Romsics Ignác - Honmentők / honvesztők

In the first half of the 20th century, two great wars devastated the world. It followed from the armed conflicts that the heads of state of the era were drawn from high-ranking military officers in a much larger number than in more peaceful periods. This volume presents the lives of six such soldiers-turned-European heads of state: Mannerheim from Finland, Piłsudski from Poland, Horthy from Hungary, Antonescu from Romania, Franco from Spain and Pétain from France. Each portrait begins with a flash of family background and social environment, followed by an account of their schooling and military career. With the exception of Piłsudski, all of them participated in the Second World War, and all five were Hitler's allies. It followed from the geopolitical situation of their countries and their own political convictions that this alliance was interpreted and shaped very differently. Primarily, this explains why their judgment differs significantly today. Only Mannerheim and Piłsudski can be considered unequivocally saviors of the country, the others were and are considered by their former and current supporters as saviors of the country, and by their political opponents as traitors. The six portraits end with the presentation of these memory politics debates that continue to this day, and the volume itself concludes with a comparison of the six life paths.

This year (in 2021), the Széchenyi Prize-winning Hungarian historian, university professor, and regular member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (MTA) is seventy years old. He is currently a full-time lecturer at the Institute of History at Eszterházy Károly College in Eger. His main field of research is the Hungarian political history of the 20th century, with particular attention to the period between the two world wars.