The need to return to national interest, realism, restraint, balance of power, and Westphalian non-intervention is perhaps the most tragic and urgent lesson that must be learned from this war.

The Sovietisation of Hungary demanded the discrediting of all liberal, democratic and capitalistic traditions as undesirable, and therefore a “straight line” had to be drawn from the white counter-revolution of 1919 to the 1944 October Arrow-Cross takeover.

The moderation of Budapest’s role is largely due to the high share of infrastructure related public investments which developed Hungarian regions more than the capital.