In 1936, Istvan, the eldest son of the Hungarian Regent Horthy, woke up from a double nightmare - either the Axis civil strife in the world, Hungary being revenged by its neighboring countries, or becoming a puppet of the Soviet Union.
Bearing a fateful warning, this heir with both engineering talent and political skills took over the Gyor arms program and used technology to disrupt Hungary's industry to rival Japan's and Italy's. He took advantage of the German-Austrian merger and the German invasion of Czechoslovakia to seize historically claimed territory and gather domestic strength.
He secretly linked up with Romania, adopted the Bulgarian crown prince as his godson, used royal ties and military industry sharing to bridge the Balkan feud, and promoted unity in the cracks between the Axis powers and the major powers.
At the end of World War II, Istvan integrated the resources of the five countries and built the newly born Balkan Federation into a closed-loop industrial system and a joint defense force. He overcame German retaliation and pressure from the United States and the Soviet Union, completely breaking the double tragedy of internal strife and vassalage. With the legend of "united to resist hegemony", he rewrote the fate of small countries and the pattern of the Cold War.
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From Spain to Hungary, fighting in cooperation and surviving in confrontation is the struggle of small countries
From Spain to Hungary, fighting in cooperation and surviving in confrontation is the struggle of small countries