The Continuing Struggle

Henrik Marczali's Views on War Responsibility in the 1920s

Abstract

Between 1914 and 1918, Henrik Marczali took a significant role in the propaganda of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy due to war psychosis. He wrote articles and long studies about the necessity of the war. He believed in victory, for which he wanted to do it, so he urged the audience in
lectures to support the war in Budapest, Miskolc, Arad and Baja. After the World War he published revisionist writings. He was disappointed in the Trianon Peace Treaty, he did not accept the defeat and war responsibility either. Like the majority of German and Austrian historians, he wanted
to prove that his country was not responsible for the war. First of all he emphasized the innocence of István Tisza. In Tisza, he saw a prime minister who did everything for peace and opposed the war until the last moment. Marczali was in friendship with Tisza who entrusted to the historian a
memorandum and a letter. These were written during the war by Tisza, and he committed the documents to Marczali. After Tisza’s death, Marczali published the documents – that rehabilitated Tisza – in Hungarian and English. In his writings between 1919 and 1934, the historian also took part in the construction of the Tisza cult and the cult of József Ferenc. His standpoint was legitimist. In his views on the World War nothing changed. He continued to believe that Trianon’s strictness was based, among other
things, on a misunderstanding of István Tisza’s true political intentions and role. He believed in the possibility of a peaceful revision. He mainly counted on the help of Great Britain and the United States of America. After the
publication of his book How the Great War Was Made? in 1923, he published his views in longer newspaper publications. In these publications, he no longer spoke to historians, but to the public. In his articles, he repeated the
most of his claims between 1914 and 1918. So, stepping out of the role of historian, he tried to be the saviour of Hungary in his own way.