Hungary and Finland in the 20th Century

The Hungarians and the Finns have had very few direct contacts in the historical past. These people have, however, shared a similar position in that they have both belonged to a group of small and medium-sized nations lying in a zone between East and West, which has sometimes been called Europe Between . Despite the considerable differences between the two societies, it may be instructive to compare them. This was the basis for a dialogue between Hungarian and Finnish historians which began in the early 1980s, and it has provided the starting point for a number of conferences held in both countries. The present work is based on papers given at a conference arranged in Helsinki in 1998. The articles, written by Hungarian and Finnish historians, offer fresh perspectives both on the political history of the inter-war period especially with regard to parties and ideologies, which are examined from a comparitive standpoint, and on the position of the two countries during the Cold War.