Chief of General Staff (Hungary)

The Chief of General Staff (Hungarian: Honvéd Vezérkar főnöke; between 2019 and 2022: Commander of the Hungarian Defense Forces (Hungarian: a Magyar Honvédség Parancsnoka)) is the highest-ranking military officer in the Hungarian Defence Forces and is responsible for maintaining control over the service branches.

Chief of General Staff
Honvéd Vezérkar főnöke
Incumbent Gábor Böröndi since 27 April 2023
Hungarian Defence Forces
Type	Chief of defence
Member of	Hungarian Defence Forces Command
Reports to	Minister of Defence
Seat	Budapest
Nominator	Minister of Defence
Appointer	President of Hungary
Precursor	Chief of the Austro-Hungarian General Staff
Formation	4 January 1922
First holder	Viktor Lorx [hu]
Deputy	Deputy Chief of General Staff
Website	Official website

He is responsible for development, organisation, and equipping, training and functioning of the first strategic echelon (stand-by forces) and the other strategic echelon (reserve).^[1] The Defence Forces Command coordinates the tasks of the armed forces of the Republic of Hungary, develops recommendations for the planning, organisation and supervision of the Ministry's military duties, and for the development of combat capability.^[2]

Since 2007, the Hungarian Defence Forces is under a unified command structure. The Ministry of Defence maintains the political and civilian control of the military.

On 1 January 2019, the General Staff and the Joint Forces Command [hu] were merged to create the Defence Forces Command.^[3] On 1 January 2023 it was renamed to General Staff.

The current chief of general staff is Gábor Böröndi.^[4]

List of officeholders

Royal Hungarian Army (1922−1945)

No.	Portrait	Chief of the General Staff	Took office	Left office	Time in office	Ref.
1		Lorx, ViktorLieutenant general Viktor Lorx [hu] (1873–1922)	4 January 1922	29 June 1922 †	176 days	–
2		Janky, KocsárdCavalry general Kocsárd Janky (1868–1954)	25 October 1922	26 May 1930	7 years, 331 days	–
3		Rőder, VilmosInfantry general Vilmos Rőder (1881–1969)	26 May 1930	16 January 1935	4 years, 235 days	–
4		Somkuthy, JózsefInfantry general József Somkuthy (1883–1961)	16 January 1935	5 September 1936	1 year, 233 days	–
5		Rátz, JenőLieutenant general Jenő Rátz (1882–1949)	5 September 1936	24 May 1938	1 year, 261 days	–
6		Keresztes-Fischer, LajosLieutenant general Lajos Keresztes-Fischer (1884–1948)	24 May 1938	29 September 1938	128 days	–
7		Werth, HenrikGeneral Henrik Werth (1881–1952)	29 September 1938	4 September 1941	2 years, 340 days	–
8		Szombathelyi, FerencColonel general Ferenc Szombathelyi (1887–1946)	4 September 1941	19 April 1944	2 years, 228 days	–
9		Vörös, JánosColonel general János Vörös (1891–1968)	10 May 1944	16 October 1944	159 days	–
10		Beregfy, KárolyColonel general Károly Beregfy (1888–1946)	16 October 1944	30 April 1945	196 days	–

Hungarian People's Army (1945−1990)

No.	Portrait	Chief of the General Staff	Took office	Left office	Time in office	Ref.
1		Vörös, JánosColonel general János Vörös (1891–1968)	15 November 1945	1 September 1946	290 days	–
Vacant 1946–1948
2		Sólyom, LászlóLieutenant general László Sólyom [hu] (1908–1950)	1948	20 May 1950	1–2 years	–
3		Bata, IstvánLieutenant general István Bata (1910–1982)	20 May 1950	10 August 1953	3 years, 82 days	–
4		Székely, BélaMajor general Béla Székely	11 August 1953	22 November 1954	1 year, 103 days	–
5		Tóth, LajosMajor general Lajos Tóth [hu] (1922–2012)	22 November 1954	October 1956	1 year, 10 months	–
6		Kovács, IstvánMajor general István Kovács (1911–2011)	October 1956	November 1956	1 month	–
7		Hegyi, LászlóMajor general László Hegyi	November 1956	1957	0–1 years	–
8		Ugrai, FerencLieutenant general Ferenc Ugrai [hu] (1922–2006)	1957	1963	5–6 years	[5]
9		Ugrai, FerencLieutenant general Károly Csémi [hu] (1922–1992)	1963	19 January 1973	9–10 years	[5][6]
10		Ugrai, FerencColonel general István Oláh (1926–1985)	19 January 1973	6 December 1984	11 years, 322 days	[7]
11		Pacsek, JózsefLieutenant general József Pacsek [hu] (1928–2009)	6 December 1984	1 December 1989	4 years, 360 days	[8]
12		Borsits, LászlóLieutenant general László Borsits [hu] (born 1939)	1 December 1989	1 March 1990	90 days	[9]

Honvédség (1990−present)

The army is called Magyar Honvédség since the end of communism in Hungary.^[10]

No.	Portrait	Chief of the General Staff	Took office	Left office	Time in office	Ref.
1		Borsits, LászlóLieutenant general László Borsits [hu] (born 1939)	1 March 1990	8 September 1991	1 year, 191 days	[11][12]
2		Deák, JánosColonel general János Deák	9 September 1991	31 October 1994	3 years, 52 days	[13]
3		Németh, SándorLieutenant general Sándor Németh	1 November 1994	5 June 1996	1 year, 217 days	[14]
4		Végh, FerencLieutenant general Ferenc Végh [hu] (born 1948)	6 June 1996	31 July 1999	3 years, 56 days	[15][16]
5		Fodor, LajosColonel general Lajos Fodor (born 1947)	1 August 1999	28 February 2003	3 years, 211 days	[17][18] [19]
6		Szenes, ZoltánLieutenant general Zoltán Szenes (born 1951)	1 March 2003	31 January 2005	1 year, 336 days	[20]
7		Havril, AndrásColonel general András Havril [hu] (born 1951)	1 February 2005	15 January 2009	3 years, 349 days	[21][22]
8		Tömböl, LászlóColonel general László Tömböl [hu] (born 1957)	16 January 2009	5 June 2010	1 year, 140 days	[22][23]
9		Benkő, TiborColonel general Tibor Benkő (born 1957)	6 June 2010	16 May 2018	7 years, 344 days	[24]
10		Korom, FerencColonel general Ferenc Korom (born 1964)	16 May 2018	1 June 2021	3 years, 16 days	[25]
11		Ruszin, RomuluszLieutenant general Romulusz Ruszin-Szendi (born 1973)	3 June 2021	27 April 2023	1 year, 328 days	[26]
12		Böröndi,GáborColonel general Gábor Böröndi (born 1971)	27 April 2023	Incumbent	2 years, 15 days	[27]

See also

• Minister of Defence (Hungary)
• Royal Hungarian Army
• Hungarian People's Army