The First World War was Europe’s suicide attempt and if we take into account the Second World War, then the attempt was partly successful, János Martonyi, former minister of foreign affairs told at a conference in Budapest. The history conference titled ‘The First World War And Its Consequences’ took place in the Hungarian Parliament on Friday. Referring to the opinions of well-known historians, the politician told that the Great War can be interpreted as series of fatal mistakes.
Béla Tomka, professor of social history at Szeged Universty, said that by the early 20th century violence had become decisive factor of history due to the tendencies of extreme nationalism, colonization and bolshevism. In his presentation academic Ignác Romsics analysed the international background of the fall of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy. He emphasized that despite the official declaration the peace treaties concluding the war did not meet the actual ethnic and linguistic situation of Central Europe.
American-Hungarian historian, John Lukacs told in a video presentation, that the Hungarian political and military elites failed to overcome the social crises generated by the war in Hungary and that paved to road to the Treaty of Trianon, which is one of the biggest tragedies of Hungarian history. In his presentation historian János Gyurgyák spoke about radicalization of society in the interwar period, as direct consequence of the First World War. Gyurgyák also took the opportunity to criticize harshly the current political elites and fellow historian who tend to give up the principles of their profession in exchange for various kinds of benefits.
source: mult-kor.hu /MTI photo: Hungary Today ©