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That's the Explorers Podcast. Hello everyone and welcome to History of the Second World War,

Episode 98, Hungary Part 2, Expansion.

During the 1930s, Hungarian foreign policy would be driven by one idea, that if they work closely with Germany, they would be able to benefit from the continued growth of German strength and its continued alteration of the European status quo.

This would first manifest in close economic ties with both Italy and Germany, with the agreements focused on acquiring the ability to either buy

or build modern military hardware and other manufactured goods. Hungary would be able to use

its agricultural output as payment for these imports, but during all of these efforts, care

had to be taken with Hungary still technically being under the constraints of the Treaty of

Trianon, which had been signed after the First World War. This treaty forbid any expansion

of the Hungarian military beyond the small size required for internal security. But after

1927, this restraint, or constraints, were not well enforced, and while it would still be

in effect for almost another

decade, the fact that Hungary was re-arming was an open secret.

In 1938, it would finally be able to remove the constraints after negotiations with several

of its neighboring nations.

During that same year, the overall political situation in Eastern and Central Europe began to rapidly evolve,

due to the German antagonism of, and then annexation of parts of Czechoslovakia after the Munich Agreement.

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