Horthy de Nagybánya, Miklós, born, 18-06-1868 in Kenderes, Szolnok, Hungary, son of István Horthy, was a member of the House of Magnates, the upper chamber of the Diet of Hungary, and lord of a 1,500 acre estate. He married Paula Halassy in 1857.
Miklós was the fourth of their eight children

He graduated from the Naval Academy in 1886 and entered the Austro-Hungarian navy, where he served for 32 years. As a captain, Horthy commanded the successful May 1917 attack on the Otranto Barrage, during which he was wounded in both legs. Horthy became a hero in Hungary for his role in the battle, which led to his promotion to rear admiral in March 1918. That same month, following mutinies in the fleet, Emperor Karl promoted Horthy to vice admiral and named him commander of the Austro-Hungarian battle fleet.
Magdolna Purgly, wife of Admiral Miklós Horthy
Following the war, Horthy retired. He soon entered politics as the leader of the conservative White forces against the communist government of Béla Kun. On 01-03-1920, Horthy became regent of Hungary and head of the executive authority. At first Horthy had little power, but his power increased sharply after 1937 when he refused to be bound by decisions of the Hungarian Parliament. In domestic policy, Horthy rejected universal and secret suffrage and land reform. In foreign policy, his chief aim was revision of the Treaty of Trianon of 1920, by which Hungary had lost two-thirds of its territory and population. For this reason, although he was strongly anti-Fascist, Horthy sought the support of, and an alliance with, Germany and Italy. His diplomatic efforts were successful in that between 1938 and 1940, Hungary recovered some of the territory it had lost after World War I to Czechoslovakia, Romania, and Yugoslavia. Horthy successfully managed to afford involvement in the war in September 1939. By April 1941, however, pressure from Adolf Hitler,
coupled with promises of additional territory and access to the Adriatic, led to Hungarian military operations against Yugoslavia on the Axis side. Horthy was also forced to send troops to fight on the Eastern Front against the Soviet Union, but he resisted German efforts to have him deport Hungarian Jews. In September 1942, personal tragedy struck the Hungarian Regent. 37-year-old István Horthy, Horthy’s eldest son, was killed.
István Horthy was the Deputy Regent of Hungary and a Flight Lieutenant in the reserves, 1/1 Fighter Squadron of the Royal Hungarian Air Force
. He was killed when his Hawk fighter crashed at an air field near Ilovskoye. In 1943, Horthy was already considering escaping from Hitler’s grasp and negotiating with the Allied powers. Aware of this activity and determined to keep Hungary in the war on his side, Hitler sent German troops to occupy the country on 19-03- 1944. Horthy remained in his post. In September, Soviet troops invaded Hungary from Romania, and on 28 September Horthy dispatched representatives to Moscow. There they signed a preliminary armistice agreement on 11 October, which Horthy announced publicly four days later. A lack of coordination with army Chief of Staff General János Vörös
led to a continuation of the fighting. Janos Voros was arrested with the charge of spying by the military investigation service. The Military Courthouse sentenced to life imprisonment him in 1950. Vörös left the prison in 1956 after that he lived desolately and poorly. He died age 72, on 23-07-1968, in Balatonfured. The German army then occupied Budapest and took Horthy’s son hostage, forcing Horthy to appoint Ferenc Szálas















Death and burial ground of Horthy de Nagybánya, Miklós.




