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Assignment
Of
MIS
On
a trip to any international place
(Hungary)
Submitted to Submitted by
Miss Depika Arora Sachin Kumar Bassi
Lecturer P.C.T.E MBA 2 A
94972238225
The following are the average daily maximum and minimum temperatures for Budapest: min. max.F C F C
Jan 25 -4 34 1Feb 28 -2 39 4Mar 36 2 50 10Apr 25 -4 63 17May 52 11 72 22Jun 59 15 79 26Jul 61 16 82 28Aug 61 16 81 27Sep 54 12 73 23Oct 45 7 61 16Nov 37 3 46 8Dec 30 -1 39 4
This graph shows the average temperatures in Budapest throughout the year.
Hungary is a state in central Europe. Its history under this name dates to the early Middle Ages,
when the Pannonian Basin was colonized by the Magyars, a seminomadic people from what is
now central-northern Russia. For history of the area before this period, see Pannonian basin
before Hungary.
Early history
Main articles: Pannonian basin before the Hungarians and Hungarian prehistory
Prince Árpád crossing the Carpathians. A detail of the Arrival of the Hungarians, Árpád Feszty's
and his assistants' vast (1800 m²) cycloramic canvas, painted to celebrate the 1000th anniversary
of the Magyar conquest of Hungary, now displayed at the Ópusztaszer National Historical
Memorial Park in Hungary.
From 9 BC. to the end of the 4th century Pannonia, the Western part of the basin was a part of
the Roman Empire. In the final stages of the expansion of the Roman empire, for a short while
the Carpathian Basin fell into the sphere of the Mediterranean, Greco-Roman civilization - town
centers, paved roads, and written sources were all part of the advances to which the Migration of
Peoples put an end.
After the Western Roman Empire collapsed under the stress of the migration of Germanic tribes
and Carpian pressure, the Migration Period has continued bringing many invaders to Europe.
Among the first to arrive were the Huns, who built up a powerful empire under Attila in 435 CE.
Attila the Hun in the past centuries was regarded as an ancestral ruler of the Hungarians, but this
is considered to be erroneous today. It is believed that the origin of the name "Hungary" does not
come from the Central Asian nomadic invaders called the Huns, but rather originated from 7th
century, when Magyar tribes were part of a Bulgar alliance called On-Ogour, which in Bulgar
Turkic meant "(the) Ten Arrows". After Hunnish rule faded, the Germanic Ostrogoths then the
Lombards came to Pannonia, and the Gepids had a presence in the eastern part of the Carpathian
Basin for about 100 years. In the 560s the Avars founded the Avar Khaganate, a state which
maintained supremacy in the region for more than two centuries and had the military power to
launch attacks against all its neighbours. The Avar Khagnate was weakened by constant wars
and outside pressure and the Franks under Charlemagne managed to defeat the Avars ending
their 250-year rule. Neither the Franks nor others were able to create a lasting state in the region
until the freshly unified Hungarians led by Árpád settled in the Carpathian Basin starting in 896.
Much of early Hungarian history is recorded in the following Hungarian chronicles, retelling the
early legends and history of the Huns, Magyars and the Kingdom of Hungary:
Anonymi Gesta Hungarorum (Anonymous "Deeds of the Hungarians") by Magister P.
(around 1200)
Gesta Hunnorum et Hungarorum or Gesta Hungarorum (II) ("Deeds of the Huns and
Hungarians" or just "Deeds of the Hungarians") by Simon of Kéza (late 13th century)
Chronicon Pictum ("Illuminated Chronicle") (late 14th century)
Chronicle of the Hungarians by Johannes de Thurocz (1480s)
Middle Ages (895–1526)
Hungarian raids in the 10th century. Most European nations were praying for mercy: "Sagittis
hungarorum libera nos Domine" - "Lord save us from the arrows of Hungarians".
Main articles: Kingdom of Hungary in the Middle Ages and Ottoman–Hungarian Wars
First Hungarian coin. It was coined by Duke Géza circa the end of 970s.
The Magyars settled in Hungary prior to 896. Árpád was the Magyar leader whom sources name
as the single leader who unified the Magyar tribes via the Covenant of Blood (Hungarian:
Vérszerződés) forged one nation, thereafter known as the Hungarian nation and led the new
nation to the Carpathian Basin in the 9th century. From 895 to 902 the whole area of the
Carpathian Basin was conquered by the Hungarians. After that an early Hungarian state
(Principality of Hungary, founded in 896) was formed in this territory, the military power of the
nation allowed the Hungarians to conduct successful fierce campaigns and raids as far as today's
Spain. A later defeat at the Battle of Lechfeld in 955 signaled an end to raids on western
territories (Byzantine raids continued until 970), and links between the tribes weakened. The
ruling prince (fejedelem) Géza of the Árpád dynasty, who was the ruler of only some of the
united territory, but the nominal overlord of all seven Magyar tribes, intended to integrate
Hungary into Christian Western Europe, rebuilding the state according to the Western political
and social model. He established a dynasty by naming his son Vajk (the later King Stephen I of
Hungary) as his successor. This was contrary to the then-dominant tradition of the succession of
the eldest surviving member of the ruling family. (See:agnatic seniority) By ancestral right
prince Koppány, -as the oldest member of the dynasty- should have claimed the throne, but Géza
chose his first-born son to be his successor. The fight in the chief prince's family started after
Géza's death, in 997. Duke Koppány took up arms, and many people in Transdanubia joined him.
The rebels represented the old faith and order, ancient human rights, tribal independence and
pagan belief, but Stephen won a decisive victory over his uncle Koppány, and had him executed.
King Stephen I of Hungary, patron saint of Kings (from the Chronicon Hungariae Pictum).
The Patrimonial Kingdom
Hungary in the 11th century
Hungary was recognized as a Catholic Apostolic Kingdom under Saint Stephen I.
Stephen was the son of Géza and thus a descendant of Árpád.
Stephen was crowned by the Holy Crown of Hungary in December 1000 AD in the capital,
Esztergom. The Papacy confers on him the right to have the cross carried before him, with full
administrative authority over bishoprics and churches. By 1006, Stephen had solidified his
power, eliminating all rivals who either wanted to follow the old pagan traditions or wanted an
alliance with the Eastern Christian Byzantine Empire. Then he started sweeping reforms to
convert Hungary into a western feudal state, complete with forced Christianisation.[11] Stephen
established a network of 10 episcopal and 2 archiepiscopal sees, and ordered the buildup of
monasteries churches and cathedrals. In the earliest times Hungarian language was written in a
runic-like script. The country switched to the Latin alphabet under Stephen.
Romanesque cathedral of Pécs
Gothic Church of Our Lady in Buda
From 1000 to 1844, Latin was the official language of the country. He followed the Frankish
administrative model: The whole of this land was divided into counties (megyék), each under a
royal official called an ispán count (Latin: comes)—later főispán (Latin: supremus comes). This
official represented the king’s authority, administered its population, and collected the taxes that
formed the national revenue. Each ispán maintained an armed force of freemen at his fortified
headquarters (castrum or vár).
What emerged was a strong kingdom that withstood attacks from German kings and Emperors,
and nomadic tribes following the Hungarians from the East, integrating some of the latter into
the population (along with Germans invited to Transylvania and the northern part of the
kingdom, especially after the Battle of Mohi), and conquering Croatia in 1091. According to an
alternative history based on the document Pacta Conventa, which is most likely a forgery
Hungary and Croatia created a personal union. There is no undoubtedly genuine document of the
personal union, and medieval sources mention the annexation into the Hungarian kingdom.
After the Great Schism (The East-West Schism /formally in 1054/, between Western Roman
Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Christianity.) Hungary determined itself as the Easternmost
bastion of Western civilization (This statement was affirmed later by Pope Pius II who wrote that
to Emperor Friedrich III, "Hungary is the shield of Christianity and the defender of Western
civilization").
Important members of the Árpád dynasty:
Coloman the "Book-lover" (King: 1095–1116):
One of his most famous laws was half a millennium ahead of its time: De strigis vero quae non
sunt, nulla amplius quaestio fiat (As for the matter of witches, no such things exist, therefore no
further investigations or trials are to be held).
Béla III (King: 1172–1192)
He was the most powerful and wealthiest member of the dynasty, Béla disposed of annual
equivalent of 23,000 kg of pure silver. It exceeded those of the French king (estimated at some
17,000 kilograms) and was double the receipts of the English Crown. He rolled back the
Byzantine potency in Balkan region. In 1195, Bela III had expanded the Hungarian Kingdom
southward and westward to Bosnia and Dalmatia, helping to break up the Byzantine Empire, and
extending suzerainty over Serbia.
Andrew II of Hungary (King: 1205–1235)
Golden Bull of 1222.
In 1211 Andrew II of Hungary (ruled from 1205 to 1235) granted the Burzenland (in
Transylvania) to the Teutonic Knights. In 1225, Andrew II expelled the Teutonic Knights from
Transylvania, hence Teutonic Order had to transfer to the Baltic sea. In 1224, Andrew issued the
Diploma Andreanum which unified and ensured the special privileges of the Transylvanian
Saxons. It is considered the first Autonomy law in the world.
He led the Fifth Crusade to the Holy Land in 1217. He set up the largest royal army in the history
of Crusades (20,000 knights and 12,000 castle-garrisons). The Golden Bull of 1222 was the first
constitution in Continental Europe. It limited the king's power. The Golden Bull — the
Hungarian equivalent of England’s Magna Carta — to which every Hungarian king thereafter
had to swear, had a twofold purpose: to reaffirm the rights of the smaller nobles of the old and
new classes of royal servants (servientes regis) against both the crown and the magnates and to
defend those of the whole nation against the crown by restricting the powers of the latter in
certain fields and legalizing refusal to obey its unlawful/unconstitutional commands (the ius
resistendi). The lesser nobles also began to present Andrew with grievances, a practice that
evolved into the institution of the parliament, or Diet. Hungary became the first country where
the parliament had supremacy over the kingship. The most important legal ideology was the
Doctrine of the Holy Crown.
Important points of the Doctrine: The sovereignty belongs to the noble nation→(the Holy
Crown). The members of the Holy Crown are the citizens of the Crown's lands. None can reach
full power. The nation is sharing a portion of the political power with the ruler. Minority cannot
rule over majority. ( against tyranny and oligarchy ) .
Mongol attacks
Main article: Mongol invasion of Europe
Mongol invasion of the Kingdom of Hungary
In 1241–1242, the kingdom received a major blow with the Mongol (Tatar) Invasion: after the
defeat of the Hungarian army at the Battle of Mohi, Béla IV of Hungary fled, and a large part of
the population died in the ensuing destruction leading later to the invitation of settlers, largely
from Germany. Historians estimate that up to half of Hungary's then population of 2,000,000
were victims of the Mongol invasion. In the plains between 50 and 80% of the settlements were
destroyed. Only castles, strongly fortified cities and abbeys could withstand the assault.
During the Russian campaign, the Mongols drove some 40,000 Cumans, a nomadic tribe of
pagan Kipchaks, west of the Carpathian Mountains. There, the Cumans appealed to King Béla
IV of Hungary 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 the Hungarian population, and their language disappeared, but they preserved
their identity and their regional autonomy until 1876.
As a consequence, 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 1286, but the new built stone-castle systems and new tactics
(using a higher proportion of heavily armed knights) stopped them. The invading Mongol force
was defeated near Pest by the royal army of Ladislaus IV of Hungary. As with later invasions, it
was repelled handily, the Mongols losing much of their invading force.
These castles proved to be very important later in the long struggle with the Ottoman Empire.
However the cost of building them indebted the Hungarian King to the major feudal landlords
again, so the royal power reclaimed by Béla IV after his father Andrew II significantly weakened
it was once again dispersed amongst lesser nobility. The countries of the Balkan region and the
territory of Russian states fell under Ottoman/Mongolian rule very rapidly, due to the lack of the
network of stone/brick castles and fortresses in these countries.
Age of elected Kings
King Charles' last battle against the oligarchy, Rozgony (1312)
King Louis the Great the strongest king in medieval Hungarian history
After the destructive period of interregnum (1301–1308), the first Angevin king, Charles I of
Hungary (reigned 1308–1342) - a descendant of the Árpád dynasty in the female line -
successfully restored royal power, and defeated oligarch rivals, the so called "little kings". His
new fiscal, customs and monetary policies proved successful during his reign.
One of the primary sources of his power was the wealth derived from the gold mines of eastern
and northern Hungary. Eventually production reached the remarkable figure of 3,000 lb.
(1350 kg) of gold annually - one third of 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 the
Polish king Casimir. After Italy, Hungary was the first European country where the renaissance
appeared.
The second Hungarian king in the Angevin line, Louis the Great (reigned 1342–1382) extended
his rule as far as the Adriatic Sea, and occupied the Kingdom of Naples several times. During his
reign lived the epic hero of Hungarian literature and warfare, the king's Champion: Nicolas
Toldi. Louis had become popular in Poland because of his campaign against the Tatars and
pagan Lithuanians. Two successful wars (1357–1358, 1378–1381) against Venice annexed
Dalmatia and Ragusa and more territories on the Adriatic Sea. Venice also had to raise the
Angevin flag in St. Mark's Square on holy days.
Some Balkan states (Vallachia, Moldova, Serbia, Bosnia) became his vassals. Louis I established
a university in Pécs in 1367 (by papal accordance). The Ottoman Turks confronted the Balkan
vassal states ever more often. In 1366 and 1377, Louis led successful campaigns against the
Ottomans (Battle of Nicapoli in 1366). From the death of Casimir III of Poland in 1370, he was
also king of Poland. He retained his strong influence in the political life of Italian Peninsula for
the rest of his life.
King Louis died without a male heir, and after years of anarchy the country was stabilized only
when Sigismund (reigned 1387–1437), a prince of the Luxembourg line, succeeded to the throne
by marrying the daughter of Louis the Great, Queen Mary. It was not for entirely selfless reasons
that one of the leagues of barons helped him to 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 imprisoned for a
short time. The restoration of the authority of the central administration took decades.
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 (1414–1418) to abolish the Avignon Papacy and the Papal
Schism of the Catholic Church, which was resolved by the election of a new pope. In 1433 he
even became Holy Roman Emperor. 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, his son
in law, Albert II of Germany, was titled king of hungary. Albert II, however, died in 1439. The
first Hungarian Bible translation was completed in 1439. For a half year in 1437, there was an
antifeudal and anticlerical peasant revolt in Transylvania which was strongly influenced by
Hussite ideas. (See: Budai Nagy Antal Revolt)
From a small noble family in Transylvania, John Hunyadi grew to become one of the country's
most powerful lords, thanks to his outstanding capabilities as a mercenary commander. In 1446,
the parliament elected the great general John Hunyadi governor (1446–1453), then regent (1453–
1456). He was a successful crusader against the Ottoman Turks, one of his greatest victories
being the Siege of Belgrade in 1456. Hunyadi defended the city against the onslaught of the
Ottoman Sultan Mehmed II. During the siege, Pope Callixtus III ordered the bells of every
European church to be rung every day at noon, as a call for believers to pray for the defenders of
the city. However, in many countries, (like England and Spanish kingdoms), the news of the
victory arrived before the order, and the ringing of the church bells at noon was transformed into
a commemoration of the victory. The Popes didn't withdraw the order, and Catholic (and the
older Protestant) churches still ring the noon bell in the Christian world to this day.
John Hunyadi - One of the greatest generals and a later regent of Hungary
Age of early absolutism
Western conquests of Matthias Corvinus
The last strong king was the Renaissance king Matthias Corvinus (king from 1458 to 1490).
Matthias was the son of John Hunyadi. András Hess set up a printing press in Buda in 1472.
This was the first time in the medieval Hungarian kingdom that a member of the nobility,
without dynastic ancestry and relationship, mounted the royal throne. A true Renaissance prince,
a successful military leader and administrator, an outstanding linguist, a learned astrologer, and
an enlightened patron of the arts and learning. Although Matyas regularly convened the Diet and
expanded the lesser nobles' powers in the counties, he exercised absolute rule over Hungary by
means of huge secular bureaucracy. Matthias set out to build a great empire, expanding
southward and northwest, while he also implemented internal reforms. The serfs, common
people considered Matthias a just ruler because he protected them from excessive demands and
other abuses by the magnates. Like his father, Matthias desired to strengthen the Kingdom of
Hungary to the point where it became the foremost regional power and overlord, strong enough
to push back the Ottoman Empire; toward that end he deemed necessary the conquering of large
parts of the Holy Roman Empire. In 1479, under the leadership of general Pál Kinizsi, the
Hungarian army destroyed the Ottoman and Wallachian troops at the Battle of Breadfield. Army
of Hungary, almost all times destroyed the enemies when Matthias was the king. His mercenary
standing army called the Black Army of Hungary (Hungarian: Fekete Sereg) was an unusually
big army in its age, it accomplished a series of victories also capturing parts of Austria, Vienna
(1485) and parts of Bohemia. The king died without a legal successor. 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 which mainly
contained religious material. His renaissance library is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.[39]
The battle of Mohács, by Bertalan Székely.
Decline (1490–1526)
By the early 16th century, the Ottoman Empire became the second most populous state in the
world, which opened the door to creation of the largest armies of the era.
Louis II of Hungary and Bohemia, the young king, who died at the Battle of Mohács.
The magnates, who did not want another heavy-handed king, procured the accession of
Vladislaus II (King: 1490–1516), king of Bohemia (Ulászló II in Hungarian), precisely because
of his notorious weakness: he was known as King Dobže, or Dobzse (meaning “Good” or,
loosely, “OK”), from his habit of accepting with that word every paper laid before him. Under
his reign the central power began to experience severe financial difficulties, largely due to the
enlargement of feudal lands at his expense. The magnates also dismantled administration and
institute systems of the country. The country's defenses sagged 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 was wasted, its political stability 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 János Szapolyai. The resulting
degradation of order paved the way for Ottoman preeminence. In 1521, the strongest Hungarian
fortress in the South, Nándorfehérvár (modern Belgrade) fell to the Turks, and in 1526, the
Hungarian army was crushed at the Battle of Mohács. The young king Louis II, and the leader of
the Hungarian army, Pál Tomori died in the battle. The early appearance of protestantism further
worsened internal relations in the anarchical country.
Through the centuries Hungary kept its old "constitution", which granted special "freedoms" or
rights to the nobility, the free royal towns such as Buda, Kassa (Košice), Pozsony (Bratislava),
and Kolozsvár (Cluj-Napoca) and groups like the Jassic people or Transylvanian Saxons.
Early modern age (1526–1700)
See also: Ottoman Hungary, Royal Hungary, and Transylvania
Hungary around 1550.
Hungary in the 17th century.
After some 150 years of war in the south of Hungary, Ottoman forces conquered parts of the
country, continuing their expansion until 1556. The Ottomans achieved their first decisive
victory over the Hungarian army at the Battle of Mohács in 1526.
The Siege of Eger (1552), in which 2,000 Hungarians fought with close to 200,000 Turk
warriors. The battle finished with Hungarian victory.
Subsequent decades were characterised by political chaos. A divided Hungarian nobility elected
two kings simultaneously, János Szapolyai (1526–1540, of Hungarian-German origin) and the
Austrian Ferdinand of Habsburg (1527–1540). Armed conflicts between the new rival monarchs
further weakened the country from the internal side. With the conquest of Buda in 1541 by the
Turks, Hungary was riven into three parts. The north-west (present-day Slovakia, western
Transdanubia and Burgenland, western Croatia and parts of north-eastern present-day Hungary)
remained under Habsburg rule; although initially independent, later it became a part of Habsburg
Monarchy under the informal name Royal Hungary. The Habsburg Emperors would from then
on be crowned also as Kings of Hungary. Turks were unable to conquer Northern and Western
parts of Hungary.
The eastern part of the kingdom (Partium and Transylvania) became at first an independent
principality, but gradually was brought under Turkish rule as 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. Most small Hungarian settlements disappeared. Rural people living in the now Ottoman
provinces could survive only in larger settlements known as Khaz towns, which were owned and
protected directly by the Sultan. The Turks were indifferent to the sect of Christianity practiced
by their Hungarian subjects.
For this reason, a majority of Hungarians living under Ottoman rule became Protestant (largely
Calvinist), as Habsburg counter-reformation efforts could not penetrate Ottoman lands. Largely
throughout this time, Pozsony (Pressburg, today: Bratislava) acted as the capital (1536–1784),
coronation town (1563–1830) and seat of the Diet of Hungary (1536–1848). Nagyszombat
(modern Trnava) acted in turn as the religious center, starting from 1541.
In 1558 the Transylvanian Diet of Turda declared free practice of both the Catholic and Lutheran
religions, but prohibited Calvinism. Ten years later, in 1568, the Diet extended this freedom,
declaring that "It is not allowed to anybody to intimidate anybody with captivity or expelling for
his religion". Four religions were declared as accepted (recepta) religions, while Orthodox
Christianity was "tolerated" (though the building of stone Orthodox churches was forbidden).
Hungary entered the Thirty Years' War, Royal (Habsburg) Hungary joined the catholic side, until
Transylvania joined the Protestant side.
In 1686, two years after the unsuccessful siege of Buda, a renewed European campaign was
started to enter the Hungarian capital. This time, the Holy League's army was twice a large,
containing over 74,000 men, including German, Croat, Dutch, Hungarian, English, Spanish,
Czech, Italian, French, Burgundian, Danish and Swedish soldiers, along with other Europeans as
volunteers, artilleryman, and officers, the Christian forces reconquered Buda. The second Battle
of Mohács was a crushing defeat for the Turks, in the next few years, all of the former Hungarian
lands, except areas near Timişoara (Temesvár), were taken from the Turks. At the end of the
17th century, Transylvania became part of Hungary again. In the 1699 Treaty of Karlowitz these
territorial changes were officially recognized, and in 1718 the entire Kingdom of Hungary was
removed from Ottoman rule.
Concurrently, between 1604 and 1711, there was a series of anti-Austrian, and anti-Habsburg
uprisings which took place in the Habsburg state of Royal Hungary (more precisely, in present-
day Slovakia and in present day western and central Hungary), as well as anti-Catholic uprisings,
which were to be found across the Hungarian lands. Religious protesters demanded equal rights
among Christian groups. The uprisings were usually organized from Transylvania.
Ethnic aftermath of Ottoman wars
As a consequence of the constant warfare between Hungarians and Ottoman Turks, population
growth was stunted and the network of medieval settlements with their urbanized bourgeois
inhabitants perished. The 150 years of Turkish wars fundamentally changed the ethnic
composition of Hungary. As a result of demographic losses including deportations and
masscares, the number of ethnic Hungarians in existence at the end of the Turkish period was
substantially diminished.
See also: Moldavian Magnate Wars, Stephen Bathory, King of Poland, and Battle of Vienna
Modern and contemporary age (1700–1919)
Main article: History of Hungary 1700–1919
Ferenc Rákóczi.
BME, The oldest University of Technology in the World, founded in 1782
There were a series of anti-Habsburg (i.e. anti-Austrian) and anti-Catholic (requiring equal rights
and freedom for all Christian religions) uprisings between 1604 and 1711, which – with the
exception of the last one – took place in Royal Hungary. The uprisings were usually organized
from Transylvania. The last one was an uprising led by 'II. Rákóczi Ferenc', who after the
dethronement of the Habsburgs in 1707 at the Diet of Ónód took power as the "Ruling Prince" of
Hungary. The Hungarian Kuruc army lost the main battles at Battle of Trencin however there
were also success actions, for example when Ádám Balogh almost captured the Austrian
Emperor with Kuruc troops. When Austrians defeated the uprising in 1711, Rákóczi was in
Poland. He later fled to France, finally Turkey, and lived to the end of his life (1735) in nearby
Rodosto. Ladislas Ignace de Bercheny who was son of Miklós Bercsényi immigrated to France
and created the first French hussar regiment. Afterwards, to make further armed resistance
impossible, the Austrians blew up some castles (most of the castles on the border between the
now-reclaimed territories occupied earlier by the Ottomans and Royal Hungary), and allowed
peasants to use the stones from most of the others as building material (the végvárs among
them). The 18th century also saw one of the most famous Hungarian hussars named Michael
Kovats. He created the modern US cavalry in the American Revolutionary War and is
commemorated today with a statue in Charleston.
The Period of Reforms (1825–1848)
During the Napoleonic Wars and afterwards, the Hungarian Diet had not convened for decades.
In the 1820s, the Emperor was forced to convene the Diet, and thus a Reform Period began.
Nevertheless, its progress was slow, because the nobles insisted on retaining their privileges (no
taxation, exclusive voting rights, etc.). Therefore the achievements were mostly of national
character (e.g. introduction of Hungarian as one of the official languages of the country, instead
of the former Latin).
Count István Széchenyi,the most prominent statesmen of the country recognized the urgent need
of modernization and their message got through. The Hungarian Parliament was reconvened in
1825 to handle financial needs. A liberal party emerged in the Diet. The party focused on
providing for the peasantry in mostly symbolic ways because of their ability to understand the
needs of the laborers. Lajos Kossuth emerged as leader of the lower gentry in the Parliament.
Habsburg monarchs tried to preclude the industrialisation of the country. A remarkable upswing
started as the nation concentrated its forces on modernisation even though the Habsburg
monarchs obstructed all important liberal laws about the human civil and political rights and
economic reforms. Many reformers (like Lajos Kossuth, Mihály Táncsics ) were imprisoned by
the authorities.
Revolution, and War of Independence
Main article: Hungarian Revolution of 1848
Artist Mihály Zichy's rendition of Sándor Petőfi reciting the Nemzeti dal to a crowd on 15 March
1848
On 15 March 1848 mass demonstrations in Pest and Buda enabled Hungarian reformists to push
through a list of 12 demands. The Hungarian Diet took the opportunity presented by the
revolution to enact a comprehensive legislative program of dozens of civil and human rights
reforms, referred to as the April laws. Faced with revolution both at home and in Vienna,
Austrian Emperor Ferdinand I first had to accept Hungarian demands. After the Austrian
revolution was suppressed,emperor Franz Joseph replaced his epileptic uncle Ferdinand I as
Emperor. Franz Joseph refused all reforms and started to arm against Hungary. Later, under
governor and president Lajos Kossuth and the first Prime minister, Lajos Batthyány, the House
of Habsburg was dethroned and the form of government was changed to create the first Republic
of Hungary. The Habsburg Ruler and his advisors skillfully manipulated the Croatian, Serbian
and Romanian peasantry, led by priests and officers firmly loyal to the Habsburgs, and induced
them to rebel against the Hungarian government. The Hungarians were supported by the vast
majority of 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.[43] Many members of the
nationalities gained coveted the highest positions within the Hungarian Army, like General János
Damjanich, an ethnic Serb who became a Hungarian national hero through his command of the
3rd Hungarian Army Corps. Initially, the Hungarian forces (Honvédség) defeated Austrian
armies. In July 1849 Hungarian Parliament proclaimed and enacted foremost the ethnic and
minority rights in the world, but it was too late: To counter the successes of the Hungarian
revolutionary army, Franz Joseph asked for help from the "Gendarme of Europe," Czar Nicholas
I, whose Russian armies invaded Hungary. The huge army of the Russian Empire and the
Austrian forces proved too powerful for the Hungarian army, and General Artúr Görgey
surrendered in August 1849. Julius Freiherr von Haynau, the leader of the Austrian army, then
became governor of Hungary for a few months and, on 6 October, ordered the execution of 13
leaders of the Hungarian army as well as Prime Minister Batthyány. Lajos Kossuth escaped into
exile.
Following the war of 1848–1849, the whole country was in "passive resistance". Archduke
Albrecht von Habsburg was appointed governor of the Kingdom of Hungary, and this time was
remembered for Germanization pursued with the help of Czech officers.
Austria–Hungary (1867–1918)
Main article: Austria-Hungary
Map of the counties in Hungary around 1880
Magyars in the Kingdom of Hungary in 1890
Due to external and internal problems, reforms seemed inevitable to secure the integrity of the
Habsburg Empire. Major military defeats, like the Battle of Königgrätz (1866), forced the
Emperor to concede internal reforms. To appease Hungarian separatism, the Emperor made a
deal with Hungary, negotiated by Ferenc Deák, called the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of
1867, by which the dual Monarchy of Austria–Hungary came into existence. The two realms
were governed separately by two parliaments from two capitals, with a common monarch and
common external and military policies. Economically, the empire was a customs union. The first
prime minister of Hungary after the Compromise was Count Gyula Andrássy. The old Hungarian
Constitution was restored, and Franz Joseph was crowned as King of Hungary.
In 1868, Hungarian and Croatian assembly made the Croatian–Hungarian Agreement by which
Croatia was recognized as autonomous region of Holly crown.
Austria-Hungary was geographically the second largest country in Europe after the Russian
Empire (239,977 sq. m in 1905 [44]), and the third most populous (after Russia and the German
Empire).
Cutaway Drawing of Millennium Underground in Budapest (1894–1896) which was the first
underground in Continental Europe.
World War I Memorial in Solt, Hungary.
The era witnessed an impressive economic development. The formerly backward Hungarian
economy became relatively modern and industrialized by the turn of the century, although
agriculture remained dominant. In 1873, the old capital Buda and Óbuda(Ancient Buda) were
officially merged with the third city, Pest, thus creating the new metropolis of Budapest. The
dynamic Pest grew into the country's administrative, political, economic, trade and cultural hub.
Technological change accelerated industrialization and urbanization. The GNP per capita grew
roughly 1.45% per year from 1870 to 1913. That level of growth compared very favorably to that
of other European nations such as Britain (1.00%), France (1.06%), and Germany (1.51%). The
strong points of the industry were the electricity and electrotechnology, telecommunication, and
the transport industry: (locomotive and tram construction ship construction) The key symbols of
industrialization were (at the time) the famous Ganz concern, and Tungsram Works. Many of the
state institutions and the modern administrative system of Hungary were established during this
period.
Due to various reasons like the policy of Magyarization [45][46] and the migration of millions, the
census in 1910 (excluding Croatia), recorded the following distribution of population: Hungarian
54.5%, Romanian 16.1%, Slovak 10.7%, and German 10.4%. The largest religious denomination
was the Roman Catholic (49.3%), followed by the Calvinist (14.3%), Greek Orthodox
(12.8%) /Romanians Serbians Ruthenians), Greek Catholic (11.0%), Lutheran (7.1%), and
Jewish (5.0%) religions. In 1910, 6.37% of the population were eligible to vote in elections due
to census.[47]
World War I
Main article: Hungary in World War I
After the Assassination in Sarajevo the Hungarian prime minister, István Tisza and his cabinet
tried to avoid the breaking out and excalating of a war in Europe, but his diplomatic attempts
remained unsuccessful.
Austria–Hungary drafted 9 million (fighting forces: 7,8 million) soldiers in WW1 (4 million
from Kingdom of Hungary). In First World War Austria–Hungary was fighting on the side of
Germany, Bulgaria and Turkey. The Central Powers conquered Serbia. Romania proclaimed
war. The Central Powers conquered Southern Romania and the Romanian capital Bucharest. On
November 1916 Emperor Franz Joseph died, the new monarch Charles IV sympathized by
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 A-
H Empire withdrew from defeated countries. On the Italian front, the Austro-Hungarian army
could not make more successful progress against Italy after January 1918. Despite of great
Eastern successes, Germany suffered complete defeat in the more determinant Western front. By
1918, the economic situation had deteriorated (strikes in factories were organized by leftist and
pacifist movements), and uprisings in the army had become commonplace. In the capital cities
(Vienna and Budapest), the Austrian and the Hungarian leftist liberal movements (the maverick
parties) and their leader politicians supported and strengthened the separatism of ethnic
minorities. Austria-Hungary signed general armistice in Padua on 3 November 1918. In October
1918, the personal union with Austria was dissolved.
Hungarian Democratic Republic
Main article: Hungarian Democratic Republic
In 1918, as a political result of German defeat on the Western front in World War I, the Austro-
Hungarian Monarchy collapsed. French Entente troops landed in Greece to rearm the defeated
Romania Serbia, and the newly formed Czech state. Despite of general armistice agreement, the
Balkanian French army organized new campaigns against Hungary with the help of Czech
Romanian and Serbian governments.
Tisza was murdered in Budapest by a gang of soldiers during Aster Revolution of October 1918.
On 31 October 1918 the success of the Aster Revolution in Budapest brought the leftist liberal
count Mihály Károlyi to power as Prime-Minister. Károlyi was a devotee of Entente from the
beginning of the war. On 13 November 1918 Charles IV surrendered his powers as King of
Hungary; however, he did not abdicate, a technicality that made a return to the throne possible.[48]
By a notion of Woodrow Wilson's pacifism, Károlyi ordered the full disarmament of Hungarian
Army. Hungary remained without national defense in the darkest hour of its history. Surrounding
countries started to arm. The First Republic was proclaimed on 16 November 1918 with Károlyi
being named as president. On 5 November 1918 Serbian Army with French involvement
attacked Southern parts of the country, on 8 November Czech Army attacked Northern part of
Hungary, on 2 December Romanian Army started to attack the Eastern (Transylvanian) parts of
Hungary. The Károlyi government pronounced illegal all armed associations and proposals
which wanted to defend the integrity of the country. The Károlyi government's measures failed
to stem popular discontent, especially when the Entente powers began distributing slices of
Hungary's traditional territory to Romania, Yugoslavia, and Czechoslovakia. French and Serbian
forces occupied the southern parts of Hungary.
By February 1919 the government had lost all popular support, having failed on domestic and
military fronts. On 21 March after the Entente military representative demanded more and more
territorial concessions from Hungary, Károlyi signed all concessions and resigned.
Hungarian Soviet Republic ("Republic of the Councils")
Main articles: Hungarian Soviet Republic and Red Terror (Hungary)
1919: The Heroes Square of Budapest in red. The Communists wanted to destroy all Hungarian
historical monuments, statues and national symbols.
The Communist Party of Hungary, led by Béla Kun, allied itself with the Hungarian Social
Democratic Party came to power and proclaimed the Hungarian Soviet Republic. The
Communists also promised equality and social justice. Social Democrat Sándor Garbai was the
official Head of government, but the Soviet Republic was de facto dominated by Béla Kun, who
was in charge of foreign affairs. The Communists – "The Reds" – came to power largely thanks
to being the only group with an organized fighting force, and they promised that Hungary would
defend its territory without conscription. (possibly with the help of the Soviet Red Army).
Hence: the Red Army of Hungary was a little voluntary army (53,000 men). Most soldiers of the
Red Army were armed factory workers from Budapest. Initially, Kun's regime achieved some
military successes: the Hungarian Red Army, under the lead of the genius strategist, Colonel
Aurél Stromfeld, ousted Czech troops from the north and planned to march against the Romanian
army in the east. In terms of domestic policy, the Communist government nationalized industrial
and commercial enterprises, socialized housing, transport, banking, medicine, cultural
institutions, and all landholdings of more than 400,000 square metres. The support of the
Communists proved to be short lived in Budapest. The Communists had never been popular in
country towns and countryside. In the aftermath of a coup attempt, the government took a series
of actions called the Red Terror, murdering several hundred people(mostly scientists and
intellectuals). The Soviet Red Army was never able to aid the new Hungarian republic. Despite
the great military successes against Czechoslovakian army, the communist leaders gave back all
recaptured lands. That attitude demoralized the voluntary army. The Hungarian Red Army was
dissolved before it could successfully complete its campaigns. In the face of domestic backlash
and an advancing Romanian force, Béla Kun and most of his comrades fled to Austria, while
Budapest was occupied on 6 August. Kun and his followers took along numerous art treasures
and the gold stocks of the National Bank. All these events, and in particular the final military
defeat, led to a deep feeling of dislike among the general population against the Soviet Union
(which did not offer military assistance) and the Jews (since most members of Kun's government
were Jewish, making it easy to blame the Jews for the government's mistakes).
Counterrevolution
Main articles: White Terror (Hungary) and Kingdom of Hungary (1920–1946)
The new fighting force in Hungary were the Conservative Royalists counter-revolutionaries – the
"Whites". These, who had been organizing in Vienna and established a counter-government in
Szeged, assumed power, led by István Bethlen, a Transylvanian aristocrat, and Miklós Horthy,
the former commander in chief of the Austro-Hungarian Navy. The conservatives determinded
the Károlyi government and communists as capital treason. Starting in Western Hungary and
spreading throughout the country, a White Terror began by other half-regular and half-militarist
detachments (as the police power crashed, there were no serious national regular forces and
authorities), and many arrant Communists and other leftists were tortured and executed without
trial. Radical Whites launched pogroms against the Jews, displayed as the cause of all territorial
losses of Hungary. The most notorious commander of the Whites was Pál Prónay. The leaving
Romanian army pillaged the country: livestock, machinery and agricultural products were carried
to Romania in hundreds of freight cars. The estimated property damage of their activity was so
much that the international peace conference in 1919 did not require Hungary to pay war
redemption to Romania. On 16 November with the consent of Romanian forces, Horthy's army
marched into Budapest. His government gradually restored security, stopped terror, and set up
authorities, but thousands of sympathizers of the Károlyi and Kun regimes were imprisoned.
Radical political movements were suppressed. In March the parliament restored the Hungarian
monarchy but postponed electing a king until civil disorder had subsided. Instead, Miklos Horthy
was elected Regent and was empowered, among other things, to appoint Hungary's Prime
Minister, veto legislation, convene or dissolve the parliament, and command the armed forces.
Trianon Hungary and the Regency
The Treaty of Trianon: Hungary lost 72% of its land and sea ports in Croatia, 3,425,000 Magyars
found themselves separated from their motherland. The country lost 5 of its 10 biggest
Hungarian cities.
Hungary's signing of the Treaty of Trianon on 4 June 1920 ratified the country's borders being
redrawn. The territorial provisions of the treaty required Hungary to surrender more than two-
thirds of its pre-war lands. However, nearly one-third of the 10 million ethnic Hungarians found
themselves outside the diminished homeland. The country's ethnic composition was left almost
homogeneous, Hungarians constituting about 90% of the population, Germans made up about
6%, and Slovaks, Croats, Romanians, and Roma accounted for the remainder.[citation needed]
New international borders separated Hungary's industrial base from its sources of raw materials
and its former markets for agricultural and industrial products. Hungary lost 84% of its timber
resources, 43% of its arable land, and 83% of its iron ore. Furthermore, post-Trianon Hungary
possessed 90% of the engineering and printing industry of the Kingdom, while only 11% of
timber and 16% iron was retained. In addition, 61% of arable land, 74% of public road, 65% of
canals, 62% of railroads, 64% of hard surface roads, 83% of pig iron output, 55% of industrial
plants, 100% of gold, silver, copper, mercury and salt mines, and most of all, 67% of credit and
banking institutions of the former Kingdom of Hungary lay within the territory of Hungary's
neighbors.
Horthy appointed Count Pál Teleki as Prime Minister in July 1920. His government issued a
numerus clausus law, limiting admission of "political insecure elements" (these were often Jews)
to universities and, in order to quiet rural discontent, took initial steps toward fulfilling a promise
of major land reform by dividing about 3,850 km2 from the largest estates into smallholdings.
Teleki's government resigned, however, after, Charles IV, unsuccessfully attempted to retake
Hungary's throne in March 1921. King Charles's return produced split parties between
conservatives who favored a Habsburg restoration and nationalist right-wing radicals who
supported election of a Hungarian king. Count István Bethlen, a non-affiliated right-wing
member of the parliament, took advantage of this rift forming a new Party of Unity under his
leadership. Horthy then appointed Bethlen prime minister. Charles IV died soon after he failed a
second time to reclaim the throne in October 1921.
Miklós Horthy de Nagybánya, Regent of Hungary
As prime minister, Bethlen dominated Hungarian politics between 1921 and 1931. He fashioned
a political machine by amending the electoral law, providing jobs in the expanding bureaucracy
to his supporters, and manipulating elections in rural areas. Bethlen restored order to the country
by giving the radical counter-revolutionaries payoffs and government jobs in exchange for
ceasing their campaign of terror against Jews and leftists. In 1921, he made a deal with the Social
Democrats and trade unions (called the Bethlen-Peyer Pact), agreeing, among other things, to
legalize their activities and free political prisoners in return for their pledge to refrain from
spreading anti-Hungarian propaganda, calling political strikes, and organising the peasantry.
Bethlen brought Hungary into the League of Nations in 1922 and out of international isolation by
signing a treaty of friendship with Italy in 1927. The revision of the Treaty of Trianon rose to the
top of Hungary's political agenda and the strategy employed by Bethlen consisted of
strengthening the economy and building relations with stronger nations. Revision of the treaty
had such a broad backing in Hungary that Bethlen used it, at least in part, to deflect criticism of
his economic, social and political policies. The Great Depression induced a drop in the standard
of living and the political mood of the country shifted further toward the right. In 1932 Horthy
appointed a new prime minister, Gyula Gömbös, that changed the course of Hungarian policy
towards closer cooperation with Germany and started an effort to magyarise the few remaining
ethnic minorities in Hungary. Gömbös signed a trade agreement with Germany that drew
Hungary's economy out of depression but made Hungary dependent on the German economy for
both raw materials and markets. Adolf Hitler appealed to Hungarian desires for territorial
revisionism, while extreme right wing organizations, like the Arrow Cross party, increasingly
embraced extreme Nazi policies, including those relating to the suppression and victimisation of
Jews. The government passed the First Jewish Law in 1938. The law established a quota system
to limit Jewish involvement in the Hungarian economy.
Imrédy's attempts to improve Hungary's diplomatic relations with the United Kingdom initially
made him very unpopular with Germany and Italy. In light of Germany's Anschluss of Austria in
March, he realized that he could not afford to alienate Germany and Italy for long. In the autumn
of 1938 his foreign policy became very much pro-German and pro-Italian.[57] Intent on amassing
a base of power in Hungarian right wing politics, Imrédy began to suppress political rivals, so the
increasingly influential Arrow Cross Party was harassed, and eventually banned by Imrédy's
administration. As Imrédy drifted further to the right, he proposed that the government be
reorganized along totalitarian lines and drafted a harsher Second Jewish Law. Parliament, under
the new government of Pál Teleki, approved the Second Jewish Law in 1939, which greatly
restricted Jewish involvement in the economy, culture and society and, significantly, defined
Jews by race instead of religion. This definition significantly and negatively altered the status of
those who had formerly converted from Judaism to Christianity.
Regions that belonged to the Kingdom of Hungary before the Treaty of Trianon (1920)
Hungary proper
Burgenland (Austria) · Carpathian Ruthenia (Ukraine) · Međimurje
(Croatia) · Prekmurje (Slovenia) · Transylvania (Romania) · Crişana /
Partium (Romania) · Maramureş (Romania) · Upper Hungary
(Slovakia) · Bačka (Serbia) · Banat (Romania, Serbia) · Baranya
(Croatia)
Croatia-Slavonia Croatia (Croatia) · Slavonia (Croatia) · Syrmia (Serbia, Croatia)
Corpus separatum Rijeka (Croatia)
World War II
Map of the Kingdom of Hungary in 1941
Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy sought to enforce peacefully the claims of Hungarians on
territories Hungary lost in 1920 with the signing of the Treaty of Trianon, and the two Vienna
Awards returned parts of Czechoslovakia and Transylvania to Hungary.
On 20 November 1940 under pressure from Germany, Pál Teleki affiliated Hungary with the
Tripartite Pact. In December 1940, he also signed an ephemeral "Treaty of Eternal Friendship"
with Yugoslavia. A few months later, after a Yugoslavian coup threatened the success of the
planned German invasion of the Soviet Union (Operation Barbarossa), Hitler asked the
Hungarians to support his invasion of Yugoslavia. He promised to return some former Hungarian
territories lost after World War I in exchange for cooperation. Unable to prevent Hungary's
participation in the war alongside Germany, Teleki committed suicide. The right-wing radical
László Bárdossy succeeded him as Prime Minister. Eventually Hungary annexed small parts of
present day Slovenia and Serbia.
After war broke out on the Eastern Front many Hungarian officials argued for participation in the
war so as not to encourage Hitler into favouring Romania in the event of border revisions in
Transylvania. Hungary entered the war and on 1 July 1941 at the direction of the Germans, the
Hungarian Karpat Group advanced far into southern Russia. At the Battle of Uman the
Gyorshadtest participated in the encirclement of the 6th Soviet Army and the 12th Soviet Army.
Twenty Soviet divisions were captured or destroyed.
Worried about Hungary's increasing reliance on Germany, Admiral Horthy forced Bárdossy to
resign and replaced him with Miklós Kállay, a veteran conservative of Bethlen's government.
Kállay continued Bárdossy's policy of supporting Germany against the Red Army, while he also
surreptitiously entered into negotiations with the Western Powers.
During the Battle of Stalingrad, the Hungarian Second Army suffered terrible losses. The heavy
Soviet breakthrough at the Don River sliced directly through the Hungarian units. Shortly after
the fall of Stalingrad in January 1943, the Hungarian Second Army effectively ceased to exist as
a functioning military unit.
Secret negotiations with the British and Americans continued. As per the request of the Western
Allies, there were no connection made with the Soviets. Aware of Kállay's deceit and fearing that
Hungary might conclude a separate peace, Hitler ordered Nazi troops to launch Operation
Margarethe and occupy Hungary in March 1944. Döme Sztójay, an avid supporter of the Nazis,
become the new Prime Minister with the aid of a Nazi military governor, Edmund Veesenmayer.
The infamous SS Colonel Adolf Eichmann went to Hungary to oversee the large-scale
deportations of Jews to German death camps in occupied Poland. Between 15 May and 9 July
1944 the Hungarians deported 437,402 Jews to the Auschwitz concentration camp.[58][59]
In August 1944 Horthy replaced Sztójay with the anti-Fascist General Géza Lakatos. Under the
Lakatos regime, the acting Interior Minister Béla Horváth ordered Hungarian gendarmes to
prevent any Hungarian citizens from being deported.
In September 1944, Soviet forces crossed the Hungarian border. On 15 October 1944, Horthy
announced that Hungary had signed an armistice with the Soviet Union. The Hungarian army
ignored the armistice. The Germans launched Operation Panzerfaust and, by kidnapping his son
(Miklós Horthy, Jr.), forced Horthy to abrogate the armistice, depose the Lakatos government,
and name the leader of the Arrow Cross Party, Ferenc Szálasi, as Prime Minister. Szálasi became
Prime Minister of a new fascist Government of National Unity and Horthy abdicated.
In cooperation with the Nazis, Szálasi restarted the deportations of Jews, particularly in
Budapest. Thousands more Jews were killed by Hungarian Arrow Cross members. The retreating
German army demolished the rail, road, and communications systems.
On 28 December 1944 a provisional government was formed in Hungary under acting Prime
Minister Béla Miklós. Miklós and Szálasi's rival governments each claimed legitimacy : the
Germans and pro-German Hungarians loyal to Szálasi fought on, as the territory effectively
controlled by the Arrow Cross regime shrunk gradually. The Red Army completed the
encirclement of Budapest on 29 December 1944 and the Battle of Budapest began and continued
into February 1945. Most of what remained of the Hungarian First Army was destroyed about
200 miles north of Budapest between 1 January and 16 February 1945.
On 20 January 1945, representatives of the Hungarian provisional government signed an
armistice in Moscow. Szálasi's government had fled the country by the end of March. Officially,
Soviet operations in Hungary ended on 4 April 1945 when the last German troops were expelled.
On 7 May 1945 General Alfred Jodl, the German Chief of Staff, signed the unconditional
surrender of all German forces.
Hungary's World War II casualties: Tamás Stark of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences has
provided the following assessment of losses from 1941–1945 in Hungary. Military losses were
300,000-310,000 including 110-120,000 killed in battle and 200,000 missing in action and POW
in the Soviet Union. Hungarian military losses include 110,000 men who were conscripted from
the annexed territories of Greater Hungary in Slovakia, Romania and Yugoslavia and the deaths
of 20-25,000 Jews conscripted for Army labor units. Civilian losses of about 80,000 include
45,500 killed in the 1944–1945 military campaign and in air attacks, and the genocide of Romani
people of 28,000 persons. Jewish Holocaust victims totaled 200,000. See World War II
casualties.
Transition to Communism (1944–1949)
The Soviet Army occupied Hungary from September 1944 until April 1945. The siege of
Budapest lasted almost 2 months, from December 1944 to February 1945 (the longest successful
siege of any city in the entire war, including Berlin) and the city suffered widespread destruction,
including all the Danube bridges which were blown up by the Germans in an effort to slow the
Soviet advance.
By signing the Peace Treaty of Paris, Hungary again lost all the territories that it had gained
between 1938 and 1941. Neither the Western Allies nor the Soviet Union supported any change
in Hungary's pre-1938 borders, which was the primary motive behind the Hungarian
involvement in the war. The Soviet Union itself annexed Sub-Carpathia (before 1938 the eastern
edge of Czechoslovakia), which is today part of Ukraine.
The Treaty of Peace with Hungary signed on 10 February 1947 declared that "The decisions of
the Vienna Award of November 2, 1938, are declared null and void" and Hungarian boundaries
were fixed along the former frontiers as they existed on 1 January 1938 except a minor loss of
territory on the Czechoslovakian border. Many of the communist leaders of 1919 returned from
Moscow. The first major violation of civil rights was suffered by the ethnic German minority,
half of which (240,000 people) were deported to Germany in 1946–1948, although the great
majority of them did not support Germany and were not members of any pro-Nazi movement.
There was a forced "exchange of population" between Hungary and Czechoslovakia, which
involved about 70,000 Hungarians living in Slovakia and somewhat smaller numbers of ethnic
Slovaks living in the territory of Hungary. Unlike the Germans, these people were allowed to
carry some of their property with them.
The Soviets originally planned for a piecemeal introduction of the Communist regime in
Hungary, therefore when they set up a provisional government in Debrecen on 21 December
1944, they were careful to include representatives of several moderate parties. Following the
demands of the Western Allies for a democratic election, the Soviets authorized the only
essentially free election in Eastern Europe in November 1945 in Hungary. This was also the first
election held in Hungary on the basis of universal franchise. People voted for party lists, not for
individual candidates. At the elections the Independent Smallholders' Party, a center-right
peasant party, won 57% of the vote. Despite the hopes of the Communists and the Soviets that
the distribution of the aristocratic estates among the poor peasants would increase their
popularity, the Hungarian Communist Party received only 17% of the votes. The Soviet
commander in Hungary, Marshal Voroshilov, refused to allow the Smallholders' Party to form a
government on their own. Under Voroshilov's pressure, the Smallholders organized a coalition
government including the Communists, the Social Democrats and the National Peasant Party (a
left-wing peasant party), in which the Communists held some of the key posts. On 1 February
1946 Hungary was declared a Republic, and the leader of the Smallholders, Zoltán Tildy,
became President handing over the office of Prime Minister to Ferenc Nagy. Mátyás Rákosi,
leader of the Communist Party, became deputy prime minister.
Another leading Communist, László Rajk became minister of the interior responsible for
controlling law enforcement, and in this position established the security police (ÁVH). The
Communists exercised constant pressure on the Smallholders both inside and outside the
government, nationalising industrial companies, banning religious civil organizations and
occupying key positions in local public administration. In February 1947 the police began
arresting leaders of the Smallholders Party, charging them with "conspiracy against the
Republic". Several prominent figures decided to emigrate or were forced to escape abroad,
including Prime Minister Ferenc Nagy in May 1947. Later Mátyás Rákosi boasted that he had
dealt with his partners in the government, one by one, "cutting them off like slices of salami."
At the next parliamentary election in August 1947 the Communists committed widespread
election fraud with absentee ballots (the so-called "blue slips"), but even so, they only managed
to increase their share from 17% to 24% in Parliament. The Social Democrats (by this time a
servile ally of the Communists) received 15% in contrast to their 17% in 1945. The
Smallholders' Party lost much of its popularity and ended up with 15%, but their former voters
turned towards three new center-right parties which seemed more determined to resist the
Communist onslaught: their combined share of the total votes was 35%.
Faced with their second failure at the polls, the Communists changed tactics, and, under new
orders from Moscow, decided to eschew democratic facades and speed up the Communist
takeover. In June 1948 the Social Democratic Party was forced to "merge" with the Communist
Party, creating the Hungarian Working People's Party, which was dominated by the Communists.
Anti-Communist leaders of the Social Democrats, such as Károly Peyer or Anna Kéthly, were
forced into exile or excluded from the party. Soon after, President Zoltán Tildy was also
removed from his position, and replaced by a fully cooperative Social Democrat, Árpád
Szakasits. Ultimately, all "democratic" parties were organized into a so-called People's Front in
February 1949, thereby losing even the vestiges of their autonomy. The leader of the People's
Front was Rákosi himself. Opposition parties were simply declared illegal and their leaders
arrested or forced into exile.
On 18 August 1949 the parliament passed the new constitution of Hungary (1949/XX.) modelled
after the 1936 constitution of the Soviet Union. The name of the country changed to the People's
Republic of Hungary, "the country of the workers and peasants" where "every authority is held
by the working people". Socialism was declared as the main goal of the nation. A new coat-of-
arms was adopted with Communist symbols, such the red star, hammer and sickle.
Stalinist era (1949–1956)
Mátyás Rákosi, who as a chief secretary of the Hungarian Working People's Party was de facto
the leader of Hungary, possessed practically unlimited power and demanded complete obedience
from fellow members of the Party, including his two most trusted colleagues, Ernő Gerő and
Mihály Farkas. All three of them returned to Hungary from Moscow, where they spent long
years and had close ties to high-ranking Soviet leaders there. Their main rivals in the party were
the 'Hungarian' Communists who led the illegal party during the war in Hungary, and were
considerably more popular within party ranks. Their most influential leader, László Rajk, who
was minister of foreign affairs at the time, was arrested in May 1949. He was accused of rather
surreal crimes, such as spying for Western imperialist powers and for Yugoslavia (which was
also a Communist country but in very bad relations with the Soviet Union at the time). At his
trial in September 1949 he made a forced confession to be an agent of Miklós Horthy, Leon
Trotsky, Josip Broz Tito and Western imperialism. He also admitted that he had taken part in a
murder plot against Mátyás Rákosi and Ernő Gerő. Rajk was found guilty and executed. In the
next three years, other leaders of the party deemed untrustworthy, like former Social Democrats
or other Hungarian illegal Communists such as János Kádár, were also arrested and imprisoned
on trumped-up charges.
The showcase trial of Rajk is considered the beginning of the worst period of the Rákosi
dictatorship. Mátyás Rákosi now attempted to impose totalitarian rule on Hungary. The centrally
orchestrated personality cult focused on him and Stalin soon reached unprecedented proportions.
Rákosi's images and busts were everywhere, all public speakers were required to glorify his
wisdom and leadership. In the meantime, the secret police, led through Gábor Péter by Rákosi
himself, mercilessly persecuted all 'class enemies' and 'enemies of the people'. An estimated
2,000 people were executed and over 100,000 were imprisoned. Some 44,000 ended up in
forced-labour camps, where many died due to horrible work conditions, poor food and
practically no medical care. Another 15,000 people, mostly former aristocrats, industrialists,
military generals and other upper-class people were deported from the capital and other cities to
countryside villages where they were forced to do hard agricultural labour. These policies were
opposed by some members of the Hungarian Working People's Party and around 200,000 were
expelled by Rákosi from the organization.
By 1950, the state controlled most of the economy, as all large and mid-sized industrial
companies, plants, mines, banks of all kind as well as all companies of retail and foreign trade
were nationalized without any compensation. Slavishly following Soviet economic policies,
Rákosi declared that Hungary would become a "country of iron and steel", even though Hungary
lacked iron ore completely. The forced development of heavy industry served military purposes;
it was meant to be preparation for the impending World War III against Western imperialism. A
disproportionate amount of the country's resources were spent on building whole industrial cities
and plants from scratch, while much of the country was still in ruins since the war. Traditional
strengths of Hungary, such as the food and textile industries were neglected.
Large agricultural latifundia were divided and distributed among poor peasants already in 1945.
In agriculture, the government tried to force independent peasants to enter co-operatives in which
they would become merely paid labourers, but many of them stubbornly resisted. The
government retaliated with ever higher requirements of compulsory food quotas imposed on
peasants' produce. Rich peasants, called 'kulaks' in Russians, were declared 'class enemies' and
suffered all sorts of discrimination, including imprisonment and loss of property. With them,
some of the most able farmers were removed from production. The declining agricultural output
led to a constant scarcity of food, especially meat.
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 "working intelligentsia". In addition to
effects such as better education for the poor, more opportunities for working class children and
increased literacy in general, this measure also included the dissemination of communist
ideology in schools and universities. Also, as part of an effort to separate the Church from the
State, practically all religious schools were taken into state ownership, and religious instruction
was denounced as retrograde propaganda and was gradually eliminated from schools.
The Hungarian churches were systematically intimidated. Cardinal József 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 under arrest (which
included torture), he confessed to the charges against him and he was sentenced to life
imprisonment. The Protestant churches were also purged and their leaders were replaced by
those willing to remain loyal to Rákosi's government.
The new Hungarian military hastily staged public, pre-arranged trials to purge "Nazi remnants
and imperialist saboteurs". Several officers were sentenced to death and executed in 1951,
including Lajos Toth, a 28 victory-scoring fighter ace of World War II Royal Hungarian Air
Force, who had voluntarily returned from US captivity to help revive Hungarian aviation. The
victims were cleared posthumously following the fall of communism.
Preparations for a show trial started in Budapest in 1953to prove that Raoul Wallenberg had not
been dragged off in 1945 to the Soviet Union but was the victim of cosmopolitan Zionists. For
the purposes of this show trial, three Jewish leaders as well as two would-be "eyewitnesses" were
arrested and interrogated by torture. The show trial was initiated in Moscow, following Stalin-s
anti-Zionist campaign. After the death of Stalin and Lavrentiy Beria, the preparations for the trial
were stopped and the arrested persons were released.
Rákosi had great difficulties managing the economy and the people of Hungary saw living
standards fall. Although his government became increasingly unpopular, he had a firm grip on
power until Joseph Stalin died on 5 March 1953 when a confused power struggle began in
Moscow. Some of the Soviet leaders perceived the unpopularity of the Hungarian regime and
ordered Rákosi to give up his position as prime minister in favour of another former Communist-
in-exile in Moscow, Imre Nagy, who was Rákosi's chief opponent in the party. Rákosi, however,
retained his position as general secretary of the Hungarian Working People's Party and over the
next three years the two men became involved in a bitter struggle for power.
As Hungary's new prime minister, Imre Nagy slightly relaxed state control over the economy and
the mass media and encouraged public discussion on political and economic reform. In order to
improve the general supply, he increase the production and distribution of consumer goods and
reduced the tax and quota burdens of the peasants. Nagy also closed forced-labour camps,
released most of the political prisoners - the Communists were allowed back into Party ranks -,
and reined in the secret police, whose hated head, Gábor Péter, was convicted and imprisoned in
1954. All these rather moderate reforms earned him widespread popularity in the country,
especially among the peasantry and the left-wing intellectuals.
Following a turn in Moscow, where Malenkov, Nagy's primary patron lost the power struggle
against Khrushchev, Mátyás Rákosi started a counterattack on Nagy. On March 9, 1955, the
Central Committee of the Hungarian Working People's 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 18 April he was dismissed from his post by a
unanimous vote of the National Assembly. Soon after, Nagy was even excluded from the Party
and temporarily retired from politics. Rákosi once again became the unchallenged leader of
Hungary.
Rákosi's second reign, however, did not last long. His power was undermined by a speech made
by Nikita Khrushchev in February 1956, in which he denounced the policies of Joseph Stalin and
his followers in Eastern Europe, especially the attacks on Yugoslavia and the cult of personality.
On 18 July 1956 visiting Soviet leaders removed Rákosi from all his positions and he boarded a
plane bound for the Soviet Union, never to return to Hungary. But the Soviets made a major
mistake by the appointment of his close friend and ally, Ernő Gerő, as his successor, who was
equally unpopular and shared responsibility for most of Rákosi's crimes.
The fall of Rákosi was followed by a flurry of reform agitation both inside and outside the Party.
László Rajk and his fellow victims of the showcase trial of 1949 were cleared of all charges, and
on 6 October 1956, the Party authorized a reburial, which was attended by tens of thousands of
people and became a silent demonstration against the crimes of the regime. On 13 October it was
announced that Imre Nagy had been reinstated as a member of the party.
1956 Revolution
Main article: Hungarian Revolution of 1956
On 23 October 1956 a peaceful student demonstration in Budapest produced a list of 16 demands
for reform and greater political freedom. As the students attempted to broadcast these demands,
police made some arrests and tried to disperse the crowd with tear gas. When the students
attempted to free those arrested, the police opened fire on the crowd, setting off a chain of events
which led to the Hungarian Revolution.
That night, 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
Gerő" and "Long Live Nagy". The Central Committee of the Hungarian Working People's Party
responded to these developments by requesting Soviet military intervention and deciding that
Imre Nagy should become head of a new government. Soviet tanks entered Budapest at 2 a.m. on
24 October.
On 25 October 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 Hungarian Working People's Party forced Ernő Gerő 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 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 28 October Nagy and a group of his supporters, including János Kádár, Géza Losonczy,
Antal Apró, Károly Kiss, Ferenc Münnich and Zoltán Szabó, managed to take control of the
Hungarian Working People's Party. At the same time revolutionary workers' councils and local
national committees were formed all over Hungary.
The change of leadership in the party was reflected in the articles of the government newspaper,
Szabad Nép (i.e. Free People). On 29 October the newspaper welcomed the new government and
openly criticised Soviet attempts to influence the political situation in Hungary. This view was
supported by Radio Miskolc that called for the immediate withdrawal of Soviet troops from the
country.
On 30 October Imre Nagy announced that he was freeing Cardinal József Mindszenty and other
political prisoners. He also informed the people that his government intends to abolish the one-
party state. This was followed by statements of Zoltán Tildy, Anna Kéthly and Ferenc Farkas
concerning the restitution of the Smallholders Party, the Social Democratic Party and the Petőfi
(former Peasants) Party.
Nagy's most controversial decision took place on 1 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 3 November Nagy announced details of his coalition government. It included communists
(János Kádár, Georg Lukács, Géza Losonczy), three members of the Smallholders Party (Zoltán
Tildy, Béla Kovács and István Szabó), three Social Democrats (Anna Kéthly, Gyula Keleman,
Joseph Fischer), and two Petőfi Peasants (István Bibó and Ferenc Farkas). Pál Maléter was
appointed minister of defence.
Nikita Khrushchev, the leader of the Soviet Union, became increasingly concerned about these
developments and on 4 November 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 Pál Maléter, Géza Losonczy, Attila
Szigethy and Miklós Gimes.
Post Revolution (or Kádár) era 1956–1989
Once he was in power, János Kádár led an attack against revolutionaries. 21,600 mavericks
(democrats, liberals, reformist communists alike) were imprisoned, 13,000 interned, and 400
killed. But in the early 1960s, Kádár announced a new policy under the motto of "He who is not
against us is with us." (this was a modification of Rákosi's statement 'He who is not with us is
against 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 rebuild 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 alternately to pressures for minor political and economic reforms as well as to
counter-pressures 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.
Hungary's transition to a Western-style democracy was one of the smoothest among the former
Soviet bloc. By late 1988, 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 Alliance of Free Democrats (SZDSZ), and the national opposition established the
Hungarian Democratic Forum (MDF). Civic activism intensified to a level not seen since the
1956 revolution.
In 1988, Kádár was replaced as General Secretary of the Communist Party, and reform
communist leader Imre Pozsgay was admitted to the Politburo. In 1989, the Parliament adopted a
"democracy package," which included trade-union pluralism; freedom of association, assembly,
and the press; a new electoral law; and in October 1989 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 round table, 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 16–20 October 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. On
the day of the 1956 Revolution, 23 October, the Hungarian Republic was officially declared (by
the provisional President of the Republic Mátyás Szűrös), replacing the Hungarian People's
Republic. The revised constitution also championed the "values of bourgeois democracy and
democratic socialism" and gave equal status to public and private property.
Free elections and a democratic government since 1989
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 József 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).
Between March 12, 1990 and June 19, 1991 the Soviet troops ("Southern Army Group") left
Hungary. The last units commanded by general Viktor Silov crossed the Hungarian-Ukrainian
border at Záhony - Csap. The total number of Soviet military and civilian personnel stationed in
Hungary was around 100,000, having at their disposal approximately 27,000 military equipment.
The withdrawal was performed with 35,000 railway cars. Since 2001, by a special bill passed in
the Hungarian Parliament, June 16 was declared a national memorial day.
Péter 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, and the massive worsening of
living standards because of the free-market reforms led to a massive loss of support.
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. After its disappointing result in the election,
Fidesz changed its political position from liberal to conservative. In 1995, it added "Hungarian
Civic Party" (Magyar Polgári Párt) to its shortened name. The conservative turn caused a severe
split in the membership. Péter Molnár left the party, as well as Gábor Fodor and Klára Ungár,
who joined the liberal Alliance of Free Democrats. The MSZP, whose politics was as much
determined by the socialism of PM Gyula Horn and a large part of the base, as by the economic
focus of its technocrats (educated with a Western orientation in seventies-eighties) and ex-cadre
entrepreneur supporters, and its liberal coalition partner SzDSz continued economic reforms and
privatization, adopting a painful 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 governing parties' re-election; dissatisfaction with the pace
and style of economic recovery, rising crime, the attempt to re-start the unpopular program of
building a dam in the Danube, and cases of government corruption convinced voters to propel
center-right parties into power following national elections in May 1998.
Fidesz 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
Orbán, promised to stimulate faster growth, curb inflation, and lower taxes. Although the Orbán
administration also pledged continuity in foreign policy, and continued to pursue Euro-Atlantic
integration as its first priority, it was 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 1 January 2004.
However, Fidesz lost the next election in April 2002, in which the MSZP and its liberal ally
SzDSz 51% won over Fidesz and its ally MDF 48% in a fierce fight that showed a loss of trust in
Fidesz due to supposed professed corruption problems, a style seen as arrogant by parts of the
population, and lack of communication between the government and the other parties and some
strategically bad connections to extreme right-wing parties during the election campaign, while
also showing the doubt and memories of already mentioned problems with the socialist party's
last government.
On 12 April 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 1 May 2004 Hungary became a member of the EU.
In the elections of April 2006, Hungary decided to keep its government in place for the first time
in the history of the Third Hungarian Republic. The left-wing strengthened its positions, with the
coalition of the Social Democrats (MSZP) and the Liberals (SZDSZ) reaching 54 percent of the
votes, gaining 210 seats as opposed to the previous 198. Surprise elements were the rise in votes
for the smaller parties SZDSZ and MDF, and the largest conservative party Fidesz (joining
forces with one of the Christian Democrat parties for the elections) winning a considerably lower
number, 164 of the altogether 386 seats, while most polls showed a head-to-head competition
and an almost equal amount of seats won by the two large parties. Many analysts have pointed to
Fidesz's largely negative political campaign, its conflicts with MDF (which refused to ally with
Fidesz because, among others, of differences in basic principles and a number of alleged
blackmail incidents), as well as the content of public speeches of some of its candidates (such as
deputy prime minister nominee István Mikola referring to young Hungarians participating in
Budapest Parade as "hordes made up of single people") as probable causes of the party's loss of
voters especially in the second round where, according to the Tárki institute, Fidesz lost as much
as ten percent of its voters. The new Parliament assembled in late May 2006, and the new
government was formed in June 2006. Under the socialist-liberal government (since 2002) all
indexes of the Hungarian economy started to downfall. There were mass protests against the
social-liberal Gyurcsány government between 17 September and 23 October 2006. It is the first
sustained protest in Hungary since 1989
Airline Departs Arrival Stops
Duration
Aeroflot Russian Air New Delhi 28 Sep, 02:00 AM Budapest 28 Sep, 03:00PM 116hr 30min
Budapest 01 Oct, 11:30 AMNew Delhi02 Oct, 12:30 AM19hr 30min
Rs.36,215 (Incl. of taxes & fee)
Rs.21,000 Fare +Rs.15,215 Taxes & Fee
Fare Summary: Rs.36,215
Traveller Type
Base Fare Taxes & Fee Per Traveller Total
AdultRs.21,000 (X
1)Rs.15,215 (X
1)Rs.36,215 (X
1)Rs.36,215
Grand Total: Rs.36,215Fare RulesThis is a Non Refundable E-ticket.
Cancellation Penalty:All bookings booked on MakeMyTrip.com are subject to cancellation penalty levied by the airlines. In addition to the airlines cancellation penalty, MakeMyTrip charges a service fee of Rs 500 per passenger for all cancellations.
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Hotel
Danubius Hotel Gellert - Budapest
Hotel Information & Location(rent $61)
The four-star Danubius Hotel Gellert is one of the most traditional hotels in Budapest and
Hungary.
Sophisticated guests, who admire traditional architecture and dedicated service will honour this
preserved jewel of construction art and at the same time enjoy the unique historical atmosphere
of the Hotel Gellert. The hotel was erected on the right bank of the River Danube between 1916
and 1918 until its opening to the public on September 24th, 1918 and has maintained the highest
recognition ever since. The special ambience and furniture of the rooms together with the
friendly style of the hotel are blending in perfect harmony. Next to the hotel you can find the
world famous Gellert Bath.
Danubius Hotel Gellert Budapest, located in a picturesque environment at the foot of Gellert
Hill, on the bank of the Danube, is ideally situated for both business and leisure travellers. This
impressive location is within walking distance to Budapest's most fashionable shopping and
business district with one of the most beautiful sights of Budapest, the Liberty Bridge.
Rooms
Economy DBL - Double or twin bedded room with bathtub/shower overlooking the patio or
outdoor pool area. Size: 27-30 sqm. Rooms equipped with phone, international TV and news
channels, movie channel, radio, alarm clock and Minibar. Hotel bathrobe is available in every
room.
Guest room DBL - Double or twin bedded room with bath overlooking the river or hill. Size:
cca. 25 sqm. Rooms are equipped with phone, satellite TV and news channels, movie channel,
radio, alarm clock. Minibar in room. Hotel bathrobe is available in every room.
Deluxe DBL - Double or twin bedded refurbished room with bath, overlooking to the river. Size:
cca. 30 sqm. Rooms are equipped with phone, satellite TV and news channels, movie channel,
radio, alarm clock. Minibar and safety box in room. Hotel bathrobe is available in every room.
Suite Deluxe - Superior suite with bathroom overlooking the river Danube or the Gellért hill.
Size: 65-75 m2. Rooms are equipped with phone, satellite TV and news channels, movie
channel, radio, alarm clock, minibar. Hotel bathrobe is available in every room.
Suite - Spacious rooms overlooking to river or the hill, with living room, bedroom and bathroom.
Total size: 56-62 sqm. Rooms are equipped with phone, satellite TV and news channels, movie
channel, radio, alarm clock, minibar and bathrobe. WIFI is available.
Hotel services
Business centre * Central safe * 24-hour open reception * Organisation of Programmes *
Function rooms * Conference rooms * Hotel taxi * Souvenir shop * Restaurant * Brasserie *
Drinkbar * Movie channel * Computer connection * Minibar * In-room safe * Non-smoking
rooms * Room-service * Pets allowed * Baby-sitter upon request * Laundry * Dry cleaning *
Massage * Outdoor swimming pool * Indoor pool * Indoor swimming pool * Jacuzzi * Sauna *
Solarium * Open-air bath * Beauty parlour * Hairdresser * Surgery * Dentist * Other medical
services * Rheumathology
Fare
Ticket to Hungary (return ticket included) (direct destination) Rs 36215
Hotel stay(for 4 days) ($61*3=183) Rs 9150
Hungary tour (for 8 hours)(including food) $101 Rs 5050
Taxi fare (included in hotel facility)
Total amount Rs 50415