The Hungarians and the Finns have had very few direct contacts in the historical past. These people have, however, shared a similar position in that they have both belonged to a group of small and medium-sized nations lying in a zone between East and West, which has sometimes been called "Europe Between". Despite the considerable differences between the two societies, it may be instructive to compare them. This was the basis for a dialogue between Hungarian and Finnish historians which began in the early 1980s, and it has provided the starting point for a number of conferences held in both countries. The present work is based on papers given at a conference arranged in Helsinki in 1998. The articles, written by Hungarian and Finnish historians, offer fresh perspectives both on the political history of the inter-war period especially with regard to parties and ideologies, which are examined from a comparitive standpoint, and on the position of the two countries during the Cold War.