World War II
In July 1941, the Kingdom of Hungary, a member of Tripartite Pact, took part in Operation Barbarossa, in alliance with Nazi Germany. Hungarian forces fought shoulder to shoulder with the Wehrmacht, and advanced through Soviet Ukraine, deep into Russia, all the way to Stalingrad. By 1943–1944, the tide of the war had turned. The Red Army regained the pre-war Soviet territory, and advanced westward from its borders to defeat Germany and its allies.
It was in the context of these events that the Budapest Offensive took place in September 1944. As the Hungarian army ignored the armistice with the USSR (signed by the government of Miklós Horthy on October 15, 1944), the Soviets fought against the Hungarian troops and their German allies, capturing the capital on February 13, 1945, and continuing military operations until April 4, 1945 when the last German forces and the part of Hungarian troops that chose to stay loyal to Germans, despite another armistice (signed by the government of Ferenc Szálasi), were routed.
Read more about this topic: Soviet Occupation Of Hungary
Famous quotes containing the words world and/or war:
“The supply of words in the world market is plentiful but the demand is falling. Let deeds follow words now.”
—Lech Walesa (b. 1943)
“From the beginning, the placement of [Clarence] Thomas on the high court was seen as a political end justifying almost any means. The full story of his confirmation raises questions not only about who lied and why, but, more important, about what happens when politics becomes total war and the truth—and those who tell it—are merely unfortunate sacrifices on the way to winning.”
—Jane Mayer, U.S. journalist, and Jill Abramson b. 1954, U.S. journalist. Strange Justice, p. 8, Houghton Mifflin (1994)