Miklós Nagybánya Horthy

(also Miklós Horthy de Nagybánya). Born June 18, 1868, in Kenderes; died Feb. 9, 1957, in Estoril, near Lisbon. Fascist dictator of Hungary (1920–44).

Horthy was educated at the naval academy in Fiume (Rijeka). In 1909 he became an aide-de-camp to Emperor Francis Joseph. Between 1914 and 1918 he commanded a cruiser. He was made a rear admiral and the commander in chief of the Austro-Hungar-ian Navy in 1918. In the same year he headed the suppression of the Kotor Rebellion. In 1919 Horthy served as minister of war in the counterrevolutionary government established in Szeged and commanded the so-called National Army.

After the fall of the Hungarian Soviet Republic of 1919, Horthy implemented a White reign of terror. He was proclaimed regent on Mar. 1, 1920, and established a fascist dictatorship. He allied Hungary with fascist Germany and in 1941 plunged his country into war against the USSR on the side of the fascist Germans. With Horthy’s consent, fascist German troops occupied Hungary on Mar. 19, 1944. On Oct. 15, 1944, Horthy transferred power to F. Szálasi and went to Germany; he was interned in Bavaria. From 1949 until his death Horthy lived in Portugal.