After Miklós Horthy was chosen Regent of Hungary on 1 March 1920, Charles I of Austria, who had reigned in Hungary as Charles IV, made two unsuccessful attempts to retake the throne. His attempts are also called the "First" and "Second Royal coups d'état" () respectively.
Background On 13 November 1918, Charles issued a proclamation in which he relinquished his right to take part in Hungarian affairs of state. He also released the officials in the Hungarian half of the empire from their oath of loyalty to him. This came two days after he issued a similar statement withdrawing from Austrian politics. Although these statements have been described as abdications, Charles deliberately avoided using that term in the event the people of either nation recalled him.Kings and Queens of Hungary & Princes of Transylvania, by István Gombás published by Corvina, Budapest, 2002 ()
Charles's last Hungarian prime minister, Mihály Károlyi, took advantage of the situation and proclaimed the Hungarian Democratic Republic, with himself as provisional president. The continued Allied occupation made Károlyi's situation untenable, and in March 1919 he was pushed out of office by a Social Democratic-Communist coalition that proclaimed the Hungarian Soviet Republic. Under the Communist leader Béla Kun, Hungary became the world's second Communist nation. However, Kun's government was overthrown in August by the Romanian Armed Forces. Eventually, Archduke Joseph August, Charles' cousin, took power as regent for Charles, only to be forced out when the Allies refused to recognize him.
It soon became apparent that the Allies would not accept a Habsburg as Hungary's head of state. Finally, in March 1920, Miklós Horthy, the last commander of the Austro-Hungarian Navy, was named regent of Hungary. The newly elected legislature nullified the actions and legally erased both the People's Republic and the Soviet Republic of Hungary via Act 1 of 1920.
Easter Crisis
The former king's first coup attempt began on 26 March 1921. This was Holy Saturday that year: the diet was not in session, the diplomatic corps was away in the country, and Regent Horthy planned a quiet holiday with his family in the royal palace. Charles, prompted by suggestions from his immediate Swiss entourage and trusting in the promises of certain European royalist circles, took advantage of this quiet. Despite warnings by many of his supporters and by Horthy himself that the time was not right to return to the throne, he was optimistic, believing that the mere news of his reappearance and Horthy's willingness to hand over power would revive Hungarians' love for their king. His secret negotiations with French Prime Minister Aristide Briand led him to expect French support if he succeeded, and no armed intervention from Hungary's neighbours.Sakmyster, p. 91
At the time, the Hungarian diet was dominated by two right-wing monarchist parties, the Christian National Union Party and the Smallholders. The difference was that most Christian Union members were legitimists, seeing Charles IV as Hungary's legitimate king and favouring his restoration to power. Most Smallholders were free-electors and held that Hungarians were now free to choose as king anyone they wished.
Shorn of his moustache and armed with a forged Spanish passport, Charles left Wartegg Castle in Switzerland and arrived undetected at Szombathely on 26 March. There he made his way to the palace of Count János Mikes, a prominent legitimist; the news spread quickly among local legitimists and by the early hours of 27 March Charles had a small privy council, including József Vass, Horthy's Minister of Education, and Colonel Antal Lehár. The latter placed himself and his soldiers at Charles' disposal but warned of significant military risks. Charles agreed to summon Prime Minister Count Pál Teleki (who was staying nearby) for negotiations. Teleki, roused from his sleep at 2:00 am, muttered "too soon, too soon" before Charles and urged him to return, averring that otherwise civil war would break out and the Little Entente would intervene. Eventually it was agreed that Charles must meet Horthy; Teleki left by car for Budapest at 6:30 am, with Charles following an hour later. Teleki's car arrived much later in the day, having taken a wrong turn; some suspect that the "wrong turn" was a pretext by Teleki to remain uninvolved, as the Szombathely-Budapest road is a straight one.Sakmyster, p. 91-2
Charles arrived at the palace totally unannounced early on the afternoon of the 27th, just as Horthy was sitting down to an Easter dinner with his wife. Horthy's aide-de-camp tried to draw him away from the table, but Horthy's wife Magdolna insisted her husband should at least be allowed to finish his soup in peace. Horthy then withdrew and, having no time to phone his advisers, grappled with the situation himself. Within minutes he was embracing Charles and leading him into the Regent's (formerly the King's) office. There followed an emotional two-hour discussion that Horthy would later describe as "the most difficult moments in my entire life" and a "thoroughly odious" experience. Charles thanked Horthy for his service as regent but said the time had come to "hand over power to me"; Horthy replied, "This is a disaster. In the name of God, Your Majesty must leave at once and return to Switzerland, before it's too late and the Powers learn of your presence in Budapest". Charles said he had "burned his bridges", and, speaking in German, spent the rest of the meeting using numerous arguments to break down the flustered Horthy's resistance. He reminded Horthy of his tearful pledge of loyalty made at Schönbrunn Palace in November 1918, and of the sworn oath of obedience to the Habsburg monarch from which he had never been released. Horthy reminded him that he had more recently sworn an oath to the Hungarian nation. Shocked by Horthy's recalcitrance, Charles eventually said: "I stick by my position. I'll give you five minutes to think it over". During this break Horthy composed himself (Charles seemed exhausted), reiterated his fear of civil war, and was sceptical about Charles' claim to have assurances of support from Briand.Sakmyster, p. 95-6 Horthy was created Prince of Otranto & Szeged and was awarded the Grand Cross of the Military Order of Maria Theresia, both distinctions which he didn't use.
A tentative three-week truce was reached that both men interpreted differently. Horthy expected Charles to leave Hungary and either march on Vienna or retire to Switzerland. Charles assumed that, whether or not he invaded Austria, Horthy would strive to facilitate his restoration within three weeks. Leaving by a back door and catching cold (he was given no overcoat), Charles was driven to Szombathely while Horthy spent the evening recounting the meeting in ever more dramatic fashion.Sakmyster, p. 97-8 Over the next few days, both men remained firm, but Charles' position began to suffer. On 28 March, Czechoslovak and Yugoslav envoys declared a restoration would be a casus belli; on 1 April the diet (with legitimists abstaining) passed a unanimous resolution praising Horthy's conduct and endorsing the status quo, and calls for Charles' arrest grew (Horthy adamantly refused this); by 3 April Briand publicly denied any deal had been made. With the army still loyal to Horthy, Charles reluctantly left by train on 5 April, reaching Hertenstein Palace the next day. A proclamation of his that he was Hungary's rightful ruler appeared in Hungarian newspapers on 7 April. The Swiss government placed stricter limits on his political activity.Sakmyster, p. 100-2
Charles left Hungary with a deep antipathy toward Horthy, persisting in his belief that the great powers would not oppose a restoration and that (notwithstanding the vote in Parliament), the Hungarian people truly yearned for his return. In fact, no demonstrations of support occurred in Hungary during the "Easter Crisis", except on a small scale in the traditionally royalist western counties, and while he was treated respectfully at Szombathely, officers wavered in their support and the people generally treated him with indifference. A shaken and badly damaged Teleki resigned on 6 April and Horthy appointed Count István Bethlen in his stead eight days later.Sakmyster, p. 103-4
Interlude In June, the legitimists, sensing that the government was taking no real action to bring Charles back, launched a major offensive against Horthy and Bethlen. While Bethlen was a legitimist at heart, he was sober enough to realize that there was no chance for a restored monarchy at the time. They aimed to undermine Horthy's prestige, weaken his power and create favourable conditions for Charles' return. In response, Horthy and Bethlen began secret discussions with legitimist leaders in early August (preferring to deal with them rather than with the pro-democracy Smallholder faction of István Szabó de Nagyatád). In principle, as early as August, the government began to prepare Charles' return: for instance, at the end of that month the Hungarian minister in Paris informed leaders at the French Foreign Ministry that his return was unavoidable due to public opinion.Sakmyster, p. 106-7
March on Budapest
On 21 October, Bethlen, having reached an agreement with the legitimist leader Andrássy, made an ill-timed speech to moderate legitimist aristocrats in Pécs, declaring that "the exercise of royal power is not just a right but a necessity"; that Charles' declaration of November 1918, forfeiting participation in the conduct of state affairs, was made under duress and therefore invalid; and that he would begin negotiations with the Great Powers at the "appropriate time" in order to convince them to accept a restoration. However, he also denounced attempts to restore Charles by force.Sakmyster, p. 112-3
The previous day, after dictating his will, Charles had made a daredevil flight from Dübendorf airport in an Ad Astra Aero Junkers F 13 monoplane (CH-59),Idflieg landing surreptitiously in western Hungary. On 23 October, a Treaty of Versailles-mandated plebiscite was scheduled to occur in the Burgenland (with a choice between Austria and Hungary on offer), and in mid-October Colonel Lehár, Count Gyula Ostenburg-Moravek, and other legitimist officers had decided to take advantage of the tense situation, sending Charles a message that he should try to seize power before 23 October. They wrote, "The domestic political situation is such that when His Majesty enters Budapest no sort of opposition is to be expected. To the contrary, the restoration will be greeted everywhere with jubilation". Not informed that some of Hungary's most prominent legitimists had no knowledge of the plan, Charles thought this was the long-awaited cry for help from the Hungarian nation, declaring, "The Hungarians need me". He was prepared to take power by force, assumed that the Little Entente could not mount an attack within a day or two, and that the Great Powers would accept a fait accompli by that time.
After landing on a field belonging to the legitimist Count József Cziráky in the village of Dénesfa, Charles quickly made his way to Sopron. Having no intention to seek compromise with Horthy, whose cabinet he considered illegitimate, he formed a provisional government:
Prime Minister: István Rakovszky Minister of the Interior: Ödön Beniczky Minister of Foreign Affairs: Count Gyula Andrássy, highly sceptical and disheartened but dutiful Minister of Finance and Industry: Gusztáv Gratz Minister of Defence: Baron Antal Lehár Minister of Education: Count Albert Apponyi.