THE HUNGARIAN–ITALIAN RELATIONS IN A REGIONAL CONTEXT BETWEEN 1927 AND 1936

Abstract

After the signing of the Italian–Hungarian treaty of friendship of 1927, the two States had a strong political cooperation which influenced the policy of third countries of the Central European region as well. Italy’s and Hungary’s relations were mainly significant in the period of 1927 to 1936, until the Berlin–Rome Axis was formed, which made Germany to be a determining factor both in the Hungarian and in the Italian foreign policy.

In my paper I examine the regional context of the Hungarian–Italian relations in these years – between 1927 and 1936 –, presenting their common policy towards those State which played the most important part in their relations. First of all, I examined in details the role of Yugoslavia, as Hungary and Italy, for certain interests, collaborated in supporting the Macedonian and Croatian separatist movement, which became embarassing after the regicide of Marseille in 1934, when the Yugoslavian King Alexander I was murdered by the Ustasha members. Beside Yugoslavia, Austria played an important part in the Hungarian–Italian relations as well, both for political and economic reasons. Benito Mussolini aimed a trilateral agreement among the three States, which – after episodes like supporting the rightist Heimwehr movement, and the danger of Anschluss – was established in 1934 by the Roman Protocols. The third State which role I examined was Germany, because of the reasons mentioned above.