Vain Hopes, Misguided Pursuits: Territorial Revisionism in Interwar Hungary

Territorial revisionism was the main ideology that dominated Hungary during the interwar period. Territorial revisionism was used to promote anti-Trianon sentiment at all levels and in everyday life. The ideology of territorial revisionism permeated not only official events but also the lives of ordinary citizens on a daily basis. Although territorial revisionism had side effects, such as the development and strengthening of nationalism and the resulting discrimination and exclusion of non-Hungarians, it did at least give Hungarian society, which was divided by the defeat in the war, a social and collective psychological treatment of the Trianon trauma, a sense of national and spiritual unity in Hungary, and a concern for foreign policy, especially the issue of territorial revision. The problem with territorial revisionism is that it has become an wrghtist tendency in Hungary, and the unrealistic idealism behind it has influenced Hungary’s official foreign policy, potentially putting the country in a dangerous situation. Hungarian territorial revisionism was conceived in the feverish aftermath of the country’s defeat in the First World War and continued to be fuelled by the government’s tacit support and utopian fantasies. It aimed to return Hungary to its pre-World War I status, a future that was not possible from the outset. In conclusion, it is worth noting that territorial revisionism was a self-deception based on illusions that only considered Hungary’s position.