Károly Bartha (Minister of Defence)

Vitéz Károly Bartha de Dálnokfalva (18 June 1884 – 22 November 1964) was a Hungarian military officer and politician, who served as Minister of Defence between 1938 and 1942. During World War I he had several high commander offices in Budapest and Trieste. In 1919 he fought against the armies of Czechoslovakia and Romania. After the fall of the Hungarian Soviet Republic Bartha joined the National Army led by Miklós Horthy. Béla Imrédy appointed him as Minister of Defence and Bartha kept his position in the ensuing governments until 1942.

Under his office time there were lot of significant events: the Vienna Awards, the occupation of Bácska and Muravidék, the bombing of Kassa whereby Hungary entered the Second World War (1941). He had big role in the unfortunate occasions of Vojvodina massacres. Horthy fired the government because of its Germanophila. Bartha was retired.

Károly Bartha did undertake neither political nor military role after his retirement. After the war the People's Tribunal considered him a responsible for entering the war. The Military Court downgraded him and later they fired Bartha from the Magyar Honvédség. After the communist takeover he was harassed by the police services, so he emigrated to Venezuela, where he worked as railway constructing engineer. He died in 1964 during a visit to Linz, Austria.