's armies on the
Italian Front which accelerated and secured the collapse of Austria-Hungary.
The
Hungarian Royal Honvéd army still had more than 1,400,000 soldiers when Mihály Károlyi was designated as prime minister of Hungary. However, he took up the case of
pacifism
Pacifism is the opposition to war or violence. The word ''pacifism'' was coined by the French peace campaigner Émile Arnaud and adopted by other peace activists at the tenth Universal Peace Congress in Glasgow in 1901. A related term is ...
in accordance with U.S. President Woodrow Wilson's Fourteen Points by ordering the unilateral self-disarmament of the Hungarian army, leaving the country defenseless at a time of particular vulnerability. This happened on 2 November 1918, while
Béla Linder served as minister of war
[Dixon J. C]
''Defeat and Disarmament, Allied Diplomacy and Politics of Military Affairs in Austria, 1918–1922''
Associated University Presses 1986. p. 34.[Sharp A]
''The Versailles Settlement: Peacemaking after the First World War, 1919–1923''
Palgrave Macmillan 2008. p. 156. . which made the occupation of Hungary directly possible for the relatively small military forces of such surrounding nations as the Serbian army, and the Czechoslovak and the Romanian armies.
Károlyi had appointed
Oszkár Jászi as the new Minister for National Minorities of Hungary. During their brief periods in power,
Oszkár Jászi, hoped to create an "Eastern Switzerland" by persuading the non-Magyar peoples of Hungary to stay as part of the new Hungarian Republic. Jászi also immediately offered democratic referendums about the disputed borders to minorities, however, the political leaders of those minorities refused the very idea of democratic referendums at the Paris peace conference. Instead the Czech, Serbian, and Romanian political leaders chose to attack Hungary to seize territories. The military and political events changed rapidly and drastically after the Hungarian unilaterial self-disarmament. During the rule of Károlyi's pacifist cabinet, Hungary lost control over approx. 75% of its former pre-WW1 territories (325 411 km
2) without armed resistance and was subject to foreign occupation.
* on 5 November 1918, the Serbian army, with the help of the French army, crossed southern borders,
* on 8 November, the Czechoslovak Army crossed the northern borders,
* on 10 November
d'Espérey's French-Serbian army crossed the Danube river and was poised to enter the Hungarian heartland,
* on 11 November Germany signed
an armistice with Allies, under which they had to immediately withdraw all German troops in
Romania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...
and in the
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empire, was an empire, imperial realm that controlled much of Southeast Europe, West Asia, and North Africa from the 14th to early 20th centuries; it also controlled parts of southeastern Centr ...
, the
Austro-Hungarian Empire
Austria-Hungary, also referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Dual Monarchy or the Habsburg Monarchy, was a multi-national constitutional monarchy in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. A military and diplomatic alliance, it consist ...
and the
Russian Empire
The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughl ...
back to German territory and Allies to have access to these countries.
* on 13 November, the Romanian army crossed the eastern borders of the
Kingdom of Hungary
The Kingdom of Hungary was a monarchy in Central Europe that existed for nearly a millennium, from 1000 to 1946 and was a key part of the Habsburg monarchy from 1526-1918. The Principality of Hungary emerged as a Christian kingdom upon the Coro ...
.
* on 13 November, Károlyi signed the
Armistice of Belgrade with the
Allied Powers. It limited the size of the Hungarian army to six infantry and two cavalry divisions. Demarcation lines defining the territory to remain under Hungarian control were made, and
For their part, the neighboring countries used the so-called "struggle against
communism
Communism () is a political sociology, sociopolitical, political philosophy, philosophical, and economic ideology, economic ideology within the history of socialism, socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a ...
", against the capitalist and liberal government of Count Mihály Károlyi.
The lines would apply until definitive borders could be established. Under the terms of the armistice, Serbian and French troops advanced from the south, taking control of the
Banat
Banat ( , ; ; ; ) is a geographical and Historical regions of Central Europe, historical region located in the Pannonian Basin that straddles Central Europe, Central and Eastern Europe. It is divided among three countries: the eastern part lie ...
and Croatia. Czechoslovak forces took control of
Upper Hungary
Upper Hungary (, "Upland"), is the area that was historically the northern part of the Kingdom of Hungary, now mostly present-day Slovakia. The region has also been called ''Felső-Magyarország'' ( literally: "Upper Hungary"; ).
During the ...
and
Carpathian Ruthenia
Transcarpathia (, ) is a historical region on the border between Central and Eastern Europe, mostly located in western Ukraine's Zakarpattia Oblast.
From the Hungarian Hungarian conquest of the Carpathian Basin, conquest of the Carpathian Basin ...
. Romanian forces were permitted to advance to the
River Maros (Mureș). However, on 14 November, Serbia occupied
Pécs
Pécs ( , ; ; Slovak language, Slovak: ''Päťkostolie''; also known by #Name, alternative names) is List of cities and towns of Hungary#Largest cities in Hungary, the fifth largest city in Hungary, on the slopes of the Mecsek mountains in the c ...
.
[Breit J. ''Hungarian Revolutionary Movements of 1918–19 and the History of the Red War'' in ''Main Events of the Károlyi Era'' Budapest 1929. pp. 115–116.]
Many citizens thought that Károlyi could negotiate soft peace terms with the Allies for Hungary. Károlyi headed the Provisional Government from 1 November 1918 until 16 November, when the Hungarian Democratic Republic was proclaimed. Károlyi ruled Hungary through a National Council, transformed into the government that consisted of his party in alliance with the large
Hungarian Social Democratic Party and the small Civic Radical Party led by
Oszkár Jászi.

Additional trouble for the new government occurred over the question of the armistice.
Austria-Hungary
Austria-Hungary, also referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Dual Monarchy or the Habsburg Monarchy, was a multi-national constitutional monarchy in Central Europe#Before World War I, Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. A military ...
had signed the
Armistice of villa Giusti (close to
Padua
Padua ( ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) in Veneto, northern Italy, and the capital of the province of Padua. The city lies on the banks of the river Bacchiglione, west of Venice and southeast of Vicenza, and has a population of 20 ...
,
Italy
Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...
) with the Allies on 3 November 1918. Since Hungary was now independent, some in the Cabinet argued that Hungary needed to sign a new armistice. Against his better judgement, Károlyi agreed to this idea, and had Hungary sign in November 1918, a new armistice with the Allies in
Belgrade
Belgrade is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers and at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin, Pannonian Plain and the Balkan Peninsula. T ...
with the Allied Commander in the Balkans, the French General
Louis Franchet d'Esperey
Louis may refer to:
People
* Louis (given name), origin and several individuals with this name
* Louis (surname)
* Louis (singer), Serbian singer
Other uses
* Louis (coin), a French coin
* HMS ''Louis'', two ships of the Royal Navy
See also
* ...
.
General Franchet d'Esperey treated the Hungarians with open contempt and imposed a harsher armistice on the defeated nation than the Padua Armistice had. The Belgrade Armistice was nonetheless seen as a victory for Károlyi, as it represented some degree of de facto recognition of his government on the part of the Allies. The Belgrade Armistice was well received back in Budapest. French recognition of Károlyi's government did not, however, materialize, and it soon became apparent that the French Foreign Office considered the treaty a "dead letter". Moreover, Károlyi's opponents argued that by needlessly seeking a second armistice, Károlyi had worsened Hungary's situation.
Upon the National Council's seizure of power, Minister of Defence Béla Linder recalled all troops from the front and instructed all Hungarian units to lay down their arms. By Károlyi's own admission, this order was informed mainly by a fear among Károlyi's cabinet that soldiers could return armed, potentially causing disorder, threatening the new government, or prompting Allied intervention. Linder's much maligned policy was very quickly reversed when Czechoslovak troops occupied several districts claimed by the Prague government in western Hungary on November 9th. As a result, Linder resigned his post as Minister of Defence on November 9th and was replaced with Albert Bartha, who was now faced with the task of reorganizing and re-arming the Hungarian military. In a speech on November 11th, Károlyi announced that the Hungarian army had ceased disarming and was prepared to defend Hungary from the Czech incursion. When Prague sent Gendarmes to occupy several majority Slovak districts in western Hungary, Károlyi followed through on his promise to defend Hungary's borders, mobilizing divisions of repatriated POWs who managed to repel the Czech forces. When a new demarcation line was negotiated, Hungary ceded administration of the areas given to the Prague government, but refused to withdraw its army any further. All through the winter of 1918–19, the
Romanians
Romanians (, ; dated Endonym and exonym, exonym ''Vlachs'') are a Romance languages, Romance-speaking ethnic group and nation native to Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. Sharing a Culture of Romania, ...
, the
Yugoslavs
Yugoslavs or Yugoslavians ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, Jugoslaveni/Jugosloveni, Југославени/Југословени; ; ) is an identity that was originally conceived to refer to a united South Slavic people. It has been used in two connotations: ...
and the Czechoslovaks often broke the armistice in order to seize more territory for themselves. After January 1919, Károlyi began to consider the idea of an alliance with Soviet Russia, through Károlyi was opposed to the idea of Communism in Hungary itself.
In addition, as Hungary had signed an armistice, not a peace treaty, the Allied blockade continued until such time as a peace treaty was signed. Hungary had suffered from food shortages throughout the war and deaths from starvation had become common from 1917 onwards. Furthermore, the country had been overwhelmed with refugees from
Transylvania
Transylvania ( or ; ; or ; Transylvanian Saxon dialect, Transylvanian Saxon: ''Siweberjen'') is a List of historical regions of Central Europe, historical and cultural region in Central Europe, encompassing central Romania. To the east and ...
and
Galicia.
Domestic politics
At the same time, there existed various revolutionary councils, which were dominated by the Social Democrats, which were not unlike the ''
Soviet
The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...
s'' (Councils) that existed in
Russia
Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...
in 1917. This situation of
Dual Power gave Károlyi responsibility without much power while giving the Social Democrats power without much responsibility. The war deepened social differences and disparity, since the wealthy social strata not directly involved in the war could continue to live unchanged, i.e. carefree lives, and the wealth of the large entrepreneurs who supplied the war effort could even continue to grow enormously, while the wages of the workers who lived on wages were constantly and significantly devalued. The economic incompetence of the new government which printed more and more money, leading to massive
inflation
In economics, inflation is an increase in the average price of goods and services in terms of money. This increase is measured using a price index, typically a consumer price index (CPI). When the general price level rises, each unit of curre ...
and even more impoverishment. Károlyi's failure to improve living conditions or persuade the Allies to lift the blockade led to public criticism of Károlyi.
Making things worse was the creation of
Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia ( ; Czech language, Czech and , ''Česko-Slovensko'') was a landlocked country in Central Europe, created in 1918, when it declared its independence from Austria-Hungary. In 1938, after the Munich Agreement, the Sudetenland beca ...
which had cut Hungary off from supplies of German
coal
Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other Chemical element, elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen.
Coal i ...
. Hungary which possessed little coal depended upon German coal imports. Without coal, most had to live without heat in the winter of 1918–19, and the railroad network had gradually ceased to function. The collapse of railroads in their turn caused the collapse of industry and hence mass
unemployment
Unemployment, according to the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development), is the proportion of people above a specified age (usually 15) not being in paid employment or self-employment but currently available for work du ...
.
Of the more than forty laws and almost 400 decrees introduced by the Károlyi and Berinkey governments and passed by the National Council, the new electoral law gave the right to vote to all men over 21 and women over 24 who could read and write in any domestic language. General elections under the new law were scheduled for April 1919.
During the War, freedom of the press and freedom of assembly were temporarily banned on the grounds of wartime interests. The Karolyi government reintroduced freedom of the press, freedom of association and freedom of assembly. With the economy on the verge of collapse as a result of the war, and with mass poverty and inflation, social reforms were introduced: unemployment benefit, tax arrears waivers, a ban on the employment of children under 14, wage increases, a token severance payment for demobilised soldiers, the introduction of an eight-hour working day and the extension of social security. Alongside the democratic establishment, the governments of the Karolyi regime also sought to consolidate internal order, but with little success. Furthermore, the Social Democrats who were Hungary's largest party by far, frequently undercut Károlyi and imposed their decisions on him without taking responsibility for their actions. Károlyi wished to transfer almost all of the rural lands to the peasants. To set an example, he gave all of his own vast family estates to his tenants. But this was the only land transfer that took place; the Social Democrats blocked any measures that might give the control of those lands to the peasantry on the grounds that it was promoting capitalism. In February 1919, the government used police force against two recently formed extremist organisations: it dissolved the dictatorial right-wing government and the Hungarian National Defence League (MOVE) led by Gyula Gömbös, which demanded the armed defence of the historic (pre-World War I) Hungarian borders. After an unemployment demonstration on 20 February 1919, which led to an armed confrontation in front of the Budapest offices of the Népszava newspaper, he imprisoned thirty-two leaders of the Communist Party of Hungary, including their leader, Béla Kun.
Downfall of Károlyi government
On 20 March 1919 the French presented the
Vix Note ordering Hungarian troops further back into Hungary; it was widely assumed that the military lines would be the new frontiers. Károlyi and Prime Minister
Dénes Berinkey were now in an untenable position. Although they did not want to accept this French demand, they were in no position to reject it either. On 21 March, Berinkey resigned. Károlyi then announced that only the Social Democrats could form a new government. It was decided that an alliance would be sought with the Communists led by
Béla Kun. Unbeknownst to Károlyi, the Democratic Socialists and the Communist Party came to the decision that Károlyi should be removed from power. Hours after Berinkey resigned, the newly merged Hungarian Socialist Party announced Károlyi's resignation and the formation of the
Hungarian Soviet Republic. The liberal president Károlyi was arrested by the new Communist government on the first day. He managed to make his escape and flee to Paris in July 1919.
Later life
On 10 April 1919, "Romanian troops began to invade Hungary to forestall reconquest of
Transylvania
Transylvania ( or ; ; or ; Transylvanian Saxon dialect, Transylvanian Saxon: ''Siweberjen'') is a List of historical regions of Central Europe, historical and cultural region in Central Europe, encompassing central Romania. To the east and ...
. A provisional government was set up by Count Julius Karolyi (brother of Michael), Count
István Bethlen
Count István Bethlen de Bethlen (8 October 1874 – 5 October 1946) was a Hungarians, Hungarian Aristocracy (class), aristocrat and politician, statesman and served as prime minister from 1921 to 1931.
Early life
The scion of an old Bethlen ...
,
Admiral Horthy
Admiral is one of the highest ranks in many navies. In the Commonwealth nations and the United States, a "full" admiral is equivalent to a "full" general in the army or the air force. Admiral is ranked above vice admiral and below admiral of th ...
, and
Archduke Joseph at
Szeged
Szeged ( , ; see also #Etymology, other alternative names) is List of cities and towns of Hungary#Largest cities in Hungary, the third largest city of Hungary, the largest city and regional centre of the Southern Great Plain and the county seat ...
(under French occupation)." On 4 July 1919 Károlyi fled to Austria, later he moved to Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia. In late 1919, he went into exile in
France
France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...
and during World War II, in
Britain
Britain most often refers to:
* Great Britain, a large island comprising the countries of England, Scotland and Wales
* The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, a sovereign state in Europe comprising Great Britain and the north-eas ...
.
For the time being, however, Károlyi managed to get the formerly moderate right-wing Hungarian newspaper, the Wiener Magyar Zeitung, to serve his cause; on 5 June 1920, one day after the signing of the
Treaty of Trianon
The Treaty of Trianon (; ; ; ), often referred to in Hungary as the Peace Dictate of Trianon or Dictate of Trianon, was prepared at the Paris Peace Conference (1919–1920), Paris Peace Conference. It was signed on the one side by Hungary ...
, Károlyi welcomed the economic blockade of Hungary, which was already in a difficult situation because of the
White Terror, and the tone of the subsequent articles became even harsher:
''"Words will not win Horthy, he must be crushed by deeds. The terrible thing about brutality is that brutality cannot be defeated without using brutality. Horthy's actions show him to be an enemy of humanity ... so humanity must renounce the tradition of humanity in his face."''
Károlyi began vigorous propaganda activities against the emerging Horthy regime. Károlyi mainly tried to negotiate with the creators of the hostile
Little Entente
The Little Entente was an alliance formed in 1920 and 1921 by Czechoslovakia, Romania and the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (Yugoslavia from 1929 on) with the purpose of common defense against Hungarian revisionism and the prospect of ...
, Masaryk and Beneš, as well as with the Austrian Social Democratic Chancellor,
Karl Renner
Karl Renner (14 December 1870 – 31 December 1950) was an Austrian politician and jurist of the Social Democratic Party of Austria, Social Democratic Workers' Party of Austria. He is often referred to as the "Father of the Republics" because he ...
. They wanted to achieve the disarmament of the Hungarian National Army and the removal of Horthy, even with the help of foreign troops and intervention. However the effect has remained small: Renner and Beneš sent a memorandum to the Western Allied Powers, but the leadership of Entente Powers had already decided that Horthy should remain in power.
Eduard Benes sent Mihály Károlyi to Moscow as a Czechoslovak diplomat, as it seemed that the Soviet Red Army was on the verge of victory and would soon occupy Poland. As a diplomat, Károlyi wanted to ensure that the Red Army respected the independence of Transcarpathia and Slovakia. However, the Soviet Red Army was unexpectedly defeated by Marshal Pilsudski in August (
Battle of Warsaw).
[Pethő Tibor: ]
Elnök az előszobában
'' ''(Károlyi Mihály útja a kisantanttól a Kominternig)''. Magyar Nemzet Magazin, 2010. ápr. 24. (szombat). Hiv. beillesztése: 2010. július 29.
Charge of inciting the murder of István Tisza
Károlyi was accused of inciting rebel soldiers to assassinate the former prime minister (and his main political opponent)
István Tisza
Count István Imre Lajos Pál Tisza de Borosjenő et Szeged (, English: Stephen Emery Louis Paul Tisza, short name: Stephen Tisza); (22 April 1861 – 31 October 1918) was a politician who served as Prime Minister of Hungary, prime minister ...
at the beginning of the Aster Revolution.
According to historian Ferenc Pölöskei, when Prime Minister
István Bethlen
Count István Bethlen de Bethlen (8 October 1874 – 5 October 1946) was a Hungarians, Hungarian Aristocracy (class), aristocrat and politician, statesman and served as prime minister from 1921 to 1931.
Early life
The scion of an old Bethlen ...
witnessed the collapse of the prosecution's case in the trial of Tisza's alleged murderers, he "willingly or unwillingly, necessarily erased - it seems, perhaps forever - the traces leading to the mystery of Tisza's assassination." The only certainty that emerged was that the threads of the plot did not originate from the National Council led by Mihály Károlyi, and the identities of the killers did not match those specified in the prosecutor's indictment based on the Hüttner testimony.
Historians Pölöskei and Tibor Hajdu consider the trial to have been a political fabrication:
isza's"trial of the alleged murderers may have been the first modern Hungarian show trial, where the true identification of the killers was the least of their concerns." However, other historians, such as Gábor Vincze and Zoltán Maruzsa, the president of the István Tisza Society, disagree with this assessment, noting that "The trial differs from the show trials orchestrated by communists during the Cold War era in that, while there were indeed those in the Horthy regime who wished to stage a show trial, ultimately no one was convicted against whom there was no evidence, and Mihály Károlyi himself was ultimately acquitted of the charge of inciting the murder."
Charged with treason
In the early years of the Horthy era, between 1921 and 1923, Károlyi was subjected to an officially sanctioned, contrived trial in which he was convicted of high treason and sentenced to the full confiscation of his assets. The judgment held him guilty of high treason due to the unilateral disarmament of the large
Honvéd army, which fatal decision had militarily enabled the Allies to dismember Hungary in the Treaty of Trianon. In the interpretation of the court verdict, he betrayed Hungary during his leadership. Károlyi was formally declared a persona non grata. Due to procedural and substantive irregularities in the trial, sharp criticism of the proceedings and verdict was voiced in the British and French parliaments.
Private life in interwar period
In 1924, while Károlyi's wife was in the United States she came down with typhoid fever. Károlyi applied for a visa to come to the United States to visit her, but the State Department imposed a gag order, preventing him from giving any political speeches, as the State Department believed him to be a
Communist
Communism () is a sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology within the socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a socioeconomic order centered on common ownership of the means of production, di ...
. A year later, Countess Károlyi was denied a visa to visit the United States, but Secretary Kellogg of the State Department refused to explain on what grounds her visa denial was made.
THE CABINET: Law and Discretion, ''Time'', Monday, Nov. 02, 1925 Morris Ernst
Morris Leopold Ernst (August 23, 1888 – May 21, 1976) was an American lawyer and prominent attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). In public life, he defended and asserted the rights of Americans to privacy and freedom from c ...
acted as Károlyi's lawyer for these issues.
Anti-fascism
In August 1944, Károlyi, as president of the Hungarian Council in Great Britain, and his colleagues held a meeting to protest against the ongoing genocidal persecution of Hungarian Jews. Throughout the
Horthy era, Károlyi was in a state of official disgrace in his homeland.
Post WW2
In 1946, Károlyi, who by that time had become a
socialist
Socialism is an economic ideology, economic and political philosophy encompassing diverse Economic system, economic and social systems characterised by social ownership of the means of production, as opposed to private ownership. It describes ...
, returned to
Hungary
Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...
and from 1947 to 1949 served as the Hungarian Ambassador to France. In 1949, he resigned in protest over the show trial and execution of
László Rajk.
He wrote two volumes of memoirs in exile; ''Egy egész világ ellen'' ("Against the Entire World") in 1925 and ''Memoirs: Faith without Illusion'' in 1954.
He died in
Vence, France, on 19 March 1955 at the age of 80.
Legacy
During the late
Kádár era, Károlyi was praised as the founder of the first Hungarian republic. Many streets and other public places were named after him, and even a few statues were erected in his honor. The most famous one, sculpted by
Imre Varga, was installed in Budapest's
Kossuth Lajos tér in 1975. After the fall of communism his statue was repeatedly covered with red paint by unknown persons. At other times a wire was hung around his neck, a sign was hung on the wire with the inscription "I am responsible for Trianon". The statue was dismantled at dawn on 29 March 2012, as part of the redevelopment of Kossuth Square, and transported to a foundry in Kőbánya, Finally Károlyi's statue was moved to
Siófok
Siófok (; ; ) is a town in Somogy County, Hungary on the southern bank of Lake Balaton. It is the Somogy County#Municipalities, second largest municipality in Somogy County and the seat of Siófok District. It covers an area of about between Lak ...
at the residence of its creator. By the 21st century however, the view on him has become mixed at best. Many Hungarians blame him for the disintegration of
Greater Hungary and for the establishment of the
Hungarian Soviet Republic of 1919.
Taking a stand on Kossuth square
, Budapest Times At the same time, throughout Hungary, most cities also renamed their own streets named after him, sometimes in a creative way. In Budapest for example the name of the prominent street in downtown, was changed from "Károlyi Mihály utca" to simply "Károlyi utca", removing the association with him.
Notes
Footnotes
References and further reading
* Deak, Istvan. "Budapest and the Hungarian Revolutions of 1918-1919." ''Slavonic and East European Review'' 46.106 (1968): 129–140
online
*Deak, Istvan "The Decline and Fall of Habsburg Hungary, 1914–18" pages 10–30 from ''Hungary in Revolution'' edited by Ivan Volgyes Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1971.
* Hajdu, Tibor. "Michael Károlyi and the Revolutions of 1918–19." ''Acta Historica Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae'' 10.3/4 (1964): 351–371
online
* Károlyi, Mihály. ''Fighting the World : The Struggle for Peace'' (New York: Albert & Charles Boni, 1925)
* Károlyi, Mihály. ''Memoirs of Michael Karolyi: faith without illusion'' (London: J. Cape, 1956)
online free to borrow
*Menczer, Bela "Bela Kun and the Hungarian Revolution of 1919" pages 299–309 from ''History Today'' Volume XIX, Issue #5, May 1969, History Today Inc: London
*Pastor, Peter, ''Hungary between Wilson and Lenin: the Hungarian revolution of 1918–1919 and the Big Three'', Boulder: East European Quarterly; New York: distributed by Columbia University Press, 1976.
* Polanyi, Karl. "Count Michael Károlyi." ''Slavonic and East European Review'' (1946): 92–97
online
*Szilassy, Sándor ''Revolutionary Hungary, 1918–1921'', Astor Park. Fla., Danubian Press 1971.
* Vassady, Bela. "The" Homeland Cause" as Stimulant to Ethnic Unity: The Hungarian-American Response to Károlyi's 1914 American Tour." ''Journal of American Ethnic History'' 2.1 (1982): 39-64
online
*Vermes, Gabor "The October Revolution In Hungary" pages 31–60 from ''Hungary in Revolution'' edited by Ivan Volgyes Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1971.
External links
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Karolyi, Mihaly
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