History of Hungary
This is the history of Hungary. See also the history of Europe and the history of present-day nations and states.
The Magyars (known as Hungarians in most western languages, including English) were a nomadic people from the Eurasian plains until the 10th century, when they settled in present-day Hungary. In 896 A.D. they settled temporarily around the upper Tisza river, in 901 they settled temporarily around the Balaton , subsequently they also partly occupied eastern Austria and southwestern Slovakia, and after their defeat at Lechfeld in 955 they definitively settled in present-day Hungary.
The Hungarians established a kingdom under I. (Szent) István, who was crowned in December 1000 AD or January 1001 AD. He was a descendant of ÃÂrpád, the Magyar leader whom later legends written by order of the Arpads made the person who conquered the territory in the ninth century. By 1006, Stephen managed to unify all the Hungarian tribes living in the territory, thus creating a unified Hungarian state.
ÃÂrpád's descendants ruled the country until 1301. After that, most Hungarian kings were from abroad, except Matthew Corvin. Through the centuries the Kingdom of Hungary has kept its old "constitution", based on freedom of nobles and royal free towns (e.g. Buda, Košice/Kassa, Bratislava/Pozsony, Kolozsvár).
In 1526-1541, after some 150 years of war with Turks in the south, the Turks finally conquered parts of Hungary. Hungary fell into three parts. Present-day Slovakia, Burgenland, western Croatia and parts of north-eastern present-day Hungary went to the Habsburgs, became an Austrian province and received the name Royal Hungary. The Austrian Emperors however were formally crowned as Kings of Hungary. Transylvania, in turn, became independent and a Turkish vassal state. The remaining central area (mostly present-day Hungary), including the dual capital of Buda and Pest (joined to become the city of Budapest in 1873), became a province of the Ottoman Empire. Around 1700, Austria reconquered the Turkish province and Transylvania (1699 Treaty of Karlowitz, 1718 last Hungarian territory conquered).
Bratislava/Pozsony became the new capital (1536-1784), coronation town (1563-1830) and seat of the Diet (1536 - 1848) of Hungary. Trnava/Nagyszombat, in turn, became the religious center in 1541.
The revolution started on March 15th, 1848, when Hungary declared its autonomy within Austria, under the governor Lajos Kossuth and the first Prime minister Lajos Batthyány. During a subsequent civil war, the Magyars had to fight against the Austrian Army, but also against the Serbs, Croats, Slovaks, Romanians and Romanian Germans living on the territory of the Kingdom of Hungary.
After initial victories of the Magyars (during which they even declared Hungary's total independence of Austria in April 1849), the Austrians defeated the Hungarian Army (Honvédség) with the help of the Russian Czar, an act that caused antagonism between the Hungarians and the Russians. The young Austrian Emperor Franz Joseph executed 13 Hungarian leaders in Arad and the Prime minister Batthyány in Pest.
There was also a Hungarian-Croatian Ausgleich in 1868, as Croatia, an old autonomous part of the Kingdom, restored its constitutional freedom. The Hungarian government was able to influence the policy of the Austrian Empire, and successfully prevented the other ethnic minorities of the Empire, such as Slovaks, Czechs, and Poles, from gaining power. Julius Andrassy was the first premier of Hungary after the Ausgleich.
Minority problems were rising, however, and there was no Hungarian policy (e.g. federalization) against the threat of the collapse of the old Kingdom. Although the proportion of Magyars rose considerably since the 18th century (from 29% in 1780 to 51% in 1900), there were still 49% non-Magyars in the Kingdom: Romanians (16. 6%), Slovaks (11.9%), Germans (11.9%), Croatians and Serbs (3.7%), Ruthenians and Ukrainians (2.5%) and Gypsies. A great number of Jews (officially not recorded since 1850), however, had a Hungarian (or German) culture and mother tongue throughout the Kingdom.
After the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian Empire during the last few months of the First World War, leftists carried out the Aster revolution. This led to Mihaly Karolyi being appointed premier of a short-lived democratic republic which was declared on November 16, 1918, three days after Charles IV of Hungary surrendered his powers as king of Hungary. Karolyi formed a cabinet of socialists and other radicals and tried to implement social democratic reforms. He was considered by many to be an ineffective premier. One of the largest errors attributed to his regime was that his minister of Defense dissolved the Hungarian army. Shortly after this action Romania marched into Transylvania, which was now, like all of Hungary, undefended by an army. The Slovaks (supported by the Czechs) as well as the Croats and the Serbs began seceding the territories where they lived.
Karolyi resigned on March 20, 1919. The communists joined the government, and in April, Béla Kun proclaimed the Hungarian Soviet Republic. Kun reformed the army and drove the Romanians from Transylvania. He also took over Slovakia. The Allied Armistice Commission ordered Kun to withdraw from Slovakia, and Kun complied, demoralizing the army somewhat. He also lost support among peasants when it was announced land was to be nationalized instead of redivided. He also did not get the help from the Soviet Union that he had hoped for. The Romanian army invaded, the communist forces were defeated and the Soviet Republic toppled on August 6.
In January 1920, elections were held for a unicameral assembly. Admiral Miklós Horthy was elected Regent. In June, the Treaty of Trianon was signed, fixing Hungary's borders. More than half of the old Kingdom of Hungary became territory of Romania, Czechoslovakia or Yugoslavia instead.
State anti-Semitism grew during the 1920s and 1930s. The Numerus clausus law limited the educational possibilities of young Jewish people, although most of them considering as Hungarians.
During World War II, Hungary was one of the minor Axis powers, hoping that the major Axis powers would help it reclaim territory and prestige. Following the Munich Agreement (1938), Germany and Italy did indeed help Hungary reclaim territory lost in Romania, Czechoslovakia, and Yugoslavia in 1918-1920.
The first Vienna Arbitration (1938) returned parts of Czechoslovakia (Slovakia and Carpathian Ruthenia) with predominantly Hungarian population. In March 1939 however, Hungary occupied the rest of Sub-Carpathia with no Hungarian population and also tried to occupy the rest of (in the meantime independent) Slovakia, but after a war with Slovakia it only gained eastermost Slovakia. The second Vienna Arbitration returned the northern part of Transylvania in September 1940. Dividing Transylvania between Romania and Hungary, Hitler was able to control both of his allies.
After the German attack on Yugoslavia, in April 1941 Hungary (re)annexed Bácska (today in Serbia), Muraköz and South Baranya (today in Croatia) and Muravidék (today in Slovenia).
The Hungarian government under Miklós Horthy signed an alliance treaty with the Third Reich in November 1940. At the time of the German attack on the Soviet Union on June 22, 1941, Horthy was still undecided whether to join Hitler. However, following a Soviet air raid on Kosice/Kassa and on a Budapest-Körösmező fast train on June 27, 1941, the Hungarian government (PM Bárdossy declared war on the Soviet Union that same day. During this war, the Hungarian forces occupied parts of Ukraine. 90% of the 2nd Hungarian Army was annihilated after a heavy Russian breakthrough at the River Don in Russia shortly after the fall of Stalingrad January 1943
Since 1943 the Miklós Kállay government looked for a possibility to change sides in the war. There were several secret negotiations with the British and the American government, but there was no connection with the Soviet one.
Hitler got direct information from the collaborators on these negotiations and decided to invade Hungary in the spring of 1944.
The Hungarian Jews were not deported to concentration camps like those in Germany and the conquered areas -- that is, not until the German military occupation of Hungary itself on March 19, 1944 and replaced the Kállay government with German collaborators (new PM Döme Sztójay). Horthy remained the Governor with limited power. Adolf Eichmann arrived in Budapest on 20th March and immediately started the organization of the deportations. About 437,000 Hungarian Jews were sent to Auschwitz from April to July. Only the Budapest Jews survived the war as an intact community as Horthy could stop the deportations in July shortly before the planned start of the Budapest transports.
In the background, a circle around Horthy including his son started to organize a "jump out" from war. Horthy declared cease fire followed by the forcible removal of him from power by the German Wehrmacht on October 15 1944. A new Pro-German dictatorship was installed, which ruled Hungary until its total collapse in early 1945.
The Soviet Army occupied Hungary from September 1944 until April 1945. It took almost 2 months to liberate Budapest and almost the whole city was destroyed.
By signing the Peace Treaty of Paris, Hungary again lost all the territories that it gained between 1938 and 1941. Neither Western Allies nor the Soviet Union supported any change in Hungary's pre-1938 borders.
The Soviet Union itself occupied Sub-Carpathia, that is now part of Ukraine.
Treaty of Peace with Hungary signed on 10 February 1947 declared that "The decisions of the Vienna Award (Vienna Arbitration) of 2 November, 1938, are declared null and void." and Hungarian's boundaries were fixed along the former frontiers as they existed on 1 January, 1938.
The Soviets set up an alternative government in Debrecen on December 21, 1944 but did not capture Budapest until January 18 1945. Soon afterwards, Zoltán Tildy became the provisional prime minister.
In elections held in November 1945, the Smallholders Party won 57% of the vote. The Hungarian Workers' Party, now under the leadership of Mátyás Rákosi and Erno Gero, received support from only 17% of the population. The Soviet commander in Hungary, Marshal Voroshilov, refused to allow the Smallholders Party to form a government. Instead Voroshilov established a coalition government with the communists holding some of the key posts. Zoltan Tildy, was named president and Frenc Nagy prime minister. Mátyás Rákosi became deputy prime minister.
László Rajk became minister of the interior and in this post established the security police. In February 1947 the police began arresting leaders of the Smallholders Party and the National Peasant Party. Several prominent figures in both parties escaped abroad. Later Mátyás Rákosi boasted that he had dealt with his partners in the government, one by one, "cutting them off like slices of salami."
The Hungarian Communist Party became the largest single party in the elections in 1947 and served in the coalition People's Independence Front government. The communists gradually gained control of the government and by 1948 the Social Democratic Party ceased to exist as an independent organization. Its leader, Bela Kovacs was arrested and sent to Siberia. Other opposition leaders such as Anna Kethly, Frenc Nagy and Istvan Szabo were imprisoned or sent into exile.
Mátyás Rákosi also demanded complete obedience from fellow members of the Hungarian Communist Party. His main rival for power was László Rajk, who was now foreign secretary. Rajk was arrested and at his trial in September 1949 he confessed to being an agent of Miklos Horthy, Leon Trotsky, Josip Tito and Western imperialism and admitted that he had taken part in a murder plot against Mátyás Rákosi and Erno Gero. László Rajk was found guilty and executed. János Kádár and other dissidents were also purged from the party during this period.
Mátyás Rákosi now attempted to impose authoritarian rule on Hungary. An estimated 2,000 people were executed and over 100,000 were imprisoned. These policies were opposed by some members of the Hungarian Workers Party and around 200,000 were expelled by Rákosi from the organization.
Rákosi rapidly expanded the education system in Hungary. This was an attempt to replace the educated class of the past by what Rákosi called a new "toiling intelligentsia". Communist indoctrination took place in schools and universities. Religious instruction was denounced as propaganda and was gradually eliminated from schools.
Cardinal Joseph Mindszenty, who had bravely opposed the German Nazis and the Hungarian Fascists during the Second World War, was arrested in December, 1948, and accused of treason. After five weeks of torture he confessed to the charges made against him and he was condemned to life imprisonment. The Protest churches were also purged and their leaders were replaced by those willing to remain loyal to Rákosi's government.
Rákosi had difficulty managing the economy and the people of Hungary saw living standards fall. His government became increasingly unpopular and when Joseph Stalin died in 1953 Mátyás Rákosi was replaced as prime minister by Imre Nagy. However, he retained his position as general secretary of the Hungarian Workers Party and over the next three years the two men became involved in a bitter struggle for power.
As Hungary's new leader Imre Nagy removed state control of the mass media and encouraged public discussion on political and economic reform. This included a promise to increase the production and distribution of consumer goods. Nagy also released anti-communists from prison and talked about holding free elections and withdrawing Hungary from the Warsaw Pact.
Mátyás Rákosi led the attacks on Nagy. On 9th March 1955, the Central Committee of the Hungarian Workers Party condemned Nagy for "rightist deviation". Hungarian newspapers joined the attacks and Nagy was accused of being responsible for the country's economic problems and on 18th April he was dismissed from his post by a unanimous vote of the National Assembly. Rákosi once again became the leader of Hungary.
Rákosi's power was undermined by a speech made by Nikita Khrushchev in February 1956. He denounced the policies of Joseph Stalin and his followers in Eastern Europe. He also claimed that the trial of László Rajk had been a "miscarriage of justice". On 18th July 1956, Rákosi was forced from power as a result of orders from the Soviet Union. However, he did manage to secure the appointment of his close friend, Erno Gero, as his successor.
On 3rd October 1956, the Central Committee of the Hungarian Communist Party announced that it had decided that László Rajk, Gyorgy Palffy, Tibor Szonyi and Andras Szalai had wrongly been convicted of treason in 1949. At the same time it was announced that Imre Nagy had been reinstated as a member of the Communist Party.
The following day commissioned officers and soldiers joined the students on the streets of Budapest. Stalin's statue was brought down and the protesters chanted "Russians go home", "Away with Gero" and "Long Live Nagy". The Central Committee of the Hungarian Communist Party respond to these developments by deciding that Imre Nagy should become head of a new government.
On October 25 Soviet tanks opened fire on protesters in Parliament Square. One journalist at the scene saw 12 dead bodies and estimated that 170 had been wounded. Shocked by these events the Central Committee of the Communist Party forced Erno Gero to resign from office and replaced him with János Kádár.
Imre Nagy now went on Radio Kossuth and announced he had taken over the leadership of the Government as Chairman of the Council of Ministers." He also promised the "the far-reaching democratization of Hungarian public life, the realisation of a Hungarian road to socialism in accord with our own national characteristics, and the realisation of our lofty national aim: the radical improvement of the workers' living conditions."
On October 28, Nagy and a group of his supporters, including János Kádár, Geza Lodonczy, Antal Apro, Karoly Kiss, Ferenc Munnich and Zoltan Szabo, manage to take control of the Hungarian Communist Party. At the same time revolutionary workers' councils and local national committees are formed all over Hungary.
The new leadership of the party is reflected in the comments made in its newspaper, Szabad Nep. On October 29 the newspaper defends the change in the government and openly criticises Soviet attempts to influence the political situation in Hungary. This view is supported by Radio Miskolc and it calls for the immediate withdrawal of Soviet troops from the country.
On October 30, Imre Nagy announced that he was freeing Cardinal Joseph Mindszenty and other political prisoners. He also informs the people that his government intends to abolish the one-party state. This is followed by statements by Zolton Tildy, Anna Kethly and Ferenc Farkas concerning the reconstitution of the Smallholders Party, the Social Democratic Party and the Petofi Peasants Party.
Nagy's most controversial decision took place on 1st November when he announced that Hungary intended to withdraw from the Warsaw Pact. as well as proclaiming Hungarian neutrality he asked the United Nations to become involved in the country's dispute with the Soviet Union.
On 3rd November, Nagy announced details of his coalition government. It included communists (János Kádár, Georg Lukacs, Geza Lodonczy), three members of the Smallholders Party (Zolton Tildy, Bela Kovacs and Istvan Szabo), three Social Democrats (Anna Kethly, Gyula Keleman, Joseph Fischer), and two Petofi Peasants (Istvan Bibo and Ferenc Farkas). Pal Maleter was appointed minister of defence.
Nikita Khrushchev, the leader of the Soviet Union, became increasingly concerned about these developments and on November 4 1956 he sent the Red Army into Hungary. Soviet tanks immediately captured Hungary's airfields, highway junctions and bridges. Fighting took place all over the country but the Hungarian forces were quickly defeated.
During the Hungarian Uprising an estimated 20,000 people were killed, nearly all during the Soviet intervention. Imre Nagy was arrested and replaced by the Soviet loyalist, János Kádár. Nagy was imprisoned until being executed in 1958. Other government ministers or supporters who were either executed or died in captivity included Pal Maleter, Geza Lodonczy, Attila Szigethy and Miklos Gimes.
In 1988, Kádár was replaced as General Secretary of the Communist Party, and reform communist leader Imre Pozsgay was admitted to the Politburo. That same year, the Parliament adopted a "democracy package," which included trade union pluralism; freedom of association, assembly, and the press; a new electoral law; and a radical revision of the constitution, among others. Since then, Hungary has tried to reform its economy and increase its connections with western Europe, hoping to become a member of the European Union as soon as possible. A Central Committee plenum in February 1989 endorsed in principle the multiparty political system and the characterization of the October 1956 revolution as a "popular uprising," in the words of Pozsgay, whose reform movement had been gathering strength as Communist Party membership declined dramatically. Kádár's major political rivals then cooperated to move the country gradually to democracy. The Soviet Union reduced its involvement by signing an agreement in April 1989 to withdraw Soviet forces by June 1991.
National unity culminated in June 1989 as the country reburied Imre Nagy, his associates, and, symbolically, all other victims of the 1956 revolution. A national roundtable, comprising representatives of the new parties and some recreated old parties--such as the Smallholders and Social Democrats--the Communist Party, and different social groups, met in the late summer of 1989 to discuss major changes to the Hungarian constitution in preparation for free elections and the transition to a fully free and democratic political system.
In October 1989, the communist party convened its last congress and re-established itself as the Hungarian Socialist Party (MSZP). In a historic session on October 16 - October 20, 1989, the Parliament adopted legislation providing for multiparty parliamentary elections and a direct presidential election. The legislation transformed Hungary from a people's republic into the Republic of Hungary, guaranteed human and civil rights, and created an institutional structure that ensures separation of powers among the judicial, executive, and legislative branches of government. But because the national roundtable agreement was the result of a compromise between communist and noncommunist parties and societal forces, the revised constitution still retained vestiges of the old order. It championed the "values of bourgeois democracy and democratic socialism" and gave equal status to public and private property. Such provisions were erased in 1990 as the need for compromise solutions was obviated by the poor performance of the MSZP in the first free elections.
In May 1994, the socialists came back to win a plurality of votes and 54% of the seats after an election campaign focused largely on economic issues and the substantial decline in living standards since 1990. A heavy turnout of voters swept away the right-of-center coalition but soundly rejected extremists on both right and left. Despite its neocommunist pedigree, the MSZP continued economic reforms and privatization, adopting a painful but necessary policy of fiscal austerity (the "Bokros plan") in 1995. The government pursued a foreign policy of integration with Euro-Atlantic institutions and reconciliation with neighboring countries. But neither an invitation to join NATO nor improving economic indicators guaranteed the MSZP's re-election; dissatisfaction with the pace of economic recovery, rising crime, and cases of government corruption convinced voters to propel center-right parties into power following national elections in May 1998. The Federation of Young Democrats (renamed Fidesz-Hungarian Civic Party (MPP) in 1995) captured a plurality of parliamentary seats and forged a coalition with the Smallholders and the Democratic Forum. The new government, headed by 35-year-old Prime Minister Viktor Orban, promised to stimulate faster growth, curb inflation, and lower taxes. Although the Orban administration also pledged continuity in foreign policy, and has continued to pursue Euro-Atlantic integration as its first priority, it has been a more vocal advocate of minority rights for ethnic Hungarians abroad than the previous government. In 2002 it was decided that Hungary, together with 9 other countries was to join the European Union on January 1, 2004.
Despite the positive moves of the Fidesz they lost the next election in April 2002, where the MSZP's 51% won over FIDESZ 48% in a very fierce fight showing the loss of trust in Fidesz due to the corruption problems and lack of communication between the government and the other parties (and some strategically very bad connections to extreme right-wing parties while electional fights), and showing the doubt and memories of already mentioned problems with the socialist party's last government. The MSZP went on to continue social reforms while being more opened to cooperate to fight political and corruption problems.
On April 12 2003 Hungary voted for joining the European Union, where 83% of the votes said "Yes" to EU (45% of the population voted). Since the EU already accepted Hungary as a possible member, the 4 leading political parties (MSZP, FIDESZ, SZDSZ and MDF) agreed to establish the required prerequisites and policies and to work together to prepare the country for the accession with the least possible harm to the economy and people while maximising the positive effects on the country. On May 1, 2004 Hungary became a member of the EU.
Origins of the Hungarian state
The Kingdom of Hungary
High and Late Middle Ages (1000 - 1526)
See also: ArpadsEarly Modern Times (1526 - 1718)
The Habsburgs ruled Hungary from 1526 to 1918. 18th century (1718 - 1780)
This period was characterized by a reconstruction of the countryEnlightenment (1780 - 1848)
Influenced by the French revolution, there emerged a national revival in Hungary of the Magyars, but also of all the other non-Magyar nationalities living in the kingdom, which constituted as much as 71% in 1780. The Habsburg Emperors and particularly the chancellor Metternich refused to implement reforms and this led to a national revolution.The 1848 Revolution (1848 - 1849)
See also: The Revolutions of 1848 in the Habsburg areas.After the revolution (1850 - 1867)
Following those events, the whole country was in "passive resistance". The Austrian baron Alexander von Bach was appointed as the governor of the Kingdom of Hungary, and this time was remembered for Germanization pursued with the help of Czech officers.Austria - Hungary (1867 - 1918)
Following the rise of resistance throughout the Hungarian kingdom, the rise of romantic nationalism among the various ethnicities, and foreign aggression from Prussia (1866), the Austrian leadership under Franz Joseph was desperate to calm the domestic political situation. In 1867 the Ausgleich (Kiegyezés, Compromise) with Hungary was signed. Franz Joseph was then crowned as King of Hungary. The old Constitution, cancelled in 1849 by the Austrian Emperor, was re-established. The Ausgleich established the Austro-Hungarian Empire under a dual monarchy. Austria and Hungary maintained essentially separate governments under the same monarch. Foreign policy, Military and Economy remained common cases but the Hungarian government became an equal partner in the governance of the Empire.Rise of present-day Hungary (1918-1920)
Between the Wars
A coup planned to bring back former king Charles IV of Hungary to power, failed in 1921.Second World War
Hungary's second communist government
1956 Revolution
The Hungarian Uprising began on October 23 by a peaceful manifestation of students in Budapest. The students demanded an end to Soviet occupation and the implementation of "true socialism". The police made some arrests and tried to disperse the crowd with tear gas. When the students attempted to free those people who had been arrested, the police opened fire on the crowd.Reform Under Kádár
In the early 1960s, Kádár announced a new policy under the motto of "He who is not against us is with us." He declared a general amnesty, gradually curbed some of the excesses of the secret police, and introduced a relatively liberal cultural and economic course aimed at overcoming the post-1956 hostility toward him and his regime. In 1966, the Central Committee approved the "New Economic Mechanism," through which it sought to rehaul the economy, increase productivity, make Hungary more competitive in world markets, and create prosperity to ensure political stability. Over the next two decades of relative domestic quiet, Kádár's government responded to pressure for political and economic reform and to counterpressures from reform opponents, By the early 1980s, it had achieved some lasting economic reforms and limited political liberalization and pursued a foreign policy which encouraged more trade with the West. Nevertheless, the New Economic Mechanism led to mounting foreign debt incurred to shore up unprofitable industries.Transition to Capitalism
Hungary's transition to a Western-style capitalism was the first and the smoothest among the former Soviet bloc. By 1987, activists within the party and bureaucracy and Budapest-based intellectuals were increasing pressure for change. Some of these became reform socialists, while others began movements which were to develop into parties. Young liberals formed the Federation of Young Democrats (Fidesz); a core from the so-called Democratic Opposition formed the Association of Free Democrats (SZDSZ), and the neopopulist national opposition established the Hungarian Democratic Forum (MDF). Civic activism intensified to a level not seen since the 1956 revolution.Free Elections and a Democratic Hungary
The first free parliamentary election, held in May 1990, was a plebiscite of sorts on the communist past. The revitalized and reformed communists performed poorly despite having more than the usual advantages of an "incumbent" party. Populist, center-right, and liberal parties fared best, with the Democratic Forum (MDF) winning 43% of the vote and the Free Democrats (SZDSZ) capturing 24%. Under Prime Minister Jozsef Antall, the MDF formed a center-right coalition government with the Independent Smallholders' Party (FKGP) and the Christian Democratic People's Party (KDNP) to command a 60% majority in the parliament. Parliamentary opposition parties included SZDSZ, the Socialists (MSZP), and the Alliance of Young Democrats (Fidesz). Peter Boross succeeded as Prime Minister after Antall died in December 1993. The Antall/Boross coalition governments achieved a reasonably well-functioning parliamentary democracy and laid the foundation for a free market economy.See also
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