Origins of Hungry History
The Magyar - which means "man” were the earliest of arrivals in the Carpathian Basin in one of the last bearings of the Great Migrations. After the conquest of Hungary, which ended in 900, the Magyar leaders, the princes of the House of Arpad, recognized the danger these periods of plundering raids held for the Hungarians. Prince Géza began the great job of linking his country with the development of Europe, and his son, King Stephen (1000-1038) stopped the process by having his people switch to Christianity. King Stephen married a German princess, and he received the crown used at the coronation from the Pope. The Kingdom of Hungary adopted the social model and the system of values, which had been developed in Western Europe, and the nation, which at the time of the conquest had been semi-nomadic, moved from animal breeding to agriculture.
History during Middle Ages
In the 14th century Hungary was considered an important market in European trade. At the same time, it was one of the most stable countries in Europe, because the rifts characteristic of a feudal society did not lead the country to long-standing disintegration of its territory. The Árpád kings (up till 1301), the Anjou dynasty (1308-1387), the Luxembourg dynasty (1387-1437), the Habsburg dynasty (1437-1458), the house of Hunyadi (1458-1490) and the Jagello dynasty (1490-1526) all strove to preserve the primus inter pares situation.
Independence fight
The Mongolian invasion (1241-1242) - the Mongols swept through Europe in the last wave of the Great Migrations - was the first serious disaster for Hungary. The healthy development spurred by the rebuilding of the country after the Mongol invasion was brought to an end by the advance of the Ottoman Turks into Europe. From the 15th century, they threatened Hungarian territory, and for centuries, Hungary fought battles with the Turks. The 150 years of Turkish occupation severely shortened the country's development and caused severe loss of both material goods and human life.
Hungary came under Habsburg rule, after the Turks were driven out. As a result, for several hundred years neither the royal court nor the central administration operated on Hungarian soil. Foreign settlers were moved into the country to swell the dwindling population and this meant that the previous ethnic unity of the country was disrupted.
Hungary history in the 19th Century
In the history of revolutions in Europe, the revolution of March 15, 1848 was a milestone. The pressure from the masses, made the Hungarian Diet accept most of the revolutionaries' demands. In September 1848, the imperial Austrian government launched an armed attack on Hungary in order to crush the revolution and do away with its achievements, which had earlier been approved by the emperor. The independent Hungarian army succeeded in holding off the attack, and only surrendered when the Austrians sought help from the imperial Russian troops.
The years of oppression were followed in 1867 by a Compromise, as a result of which the legislation and government of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy were separated, and only the ministries of foreign affairs, defense and finance were run jointly. Although remnants of feudalism were still present, a capitalist economic structure developed and significant foreign capital was invested in Hungary.
History of Hungary during the World Wars
The defeat in the First World War (1914-1918), the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy ended. In Hungary, a short-lived communist council republic followed a bourgeois democratic revolution. The end, of the community, the new government was forced to sign the Trianon Peace Treaty in 1920. Since the pens of the negotiators were guided by military-strategic considerations when they drew the borders of the successor states, two thirds of the Hungarian nation found itself outside the borders of the country.
Hungary entered the Second World War on the side of the Axis powers. The Germans took over Hungary in 1944 and after an unsuccessful attempt to pull out of the war, in October 1944 the extreme right wing Arrow-Cross Party came to power. Hungary was at its lowest. In the year 1944, a new Hungarian government was formed in Debrecen, a town in the Eastern part of the country. In 1946 a republic was proclaimed and a year later in February 1947, representatives of the Hungarian government signed the Paris Peace Treaty, which effectively restored the 1938 Trianon borders.
Communist Regime
Right after the war, in 1945, first free elections were held, six parties took part, which had the approval of the Allied Control Commission. The Independent Smallholders´ Party gained 245 seats, the Communists 70. By 1947 there were only two parties left to oppose the Communists who were enjoying support from Moscow. Under the leadership of Mátyás Rákosi (1949-1956) a Soviet-type Constitution was passed by Parliament and a one-party system came into being, on the Soviet model.
On October 23, 1956 a popular uprising, broke out against the hated leadership and regime. It revolution was crushed by Soviet troops, and in 1958 the leader of the 1956 revolutionary government, Imre Nagy, and several of his associates were executed. The dictatorship was reinstated with Soviet support. The regime was strengthened, but even the conditions of liberality and the so-called soft dictatorship, it became clear that socialism was not reformable and the country wanted a change.
Democracy reborn
As the demands for a multi-party system gained force, the collapse of the one-party state became inevitable. On June 16, 1989 a huge public gathered to view a fitting reburial for the martyrs of the 1956 revolution. On October 23, 1989 Hungary was renamed Republic of Hungary. In the spring of 1990 - after 45 years of a single party regime - free elections were held. In 1999, Hungary became a member of NATO and a member of European Union in 2004.
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