Hungary

Overview

The tides of fortune have certainly washed over Hungary. Both the hordes of Genghis Khan, then the Ottoman Turkish armies occupied the country briefly before being beaten back from the gates of Vienna in neighbouring Austria. Then it flourished as a significant part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire from 1867 until it ending up on the losing side in World War I. After WWII it was occupied by the Russians, and despite the Uprising of 1956, has only relatively recently re-established freedom and autonomy. Budapest is the only town of any size.

If you fly into Budapest, there is a fast regular hotel mini-bus service that offers much better value than a cab. You don't have to be staying at one of the hotels, but you will get dropped off at the one you name, so make sure you pick one near your destination!

The only language similar to Hungarian is Finnish, so it is never going to become wildly popular in today's global village. However, like the Dutch, many Hungarians can speak several languages, including German and English. Any Russian they may have been required to learn is tactfully not mentioned. Enough said about language, and don't mention the war.

Many of the fine buildings in Budapest were built in days of the Empire, and reflect the styles of the periods. There are inevitably hideous communist blocks of utilitarian post-war housing, and many buildings in the centre of the city proudly bear the scars of battle from WWII and the 1956 Uprising.

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History

THE HUNGARIAN PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC emerged in 1949 after the Hungarian Workers' Party eliminated its rivals and assumed control of the state. Soviet control of Eastern Europe after World War II had enabled a minuscule communist party lacking popular support to gain power in the country and gradually eliminate its political rivals. Under Matyas Rakosi the party consolidated its control and radically transformed the country economically socially and politically.

In the mid-1950s after the Soviet Union had somewhat relaxed its control of Eastern Europe Hungarian society began to mobilize against the regime culminating in the Revolution of 1956. Soviet troops crushed the rebellion leaving power in the hands of Janos Kadar. After consolidating his authority Kadar embarked on a program of economic reform in the mid-1960s.

Like other countries of Eastern Europe Hungary has a history of class religious and ethnic conflicts that were intensified and sometimes decided by the actions of larger more powerful neighbors. Beginning in the tenth century German and Bohemian missionaries converted the Magyars. In the early eleventh century Bavarian knights helped Stephen I eliminate rivals and quash peasant revolts. Suleyman the Magnificent's Ottoman armies conquered and partitioned the country with the Habsburgs in the sixteenth century expediting the spread of Protestant faiths. Habsburg rulers colonized Hungary with non-Magyars repressed its Protestants stifled its economic development and attempted to Germanize its people. The Entente powers carved up Hungary after World War I and distributed most of the land to new nation-states. Finally dictator Joseph Stalin enforced Soviet domination over...more