History of Hungary

This is the history of Hungary. See also the history of Europe, the history of present-day nations and states, Hungary before the Magyars, and Hungary.

The Kingdom of Hungary

High and Late Middle Ages (1000 - 1526)

Hungary was established as a Christian kingdom under Stephen I of Hungary, who was crowned in December 1000 AD or January 1001 AD. He was the son of Géza and thus a descendant of Árpád. 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 orthodox Christian Byzantine Empire. Then he started sweeping reforms to convert Hungary into a feudal state, complete with forced Christianisation.

Related Topics:
Stephen I of Hungary - 1006

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What emerged was a strong kingdom that withstood attacks from German kings and Emperors, passing armies of Crusaders, as well as later nomadic tribes following the Magyars from the East, integrating some of the latter into the population (along with Germans invited to Transylvania and what is now Slovakia, especially after 1242), but also subjugating smaller Slavic kingdoms to the South, among them newly formed Croatia, and Slavic territories in present-day central and eastern Slovakia.

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In 1241/1242, this kingdom received one major blow in the form of the Mongol invasion of Europe: after the destruction of the Hungarian army in the Battle of Muhi, King Béla IV fled, and one third of the population died (leading later to the invitation of settlers from neighbours in the West and South) in the ensuing destruction (Tatárjárás). Only strongly fortified cities and abbeys could withstand the assault. As a consequence, after the Mongols retreated, King Béla ordered the construction of a line of major border castles (végvár). These proved to be most important in the long struggle with the Ottoman Empire in the following centuries (from the late 14th century onwards), but their cost indebted the King to the major feudal landlords so much that central rule, already diminished by the Aranybulla (Hungary's version of the Magna Carta, 1222), was critically weakened.

Related Topics:
Mongol invasion - King Béla IV - Ottoman Empire - 14th century - Magna Carta

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Árpád's descendants ruled the country until 1301. After that, most Hungarian kings were from abroad. Under some of these rulers, the Kingdom of Hungary reached its greatest extent, yet the influence of the major landlords was at most kept in check – while the Ottoman Turks, confronted ever more often, increased their strength.

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The second Hungarian king in the Angevin line of French origin, Louis I the Great (I. or Nagy Lajos, king 1342-1382) extended his rule over territories from the Black Sea to the Adriatic Sea, and temporarily occupied the Two Sicilies (after his brother was murdered there by his wife, who was also his cousin). From 1370, the death of Casimir III the Great, he was also king of Poland. The alliance between Casimir and Charles I of Hungary, the father of Louis, was the start of a still lasting Polish-Hungarian friendship.

Related Topics:
Angevin - Louis I the Great - Black Sea - Adriatic Sea - Two Sicilies - Casimir III the Great - Charles I of Hungary

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Sigismund, a prince from the Luxembourg line who first married, then succeeded at the throne, then divorced Louis's daughter, Queen Mary, in 1433 even became Sigismund, Holy Roman Emperor – but his rule was marked by territorial losses in the South (for example to growing Serbia), the 1396 defeat in a late crusade against the Ottoman Turks at Nicopolis, the open dissent of feudal landlords, the Hussite rebellion in the Czech kingdom (which was also under his rule) and partly in Slovakia, and a major peasant rebellion in Transylvania.

Related Topics:
Luxembourg - Sigismund, Holy Roman Emperor - Nicopolis - Hussite

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The last strong king was the renaissance king Matthias Corvinus. He was the son of the feudal landlord and warlord John Hunyadi, who led the Hungarian troops in the 1456 Siege of Nándorfehérvár. Building on his fathers' vision, the aim of taking on the Ottoman Empire with a strong enough background, Matthias set out to build a great empire, expanding southward and northwest, while he also implemented internal reforms.

Related Topics:
Matthias Corvinus - John Hunyadi - Siege of Nándorfehérvár

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But after Matthias's death, the weak king Ladislaus II of the Polish/Lithuanian Jagiellon line nominally ruled the areas he conquered except Austria, but real power was in the hand of the nobles. In 1514, two years before Ladislaus' death, there was even a major peasant rebellion in the Pannonian lowlands and parts of Transylvania (called the Dózsa Insurrection or Hungarian Peasant's War), crushed barbarously by the nobles. As central rule degenerated, the stage was set for a defeat at the hands of the Ottoman Empire. In 1521, Nándorfehérvár (today Beograd) fell, and in 1526, the Hungarian army was destroyed in the Battle at Mohács.

Related Topics:
Ladislaus II - Jagiellon - Pannonian lowlands - Ottoman Empire - Beograd - Battle at Mohács

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Through the centuries the Kingdom of Hungary has kept its old "constitution", based on freedom of nobles, privileged people (Saxons, Jász-kuns) and free royal towns e.g. Buda (Ofen), Ko?ice (Kassa), Pressburg (Pozsony, today: Bratislava), Klausenburg (Kolozsvár, today Cluj-Napoca).

Related Topics:
Kingdom of Hungary - Free royal town - Buda - Ko?ice - Bratislava - Cluj-Napoca

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Early modern times (1526 - 1718)

Based on previous agreements, the Habsburgs ruled as kings of Hungary from 1526 to 1918.

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In 1526, after some 150 years of war with Turks in the south, the Turks finally conquered parts of Hungary, and continued their expansion until 1556. With the conquest of Buda in 1541 by the Turks, Hungary fell into three parts. Present-day Slovakia, western Transdanubia, present-day Burgenland, western Croatia and parts of north-eastern present-day Hungary went to the Habsburgs, and became a province of their empire under the name Royal Hungary. The Austrian Emperors were formally crowned as Kings of Hungary. Transylvania, in turn, became independent and a Turkish vassal state. The remaining central area (mostly present-day Hungary), including the capital of Buda, became a province of the Ottoman Empire. A large part of the area became devastated by permanent warfare. Most smaller settlements disappeared. Rural people could survive only in larger settlements owned directly and protected by the Sultan, in the so called Khaz towns. The Turks were indifferent to the type of Christian religion of their subjects and the Habsburg counter-reformation measures could not reach this area. As a result, the majority of the population of the area became Protestant (Calvinist). In 1686, Austria-led Christian forces reconquered Buda, and in the next few years, all of the country except areas near Timi?oara (Temesvár). In the 1699 Treaty of Karlowitz these changes were officially recognized, and in 1718 the entire Kingdom of Hungary was restored from the Ottomans.

Related Topics:
1526 - Some 150 years of war with Turks in the south - Transdanubia - Burgenland - Royal Hungary - Transylvania - Buda - Ottoman Empire - Khaz towns - 1686 - Austria - Timi?oara - 1699 - Treaty of Karlowitz - 1718

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Pressburg (Pozsony, today: Bratislava) became the new capital (1536-1784), coronation town (1563-1830) and seat of the Diet (1536-1848) of Hungary. Trnava (Nagyszombat), in turn, became the religious center in 1541.

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Parallelly, between 1604 and 1711, there was a series of anti-Habsburg (i.e. anti-Austrian) and anti-Catholic (requiring equal rights and freedom for all Christian religions) uprisings, which – with the exception of the last one – took place in Royal Hungary, more exactly on the territory of present-day Slovakia. The uprisings were usually organized from Transylvania. The last one was an uprising led by Francis Rákóczi (II. Ferenc Rákóczi), who was chosen by the people to be the future king. When Austrians crushed the rebellion 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. Afterwards, to make further armed resistance impossible, the Austrians blew up some castles, and let peasants to remove stones from most others (the végvárs among them).

Related Topics:
Francis Rákóczi - Rodosto

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See also: Moldavian Magnate Wars, Stephen Bathory, King of Poland, Battle of Vienna

Related Topics:
Moldavian Magnate Wars - Stephen Bathory, King of Poland - Battle of Vienna

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18th century (1718 - 1780)

This period was characterized by a reconstruction of the country. The Habsburg rulers pursued a re-settlement of ravaged areas with new immigrants from present-day Austria and Germany, from the northern and eastern parts of the country (present-day Slovakia and Romania), and from Serbia.

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Enlightenment (1780 - 1848)

Influenced by the French revolution, and in response to attempts at Germanisation by Joseph II (ruled 1780-1790), there emerged a national revival movement in Hungary of the Magyars, but also of all the other non-Magyar nationalities living in the Kingdom of Hungary.

Related Topics:
French revolution - Joseph II

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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 the official language of the country, instead of the former Latin). The other nationalities of the country protested against these measures.

Related Topics:
Napoleonic Wars - 1820s

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The first measurements of the population on the area of the Kingdom of Hungary (including Croatia and Transylvania) were performed in the late 18th century. Different estimates based on these measurements put the proportion of the Magyars in the Kingdom (with or without Croatia) at 29% to 42% towards the end of the 18th century. A first thorough research in 1836-40 put the percentage of Magyars at 36-37% (without Croatia 48 %) and a census in 1850-51 at 45.4% in all the territory of the Kingdom of Hungary. The official percentages of the other nationalities according to the 1850-51 census (although it was criticised for bias towards the percentage of Hungarians and Germans already at that time) were:

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• Slovaks (18.6%)
• Germans (11.8%)
• Romanians (10.1%)
• Serbs and Croats (5.6%)
• Ukrainians and Ruthenians (4.8%)
• Others (3.7%)

The Habsburg Emperors and particularly the chancellor Metternich refused to implement reforms and this led to a national revolution.

Related Topics:
Habsburg - Metternich

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The 1848 Revolution (1848 - 1849)

See also: The Revolutions of 1848 in the Habsburg areas.

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The revolution started on March 15th, 1848, with a bloodless revolution in Pest and Buda (mass demonstrations forcing the imperial governor to accept all demands) followed by various insurrections throughout the kingdom, which enabled Hungarian reformists to declare Hungary's autonomy within the Habsburg Empire, under the governor Lajos Kossuth and the first Prime minister Lajos Batthyány. During the subsequent civil war, the Magyars, and with them foreign revolutionaries that came to fight after their own revolutions were crushed, had to fight against the Austrian Army, but also against the Serbs, Croats, Slovaks, Romanians and Transylvanian Germans living on the territory of the Kingdom of Hungary, who had their own ethnic-national movements, and were unwilling to accept a Hungarian dominance. (Though, ethnic allegiances weren't that clear at the time: the majority of revolution-starting Buda and Pest was German-speaking, while revolutionary poet and national icon Sándor Pet?fi was of Serbian and Slovak descent.)

Related Topics:
March 15 - 1848 - Lajos Kossuth - Lajos Batthyány - Serbs - Croats - Slovaks - Romanians - Germans - Sándor Pet?fi

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Faced with revolution at home in Vienna too, Austria first accepted Hungary's autonomy. However, after the Austrian revolution was beaten down, and Franz Joseph replaced his mentally retarded brother Ferdinand I as Emperor, Austria again refused to accept Hungarian autonomy, and a civil war followed. Initially, the Hungarian forces (Honvédség) defeated Austrian armies (at Pákozd in September 1848 and at Isaszeg in April 1849), during which they even declared Hungary's total independence of Austria in April 1849. Because of the success of revolutional resistance, Franz Joseph had to ask for help from "The Gendarme of Europe", Czar Nicholas I, and Russian armies invaded Hungary, causing antagonism between the Hungarians and the Russians. Julius Freiherr von Haynau, the leader of the Austrian army who then became governor of Hungary for a few months of retribution, ordered the execution of 13 leaders of the Hungarian army (only a minority of which spoke Hungarian) in Arad and the Prime minister Batthyány in Pest.

Related Topics:
Franz Joseph - Ferdinand I - Pákozd - Isaszeg - Nicholas I - Arad - Pest

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Lajos Kossuth went into exile, with stations in the USA (where a county in Iowa was named after him), in Istanbul and in the Italian city of Turin. Realizing the biggest political error of the Revolution and himself – the confrontation with the minorities of Hungary – he popularized the idea of a multi-ethnic confederation of republics along the Danube, which might have prevented the escalation of hostile feelings between the ethnic groups in these areas. Many of Kossuth's revolutionary comrades in exile, including the sons of one of his sisters, stayed in the USA, and fought on the Union side in the US Civil War.

Related Topics:
Lajos Kossuth - County in Iowa

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After the revolution (1850 - 1867)

Following the war of 1848-49, 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.

Related Topics:
Albrecht von Habsburg - Germanization

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Austria - Hungary (1867 - 1918)

Following the rise of resistance throughout the Hungarian kingdom, the rise of romantic nationalism among the various ethnicities, and foreign aggression from Prussia (1866), the Austrian leadership under Franz Joseph was desperate to calm the domestic political situation. This led to the Compromise of 1867 (also called Ausgleich) between Austria and Hungary, which turned the Habsburg Empire into the dual monarchy of Austria-Hungary – Austria and Hungary maintained essentially separate governments under the same monarch. Foreign policy, Military and Economy remained common, with their center in Vienna, but the Hungarian government became an equal partner in the governance of the Empire. Following the Compromise, Hungary's 1848 Constitution was restored, and Franz Joseph was crowned King of Hungary.

Related Topics:
Romantic nationalism - Prussia - Franz Joseph - Compromise of 1867 - Austria-Hungary

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There was also a Hungarian-Croatian Compromise of 1868, as Croatia, an old autonomous part of the Kingdom, restored its constitutional freedom. The Hungarian government was able to influence the policy of the Austrian Empire, and successfully prevented the other ethnic minorities of the Empire, such as the Slovaks, Czechs, Romanians, and Poles, from gaining power. Count Gyula Andrássy was the first premier of Hungary after the Ausgleich.

Related Topics:
Compromise of 1868 - Croatia - Slovaks - Czechs - Romanians - Poles - Gyula Andrássy

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Minority problems were rising, however, and there was no Hungarian policy (e.g. federalization) against the threat of the collapse of the old Kingdom. Although the proportion of Magyars rose considerably since the 18th century (from about 29-35% in 1780 to 51% in 1900), there were still 49% non-Magyars in the Kingdom: Romanians (16.6%), Slovaks (11.9%), Germans (11.9%), Croatians and Serbs (3.7%), Ruthenians and Ukrainians (2.5%). A great number of Jews (officially not recorded since 1850) and Gypsies, however, had a Hungarian (or German) culture or mother tongue throughout the Kingdom.

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