Chief of the Hungarian General Staff who was the strongest advocate of alliance with Germany and of war on the Soviet Union
Born into a Swabian family at Rezsőháza in the Banat (now Knićanin, Serbia), he became a cadet in Vienna in 1897 and served as an Austro-Hungarian officer in the First World War. In 1919 he commanded the I Corps of the Hungarian Soviet Republic’s Red Army before going over to Horthy’s National Army in June. Retired in 1936, he was recalled in 1938 as Chief of the General Staff and, with Defence Minister Károly Bartha, became the leading advocate of alliance with Germany. He oversaw the invasion and annexation of Carpatho-Ukraine in March 1939 and, after the Kassa bombing of June 1941, at once blamed the Soviet Union and urged an immediate declaration of war. He left the post of chief of staff in September 1941; arrested by Soviet forces in February 1945, he was taken to the USSR and died there in 1952.
Activities and affiliations
- 1938–1941 Military command · Hungary
- 1919 Military command · Hungary
Career Timeline
- 1897–1901Infantry cadet school, Vienna
- 1914–1918Austro-Hungarian staff officer
- 1919Commander, Red Army I Corps; joined the National Army in June
- 1938–1941Chief of the General Staff
- 1945–1952Arrested by Soviet forces; died in Soviet captivity