Were the Hungarians helping the good side in WWII? Thanks

During the war, Hungary supported Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy. Prior to Hitler's ascent to power in 1933, Hungary depended on Germany for trade and assistance in escaping the depression that the country was experiencing at the time.

As with Germany and Italy, Hungarian politics became markedly more nationalistic in the 1930s, and similar policies were imposed, with irredentism—the idea that some people are trying to reclaim land that has been, quote-unquote, "lost" through history—being a major feature of these new policies. Germany had also imposed similar laws.

In the early 1940s, Hungary officially joined the Axis Powers after Germany invaded Poland, primarily through its assistance in the invasion of Yugoslavia and the USSR. This was due to pressure from Nazi Germany.

However, Hungary was still reluctant to get fully involved; during the war, the Hungarian government had secretly signed an armistice between the US and the UK; Hitler would soon find out about this and order German troops to occupy Hungary in 1944; at this point, Soviet troops started to approach Hungary; as a result, Miklós Horthy, the leader of Hungary, signed another armistice with the USSR; Horthy then had to revoke the armistice after German troops kidnapped his son and threatened to kill him if he didn't revoke the agreement; Horthy was removed from office and replaced by a fascist leader, Ferenc Szálasi.

After the German-Hungarian coalition was routed by Soviet forces in 1945, Szálasi escaped and was apprehended by American forces in the town of Mattsee. He was tried and found guilty of high treason and war crimes, and he was executed by hanging on March 12, 1946.

After being deposed, Horthy was placed under house arrest by SS officers in a Bavarian castle until the end of the war. Following his liberation by American forces, he was again arrested and questioned about his contacts with Germans, but he was not charged with any crimes; he was then reunited with his son. Additionally, the American soldiers shielded him from Russian troops, who were enraged with Horthy over the 1942 massacre of Serbian and Jewish civilians under his command. Nevertheless, he was protected and eventually made his way to Portugal, where he spent the remainder of his life.