Hungarian History
The Origin of Hungary
In the time of the Roman Empire, the region west of the Danube
river was known as Pannonia. After the Western Roman Empire collapsed
under the stress of the migration of Germanic tribes and Carpian
pressure, the Migration Period continued bringing many invaders
to Europe. Among the first to arrive were the Huns, who built
up a powerful empire under Attila. It is presently believed that
the origin of the name "Hungary" does not come from the Central
Asian nomadic invaders called the Huns, but rather originated
from a later, 7th century Bulgar alliance called On-Ogour, which
in Old Turkish meant "(the) Ten Arrows".
After Hunnish rule faded, the Lombards and the Gepids ruled in
Pannonia for about 100 years, during which the Slavic tribes began
migrating into the region. In the 560s, the Slavs were supplanted
by the Avars, who maintained their supremacy of the land for more
than two centuries. The Franks under Charlemagne from the west
and the Bulgars from the southeast managed to overthrow the Avars
in the early 9th century. However, the Franks soon retreated,
and the Slavonic kingdom of Great Moravia and the Balaton Principality
assumed control of much of Pannonia until the end of the century.
The Magyars migrated to Hungary in the late 9th century.
Magyar tradition holds that the Country of the Magyars (Magyarország)
was founded by Árpád, who led the Magyars into the Pannonian plain
in 896 AD. The "Ten Arrows" mentioned above referred to ten tribes,
the alliance of which was the foundation of the army of the invading
Magyars.
Stephen I of Hungary
The Kingdom of Hungary was established in 1000 by King Saint
Stephen. Originally named Vajk, Stephen was a direct descendant
of Árpád, and was baptised as a child. He married Giselle of Bavaria,
the daughter of Henry II, Duke of Bavaria in 996, and after the
death of his father Prince Géza in 997, he assumed the mantle
of ruler and became the first Christian king of Hungary.
St. Stephen I received his crown from Pope Silvester II in 1000.
As a Christian king, he established the Hungarian Church with
ten dioceses and the royal administration of the country that
was divided into counties (comitatus or vármegye). Hungary became
a patrimonial kingdom where the majority of the land was the private
property of the ruler. In 1083, he was canonized along with his
son, Imre of Hungary.
Initially, Hungarian history and politics developed in close
association with that of Poland and Bohemia, driven by the interventions
of various Popes and Emperors of the Holy Roman Empire. Between
1241-1242, under King Béla IV, Hungary was devastated, suffering
great loss of life at the hands of the Mongol (Tatar) armies of
Batu Khan who defeated the Hungarians at the Battle of Muhi. Despite
the victory, the Mongols did not occupy Hungary, but withdrew
shortly after upon the news of the death of Ögedei Khan, leaving
behind a country in ruins. The famous "Bent Cross" atop the crown
has become a symbol of Hungary. Originally the cross was upright
but was bent when it was stolen in the eleventh century.
Árpáds
Gradually Hungary, under the rule of the dynasty of the Árpáds
and even before it (since the 9th century), joined the greater
West European civilizations. Ruled by the Angevins since 1308,
the Kingdom of Hungary slowly lost control over territories later
called Wallachia (1330) and Moldavia (1359).
János Hunyadi, the Regent of Hungary, fought defensive wars against
the invading Ottoman Empire. The custom of sounding the noon bell
is closely related to an important battle against the Ottomans
that took place on June 29, 1456, at Nándorfehérvár.
János's son, King Matthias Corvinus, ruled the Kingdom of Hungary
from 1458 to 1490. He strengthened Hungary and its government.
Under his rule, Hungary became an important artistic and cultural
centre of Europe during the Renaissance. Matthias, whose wife
was Italian, imported artisans from Italy and France. Likewise,
Hungarian culture influenced others--for example, the Polish-Lithuanian
Commonwealth. King Matthias Corvinus was also successful in many
battles against the Ottoman Empire.
Ottomans
The forthcoming two centuries were dominated by constant warfare
against the Ottoman Empire. The Ottomans gained a decisive victory
over the Hungarian army at the battle of Mohács in 1526. The next
decades were characterised by political chaos; the divided Hungarian
nobility elected two kings simultaneously, Ferdinand Habsburg
(1526-1540) and János Szapolyai (1526-1540), whose armed conflicts
weakened the country further. After the conquest of Buda by the
Ottomans in 1541, the Kingdom of Hungary came to be divided into
three parts: one third of Hungary fell under Ottoman rule; one
third (in the West) remained under Habsburg rule Kings of Hungary);
and the third part, in the east (originally supporting János Szapolyai),
remained independent (the Principality of Transylvania) and subsequently
become a semi-independent, vassal state of the Ottoman Empire.
It was only more than 150 years later, at the end of the 17th
century, that Austria and its Christian allies regained the territories
of the Kingdom from the Ottoman Empire.
Austro-Hungarian empire
After the final retreat of the Ottomans, struggle began between
the Hungarian nation and the Habsburg kings for the protection
of noblemen' rights (thus guarding the autonomy of Hungary). The
fight against Austrian absolutism resulted in an unsuccessful
revolt for popular freedom between 1703 and 1711, led by a Transylvanian
nobleman, Ferenc II Rákóczi. The revolution and war of 1848-1849
eliminated serfdom and secured civil rights. The Austrians were
finally able to prevail, but only with Russian help.
Thanks to the victories against Austria by the French-Italian
coalition (the Battle of Solferino, 1859) and Prussia (Battle
of Königgrätz, 1866), Hungary would eventually, in 1867, manage
to become an autonomous part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire (see
Ausgleich). Having achieved this, the Hungarian government made
an effort to nationally unify the kingdom by Magyarisation of
the various other nationalities. This lasted until the end of
World War I, when the Austro-Hungarian empire collapsed. On November
16, 1918, an independent Hungarian Republic was proclaimed. This
was Hungary's first republic.
Interwar era
Following World War I, Romania, Czechoslovakia, and a joint army
from Serbia and France occupied various Hungarian territories.
Romania occupied Transylvania and Eastern Hungary. Czechoslovakia
occupied Upper Hungary. The joint Serb and French army occupied
Southern Hungary. The post-War Entente backed the subsequent annexations
of these territories. In March of 1919, the communists took power
in Hungary. In April, Béla Kun proclaimed the Hungarian Soviet
Republic. But Kun's government, like its immediate predecessor,
proved to be short-lived. This was despite some initial military
successes against the Czechoslovakian Army.
On 13 June 1919, the Versailles Peace Conference ordered Hungary
to evacuate the northern territories and Romania to leave Tiszántúl.
Hungary fulfilled its part of the order by 30 June 1919. But the
Romanian army refused to leave Tiszántúl. The ensuing war between
Hungary and Romania led to the defeat of the Hungarian Red Army.
By August 1919, more than half of present-day Hungary, including
Budapest, was occupied by Romania. The Romanian occupation lasted
until November 1919 when the Romanian army departed.
Rightist Hungarian military forces, led by the former Austro-Hungarian
Admiral Miklós Horthy, entered Budapest in the wake of the Romanian
army's departure and filled the vacuum of state power. In January
1920, elections were held for a unicameral assembly. Admiral Horthy
was elected Regent, thereby formally restoring the monarchy to
Hungary. However, there would be no more "Kings of Hungary" despite
attempts by the former Habsburg ruler to return to his former
seat of power. Horthy ruled as Regent until 16 October 1944. Hungary
remained a parliamentary democracy. But, after 1932, autocratic
tendencies gradually returned as a result of Nazi influence and
the Great Depression.
On June 4, 1920, the Treaty of Trianon was signed, establishing
Hungary's new borders. Compared with the pre-war Kingdom, post-Trianon
Hungary had 71% less territory and 66% less population. About
one-third of the Magyar population became minorities in neighbouring
countries. Hungary also lost its only sea port at Fiume (today
Rijeka). Therefore, Hungarian politics and culture of the interwar
period was dominated by irredentism ( the restoration of historical
"Greater Hungary").
World War II
The country became allied with Nazi Germany in the 1930s. The Hungarians
allied themselves with the Germans in the hope that the territorial
loss by the Treaty of Trianon could be reversed. Initially the alliance
with Germany paid off. Some lost territories were returned to Hungary
in the two Vienna Awards. In 1941, Hungary belatedly assisted the
Germans with the invasion of Yugoslavia. Hungary then occupied the
Backa. On 22 June 1941, the Germans invaded the Soviet Union (Operation
Barbarossa). The Hungarians soon followed the Germans and enterred
World War II as a member of the Axis. In late 1941, the Hungarian
troops on the Eastern Front experienced success at the Battle of
Uman. By 1943, after the Hungarian Second Army suffered extremely
heavy losses at the Battle of Stalingrad, the Hungarian government
sought to negotiate a surrender with the Allies. On 19 March 1944,
as a result of this duplicity, German troops quietly occupied Hungary
in what was known as Operation Margarethe. But, by now it was clear
that the Hungarians were Germany's "unwilling satellite". On 15
October 1944, the pro-West Horthy again ran afoul of the Germans.
This time the Germans launched Operation Panzerfaust and Horthy
was replaced by a puppet government under the pro-German Prime Minister
Ferenc Szálasi. Szálasi and his pro-Nazi Arrow Cross Party remained
loyal to the Germans until the end of the war. In late 1944, Hungarian
troops on the Eastern Front again experienced success at the Battle
of Debrecen. But this was followed immediately by the Soviet invasion
of Hungary and the Battle of Budapest. On 28 December 1944, a "provisional
government" was formed in Hungary under acting Prime Minister Béla
Miklós. While the Miklós government immediately ousted Prime Minister
Ferenc Szálasi's government, the Germans and pro-German Hungarians
loyal to Szálasi fought on in Hungary. On 20 January 1945, representatives
of the Hungarian "provisional government" went to Moscow and agreed
to complete Hungarian capitulation. Again, the Germans and pro-German
Hungarians loyal to Szálasi fought on in Hungary. On 13 February
1945, the Hungarian capital city surrendered unconditionally. On
8 May 1945, World War II in Europe officially ended.
Holocaust
Hungary was the first modern nation to pass distinctly anti-Semitic
laws. The "numerus clausus" laws of the early 1920s restricted Jewish
access to higher education. In the late 1930s, more specifically
anti-Semitic laws followed. Though massacres of Jews by Hungarian
forces took place during the early part of the Second World War,
Hungary initially resisted large scale deportation of its Jewish
population. Ultimately, however, during the German occupation in
May-June 1944, the Arrow Cross Party and Hungarian police deported
nearly 440,000 Jews, mostly to Auschwitz. Over 400,000 Hungarian
Jews were murdered during the Holocaust, as well as tens of thousands
of Roma people. Hundreds of Hungarian people were also executed
by the Arrow Cross Party for sheltering Jews, among them Sister
Sára Salkaházi. Foreign heads of states and diplomats who helped
save many lives included Cardinal Roncalli, later Pope John XXIII,
Raoul Wallenberg, and Carl Lutz. Italian businessman Giorgio Perlasca
posed as a Spanish diplomat in order to issue forged visas and establish
safe houses, including one for Jewish children. When Soviet forces
liberated Budapest in February 1945, more than 100,000 Jews remained.
Soviet era
Following the fall of Nazi Germany, Hungary became a communist satellite
state of the Soviet Union. This followed a brief interval of democracy
from 1946 to 1947 when the Hungarians proclaimed their second republic.
After 1948, Communist leader Mátyás Rákosi established Stalinist
rule in the country. The rule of the Rákosi government was nearly
unbearable for Hungary's war-torn citizens. This led to the 1956
Hungarian Revolution and Hungary's temporary withdrawal from the
Warsaw Pact. The Soviets massively retaliated militarily. Nearly
a quarter of a million people left the country during the brief
time that the borders were open in 1956. From the 1960s through
the late 1980s, Hungary was often satirically referred to as "the
happiest barrack" within the Eastern bloc. This was under the autocratic
rule of its controversial communist leader, János Kádár.
Third Hungarian Republic
In the late 1980s, Hungary led the movement to dissolve the Warsaw
Pact and shifted toward multiparty democracy and a market-oriented
economy. On October 23, 1989, Mátyás Sz?rös declared the Third
Hungarian Republic and became interim President. Hungary's first
free elections were held in 1990. Following the collapse of the
Soviet Union in 1991, Hungary developed closer ties with Western
Europe as well as with other Central European countries. It became
a member of the Visegrad Group in 1991, joined NATO in 1999, and
became a member of the European Union on May 1, 2004.
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