213-840: Hungary in its modern (post-1946) borders roughly corresponds to the Great Hungarian Plain (the Pannonian Basin ) in Central Europe . During the Iron Age , it was located at the crossroads between the cultural spheres of Scythian tribes (such as Agathyrsi , Cimmerians ), the Celtic tribes (such as the Scordisci , Boii and Veneti ), Dalmatian tribes (such as the Dalmatae , Histri and Liburni ) and
426-536: A compromise allowed the formation of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy in 1867, a major power into the early 20th century. Austria-Hungary collapsed after World War I , and the subsequent Treaty of Trianon in 1920 established Hungary's current borders, resulting in the loss of 71% of its historical territory, 58% of its population, and 32% of its ethnic Hungarians . In the interwar period , after initial turmoil, Miklós Horthy ascended as
639-686: A high-income economy with universal health care and tuition-free secondary education . Hungary has a long history of significant contributions to arts , music , literature , sports , science and technology . It is a popular tourist destination in Europe, drawing 24.5 million international tourists in 2019. It is a member of numerous international organisations, including the Council of Europe , European Union , NATO , United Nations , World Health Organization , World Trade Organization , World Bank , Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank , and
852-513: A runic-like script to the Latin alphabet under Stephen, and Latin was the official language of the country between 1000 and 1844. Stephen followed the Frankish administrative model. The land was divided into counties ( megyék ), each under a royal official called an ispán (equivalent to the title count , Latin : comes ), later főispán ( Latin : supremus comes ). This official represented
1065-581: A bilineal descendant of the Árpád dynasty – successfully restored royal power and defeated oligarch rivals, the so-called "little kings". The second Angevin Hungarian king, Louis the Great (1342–1382), led many successful military campaigns from Lithuania to southern Italy ( Kingdom of Naples ) and was also King of Poland from 1370. After King Louis died without a male heir, the country was stabilised only when Sigismund of Luxembourg (1387–1437) succeeded to
1278-667: A destabilisation of the Soviet bloc. On 4 November, reinforcements of more than 150,000 troops and 2,500 tanks entered the country from the Soviet Union. Nearly 20,000 Hungarians were killed resisting the intervention, while an additional 21,600 were imprisoned afterward for political reasons. Some 13,000 were interned and 230 brought to trial and executed. Nagy was secretly tried, found guilty, sentenced to death, and executed by hanging in June 1958. Because borders were briefly opened, nearly
1491-710: A determining politician, representing the monarchy as regent in place of the Habsburgs. Hungary joined the Axis powers in World War II , suffering significant damage and casualties. As a result, the Hungarian People's Republic was established as a satellite state of the Soviet Union . Following the failed 1956 revolution , Hungary became comparatively freer , but still remained a repressed member of
1704-468: A judgment affirmed in the 15th century by Pope Pius II : "Hungary is the shield of Christianity and the protector of Western civilization". King Saint Ladislaus completed the work of King Saint Stephen . He consolidated the Hungarian state power and strengthened the influence of Christianity . His charismatic personality, strategic leadership and military talents resulted the termination of internal power struggles and foreign military threats. The wife of
1917-747: A just ruler because he protected them from excessive demands and other abuses by the magnates. Under his rule, in 1479, the Hungarian army destroyed the Ottoman and Wallachian troops at the Battle of Breadfield . Abroad he defeated the Polish and German imperial armies of Frederick at Breslau ( Wrocław ). Matthias' mercenary standing army, the Black Army of Hungary , was an unusually large army for its time, and it conquered Vienna as well as parts of Austria and Bohemia . King Matthias died without lawful sons, and
2130-672: A lesser extent, by the Hungarian Royal Court Chancellery in Vienna, independent of the Imperial Chancellery of Austria. From 1526 to 1851, the Kingdom of Hungary maintained its own customs borders, which separated Hungary from the united customs system of other Habsburg-ruled territories. The involvement and integration of Kingdom of Hungary into a different state was legally impossible, due to
2343-584: A list of 12 demands . Under Governor and President Lajos Kossuth and Prime Minister Lajos Batthyány , the House of Habsburg was dethroned. The Habsburg ruler and his advisors skillfully manipulated the Croatian, Serbian and Romanian peasantry, led by priests and officers firmly loyal to the Habsburgs, into rebelling against the Hungarian government, though the Hungarians were supported by the vast majority of
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#17327760137792556-557: A major blow in the wake of the Mongol invasion of Europe . After Hungary was invaded by the Mongols in 1241, the Hungarian army was defeated disastrously at the Battle of Mohi . King Béla IV fled the battlefield and then the country. Before the Mongols retreated, a large part of the population (20-50%) died. In the plains, between 50 and 80% of the settlements were destroyed. Only castles, strongly fortified cities and abbeys could withstand
2769-565: A mercenary commander. He was elected governor, then regent. He was a successful crusader against the Ottoman Turks , one of his greatest victories being the siege of Belgrade in 1456. The last strong king of medieval Hungary was the Renaissance king Matthias Corvinus (1458–1490), son of John Hunyadi. His election was the first time that a member of the nobility mounted to the Hungarian royal throne without dynastic background. He
2982-456: A new policy line, according to which the people were no longer compelled to profess loyalty to the party if they tacitly accepted the socialist regime as a fact of life. Kádár introduced new planning priorities in the economy, such as allowing farmers significant plots of private land within the collective farm system ( háztáji gazdálkodás ). The living standard rose as consumer goods and food production took precedence over military production, which
3195-529: A nomadic tribe of pagan Kipchaks , were driven west of the Carpathian Mountains . The Cumans appealed to King Béla IV for protection. The Iranian Jassic people came to Hungary together with the Cumans after they were defeated by the Mongols. Cumans constituted perhaps up to 7–8% of the population of Hungary in the second half of the 13th century. Over the centuries they were fully assimilated into
3408-730: A period of Greater German ambitions , when Austria tried to establish itself as the leading German power, Austria again needed to redefine itself to maintain unity in the face of nationalism. As a consequence of the Second Italian War of Independence and the Austro-Prussian War , the Habsburg Empire was on the verge of collapse in 1866, as these wars caused monumental state debt and a financial crisis. The Habsburgs were forced to reconcile with Hungary, to save their empire and dynasty. The Habsburgs and part of
3621-426: A quarter of a million people fled the country by the time the revolution was suppressed. After a second, briefer period of Soviet military occupation, János Kádár , Nagy's former minister of state, was chosen by the Soviet leadership to head the new government and chair the new ruling Socialist Workers' Party . Kádár quickly normalised the situation. In 1963, the government granted a general amnesty. Kádár proclaimed
3834-540: A radically new imperial policy. It wanted to develop a uniform empire in the spirit of the imperial constitution issued by Franz Joseph I in Olmütz on 4 March 1849, and as a result, Hungary's constitution and territorial integrity would be abolished. The centralist March Constitution of Austria introduced neo-absolutism in Habsburg ruled territories, and it provided absolute power for the monarch. The Austrian constitution
4047-582: A severe decline in living standards. In imitation of Stalin's KGB , the Rákosi government established a secret political police, the ÁVH , to enforce the regime; approximately 350,000 officials and intellectuals were imprisoned or executed from 1948 to 1956. Many freethinkers, democrats, and Horthy-era dignitaries were secretly arrested and extrajudicially interned in domestic and foreign gulags . Some 600,000 Hungarians were deported to Soviet labour camps, where at least 200,000 died. After Stalin's death in 1953,
4260-535: A short time. The restoration of the authority of the central administration took decades. After Mary's death, Sigismund ruled as a sole ruler for life. In 1404, Sigismund introduced the Placetum Regnum . According to this decree, Papal bulls and messages could not be pronounced in Hungary without the consent of the king. Sigismund summoned the Council of Constance that met between 1414 and 1418 to abolish
4473-463: A solid and major obstacle in the construction of absolutism in Hungary. The counties were the centers of local public administration and local politics in Hungary, and they possessed a recognized right to refuse to carry out any "unlawful" (unconstitutional) royal orders. Thus, it was possible to question the legality of a surprisingly high proportion of the royal orders which emanated from Vienna. While in most Western European countries (like France and
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#17327760137794686-480: A united constitution for the whole empire. According to the new proclamation, the traditional territorial integrity of Kingdom of Hungary would be terminated and carved up, and it would be administered by five separated military districts, while the Principality of Transylvania would be reestablished. Austrian Prime Minister Prince Felix of Schwarzenberg and his government, operating from November 1848, pursued
4899-589: A vassal state of the Ottoman Empire. The remaining central area (most of present-day Hungary), including the capital of Buda, became a province of the Ottoman Empire. Much of the land was devastated by recurrent warfare. Rural people living in the new Ottoman provinces could survive only in larger settlements known as Khaz towns, which were owned and protected directly by the sultan. Hungary – in Europe (green & dark grey) – in
5112-619: Is considered the intellectual force behind the Compromise. Deák initially wanted independence for Hungary and supported the 1848 Revolution, but he broke with hardline nationalists and advocated a modified union under the Habsburgs. Deák believed that while Hungary had the right to full internal independence, the terms of the Pragmatic Sanction of 1723 made questions of defence and foreign affairs "common" to both Austria and Hungary. The Pragmatic Sanction of 1723 had great impact on
5325-593: Is evidenced by the discovery of the " Samu " fossil, dated to c. 300,000 years ago, with traces of habitation as old as 500,000 years ago. Presence of anatomically modern humans dates to c. 33,000 years ago ( Aurignacian ). Neolithization began with the Starčevo–Kőrös–Criș culture , c. 6000 BC. The Bronze Age began with the Vučedol culture (Makó culture), c. 3000 BC. The Iron Age commenced around 800 BC, associated with " Thraco-Cimmerian " artefacts, representing
5538-497: Is taken from the name of one of the seven major semi-nomadic Hungarian tribes, magyeri . The first element magy is likely from Proto-Ugric * mäńć- 'man, person', also found in the name of the Mansi people ( mäńćī, mańśi, måńś ). The second element eri , 'man, men, lineage', survives in Hungarian férj 'husband', and is cognate with Mari erge 'son', Finnish archaic yrkä 'young man'. The Roman Empire conquered
5751-479: The 2015 migrant crisis , the government built a border barrier on the Hungarian-Croatian and Hungarian-Serbian borders to prevent illegal migration. The Hungarian government also criticised the official European Union policy for not dissuading migrants from entering Europe. From 17 October 2015 onward, thousands of migrants were diverted daily to Slovenia instead. Migration became a key issue in
5964-691: The 2018 parliamentary elections , which Fidesz won with a supermajority. In the late 2010s, Orbán's government came under increased international scrutiny over alleged rule-of-law violations. In 2018, the European Parliament voted to act against Hungary under the terms of Article 7 of the Treaty on European Union . Hungary has and continues to dispute these allegations. The coronavirus pandemic significantly impacted Hungary. The first cases were announced in Hungary on 4 March 2020; on 18 March 2020, surgeon general Cecília Müller announced that
6177-573: The 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine . Hungary is a landlocked country . Its geography has traditionally been defined by its two main waterways, the Danube and Tisza rivers. The common tripartite division— Dunántúl ("beyond the Danube", Transdanubia ), Tiszántúl ("beyond the Tisza"), and Duna–Tisza köze ("between the Danube and Tisza")—is a reflection of this. The Danube flows north–south through
6390-658: The Austrian–Hungarian War of 1477–1488. Matthias's library, the Bibliotheca Corviniana , was Europe's greatest collection of historical chronicles and works of philosophy and science in the 15th century, and second in size only to the Vatican Library . The library, which was destroyed in 1526 after Hungarian forces at Mohács were defeated by the Ottomans, is registered as a UNESCO Memory of
6603-613: The Avignon Papacy and end the Western Schism , which was resolved by the election of Pope Martin V . During his long reign, the royal castle of Buda became probably the largest Gothic palace of the late Middle Ages. After the death of Sigismund in 1437, his son-in-law, Albert II of Germany , assumed the title King of Hungary. In 1437, there was an anti-feudal and anti-clerical peasant revolt in Transylvania which
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6816-586: The Battle of Eisenach , the victory of the Hungarian campaigns against the German duchies continued until 910, the battles of Augsburg and Rednitz , ended with disastrous German defeats, after which the German king Louis the Child concluded peace with the Principality of Hungary, accepting to pay tribute to the latter, and recognizing the Hungarian territorial gains during the war. The most significant result of
7029-413: The Battle of Lechfeld in 955 signaled a provisory end to most campaigns on foreign territories, at least towards the west. In 972, the ruling prince ( Hungarian : fejedelem ) Géza of the Árpád dynasty officially started to integrate Hungary into Christian Western Europe. His son Saint Stephen I became the first King of Hungary after defeating his pagan uncle Koppány . Under Stephen, Hungary
7242-473: The Byzantine Empire until 970, and links between the tribes weakened. Duke Géza (c. 940–997) of the Árpád dynasty , who ruled only part of the united territory, was the nominal overlord of all seven Magyar tribes. He aimed to integrate Hungary into Christian Western Europe. Duke Géza established a dynasty by naming his son Vajk (later King Stephen I of Hungary ) as his successor. This decision
7455-630: The Diploma Andreanum , which unified and ensured the special privileges of the Transylvanian Saxons . Andrew II was forced to accept the Golden Bull of 1222 , which was the Hungarian equivalent of England's Magna Carta . The Golden Bull had a twofold purpose that limited royal power. On the one hand, it reaffirmed the rights of the smaller nobles of the old and new classes of royal servants ( servientes regis ) against both
7668-644: The Eastern Bloc . In 1989, concurrently with the Revolutions of 1989 , Hungary peacefully transitioned into a democratic parliamentary republic , joining the European Union in 2004 and being part of the Schengen Area since 2007. Since the election of Viktor Orbán in 2010, Hungary has undergone democratic backsliding becoming an illiberal democracy and hybrid regime . Hungary is
7881-469: The European Union (green) – [ Legend ] Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe . Spanning 93,030 square kilometres (35,920 sq mi) of the Carpathian Basin , it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and Slovenia to the southwest, and Austria to
8094-799: The Finno-Ugrian theory , they originated from an ancient Uralic -speaking population that formerly inhabited the forested area between the Volga River and the Ural Mountains . However, genetic and linguistic evidence suggests that the Hungarians’ origins lie east of the Southern Urals , in Western Siberia . The Hungarians arrived in the Carpathian Basin as a frame of a strong centralized steppe-empire under
8307-768: The Germanic tribes (such as the Lugii , Marcomanni ). In 44 BC, the Sarmatians , Iazyges moved into the Great Hungarian Plain . In 8 AD, the western part of the territory (the so-called Transdanubia ) of modern Hungary formed part of Pannonia , a province of the Roman Empire . Roman control collapsed with the Hunnic invasions of 370–410, the Huns created a significant empire based in present-day Hungary. In 453 they reached
8520-401: The Golden Bull of 1222 , all Hungarian monarchs had to take a coronation oath during the coronation procedure, where the new monarchs had to agree to uphold the constitutional arrangement of the country, to preserve the liberties of his subjects and the territorial integrity of the realm. On 7 March 1849 an imperial proclamation was issued in the name of the emperor Franz Joseph establishing
8733-612: The Great Hungarian Plain ( Alföld ), which stretches across most of the eastern and southeastern areas of the country. To the north of the plain are the foothills of the Carpathians in a wide band near the Slovakian border. The Kékes at 1,014 m (3,327 ft) is the tallest mountain in Hungary and is found there. Austro-Hungarian Compromise of 1867 Timeline The Austro-Hungarian Compromise of 1867 ( German : Ausgleich , Hungarian : Kiegyezés ) established
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8946-548: The Holy Roman Empire . King Matthias' standing professional mercenary army was called the Black Army of Hungary ( Hungarian : Fekete sereg ). Matthias recognized the importance and key role of early firearms in the infantry, which greatly contributed to his victories. Every fourth soldier in the Black Army had an arquebus , which was an unusual ratio at the time. In the great Viennese military parade in 1485,
9159-482: The Hungarian Democratic Forum , a major conservative opposition group, was elected to the head of a coalition government. József Antall became the first democratically elected prime minister since World War II. With the removal of state subsidies and rapid privatisation in 1991, Hungary was affected by a severe economic recession. The Antall government's austerity measures proved unpopular, and
9372-498: The Hungarian Revolution of 1848 . The territorial integrity of the Kingdom of Hungary was restored. The agreement also restored the old historic constitution of the Kingdom of Hungary. Hungarian political leaders had two main goals during the negotiations. One was to regain the traditional status (both legal and political) of the Hungarian state, which had been lost after the Hungarian Revolution of 1848 . The other
9585-761: The Hunnic Empire ( c. 370 –469). The most powerful ruler of the Hunnic Empire was Attila the Hun (434–453), who later became a central figure in Hungarian mythology. After the disintegration of the Hunnic Empire, the Gepids , an Eastern Germanic tribe, who had been vassalised by the Huns, established their own kingdom in the Carpathian Basin. Other groups which reached the Carpathian Basin during
9798-416: The Kingdom of Hungary , several ethnic minorities faced increased pressures of Magyarization . Further, the renegotiation that occurred every ten years often led to constitutional crises. Ultimately, although the Compromise hoped to fix the problems faced by a multi-national state while maintaining the benefits of a large state, the new system still faced the same internal pressures as the old. To what extent
10011-450: The Mecsek Mountains and Villány Mountains in the south. The highest point of the area is the Írott-kő in the Alps, at 882 metres (2,894 ft). The Little Hungarian Plain ( Kisalföld ) is found in northern Transdanubia. Lake Balaton and Lake Hévíz , the largest lake in Central Europe and the largest thermal lake in the world, respectively, are in Transdanubia as well. The Duna–Tisza köze and Tiszántúl are characterised mainly by
10224-400: The Principality of Transylvania , under Ottoman (and later Habsburg) suzerainty . The remaining central area, including the capital Buda, was known as the Pashalik of Buda. In 1686, the Holy League's army, containing over 74,000 men from various nations, reconquered Buda from the Turks. After some more crushing defeats of the Ottomans in the next few years, the entire Kingdom of Hungary
10437-430: The Scordisci , who were resisted from the east by the Dacians . The Dacians were dominated by the Celts until the 1st century BC, when the tribes were united by Burebista . Dacia subdued the Scordisci, Taurisci and Boii , however Burebista died shortly after and the centralized power collapsed. Prior to the invasions, the Romans maintained friendly relations and traded with the locals. The Roman Empire conquered
10650-399: The Siege of Belgrade in 1456. The last strong Hungarian king was Matthias Corvinus (r. 1458–90), the son of John Hunyadi. His accession represented the first time in the history of the medieval Hungarian kingdom that a member of the nobility without dynastic ancestry mounted the royal throne. Although very prominent in the governing of the kingdom of Hungary, Matthias's father John Hunyadi
10863-457: The Slavic migrations to Southeastern Europe . After a failed attempt to capture Constantinople in 626, the submitted peoples rose up against their domination, with many like the Onogurs in the east and the Slavs of Samo in the west breaking away. The creation of the First Bulgarian Empire distanced the Byzantine Empire from the Avar Khaganate, so the expanding Frankish Empire became its new main rival. After Charlemagne of Francia sat on
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#173277601377911076-425: The Visegrád Group . The "H" in the name of Hungary is most likely derived from historical associations with the Huns , who had settled Hungary prior to the Avars . The rest of the word comes from the Latinised form of Byzantine Greek Oungroi ( Οὔγγροι ). The Greek name might be borrowed from Old Slavonic ągrinŭ , in turn borrowed from Oghur-Turkic Onogur ('ten [tribes of the] Ogurs'). Onogur
11289-438: The World War I , only three European countries declared ethnic minority rights, and enacted minority-protecting laws: the first was Hungary (1849 and 1868), the second was Austria (1867), and the third was Belgium (1898). In contrast, the legal systems of other pre-WW1 era European countries did not allow the use of European minority languages in primary schools, in cultural institutions , in offices of public administration and at
11502-451: The dual monarchy of Austria-Hungary , which was a military and diplomatic alliance of two sovereign states. The Compromise only partially re-established the former pre-1848 sovereignty and status of the Kingdom of Hungary , being separate from, and no longer subject to, the Austrian Empire . The compromise put an end to the 18-year-long military dictatorship and absolutist rule over Hungary which Emperor Franz Joseph had instituted after
11715-462: The 1290s. In 1804, Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor , who was also ruler of the lands of the Habsburg monarchy , founded the Empire of Austria in which most his so-called Erblande lands were included. However the new Erblande term was not applied to Kingdom of Hungary In doing so he created a formal overarching structure for the Habsburg Monarchy, which had functioned as a composite monarchy for about 300 years. (Composite states/monarchies were
11928-468: The 1848 Revolutions and the Russian intervention had a very high price. In 1858 already 40 percent of the Austrian Imperial government's expenditures went to service the state debt. An expensive mobilization during the Crimean War (1853–1856) and a disastrous campaign against Piedmont-Sardinia in 1859 brought the state to the verge of bankruptcy. The threat of fiscal insolvency and the demands of his creditors for an open and credible budgetary process forced
12141-423: The 1947 Paris Peace Treaties , Hungary was again reduced to its immediate post-Trianon borders. The war left Hungary devastated, destroying over 60% of the economy and causing significant loss of life . In addition to the over 600,000 Hungarian Jews killed, as many as 280,000 other Hungarians were raped, murdered and executed or deported for slave labour. After German occupation, Hungary participated in
12354-428: The 7th–6th century BC. Their dominance was broken by the Celtic settlement which began in the 4th century BC. By 370 BC the Celts occupied most of Transdanubia from the Pannonians, and around 300 BC they waged successful war against the Scythians. Archaeological evidence shows the advanced state of agriculture and pottery of the La Tène culture . Southern Transdanubia was controlled by the most powerful Celtic tribe,
12567-405: The Austro-Hungarian Compromise of 1867. As the Hungarian statesman Ferenc Deák argued, according to the Pragmatic Sanction of 1723, constitutional governing of Hungary was a fundamental prerequisite of the Habsburg rule over Hungary . The foreign policy and defense, as well as financing them, were the most important joint affairs of Austria-Hungary , the resulting dual monarchy , to be based on
12780-421: The Avars also occupied that territory, Khagan Bayan I established the Avar Khaganate. The Avars were defeated by the Franks and Bulgars , and their steppe-empire ended around 822. The Hungarians took possession of the Carpathian Basin between 862 and 895, and the Principality of Hungary was established in the late 9th century by Álmos and his son Árpád through the conquest of the Carpathian Basin ,
12993-460: The Avars continued to inhabit the Carpathian Basin. The most significant stock became the rapidly increasing Slavs who entered the territory mainly from the south. Under the expansionist policy of the Kingdom of the East Franks , (since the division of the Frankish Empire in 843) the rudimentary Slavic polities couldn't develop, except one, the Principality of Moravia , which was able to expand into modern-day Western Slovakia . The Bulgarians lacked
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#173277601377913206-411: The Battle of Pressburg is that the Hungarians secured the lands they gained during the Hungarian conquest of the Carpathian Basin, and prevented a future German invasion, the Germans did not launch an imperial scale campaign against Hungary for 123 years until 1030. A defeat at the Battle of Lechfeld in 955 signaled an end to raids on western territories, although they continued into lands controlled by
13419-431: The Bavarian throne in 788, the two countries started to share a wide border. Border conflicts were usual. In 791, they engaged in full war. After the Franks won a quick and important victory in the Vienna Woods , the Avars adopted the strategy of "scorched-earth" , avoiding new engagements and destroying enemy food supplies. Four years later, a civil war broke out in the khaganate, with many high-ranking persons, including
13632-401: The Black Army consisted of 20,000 horsemen and 8,000 infantry. The Black Army was larger than the army of King Louis XI of France , the only other existing permanent professional European army in the era. The Hungarian army destroyed the three times bigger attacking Ottoman and Wallachian troops at the Battle of Breadfield in Transylvania in 1479. The battle was the most significant victory for
13845-434: The Byzantine Empire and diminish its influence in the Balkan region. The early 13th century in Hungary was distinguished by the reign of King Andrew II (r. 1205–1235). In 1211, he granted the Burzenland (in Transylvania) to the Teutonic Knights but in 1225 expelled them. Andrew set up the largest royal army in the history of the Crusades when he led the Fifth Crusade to the Holy Land in 1217. In 1224, he issued
14058-445: The Byzantines, Germans and Italians. The Pannonian Avars and the other freshly arrived steppe peoples in their confederation, such as the Kutrigurs , intermingled with Slavic and Germanic elements, and completely absorbed the Sarmatians. Archaeological evidence indicates that in the southern border, which was in state of constant fighting with the Byzantines, Avar settlements were built very densely. The Avars played an important role in
14271-516: The Carpathian Basin, is annihilated by the Hungarian army at the Battle of Pressburg . Luitpold, Margrave of Bavaria, Dietmar I, Archbishop of Salzburg, Prince Sieghard, 19 counts, 2 bishops, and 3 abbots are killed in the battle, together with the majority of the soldiers. The Hungarian army immediately attacked Bavaria, and the Bavarian army led by King Louis the Child was defeated at Ennsburg. The victorious Hungarians defeated other Bavarian armies at Regensburg, Lengenfeld. The Hungarian victory forced
14484-407: The Carpathian Basin. Their wars left the region in ruins when King Theodoric abandoned it for the Italian Peninsula , leaving a power vacuum in Pannonia. From the beginning of the 6th century, the Lombards gradually took possessions in the region, eventually reaching Sirmium , the contemporary capital of the Gepid Kingdom. After a series of wars involving the Byzantines, the latter finally fell to
14697-417: The Communist Party's legal and political heir, the Socialist Party , won the subsequent 1994 elections . This abrupt shift in the political landscape was repeated in 1998 and 2002 ; in each electoral cycle, the governing party was ousted and the erstwhile opposition elected. Like most other post-communist European states, however, Hungary broadly pursued an integrationist agenda, joining NATO in 1999 and
14910-587: The Compromise, the lands of the House of Habsburg were reorganized as a real union between the Austrian Empire and the Kingdom of Hungary, headed by a single monarch who reigned as Emperor of Austria in the Austrian half of the empire, and as King of Hungary in the Kingdom of Hungary . The Cisleithanian (Austrian) and Transleithanian (Hungarian) states were governed by separate parliaments and prime ministers. The two countries conducted unified diplomatic and defence policies. For these purposes, "common" ministries of foreign affairs and defence were maintained under
15123-454: The Compromise: The power of the monarch significantly increased in a comparison with the pre-1848 status of Hungary. This meant a great reduction in Hungarian sovereignty and autonomy, even in comparison with the pre-1848 status quo. The Austro-Hungarian compromise and its supporting liberal parliamentary parties remained bitterly unpopular among the ethnic Hungarian voters, and the continuous successes of these pro-compromise Liberal Party in
15336-475: The Court since 1723, regnum Hungariae had been a hereditary province of the dynasty's three main branches on both lines. From the perspective of the ország (the country), Hungary was regnum independens , a separate Land as the above mentioned Article X of 1790 stipulated. The Court reassured the diet, however, that the assumption of the monarch's newly adopted title (Emperor of Austria) did not in any sense affect
15549-551: The Croatian king Demetrius Zvonimir was Ladislaus's sister. At Helen's request, Ladislaus intervened in the conflict and invaded Croatia in 1091. The Kingdom of Croatia entered a personal union with the Kingdom of Hungary in 1102 with the coronation of King Coloman as "King of Croatia and Dalmatia" in 1102 in Biograd . The Árpád dynasty produced monarchs throughout the 12th and 13th centuries. King Béla III (r. 1172–1196)
15762-530: The Czechoslovak front, Kun's forces were ultimately unable to resist the Romanian invasion; by August 1919, Romanian troops occupied Budapest and ousted Kun. In November 1919, rightist forces led by former Austro-Hungarian admiral Miklós Horthy entered Budapest; exhausted by the war and its aftermath, the populace accepted Horthy's leadership. In January 1920, parliamentary elections were held, and Horthy
15975-565: The European Union in 2004 . As a NATO member, Hungary was involved in the Yugoslav Wars . In 2006, major nationwide protests erupted after it was revealed that Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsány had claimed in a closed-door speech that his party "lied" to win the recent elections . The popularity of left-wing parties plummeted in the ensuing political upheaval, and in 2010, Viktor Orbán 's national-conservative Fidesz party
16188-567: The German lands. Louis the Great (r. 1342–1382) extended his rule as far as the Adriatic Sea and occupied the Kingdom of Naples several times. In 1351, the Golden Bull of 1222 was completed with a law of entail . This stipulated that the nobles' hereditary lands could not be taken away and must remain in the possession of their families. Louis became king of Poland from 1370 to 1382. The epic hero of Hungarian literature and warfare,
16401-566: The German war machine. By October 1944, the Soviets had reached the river Tisza, and despite some losses , succeeded in encircling and besieging Budapest in December. On 13 February 1945, Budapest surrendered; by April, German troops left the country under Soviet military occupation. 200,000 Hungarians were expelled from Czechoslovakia in exchange for 70,000 Slovaks living in Hungary. 202,000 ethnic Germans were expelled to Germany, and through
16614-678: The Holocaust , deporting nearly 440,000 Jews, mainly to Auschwitz . Nearly all of them were murdered. The Horthy government's complicity in the Holocaust remains a point of controversy and contention. Following the defeat of Nazi Germany, Hungary became a satellite state of the Soviet Union. The Soviet leadership selected Mátyás Rákosi to front the Stalinisation of the country, and Rákosi de facto ruled Hungary from 1949 to 1956. His government's policies of militarisation, industrialisation, collectivisation, and war compensation led to
16827-462: The Hungarian coronation oath they had to agree to uphold the old constitutional arrangements of the country and preserve the territorial integrity of the Hungarian realm. This coronation oath was obligatory for the Hungarian monarchs during the coronation process since the Golden Bull of 1222 . The Hungarians, who were regarded as equal after the Compromise, only partially acquiesced to granting "their" minorities recognition and local autonomy. In
17040-718: The Hungarian Grand Principality united the Carpathian Basin under its rule. The local Avar population did not resist, and even became part of the Hungarians, the Moravians fled or assimilated, the modest Bulgarian sovereignty in South Transylvania did not become a political factor, only the East Frankish Empire had such military power that it could intervent in the formation of the new order. His leadership also wanted to eliminate
17253-541: The Hungarian army, and Prime Minister Batthyány in October 1849. Kossuth escaped into exile. Following the war of 1848–1849, the whole country was in "passive resistance". Because of external and internal problems, reforms seemed inevitable, and major military defeats of Austria forced the Habsburgs to negotiate the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of 1867 , by which the dual monarchy of Austria-Hungary
17466-545: The Hungarian magnates procured the accession of the Pole Vladislaus II (1490–1516), supposedly because of his weak influence on Hungarian aristocracy. Hungary's international role declined, its political stability was shaken, and social progress was deadlocked. In 1514, the weakened old King Vladislaus II faced a major peasant rebellion led by György Dózsa , which was ruthlessly crushed by the nobles , led by John Zápolya . The resulting degradation of order paved
17679-427: The Hungarian parliamentary elections caused long lasting frustration for Hungarians. The ethnic minorities had the key role in the political maintenance of the compromise in Hungary, because they were able to vote the pro-compromise liberal parties into the position of the majority/ruling parties of the Hungarian parliament. The pro-compromise liberal parties were the most popular among ethnic minority voters, however i.e.
17892-563: The Hungarian political elite arranged the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of 1867. The Compromise was arranged and legitimated by a very small part of the Hungarian society (suffrage was very limited: less than 8% of the population had voting rights), and was seen by a very large part of the population as betrayal of the Hungarian cause and the heritage of the 1848–49 War of Independence. This caused deep and lasting cracks in Hungarian society. Hungarian statesman Ferenc Deák
18105-527: The Hungarian population, but they preserved their identity and their regional autonomy until 1876. As a consequence of the Mongol invasions, King Béla ordered the construction of hundreds of stone castles and fortifications to defend against a possible second invasion. The Mongols did indeed return in 1286 , but the newly built stone-castle systems and new military tactics involving a higher proportion of heavily armed knights stopped them. The invading Mongol force
18318-495: The Hungarian ruling dynasty and the Hungarian state. The Árpád dynasty claimed to be a direct descendant of the great Hun leader Attila. The Hungarians took possession of the Carpathian Basin in a pre-planned manner, with a long move-in between 862 and 895. From 894, when armed conflicts opened with the Bulgarians and Moravians after the requests for help from Arnulf, Frankish king and Leo VI, Byzantine emperor . During
18531-576: The Hungarians against the raiding Ottomans, and as a result, the Ottomans did not attack southern Hungary or Transylvania for many years thereafter. The Black Army recaptured Otranto in Italy from the Ottoman Empire in 1481 and it secured a series of victories in the Bohemian–Hungarian War of 1468–78 by conquering parts of Bohemia , as well as parts of Austria , including Vienna in 1485 in
18744-563: The Hungarians secured the territory by the Battle of Pressburg in 907. The Christian Kingdom of Hungary was established in 1000 under King Saint Stephen , ruled by the Árpád dynasty for the following three centuries. In the high medieval period , the kingdom expanded to the Adriatic coast and entered a personal union with Croatia in 1102. In 1241, Hungary was invaded by the Mongols under Batu Khan . The medieval Kingdom of Hungary
18957-569: The Hungarians). As early as the mid-1880s, Lord Salisbury, leader of the British Conservative Party , had contemplated using the 1867 Austro-Hungarian example as a model for a reformed relationship between Britain and Ireland. In 1904, Arthur Griffith published the highly influential book The Resurrection of Hungary: A Parallel for Ireland , setting out a detailed proposal for an Anglo-Irish dual monarchy similar to
19170-486: The Kingdom of Hungary spent little time defending the actual territory of Hungary, with the exceptions of the Brusilov offensive in June 1916 and a few months later when the Romanian army made an attack into Transylvania, both of which were repelled. The Central Powers conquered Serbia. Romania declared war. The Central Powers conquered southern Romania and the Romanian capital Bucharest . In 1916 Franz Joseph died, and
19383-838: The Kingdom of Hungary was ceded to Czechoslovakia , the Kingdom of Romania , the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes , the First Austrian Republic , the Second Polish Republic and the Kingdom of Italy . A short-lived People's Republic was declared. It was followed by a restored Kingdom of Hungary but was governed by a regent , Miklós Horthy . He officially represented the Hungarian monarchy of Charles IV, Apostolic King of Hungary . Between 1938 and 1941, Hungary recovered part of her lost territories. During World War II Hungary came under German occupation in 1944, then under Soviet occupation until
19596-581: The Kingdom of Hungary. According to Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria , "There were three of us who made the agreement: Deák , Andrássy and myself." In the Middle Ages, the Duchy of Austria was an autonomous state within the Holy Roman Empire , ruled by the House of Habsburg , and the Kingdom of Hungary was a sovereign state outside the empire. In 1526, Hungary was defeated and partially conquered by
19809-630: The Kuruc forces surrendered. During the Napoleonic Wars and afterward, the Hungarian Diet had not convened for decades. In the 1820s, the emperor was forced to convene the Diet, which marked the beginning of a Reform Period (1825–1848, Hungarian : reformkor ). The Hungarian Parliament was reconvened in 1825 to handle financial needs. A liberal party emerged and focused on providing for
20022-764: The Migration Period were the Goths , Vandals , Lombards , and Slavs . In the 560s, the Avars founded the Avar Khaganate, a state that maintained supremacy in the region for more than two centuries. The Franks under Charlemagne defeated the Avars in a series of campaigns during the 790s. Between 804 and 829, the First Bulgarian Empire conquered the lands east of the Danube and took over
20235-529: The Nazis rewarded Hungary's staunchly pro-Germany foreign policy in the First and Second Vienna Awards , peacefully restoring ethnic-Hungarian-majority areas lost after Trianon. In 1939, Hungary regained further territory from Czechoslovakia through force . Hungary formally joined the Axis powers on 20 November 1940 and in 1941 participated in the invasion of Yugoslavia , gaining some of its former territories in
20448-528: The Ottoman Empire. King Louis II of Hungary and Bohemia had no legitimate heir and died young in the Battle of Mohács . Louis II's brother-in-law, Ferdinand I of Habsburg , was elected King of Hungary by a rump Parliament in Pozsony (now Bratislava) in December 1526. The Ottomans were subsequently driven out of Hungary by the cooperation of international Western Christian forces led by Prince Eugene of Savoy between 1686 and 1699. From 1526 to 1804, Hungary
20661-599: The Ottoman Turks confronted them ever more often. In 1366 and 1377, Louis led successful campaigns against the Ottomans (such as the Battle of Nicapoli in 1366). From the time of the death of Casimir the Great in 1370, he was also king of Poland. He established a university in Pécs in 1367. King Louis died without a male heir, and after years of civil war, the future Holy Roman Emperor Sigismund (r. 1387–1437) succeeded to
20874-579: The Pragmatic Sanction of 1723. He also felt that Hungary benefited from continued union with wealthier, more industrialized Austria and that the Compromise would end the continual pressures on Austria to choose between the Magyars and the Slavs of the Kingdom of Hungary. Imperial Chancellor Beust quickly negotiated the Compromise with the Hungarian leaders. Beust was particularly eager to renew
21087-542: The River Don in January 1943. Learning of the planned defection, German troops occupied Hungary on 19 March 1944 to guarantee Horthy's compliance. In October, as the Soviet front approached, and the government made further efforts to disengage from the war, German troops ousted Horthy and installed a puppet government under Szálasi's fascist Arrow Cross Party . Szálasi pledged all the country's capabilities in service of
21300-632: The Roman province Moesia in 6 BC. An area east of the river Tisza became the Roman province of Dacia in 106 AD, which included today's east Hungary. It remained under Roman rule until 271. From 235, the Roman Empire went through troubled times, caused by revolts, rivalry and rapid succession of emperors. The Western Roman Empire collapsed in the 5th century under the stress of the migration of Germanic tribes and Carpian pressure. This period brought many invaders into Central Europe, beginning with
21513-455: The Romans began after two hard decades in 401, this also caused a recession in secular and ecclesiastical life. The Hun control gradually expanded over Pannonia from 410, finally the Roman Empire ratified the cession of Pannonia by treaty in 433. The flight and emigration of the Romans from Pannonia continued without interruption until the invasion of the Avars . The largest Roman emigration
21726-729: The Slovak, German and Rusyn nationalities and by all the Jews of the kingdom, as well as by a large number of Polish, Austrian and Italian volunteers. In July 1849 the Hungarian Parliament proclaimed and enacted the first laws of ethnic and minority rights in the world. Many members of the nationalities gained the coveted highest positions within the Hungarian Army, like János Damjanich and Józef Bem . The Hungarian forces ( Honvédség ) defeated Austrian armies. To counter
21939-476: The Slovak, Serb and Romanian minority parties remained unpopular among their own ethnic minority voters. The coalitions of Hungarian nationalist parties – which were supported by the overwhelming majority of ethnic Hungarian voters – always remained in the opposition, with the exception of the 1906–1910 period, where the Hungarian-supported nationalist parties were able to form a government. Before
22152-479: The Soviet Army and the ÁVH; the roughly 3,000-strong resistance fought Soviet tanks using Molotov cocktails and machine-pistols. Though the preponderance of the Soviets was immense, they suffered heavy losses, and by 30 October 1956, most Soviet troops had withdrawn from Budapest to garrison the countryside. For a time, the Soviet leadership was unsure how to respond but eventually decided to intervene to prevent
22365-540: The Soviet Union pursued a programme of de-Stalinisation that was inimical to Rákosi, leading to his deposition. The following political cooling saw the ascent of Imre Nagy to the premiership. Nagy promised market liberalisation and political openness. Rákosi eventually managed to discredit Nagy and replace him with the more hard-line Ernő Gerő . Hungary joined the Warsaw Pact in May 1955, as societal dissatisfaction with
22578-550: The Soviet Union. As a result of this relatively high standard of living , a more liberalised economy, a less censored press, and less restricted travel rights, Hungary was generally considered one of the more liberal countries in which to live in Central Europe during communism. In 1980, Hungary sent a Cosmonaut into space as part of the Interkosmos . The first Hungarian astronaut was Bertalan Farkas . Hungary became
22791-452: The Turks, and in 1526 the Hungarian army was crushed at the Battle of Mohács . The young King Louis II died in the battle. The early appearance of Protestantism further worsened internal unity in the anarchical country. After the Ottomans achieved their first decisive victory, their forces conquered large parts of the kingdom of Hungary and continued their expansion until 1556. This period
23004-542: The United Kingdom) the king's reign began immediately upon the death of his predecessor , in Hungary the coronation was absolutely indispensable as if it were not properly executed, the Kingdom stayed " orphaned ". Even during the long personal union between the Kingdom of Hungary and other Habsburg-ruled areas, no Habsburg monarch could promulgate laws or exercise his royal prerogatives in the territory of Hungary until he had been crowned as King of Hungary . Since
23217-470: The World site. Matthias died in 1490 without a legal successor, engendering a serious political crisis in the Hungarian kingdom. Events of 1490–1526 created conditions that would lead to a loss of independence. Besides internal conflicts, the Hungarian state was gravely threatened by the expanding Ottoman Empire. By the early 16th century, the Ottoman Empire had become the second most populous political state in
23430-443: The achievements of the reforms of 1848. The compromise remained bitterly unpopular among ethnic Hungarian voters: ethnic Hungarians did not generally support the ruling Liberal party in Hungarian parliamentary elections. Therefore, the political maintenance of the Austro-Hungarian Compromise, and thus Austria-Hungary itself, was mostly a result of the popularity of the pro-compromise ruling Liberal Party among ethnic minority voters in
23643-539: The arrival of the Iazyges and another uprising forced the Romans to consolidate their gains at the river border. Soon the province of Pannonia formed. Its first city became Emona , modern-day Ljubljana . Other important Latin settlements were Sirmium ( Sremska Mitrovica ), Savaria ( Szombathely ), Siscia ( Sisak ) and Poetovio ( Ptuj ). Road building started in a high pace: the Danubian road network made sailing in
23856-482: The assault, as the Mongols had no time for long sieges. The siege engines and the Chinese and Persian engineers that operated them for the Mongols had been left in the conquered lands of Kyivan Rus' . The devastation caused by the Mongol invasions later led to the invitation of settlers from other parts of Europe, especially from Germany. During the Mongols' campaign against Kievan Rus, some 40,000 Cumans , members of
24069-443: The central power experienced severe financial difficulties, largely because of the enlargement of feudal lands at his expense. The magnates also dismantled the administrative systems that had worked so successfully for Matthias. The country's defenses declined as border guards and castle garrisons went unpaid, fortresses fell into disrepair, and initiatives to increase taxes to reinforce defenses were stifled. Hungary's international role
24282-544: The centre of contemporary Hungary, and the entire country lies within its drainage basin . Transdanubia, which stretches westward from the centre of the country towards Austria, is a primarily hilly region with a terrain varied by low mountains. These include the very eastern stretch of the Alps , Alpokalja , in the west of the country, the Transdanubian Mountains in the central region of Transdanubia, and
24495-429: The conflict and invaded Croatia in 1091. The Kingdom of Croatia entered a personal union with the Kingdom of Hungary in 1102 with the coronation of King Coloman as "King of Croatia and Dalmatia" in 1102 in Biograd . The most powerful and wealthiest king of the Árpád dynasty was Béla III , who disposed of the equivalent of 23 tonnes of silver per year, according to a contemporary income register . This exceeded
24708-525: The conflict with Prussia and thought a quick settlement with Hungary would make that possible. Franz Joseph and Deák signed the Compromise, and it was ratified by the restored Diet of Hungary on 29 May 1867. Beust's revenge against Prussia did not materialize. When, in 1870, Beust wanted Austria–Hungary to support France against Prussia, Hungarian Prime Minister Gyula Andrássy was "vigorously opposed" and effectively vetoed Austrian intervention. The settlement with Hungary consisted then of three parts:
24921-554: The country from three sides— Romania invaded Transylvania , Czechoslovakia annexed Upper Hungary (today's Slovakia), and a joint Serb - French coalition annexed Vojvodina and other southern regions. In March 1919, communists led by Béla Kun ousted the Károlyi government and proclaimed the Hungarian Soviet Republic ( Tanácsköztársaság ), followed by a thorough Red Terror campaign. Despite some successes on
25134-452: The country, who were fleeing the Mongols. Over the centuries, they were fully assimilated. After the Mongols retreated, King Béla ordered the construction of hundreds of stone castles and fortifications, to defend against a possible second Mongol invasion. The Mongols returned to Hungary in 1285, but the newly built stone-castle systems and new tactics (using a higher proportion of heavily armed knights) stopped them. The invading Mongol force
25347-475: The crown and the magnates. On the other hand, it defended the rights of the whole nation against the crown by restricting the powers of the latter in certain fields and making refusal to obey its unlawful/unconstitutional commands (the ius resistendi ) legal. The lesser nobles also began to present Andrew with grievances, a practice that evolved into the institution of the Parliament , or Diet . Hungary became
25560-755: The designation Οὔγγροι for the Magyars, first recorded in Byzantine sources of the 9th century (in the 10th century as Latin Ungarii ). During the Middle Ages, Byzantine sources also referred to the Magyar state as Tourkia (Turkey) ( Greek : Τουρκία ). The name Tourkia is also inscribed on the Corona graeca of the Holy Crown of Hungary . Hungary was recognized as an Apostolic Kingdom under Saint Stephen I. According to later Hungarian tradition, Stephen
25773-413: The dethronement of the Habsburgs in 1707 at the Diet of Ónod , took power provisionally as the ruling prince for the wartime period, but refused the Hungarian crown and the title "king". The uprisings lasted for years. The Hungarian Kuruc army, although taking over most of the country, lost the main battle at Trencsén (1708). Three years later, because of the growing desertion, defeatism, and low morale,
25986-432: The disarmament of the Hungarian army. Disarmament meant that Hungary was to remain without a national defence at a time of particular vulnerability. During the rule of Károlyi's pacifist cabinet, Hungary lost control over approximately 75% of its pre-war territories (325,411 square kilometres (125,642 sq mi)) without a fight and was subject to foreign occupation. The Little Entente , sensing an opportunity, invaded
26199-482: The divided Hungarian nobility elected two kings simultaneously, John Zápolya and Ferdinand I of the Habsburg dynasty . With the conquest of Buda by the Turks in 1541, Hungary was divided into three parts and remained so until the end of the 17th century. The north-western part, termed as Royal Hungary , was annexed by the Habsburgs who ruled as kings of Hungary. The eastern part of the kingdom became independent as
26412-444: The dual monarchy stabilized the country in the face of national awakenings and to what extent it alleviated or aggravated the situation is still debated today. In a letter on 1 February 1913, to Foreign Minister Berchtold , Archduke Franz Ferdinand said that " irredentism in our country ... will cease immediately if our Slavs are given a comfortable, fair and good life" instead of being trampled on (as they were being trampled on by
26625-407: The earliest examples of constitutional limits being placed on the powers of a European monarch, which was forced on the Hungarian king in much the same way King John of England was made to sign Magna Carta . The Hungarian parliament was the most important political assembly since the 12th century, which emerged to the position of the supreme legislative institution in the Kingdom of Hungary from
26838-525: The economic situation had deteriorated (strikes in factories were organised by leftist and pacifist movements) and uprisings in the army had become common. In the capital cities, the Austrian and Hungarian leftist liberal movements and their leaders supported the separatism of ethnic minorities. Austria-Hungary signed a general armistice in Padua on 3 November 1918. In October 1918, Hungary's union with Austria
27051-558: The end of the war. After World War II, the Second Hungarian Republic was established within Hungary's current-day borders as a socialist People's Republic , lasting from 1949 to the end of communism in Hungary in 1989 . The Third Republic of Hungary was established under an amended version of the constitution of 1949 , with a new constitution adopted in 2011. Hungary joined the European Union in 2004 . Middle Paleolithic presence of Homo heidelbergensis
27264-645: The failed Hungarian Revolution of 1848 , the Magyars came close to ending ties with the Habsburg Dynasty , but were defeated by the Austrian Empire only by the military intervention of the Russian Empire . After the restoration of Habsburg power, Hungary was placed under martial law . A military dictatorship was created in Hungary. Every aspect of Hungarian life would be put under close scrutiny and governmental control. German became
27477-528: The first Angevin king of Hungary, Charles I ("Charles the Great") successfully restored royal power and defeated oligarchic rivals known as the "little kings". A descendant of the Árpád dynasty in the female line, he reigned between 1308 and 1342. His new fiscal, customs and monetary policies proved successful. One of the primary sources of the new king's power was the wealth derived from the gold mines of eastern and northern Hungary. Production eventually reached 3,000 lb. (1350 kg) annually—one-third of
27690-630: The first country in which a parliament had supremacy over the kingship. The most important legal ideology was the Doctrine of the Holy Crown , which held that sovereignty belonged to the noble nation (as represented by the Holy Crown). The members of the Holy Crown were the citizens of the Crown's lands, and no citizen could attain absolute power over the others. In 1241–1242, the kingdom suffered
27903-641: The height of their expansion under Attila the Hun . After the death of Attila, the empire collapsed in 455, and Pannonia became part of the Ostrogothic Kingdom . The western part of the Carpathian Basin was occupied by the Longobards and the eastern part by the Gepids . In 567, the Avars occupied the territory ruled by the Gepids. In 568, the Longobards moved to Italy from Transdanubia, and
28116-417: The income of the French king (estimated at 17 tonnes) and was double the receipts of the English Crown. Andrew II issued the Diploma Andreanum which secured the special privileges of the Transylvanian Saxons and is considered the first autonomy law in the world. He led the Fifth Crusade to the Holy Land in 1217, setting up the largest royal army in the history of Crusades. His Golden Bull of 1222
28329-464: The institution was practically defunct until the end of 1858. Hungarians responded with passive resistance. Anti-Habsburg and anti-German sentiments were strong. In the following years, the empire instituted several reforms but failed to resolve problems. After the Hungarian Revolution of 1848–49, the independent customs system of Hungary was abolished. Hungary became part of the unified imperial customs system on 1 October 1851. The suppression of
28542-438: The invasion of the nomadic Pannonian Avars led by Khagan Bayan I . Due to their fear of the powerful Avars, the Lombards also departed in 568, thereafter the whole basin came under the rule of the Avar Khaganate. The rule of the Germanic peoples was followed by almost two and a half centuries of nomadic rule. The Avar khagan controlled a vast amount of territory spanning from Vienna to the Don river , often waging war against
28755-457: The khagan himself falling. Transdanubia was vasallized by Charlemagne, and after an uprising against his superiority, brutally annexed as the Avar March (later the March of Pannonia ) with much its population slaughtered. Beyond the Danube, the Bulgars , led by their energetic khan Krum routed the army of the new khagan in 804, who fled to court of the now Emperor of the Romans. The Avar Khaganate virtually ceased to exist. Although diminished,
28968-404: The king's authority, administered his subjects, and collected the taxes that formed the national revenue. Each ispán maintained an armed force of freemen at his fortified headquarters ("castrum" or "vár"). After the Great Schism between Western Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Christianity was formalized in 1054, Hungary viewed itself as the easternmost bastion of Western civilisation ,
29181-521: The king's champion Miklós Toldi lived during his reign. Louis had become popular in Poland because of his campaign against the Tatars and pagan Lithuanians. In two successful wars against Venice (1357–1358 and 1378–1381), he was able to annex Dalmatia, Ragusa and other territories on the Adriatic Sea. Louis retained his strong influence in the political life of the Italian Peninsula for the rest of his life. Some Balkan states (such as Wallachia , Moldova , Serbia , and Bosnia ) became his vassals while
29394-406: The largely independent Principality of Transylvania . The reunited Hungary came under Habsburg rule at the turn of the 18th century, fighting a war of independence in 1703–1711, and a war of independence in 1848–1849 until a compromise allowed the formation of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy in 1867, a major power into the early 20th century. The Croatian–Hungarian Settlement of 1868 settled
29607-427: The laws and the constitution on the territory of Kingdom of Hungary. Hungary's affairs continued to be administered by its own institutions (King and Diet and the local governments of its counties) as they had been previously. Thus, under the new arrangements, no Austrian imperial institutions were involved in its internal government. The Hungarian legal system and judicial system remained separated and independent from
29820-624: The leadership of Grand Prince Álmos and his son Árpád : founders of the Árpád dynasty , the Hungarian ruling dynasty and the Hungarian state. The Árpád dynasty claimed to be a direct descendant of Attila the Hun. The Hungarians took possession of the area in a pre-planned manner, with a long move-in between 862 and 895. The rising Principality of Hungary ("Western Tourkia" in medieval Greek sources) conducted successful fierce campaigns and raids , from Constantinople to as far as today's Spain. The Hungarians defeated three major East Frankish imperial armies between 907 and 910. A defeat at
30033-407: The legal courts. The resulting system was maintained until the dissolution of the dual monarchy after World War I . The favoritism shown to the Magyars, the second largest ethnic group in the dual monarchy after the Germans, caused discontent on the part of other ethnic groups like the Slovaks and Romanians . Although a "Nationalities Law" was enacted to preserve the rights of ethnic minorities,
30246-454: The modern administrative system of Hungary were established during this period. After the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo, Prime Minister István Tisza and his cabinet tried to avoid the outbreak and escalating of a war in Europe, but their diplomatic efforts were unsuccessful. Austria-Hungary drafted over 4 million soldiers from the Kingdom of Hungary on the side of Germany, Bulgaria, and Turkey. The troops raised in
30459-420: The monarch's direct authority, as was a third finance ministry responsible only for financing the two "common" portfolios. The relationship of Hungary to Austria before the 1848 revolution had been personal union , whereas after the compromise of 1867 its status was reduced to partnership in a real union . Thus Hungarian society widely considered the compromise as a betrayal of the vital Hungarian interests and
30672-400: The most common / dominant form of states in early modern era Europe. ) The Holy Roman Empire was abolished in 1806. The Kingdom of Hungary had always been considered a separate realm, the country's status was affirmed by Article X, which was added to Hungary's constitution in 1790 during the phase of the composite monarchy; it described the state as a Regnum Independens . From the perspective of
30885-400: The new Bavarian prince, Luitpold's son, Arnulf to conclude a peace treaty, the prince recognized the loss of Pannonia and Ostmark, pushing Hungary's borders deep in the Bavarian territory, the river Enns became borderline, paid tribute, and agreed to let the Hungarian armies, which went to war against Germany or other countries in Western Europe, to pass through the duchies lands. In 908, after
31098-416: The new monarch Charles IV sympathised with the pacifists. With great difficulty, the Central Powers stopped and repelled the attacks of the Russian Empire. The Eastern Front of the Allied ( Entente ) Powers completely collapsed. The Austro-Hungarian Empire then withdrew from all defeated countries. Despite great success on the Eastern Front, Germany suffered complete defeat on the Western Front . By 1918,
31311-408: The new steppe state because the East Frankish Empire lost Pannonia and its Christian Avar taxpayers, and his territory was hit by increasing attacks by the Hungarians, especially Bavaria, which was then the eastern province of the Eastern Frankish Kingdom. In 907, three East Francian armies led by Luitpold , Margrave of Bavaria, which entered the Hungarian territory in order to expel the Hungarians from
31524-419: The occupation, the Hungarians found sparse population and met no well-established states. They were able to take over the basin quickly, defeating the First Bulgarian Tsardom , disintegrating the Principality of Moravia , and firmly establishing their state there by 900. Attacks were led by gyula Árpád and kende Kurszán , the two highest-ranking leaders, who left no mass graves behind them showing that
31737-463: The official language of administration. King Saint Ladislaus completed the work of King Saint Stephen , consolidating the Hungarian state's power and strengthening Christianity . His charismatic personality, strategic leadership and military talents resulted in the termination of internal power struggles and foreign military threats. The wife of the Croatian king Demetrius Zvonimir was Ladislaus's sister. At Helen's request, Ladislaus intervened in
31950-421: The official language of public administration. An edict issued on 9 October 1849 placed education under state control, the curriculum was prescribed and controlled by the state, the teaching of national history was restricted and history was taught from a Habsburg viewpoint. Even the bastion of Hungarian culture, The academy , was kept under control: the institution was staffed with foreigners, mostly Germans, and
32163-417: The overlap of the pre- Scythian ( Novocherkassk culture ) and pre- Celtic ( Hallstatt culture ) cultural spheres. Hallstatt occupation of western Transdanubia is evident from about 750 BC. Early Greek ethnography locates the Scythian Agathyrsi and the Sigynnae in the region. The Pannonians were also important residents. The classic Scythian culture spread across the Great Hungarian Plain between
32376-433: The passage of antisemitic laws and, because of the continued isolation of the Little Entente, economic and then political gravitation towards Italy and Germany . The Great Depression further exacerbated the situation, and the popularity of fascist politicians increased, such as Gyula Gömbös and Ferenc Szálasi , promising economic and social recovery. Horthy's nationalist agenda reached its apogee in 1938 and 1940, when
32589-500: The peasantry. Lajos Kossuth emerged as a leader of the lower gentry in the Parliament. A remarkable upswing started as the nation concentrated its forces on modernisation even though the Habsburg monarchs obstructed all important liberal laws relating to civil and political rights and economic reforms. Many reformers ( Lajos Kossuth , Mihály Táncsics ) were imprisoned by the authorities. On 15 March 1848, mass demonstrations in Pest and Buda enabled Hungarian reformists to push through
32802-421: The political settlement, which was to be permanent and would remain part of the fundamental constitution of the monarchy; the periodical financial settlement, determining the partition of the common expenses as arranged by the Quota-Deputations and ratified by the parliaments; and the Customs Union and the agreement on currency, a voluntary, reversible arrangement between the two governments and parliaments. Under
33015-465: The political status of the Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia within the Lands of the Crown of Saint Stephen which was the official name for the Hungarian territories of the Dual Monarchy. Austria-Hungary collapsed after World War I , and the subsequent Treaty of Trianon in 1920 established Hungary's current borders, resulting in the loss of 72% of its historical territory, 58% of its population, and 32% of its ethnic Hungarians . Two-thirds of territory of
33228-406: The power to establish effective control over Transylvania . Foundation of the Hungarian state is connected to the Hungarian conquerors , who arrived from the Pontic steppes as a confederation of seven tribes . The Hungarians arrived in the frame of a strong centralized steppe-empire under the leadership of Grand Prince Álmos and his son Árpád , they became founders of the Árpád dynasty ,
33441-403: The province in 271. After a long period of secure Roman rule, from the 320s Pannonia was in frequent war with the East Germanic and Sarmatian peoples to the north and east. Both the Vandals and the Goths marched through the province, causing huge destruction. After the division of the Roman Empire, Pannonia remained under the rule of the Western Roman Empire , although the district of Sirmium
33654-445: The province of Dacia in 106. Decebalus committed suicide. Latin, Greek and Asiatic colonists settled on the decimated indigenous people, establishing Ulpia Traiana , Napoca ( Cluj-Napoca ), Apulum ( Alba Iulia ), Porolissum ( Mirșid ) and Potaissa ( Turda ) among others. They heavily exploited the gold and silver mines of Transylvania . Finally, the southward movement of the Germanic Goths forced Emperor Aurelian to evacuate
33867-464: The provisions of the old Hungarian constitution and Hungarian public law. "At any time in the past, Hungary might have made peace with a power with which Austria was at war, if the kings had not falsified their oath by not assembling the Hungarian Parliament: for the Diet always had the lawful right of [declaring] War and Peace." The other serious problem for the Habsburgs was the traditionally highly autonomous counties of Hungary , which proved to be
34080-435: The realm of King Ferdinand. Although initially independent, it would later become a part of the Habsburg monarchy under the informal name Royal Hungary. The Habsburg emperors would from then on be crowned also as kings of Hungary. The Turks were unable to conquer the northern and western parts of Hungary. The eastern part of the kingdom ( Partium and Transylvania) at first became an independent principality but gradually became
34293-444: The regime swelled. Following the firing on peaceful demonstrations by Soviet soldiers and secret police, and rallies throughout the country on 23 October 1956, protesters took to the streets in Budapest, initiating the 1956 Revolution . In an effort to quell the chaos, Nagy returned as premier, promised free elections, and took Hungary out of the Warsaw Pact. The violence nonetheless continued as revolutionary militias sprung up against
34506-458: The revision of the treaty quickly rose to the top of the national political agenda, the Horthy government was not willing to resort to military intervention to do so. The initial years of the Horthy regime were preoccupied with putsch attempts by Charles IV , the Austro-Hungarian pretender ; continued suppression of communists; and a migration crisis triggered by the Trianon territorial changes. The government's actions continued to drift right with
34719-532: The right") "right wing". This points to the idea that the Magyar Union before the Conquest formed the "right wing" (= western wing) of the Khazar military forces. The Hungarian endonym is Magyarország , composed of magyar ('Hungarian') and ország ('country'). The name "Magyar", which refers to the people of the country, more accurately reflects the name of the country in some other languages such as Turkish , Persian and other languages as Magyaristan or Land of Magyars or similar. The word magyar
34932-445: The river possible. During the Marcomannic Wars , Pannonia suffered devastation by a powerful alliance of barbaric peoples led by the Marcomanni , but after they were defeated, an age of prosperity started. The Dacians to the east reunited under Decebalus , harassing the limes , the Roman frontier defense system. Trajan , who achieved the greatest territorial extent of the empire, defeated them in two wars (98–117) and established
35145-404: The rule of the local Slavic tribes and remnants of the Avars. By the mid-9th century, the Balaton Principality , also known as Lower Pannonia, was established west of the Danube as part of the Frankish March of Pannonia . Foundation of the Hungarian state is connected to the Hungarian conquerors , who arrived from the Pontic-Caspian steppe as a confederation of seven tribes . According to
35358-459: The seventh nation to be represented in space by him. In the 1980s, however, living standards steeply declined again because of a worldwide recession to which communism was unable to respond. By the time Kádár died in 1989, the Soviet Union was in steep decline and a younger generation of reformists saw liberalisation as the solution to economic and social issues. Hungary's transition from communism to capitalism ( rendszerváltás , "regime change")
35571-415: The south and northwest, while implementing internal reforms. The serfs considered Matthias a just ruler, because he protected them from abuses by the magnates. Like his father, Matthias desired to strengthen the kingdom of Hungary to the point where it could become the foremost regional power, indeed strong enough to push back the Ottoman Empire; towards that end he deemed it necessary to conquer large parts of
35784-417: The south. Hungary formally entered World War II as an Axis power on 26 June 1941, declaring war on the Soviet Union after unidentified planes bombed Kassa , Munkács , and Rahó . Hungarian troops fought on the Eastern Front for two years. Despite early success at the Battle of Uman , the government began seeking a secret peace pact with the Allies after the Second Army suffered catastrophic losses at
35997-408: The successes of the Hungarian revolutionary army, Habsburg Emperor Franz Joseph I asked for help from the "Gendarme of Europe", Tsar Nicholas I , whose Russian armies invaded Hungary. This made Artúr Görgey surrender in August 1849. The leader of the Austrian army, Julius Jacob von Haynau , became governor of Hungary for a few months and ordered the execution of the 13 Martyrs of Arad , leaders of
36210-399: The territory between the Alps and the area west of the Danube River from 16 to 15 BC, the Danube being the frontier of the empire. In 14 BC, Pannonia , the western part of the Carpathian Basin , which includes the west of today’s Hungary, was recognised by emperor Augustus in the Res Gestae Divi Augusti as part of the Roman Empire. The area south-east of Pannonia was organised as
36423-416: The territory of modern-day Hungary in multiple waves. Between 35 and 8 BC, Augustus and his son Tiberius fought the Pannonians for the Drava - Sava region, crushing the Scordisci and some rebellious tribes further south—adding the acquired territories to Illyricum province. Following these successes the tribes in Transdanubia surrendered without opposition. Temporarily the Danube was also exceeded, but
36636-404: The throne by marrying the daughter of Louis the Great, Mary of Hungary (who was herself crowned a "king" in 1382), becoming an official co-ruler and consolidating his power. Sigismund had to pay for the support of the lords by transferring a sizeable part of the royal properties. For some years, the baron's council governed the country in the name of the Holy Crown; the king was even imprisoned for
36849-414: The throne, who in 1433 also became Holy Roman Emperor . The first Hungarian Bible translation was completed in 1439. For half a year in 1437, there was an antifeudal and anticlerical peasant revolt in Transylvania which was strongly influenced by Hussite ideas. From a small noble family in Transylvania, John Hunyadi grew to become one of the country's most powerful lords, thanks to his capabilities as
37062-407: The total production of the world as then known and five times as much as that of any other European state. Charles also sealed an alliance with Polish King Casimir the Great . After Italy, Hungary was the first European country in which the Renaissance appeared. One sign of its progressiveness was the establishment of a printing press in Buda in 1472 by András Hess , one of the earliest outside of
37275-408: The transition back to an Avar -like system was peaceful for the locals. Archaeological findings indicate that they settled in the lands near the Sava and Nyitra . The military power of the nation allowed the Hungarians to conduct successful fierce campaigns as far as the territories of modern Spain . Just a few decades after the collapse of the Avar Khaganate in 822, once again a steppe empire,
37488-441: The two parliaments took very different approaches to this issue. The basic problem in the later years was that the Compromise with Hungary only encouraged the appetites of non-Hungarian minorities in Hungary that were historically within the boundaries of the Hungarian Kingdom. The majority of Hungarians felt they had accepted the Compromise only under coercion. The Hungarian monarchs were always crowned as King of Hungary , due to
37701-408: The unified legal and judicial systems of the other Habsburg ruled areas. Accordingly, the administration and the structures of central government of Kingdom of Hungary also remained separate from the Austrian administration and Austrian government until the 1848 revolution. Hungary was governed to a greater degree by the Council of Lieutenancy of Hungary (the Gubernium) in Pressburg (Pozsony) and, to
37914-434: The unwilling Franz Joseph to authorize political reform. In 1866, Austria was completely defeated in the Austro-Prussian War . Its position as the leading state of Germany ended, and the remaining German minor states were soon absorbed into the German Empire , created by Prussia 's Bismarck . Austria also lost much of its remaining claims and influence in Italy , which had been its chief foreign policy interest. After
38127-448: The virus had spread to every part of the country. In February 2021, after Hungary became the first EU country and one of the first in the former Warsaw Pact to authorize Russian and Chinese vaccines , it briefly enjoyed one of the highest vaccination rates in Europe. Relations between Hungary and its Western partners have strained, because Orbán's government has maintained relations with Russia despite sanctions against Russia after
38340-477: The way for Ottoman preeminence. In 1521, the strongest Hungarian fortress in the South, Nándorfehérvár (today's Belgrade , Serbia), fell to the Turks . The early appearance of Protestantism further worsened internal relations in the country. After some 150 years of wars with the Hungarians and other states, the Ottomans gained a decisive victory over the Hungarian army at the Battle of Mohács in 1526, where King Louis II died while fleeing. Amid political chaos,
38553-442: The west. Hungary has a population of 9.5 million, mostly ethnic Hungarians and a significant Romani minority . Hungarian is the official language and Budapest is the country's capital and largest city . Prior to the foundation of the Hungarian state, various peoples settled in the territory of present-day Hungary, most notably the Celts , Romans , Huns , Germanic peoples , Avars and Slavs . The Principality of Hungary
38766-402: The western part too into Attila 's hand for suppressing the Burgundians . The Pannonian provinces suffered from the Migration Period from 379 onwards, the settlement of the Goth-Alan-Hun ally caused repeated serious crises and devastations, the contemporaries described it as a state of siege, Pannonia became an invasion corridor both in the north and in the south. The flight and emigration of
38979-513: The world, which facilitated the raising of the largest armies of the era. However, Hungarian policy makers at the time were not as conscious of this threat as they should have been. Instead of preparing for the defence of the country against foreign powers, Hungarian magnates were much more focused on the threat to their privileges from a strong royal power. The magnates arranged for the accession of King Vladislaus II of Bohemia precisely because of his notorious weakness. During his reign (1490–1516),
39192-405: Was captured in 1541, opening roughly a 150 years long period when the country was divided into three parts: Royal Hungary , loyal to the Habsburgs ; Ottoman Hungary ; and the largely independent Principality of Transylvania . The reunited Hungary came under Habsburg rule at the turn of the 18th century, fighting a war of independence in 1703–1711, and a war of independence in 1848–1849 until
39405-728: Was elected to a parliamentary supermajority . The legislature consequently approved a new constitution , among other sweeping governmental and legal changes including the establishment of new parliamentary constituencies, decreasing the number of parliamentarians, and shifting to single-round parliamentary elections. Since Orbán's election, Hungary has undergone democratic backsliding and has been characterized as an illiberal democracy , hybrid regime , kleptocracy , dominant-party system , and mafia state . Orbán has publicly embraced illiberalism, and has characterized Hungary as an "illiberal Christian democracy". It has also received criticism regarding LGBT rights in Hungary . During
39618-436: Was a European power, reaching its height in the 14th-15th century . Hungary bore the brunt of the Ottoman wars in Europe during the 15th century. After a long period of Ottoman wars , Hungary's forces were defeated at the Battle of Mohács and its capital was captured in 1541, opening roughly a 150 years long period when the country was divided into three parts: Royal Hungary loyal to the Habsburgs , Ottoman Hungary and
39831-442: Was a successful military leader and an enlightened patron of the arts and learning. His library, the Bibliotheca Corviniana , was Europe's greatest collection of historical chronicles, philosophic and scientific works in the 15th century, and second only in size to the Vatican Library . Items from the Bibliotheca Corviniana were inscribed on UNESCO 's Memory of the World Register in 2005. The serfs and common people considered him
40044-430: Was accepted by the Imperial Diet of Austria , in which Hungary had no representation and traditionally had no legislative power in the territory of Kingdom of Hungary; still, it also tried to abolish the Diet of Hungary , which existed as the supreme legislative power in Hungary since the late 12th century. The new Austrian constitution also went against the historical constitution of Hungary and tried to nullify it. In
40257-435: Was actually more in the sphere of influence of the East . As the Latin population of the province fled from the continuous barbarian incursions, Hunnic groups began to appear on the verge of the Danube. Under King Rugila , the nomads settled the Great Hungarian Plain , pushing the border guarding peoples westward, but stopping them from reaching Italy in exchange for the transfer of Eastern Pannonia. In 433, Aëtius played
40470-520: Was characterized by political chaos. A divided Hungarian nobility elected two kings simultaneously, Szapolyai and the Austrian Ferdinand of Habsburg . Armed conflicts between the rival monarchs further weakened the country. With the Turkish conquest of Buda in 1541, Hungary was riven into three parts. The northwestern part of the old kingdom of Hungary (present-day Slovakia, western Transdanubia and Burgenland , plus western Croatia and parts of present-day northeastern Hungary) remained under Habsburg rule as
40683-448: Was contrary to the dominant tradition of the time to have the eldest surviving member of the ruling family succeed the incumbent. After Géza's death in 997, Koppány took up arms, and many subjects in Transdanubia joined him. The rebels claimed to represent the old political order, ancient human rights, tribal independence and pagan belief. Stephen won a decisive victory over Koppány and had him executed. The name Hungary derives from
40896-407: Was crowned as King of Hungary . The era witnessed impressive economic development. The formerly backward Hungarian economy became relatively modern and industrialised by the turn of the 20th century, although agriculture remained dominant until 1890. In 1873, the old capital Buda and Óbuda were officially united with Pest , creating the new metropolis of Budapest. Many of the state institutions and
41109-470: Was crowned with the Holy Crown of Hungary on the first day of the second millennium in the capital city of Esztergom . Pope Sylvester II conferred on him full administrative authority over bishoprics and churches. By 1006, Stephen had solidified his power by eliminating all rivals. Stephen established a network of ten episcopal and two archiepiscopal sees , and ordered the buildup of monasteries, churches and cathedrals. The Hungarian language switched from
41322-425: Was defeated near Pest by the royal army of King Ladislaus IV . As with later invasions, it was repelled handily, the Mongols losing much of their invading force. The Kingdom of Hungary reached one of its greatest extents during the Árpádian kings, yet royal power was weakened at the end of their rule in 1301. After a destructive period of interregnum (1301–1308), the first Angevin king, Charles I of Hungary –
41535-411: Was defeated near Pest by the royal army of King Ladislaus IV . Later invasions were also repelled. The castles built by Béla IV proved to be very useful against the Ottoman Empire . However, the cost of building them indebted the Hungarian king to the major feudal landlords, so that royal power was once again dispersed among the lesser nobility. After a destructive period of interregnum (1301–1308),
41748-424: Was dissolved. Following the First World War, Hungary underwent a period of profound political upheaval, beginning with the Aster Revolution in 1918, which brought the social-democratic Mihály Károlyi to power as prime minister. The Hungarian Royal Honvéd army still had more than 1,400,000 soldiers when Károlyi was installed. Károlyi yielded to U.S. President Woodrow Wilson 's demand for pacifism by ordering
41961-432: Was established in the late 9th century by Álmos and his son Árpád through the conquest of the Carpathian Basin . King Stephen I ascended the throne in 1000, converting his realm to a Christian kingdom . The medieval Kingdom of Hungary was a European power, reaching its height in the 14th–15th centuries . After a long period of Ottoman wars , Hungary's forces were defeated at the Battle of Mohács and its capital
42174-425: Was formed. This empire had the second largest area in Europe (after the Russian Empire ), and it was the third most populous (after Russia and the German Empire ). The two realms were governed separately by two parliaments from two capital cities, with a common monarch and common external and military policies. Economically, the empire was a customs union. The old Hungarian Constitution was restored, and Franz Joseph I
42387-434: Was neutralized, its political stability shaken, and social progress was deadlocked. In 1514, the weakened and aging Vladislaus faced a major peasant rebellion led by György Dózsa . It was ruthlessly crushed by the Hungarian nobles led by János Szapolyai . The resulting degradation of order paved the way for Ottoman ambitions. In 1521, the strongest Hungarian fortress in the south, Nándorfehérvár (modern Belgrade ), fell to
42600-412: Was never crowned king. Matthias was a true Renaissance prince: a successful military leader and administrator, a linguist, an astrologer, and a patron of the arts and learning. Although he regularly convened the Diet and expanded the lesser nobles' powers in the counties, he exercised absolute rule over Hungary by means of a huge secular bureaucracy. Matthias set out to build a realm that would expand to
42813-426: Was peaceful and prompted by economic stagnation, domestic political pressure, and changing relations with other Warsaw Pact countries. Although the Hungarian Socialist Workers' Party began Round Table Talks with various opposition groups in March 1989, the reburial of Imre Nagy as a revolutionary martyr that June is widely considered the symbolic end of communism in Hungary. Free elections were held in May 1990 , and
43026-576: Was proclaimed regent of the reestablished Kingdom of Hungary , inaugurating the so-called "Horthy era" ( Horthy-kor ). The new government worked quickly to normalise foreign relations while turning a blind eye to a White Terror that swept through the countryside; extrajudicial killings of suspected communists and Jews lasted well into 1920. On 4 June 1920, the Treaty of Trianon established new borders for Hungary. The country lost 71% of its territory and 66% of its pre-war population, as well as many sources of raw materials and its sole port at Fiume . Though
43239-434: Was recognised as a Catholic Apostolic Kingdom . Applying to Pope Sylvester II , Stephen received the insignia of royalty (including probably a part of the Holy Crown of Hungary ) from the papacy. By 1006, Stephen consolidated his power and started sweeping reforms to convert Hungary into a Western-style feudal state . The country switched to using Latin for administration purposes, and until as late as 1844, Latin remained
43452-403: Was reduced to one-tenth of prerevolutionary levels. In 1968, the New Economic Mechanism introduced free-market elements into the socialist command economy. From the 1960s through the late 1980s, Hungary was often referred to as "the happiest barrack" within the Eastern bloc. During the latter part of the Cold War Hungary's GDP per capita was fourth only to East Germany , Czechoslovakia , and
43665-444: Was removed from Ottoman rule by 1718. The last raid into Hungary by the Ottoman vassals Tatars from Crimea took place in 1717. The constrained Habsburg Counter-Reformation efforts in the 17th century reconverted the majority of the kingdom to Catholicism. The ethnic composition of Hungary was fundamentally changed as a consequence of the prolonged warfare with the Turks. A large part of the country became devastated, population growth
43878-402: Was ruled by the Habsburg dynasty as kings of Hungary , but remained nominally and legally separate from the other lands of the Habsburg monarchy . Unlike other Habsburg-ruled areas, the Kingdom of Hungary had an old historic constitution , which limited the power of the Crown and had greatly increased the authority of the parliament since the 13th century. The Golden Bull of 1222 was one of
44091-441: Was strongly influenced by Hussite ideas. The first Hungarian Bible translation was completed in 1439 just before Albert's death in 1439. John Hunyadi grew to become one of the country's most powerful lords, thanks to his capabilities as a mercenary commander. In 1446, the parliament elected him governor (1446–1453), then regent (1453–1456). He was a successful crusader against the Ottoman Turks, with one of his greatest victories
44304-430: Was stunted, and many smaller settlements perished. The Austrian-Habsburg government settled large groups of Serbs and other Slavs in the depopulated south, and settled Germans (called Danube Swabians ) in various areas, but Hungarians were not allowed to settle or re-settle in the south of the Carpathian Basin. Between 1703 and 1711, there was a large-scale war of independence led by Francis II Rákóczi , who after
44517-405: Was the collective name for the tribes who later joined the Bulgar tribal confederacy that ruled the eastern parts of Hungary after the Avars. Peter B. Golden also considers the suggestion of Árpád Berta that the name derives from Khazar Turkic ongar (oŋ "right", oŋar- "to make something better, to put (it) right", oŋgar- "to make something better, to put (it) right", oŋaru "towards
44730-426: Was the earliest and the 5th and 6th centuries were a phase of gradual emigration. In 453, King Attila died suddenly, resulting in the quick disintegration of his empire. The Huns withdrew to Eastern Europe following the defeat of Attila's son, Ellac , by a coalition of Germanic tribes from the Carpathian Basin. Consequently, the Ostrogoths and Gepids established their kingdoms in the western and eastern part of
44943-422: Was the first constitution in Continental Europe . The lesser nobles also began to present Andrew with grievances, a practice that evolved into the institution of the parliament ( parlamentum publicum ). In 1241–1242, the kingdom received a major blow with the Mongol (Tatar) invasion . Up to half of Hungary's population of 2 million were victims of the invasion. King Béla IV let Cumans and Jassic people into
45156-415: Was the wealthiest and most powerful member of the dynasty, with an annual equivalent of 23,000 kg of pure silver in his income register . This exceeded the resources of the French king and was double the amount available to the English Crown . In 1195, Béla expanded the Hungarian kingdom southward and westward to Bosnia and Dalmatia and extended suzerainty over Serbia, a process that helped to break up
45369-406: Was to restore the series of reform laws (the so-called April Laws ) of the revolutionary parliament of 1848, which were based on the 12 points that established modern civil and political rights and economic and societal reforms in Hungary. The April Laws of the Hungarian revolutionary parliament (with the exception of the laws based on the 9th and 10th points) were restored by Franz Joseph. Under
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