The character of Józef Piłsudski was quickly mythologized. The legend surrounding him was already widespread even before the start of the First World War. This “alpha male” of the Polish politico-military scene also enjoyed a reputation as a strategic genius among other Central European leaders. The positive opinions about him could especially be observed in Hungary.

From the start of the Great War, a series of articles appeared in the Hungarian press about Józef Piłsudski. In December 1914, the liberal-bourgeois newspaper Pesti Napló spoke of its “heroic Polish legion” fighting the Russian Empire alongside Austro-Hungarian forces.

In September 1916, the conservative newspaper Budapesti Hírlap published an interview with Artur Śliwiński, the vice-president of the Warsaw city council and a close associate of Piłsudski. During this discussion, Śliwiński explained that the Poles expect the “founder of the legions” and the “national hero” Piłsudski to take charge of the organization of the Polish army against Russia.

Once the Great War was over, it was the turn of the conflict between Poland and Soviet Russia between 1919 and 1921 to attract the attention of the Hungarian press. The conservative Budapesti Hírlap, the liberal Pesti Hírlap as well as the social-democratic Népszava regularly informed the Hungarians of developments at the front.

On April 25, 1919, these three newspapers published articles about the victorious entry of the Polish army into the city of kyiv occupied by the Bolsheviks. On May 19, the Budapesti Hírlap informed its readers of the “enthusiastic and warm welcome” of Marshal Piłsudski by the Polish population on his return to Warsaw. A few days later, it was Pesti Hírlap’s turn to quote key passages from a recent interview Piłsudski gave to the Daily Mail. In the latter, the head of the Polish army mentioned the fact that “the Red Army is badly organized and that [its] soldiers fight very badly”.

Some Hungarian newspapers even had their own correspondents in Warsaw. Curiously, the Magyar newspapers did not inform their readers of the important deliveries of ammunition made by the Budapest government to Poland.

At the beginning of August 1920, the advance of the Red Army towards Warsaw became more and more threatening. It is interesting to note that within the Hungarian press, the prospect of a triumph of Bolshevik Russia on the banks of the Vistula went hand in hand with serious concerns. Newspapers of all political persuasions apprehended such a turn of events and its consequences for Central Europe.

For example, the conservative newspaper Nemzeti Újság spoke of the “Polish fight against the red flood”. In mid-August, at the time of the decisive battles around Warsaw, the Pesti Hírlap spoke of the “life and death” struggle of the Polish army as well as the “heroic struggle of the Polish nation” in the face of the “danger Russian”. For its part, 8 Órai Újság will go even further by evoking “the Russian threat […] which like a black cloud covers the sun of civilization”.

Against all odds, the Polish forces (notably thanks to the precious ammunition aid from Hungary) repelled Tukhachevsky’s troops. The Battle of Warsaw on August 15, 1920 was quickly followed by a Polish counterattack. It was from this moment that the Hungarian newspapers began to insist on the merits of Marshal Piłsudksi and his key role in this victory. One of the conservative Magyar newspapers touted him as the one that had stopped “the destructive Bolshevik tide”.

On August 19, 8 Órai Ujság wrote that “the Russians are fleeing from Piłsudski”. In the aftermath of the Polish victory, the Budapesti Hírlap explained to its readers that “the offensive in the direction of the North is advancing triumphantly under the personal command of Marshal Piłsudski […] and that the red threat represents a less and less significant threat to the ‘Europe’.

On August 26, the Warsaw correspondent of Pesti Hírlap, Jenő Benda, described the events as follows: “The inhabitants of the liberated territories welcome the Polish army with tears in their eyes.

“The Poles have broken the red front”. “Russian Red Army flees”. “The Poles are chasing the Russians everywhere”. These are just a few examples of the headlines that Hungarians could read in the newspapers of the late summer of 1920. At that time, the Budapesti Hírlap wrote: “The Poles, risking their lives and spilling their own blood, this time themselves defended their country, which has immense moral value. The gift state [in the aftermath of the Great War] and freedom were built on sand.”

Shortly after the Polish victory, the Nemzeti Újság looked back on the period preceding the conflict: “For many weeks the Hungarian nation watched the events on the Polish-Russian front with bated breath […] Examples of such solidarity between two nations are rare […]”. The anonymous author of these words also insists that the Hungarian nation was wholeheartedly with Poland not so much out of fear of Bolshevism (although it experienced it as early as 1919 under Béla Kun) but rather out of a genuine feeling of friendship towards the Polish nation.

Indeed, the Polish-Hungarian friendship is unique in that it has often gone beyond the most down-to-earth pragmatism and rationality that generally characterizes relations between two nations. It should be emphasized here that the massive aid provided by Hungary to Poland in 1920 was organized in a dramatic context. In fact, Hungary had just had the majority of its territory and population amputated in favor of its neighbors by means of the Treaty of Trianon. However, the Magyar authorities decided despite everything to send munitions by the thousands to the Polish army, without which the Battle of the Niemen could not have been won.

Finally, it is important to emphasize that Poland’s victory over Red Army forces was not limited to a war between two neighboring nations. The triumph of Marshal Piłsudski and his men will have made it possible to delay by two decades the submission of the entire central-eastern part of Europe to the Soviets.

This article has been sponsored by the Wacław Felczak Institute of Polish-Hungarian Cooperation.