Baják László Ihász István: The Hungarian National Museum History Exhibition Guide 4 - The short century of survival (1900-1990) (Budapest, 2008)

Room 19. From the Successes of Revision to German and Russian Occupation (1938-1945). István Ihász

Colourful, silk kerchief symbolising the return of Transylvania. 1940. In the frame are the Transylvanian counties, with the Hungarian coat-of-arms at the corners Awards of 1938 and 1940 were mere opening gambits in this game, for Slovakia and Romania made opposing demands, which Germany exploited in order to threaten Hungary - and vice versa. With this, a new, Hitlerist "Little Entente" ring began to form around Hungary. The expansion of its territories had an effect upon the whole of Hungarian society, which was under the spell of the advent of the Messiah they had been waiting for, and the Regent paraded into Kassa (today: Kosice, Slovakia) and Marosvásárhely (today: Tîrgu Mures, Romania) with the aura of respect accorded a conquering hero. Yet in the shadow of triumph signs of the flaws in the concept of the Hungarian leadership could already be sensed. In exchange for the revisionist successes in foreign policy (regained territories from Czechoslovakia and Romania between 1938 and 1940), acquiesced to by the West, Hungary was obliged to attach itself to the anti-comintern pact of the Axis Powers (Italy, Germany and Japan).