James Felak is a Professor in the Department of History at the University of Washington In "From the Habsburgs to Hitler and Stalin: How the Trauma of World War One Led Hungary into the Axis & Soviet Empires," Dr. Felak discusses how the enormous losses of land and Magyar population suffered by the Kingdom of Hungary due to the post-WWI Treaty of Trianon would shape much of the country's 20th century experience. Possessed by a desire to roll back the Treaty of Trianon's punitive stipulations, Hungary would find common cause with the Axis powers in WWII but eventually wind up behind the Iron Curtain no larger than it had been since the 1920 peace conference at the Grand Trianon Palace in Paris.

Dr. Felak's lecture was part of the Summer 2017 Master Teacher Workshop on “Coming to Terms with the Authoritarian Past in Europe and Russia”at the University of Washington's Jackson School of International Studies. This workshop was organized by UW's Ellison Center for Russian, East European and Central Asian Studies, the Center for West European Studies, and the Center for Global Studies in partnership with the Word Affairs Council.