István Tisza - His Judgement From Abroad During and After The War

His Judgement From Abroad During and After The War

It is clear that after the outbreak of World War I, all opposing sides pointed to the other side as the party guilty of initiating the greater war. Interestingly, the British newspaper “New Europe” printed a comment that Hungary was the only responsible party for the war, “where Hungary′s responsibility is greater than Austria′s” and that Tisza was the militaristic politician who dragged all sides into war. As a consequence the “Little Entente” took this view and pushed to punish Hungary at the end of the war. Later, the propaganda of these nations augmented and even invented Tisza's guilt, claiming that he took pains to point out in a report of 8 July that "there should at any rate be no question of the annihilation or annexation of Serbia, and that if Serbia gave way, Austria-Hungary must be content." According to recent findings these accusations are without merit.

The accusations are rooted in the common belief that Tisza carried out a policy of forced Magyarization towards the ethnic minorities in Hungary.