As Hitler's international moves led to the end of Czechoslovakia in March, 1939, Hungary was given Berlin's green light for the recovery of the province of Ruthenia or Karpatalja, garnered by Prague back in 1918-1920. Here Magyar Honveds look over from the castle hill both the city of Munkacs and the Carpathian mountains in the background.

Hungarian Soldiers View Recovered Munkacs, 1939

Hitler used Hungary's ambition to recover the province of Erdely (Transylvania) as a means of drawing Hungary into his anti-Soviet alliance. Germany and Italy "awarded" northern Erdely to Hungary in 1940, and that country eagerly moved into that predominantly Hungarian-inhabited region. As Hungarian troops entered the capital, Kolozsvar, a young Hungarian soldier receives a welcoming bouquet along with a kiss, as shown in this lithograph.

Magyar Troops Welcomed in Kolozsvar,1940

Becoming the arbiters of the Carpathian basin, Hitler and Mussolini responded to Hungarian demands by awarding in 1938 a narrow strip of former Upper Hungary, now Slovakia, inhabited primarily by Hungarians. Here Regent Horthy and his wife are shown exiting the historic Kassa Cathedral, with the palace guard in the background, after a thanksgiving service.