Gyula Gömbös (December 26, 1886-October 6, 1936) was a right wing extemist who served as Prime Minister of Hungary from 1932 to 1936.
Born in Murga, Austria-Hungary, Gömbös entered the Austro-Hungarian Army at a young age and quickly became a member of the officer corps, serving as a captain during World War I. While in the army, Gömbös became a staunch advocate of Hungary gaining independence from Austria and a bitter critic of the Hapsburgs. After World War I ended and Hungary split from Austria, Gömbös joined Conservative Hungarian forces in Szeged that were unwilling to support Communist Béla Kun, who had seized control of Hungary in 1919. Gömbös became a close ally of Miklós Horthy, the leader of the anti-Kun government in Szeged, and played a leading role in organizing Horthy’s army. For his services, Gömbös was made Minister of Defense in the Szeged government. After Kun’s government collapsed in August of 1919, Gömbös helped direct the Conservatives’ purge of Communists from Hungarian society, overseeing a reign of terror that left thousands dead. Gömbös, a rabid Anti-Semite, also supported the Conservatives’ pogroms against Hungary’s Jews, who Gömbös and his colleagues believed were the primary backers of Communism.
After Horthy was made Regent of Hungary in 1920, Gömbös became the primary leader of Hungary’s emerging radical right wing political movement, which was gaining some support from the nation’s people as a response to the Communists’ rule and the signing of the Treaty of Trianon, which resulted in Hungary losing much of its territory to neighoring nations. Despite some disagreements with the right-wing military leader and regent, Miklós Horthy, Gömbös was active in the White Terror and later organized mass military opposition to Karl of Austria's plan to regain his throne in 1921, a move which kept Horthy firmly in control of Hungary. Later that year, Gömbös became one of the primary leaders of the political opposition against Conservative István Bethlen when Bethlen became Prime Minister of Hungary. During the 1920s, Gömbös was a major advocate of making Hungary a one-party state and reorganizing the country along totalitarian lines, implementing land reform, creating Anti-Jewish laws, and withdrawing Hungary from the League of Nations. In 1929, Gömbös was made a major general and appointed Minister of Defense in the Bethlen government by Horthy in an attempt to appease the growing radical right, but Gömbös’s ambition was not abated. By 1932, the radical right had become such a force in Hungary that Horthy had no choice but to appoint Gömbös prime minister. However, Horthy forced Gömbös to recant his Anti-Semitism and agree not to dissolve the current Parliament and call for new elections. This severely limited Gömbös’s ability to bring about the kind of sweeping domestic changes he had in mind, as the Parliament was stacked with Conservative Bethlen supporters. However, Gömbös never gave up his schemes of making Hungary a fascist state, and subsequently used what power he had and the backing of the secret police to establish a much more repressive, authoritarian government than those of his predecessors.
While prime minister, Gömbös was very active in international politics. One of his major goals was to align Hungary into an Axis with Italy and Austria. Shortly after becoming prime minister, Gömbös flew to Italy and visited Benito Mussolini. The two came to an accord, and Mussolini gave Gömbös his support for the revision of the Treaty of Trianon. Mussolini also promised Gömbös Italy’s aid if Hungary went to war with Yugoslavia and Romania in an attempt to seize Hungary’s former territory from those nations. However, Gömbös also harbored hopes of forming an alliance with Germany, especially when it seemed that the Nazi Party would seize control of the country. When Adolf Hitler became Chancellor of Germany in 1933, Gömbös became the first head of a foreign nation to visit the Nazi leader. Shortly thereafter, Gömbös signed a major trade agreement with Germany which would greatly improve Hungary’s ailing economy as the 1930s progressed. The move alarmed many Hungarian political leaders, who believed Gömbös’s relations with Germany would damage Hungary’s ties with Italy, as Italy and Germany were disputing over a proposed union between Germany and Austria. Gömbös eventually decided to align Hungary primarily with Italy and Austria when Hitler made it clear to Gömbös that while he would support Hungary in an effort to regain land from Czechoslovakia, he would not support Hungary against Romania or Yugoslavia. Hitler was also against Gömbös’s plans to expand the size and power of the Hungarian military, while Mussolini supported the idea.
In 1935, Gömbös’s luck greatly improved when he convinced Horthy to dissolve the Parliament and hold new elections. The elections resulted in Hungary’s radical right wing assuming control of the Parliament, which in turn led to a huge increase of Gömbös’s power. Gömbös expanded and reequipped the army, filled it with right wing officers, and exerted greater control over the civil services by stuffing them with right wing supporters. In 1936, Gömbös boasted to Hermann Göring that within two years, Hungary would be completely remodeled along fascist lines with himself serving as dictator. However, Gömbös never lived to see his ambitious plans come to fruition. Gömbös, after a long bout with kidney disease, died of kidney failure in Munich on October 6, 1936.
See also
Last updated: 05-12-2005 18:33:43
