History of Hungary

Introduction to History of Hungary

The ancestors of the Hungarians were the Magyars, warlike horsemen and hunters who migrated from the Ural region in the fifth century A.D. Under Árpád the Magyars occupied the middle Danube basin in 896. The most notable of their early rulers was Stephen I, who ruled from about 1000 to 1038. He organized a strong kingdom and became a Roman Catholic. He was canonized as Saint Stephen.

The Hungarian kings often came into conflict with the nobles. In 1222 Andrew II issued the Golden Bull, called the “Hungarian Magna Charta.” This decree exempted all nobles from taxation, granted them other privileges, and conceded the right of resistance to any illegal act of the king. In 1241 Hungary was invaded by Mongols, who left it devastated after a year's occupation.

Rivalry Over the Throne

After the dynasty of Árpád ended with the death of Andrew III in 1301, the throne became a subject of dispute among various European rulers, each of whom sought to have his candidate chosen king. In 1308 a prince of Anjou. supported by the papacy, came to the throne as Charles I. In 1342 he was succeeded by his son, Louis (Lajos) I, called “the Great.” Louis extended his rule southward into the Balkans. In 1370 he inherited the throne of Poland, but the Hungarian and Polish thrones were separated after his death in 1382. Louis was succeeded by his daughter Mary, who later married Sigismund of Luxembourg. Sigismund was king of Hungary from 1387 to 1437, Holy Roman Emperor from 1411 to 1437, and king of Bohemia from 1419 to 1437.

After Sigismund died leaving no son, there was a chaotic period until the Hungarians could find a suitable successor. In 1446 the throne went to a boy, Ladislas V, the grandson of Sigismund. During Ladislas's reign, János Hunyadi became a Hungarian national hero by winning many victories over the Turks. After Ladislas died of the plague in 1457, Mátyás Hollós (Matthias Corvinus), a son of Hunyadi, became king. Matthias defeated the Turks, made himself king of Bohemia, and seized Vienna for his capital.

Turkish Domination

After Matthias died in 1490 Hungary had a series of weak kings. In 1526 the Turks (Ottomans) easily crushed the Hungarian army at Mohács. Part of Hungary came under the control of the Hapsburgs, the ruling dynasty of Austria. Hungarian kings continued to rule in part of Hungary, but were under Turkish domination. During the Reformation Protestantism appeared in Hungary, but in the area ruled by the Haps-burgs the Counter Reformation suppressed Protestantism.

For about 150 years most of Hungary was under Turkish rule. The tide turned in 1683, when the Turks besieged Vienna but were driven back. Gradually, Hungary was liberated from Turkish domination, only to fall under the rule of the Hapsburgs. In 1687 the Hapsburg Leopold I made the Hungarian kingship hereditary in his family.

Austrian Domination

After 1700, Hungarian revolts forced the Hapsburg rulers to make concessions. Under the enlightened rule of Maria Theresa (1740–80) Hungary enjoyed considerable liberty. New problems arose, however, after the Napoleonic Wars and the Congress of Vienna of 1815.

In Hungary there were many political currents: Hungarian bitterness against Austrian domination, discontent of the people because of oppression by the nobles, the opposition of the minority Slavs and Romanians to Hungarian rule, and liberal and democratic movements demanding liberty and popular government. During this period the reactionary Metternich, then master of Austria, put down every reform and revolutionary movement.

In 1848 the Hungarians revolted under the leadership of Lajos Kossuth, a liberal member of the Hungarian Diet. Austria put down this revolt with the support of the Slavic minority and with the aid of a Russian army. Hungary became a subject province of the Austrian empire.

The Dual Monarchy

Austria was seriously weakened by defeat in the war with France in 1859 and by the disastrous Seven Weeks' War with Prussia in 1866. The Hapsburg dynasty was forced to make peace with the Hungarians. In 1867 the Dual Monarchy of Austria-Hungary was created. The two states became theoretically equal under a common monarch.

This makeshift solution did not calm the jealousy between the Hungarians and Austrians. Within Hungary the government aroused bitterness by trying to force the Hungarian language on the subject Slavs and Romanians. With such a mixture of nationalities and minorities, with no group having a majority, the Dual Monarchy was highly unstable. This instability was an important factor in the outbreak of World War I.

Regency and Dictatorship

In World War I. Austria-Hungary fought on the side of Germany, meeting defeat in 1918. The Dual Monarchy collapsed. On November 16. 1918, the Hungarian People's Republic was proclaimed with Count Mihály Károlyi as president. Károlyi lost support in March, 1919, and handed over power to the Communist party leader, Béla Kun, who set up a Soviet republic. In August, 1919, a Romanian army invaded Hungary and forced Kun to flee. Many lives were lost under Communist rule and during the reactionary regime that followed.

In 1920 the victorious Allies forced Hungary to sign the Treaty of Trianon and to give up territory to Romania, the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes (Yugoslavia), and Czechoslovakia. Hungary lost almost three-fourths of its territory and more than half its people, including 3,000,000 Hungarians. These losses aroused deep bitterness.

In 1920 Admiral Miklós Horthy was elected regent. The 1921 constitution declared Hungary to be a kingdom, but the throne was left vacant. In 1921 Charles, the former emperor, came to Hungary to claim the throne but at the insistence of the Allies was sent back into exile.

Count Stephen Bethlen was premier from 1921 to 1931, and under him Hungary had a stable parliamentary government. The economic depression of the 1930's caused political discontent. Horthy continued as regent while power was exercised by a series of fascist-minded dictators. Hungary became allied with Italy and Germany, withdrawing from the League of Nations in 1939 and entering World War II on the Axis side in 1941. Hungary was rewarded with much territory from Czechoslovakia, Romania, and Yugoslavia but offered little resistance when the Soviets invaded at the war's end.

Communist Dictatorship

In January, 1945, a provisional government signed an armistice with the Allies. Although Soviet occupation troops were in the country, the Communist party failed to win the 1945 elections. In 1946 Hungary became a republic. Sweeping land reforms were made to benefit the small farmers.

In 1947 the Communists were strong enough to become the largest party in a coalition government and with Soviet support gained control of Hungary. In 1948 they forced the president to resign. Joseph Cardinal Mindszenty, leader of the Catholic Church in Hungary, was imprisoned on charges of treason in 1949. A government reorganization in 1949 followed the model of a Soviet “people's democracy.” Large industries were nationalized and the collectivization of agriculture began.

Imre Nagy, who became premier in 1953, adopted such a liberal policy that he was removed from office by the Communist party in 1955. In 1956 student demonstrations in Budapest flared into armed revolt and spread throughout Hungary. The revolt succeeded and Nagy became head of the revolutionary government. Within a few days, however, Soviet troops moved into Budapest and crushed all opposition. Nagy was captured and eventually tried for treason and executed. János Kádár, general secretary of Hungary's Communist party, then became premier and began reprisals against the revolutionaries. About 190,000 Hungarians fled to the West.

Following the revolution there was a period of harsh rule while Kádár consolidated the government's position. In the early 1960's, however, he began to liberalize the Hungarian regime. Some freedom of speech was allowed, the powers of the secret police were curtailed, and many political prisoners were released. Kádár resigned as premier in 1965, but, as leader of the party, he retained actual control of the government.

In 1968, Hungary instituted the “new economic mechanism,” reforms designed to decentralize state planning and stimulate private enterprise. Many small businesses were permitted to compete and to operate for a profit. These changes resulted in increased availability of consumer goods. Trade with the West was increased. Hungarians were also allowed greater freedom to express themselves politically as well as in their artistic and literary activities.

Despite domestic liberalization, Hungary closely adhered to Communist-bloc foreign policies. The country joined in the 1968 invasion of Czechoslovakia to stamp out its liberalization movement.

During the late 1970's, economic decline led to new reforms, resulting in somewhat less central planning, more private initiative, and greater emphasis on profit. The economy, however, continued to falter, and in 1988 the Communist party ousted Kádár and many of his associates.

In 1989 a government commission set up to review the events of 1956 found that Nagy had been unjustly convicted of treason. Nagy was reburied with full honors. That same year, demands from within the Communist party and by the general public for government reform led to a special party congress. Party members voted in favor of constitutional changes establishing a democracy and abolishing the Communist monopoly on power. Hungary also opened its border with Austria.

Hungary held elections in 1990 for the National Assembly—the first multiparty elections since 1947. A coalition of parties opposed to Communist rule won a majority of seats. Elections in 1994 brought to power the Socialist party, made up mainly of former Communists. In 1999 Hungary joined the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).

In 2000, Ferenc Madl was elected president. In 2002 elections, a coalition of the Hungarian Socialist Party and Free Democrats took control of the National Assembly. In 2004, Hungary joined the European Union, an organization of European countries that promotes economic and political cooperation among its members. In 2005, Laszló Solyóm was elected president of Hungary. In the 2006 parliamentary elections, the Socialist-led coalition, headed by Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsany, retained power.