A nation of great courage and many sorrows

It may be said of the Hungarians that history proves they cannot be ruled and will not be conquered.

What was to become the Hungarian nation emerged from the chaos of the great east-to-west migrations of the first millennium. The language is classed as one of the Urgic-Finnish group but this has been disputed recently with claims that it is actually a class unto itself. Hungarian is, in any case, quite distinct from the Romance and Germanic languages and the people who speak it are equally as independent.

The Hungarian tribes were slow to join together into a nation. Then, from the mid 1400s to 1699 the history of Hungary is dominated by the ebb and flow of battles between various defending Christian armies and those of the invading Muslim Turks, with varying degrees of Hungarian partition resulting. In 1699 the Turks were finally defeated and most of Hungary was "freed" and placed under the rule of Austria and the Hapsburg crown. And in 1700 a revolt broke out that lasted for 8 years.

While the revolt of 1700 – 1708 was firmly put down by the Hapsburgs and rule by law imposed, occasional local uprisings, acts of resistance and revolt continued even in the 1800s as the Austro-Hungarian Empire was enjoying its most prosperous times. This recurrent unrest was only partly relieved when the emperor gave domestic affairs over to an elected Hungarian government in 1867. Despite continuing unrest, the country did, however, begin to modernize and, importantly, industrialize.

Hungary might have resisted, but they opted to stand with Germany and Austria in World War One, which proved to be a very unfortunate decision. Poorly equipped and ineptly commanded, some 3.6 million Hungarians went to war and about 2.1 million of them became casualties.

Disillusioned and facing economic ruin, Hungary sued for a separate peace and withdrew from hostilities early, hoping to avoid the loss of territory and reparations. France and England promised to honor this but then reneged. In the Trianon Treaty of 1920 ruinous war reparations were levied and the country dismembered with greater prejudice than that visited on Germany. Hungary lost two-thirds of its territory, almost that proportion of its population, and the bulk of the natural resources that its new industrial economy depended upon.

Left-wing politicians flourished in the economic collapse and Hungary, following Russia’s example, became a Soviet Republic, briefly, in 1919. Then all semblance of order vanished. Rumanian troops moved in to restore order in 1920 and instituted a right-wing government. Still, government instability continued through the 20’s and the worldwide depression of 1930 hit particularly hard, first in Budapest banking circles and then throughout the country as grain prices plummeted.

Little wonder, then, that Hungary willingly joined the Fascist cause and went to war against France and England in 1940, though, in fact, they had little to offer to Hitler’s war effort. They soon became more of an occupied country than an ally.

After being "liberated" by Soviet troops in 1945 Hungary became, essentially, a war prize and was fully integrated into the Soviet system by 1949.

The Soviets, in their turn, found the governing of Hungary a continual challenge. They discovered that when they applied oppressive measures to counter resistance to their régime, the resistance intensified. In 1956 and 1970 only the intervention of Soviet troops kept the government in power. And when the government adopted a more liberal stance to appease the resistance movements, even greater freedom was demanded. Extreme oppressive measures were tried between 1971 and 1978 with the result of ever growing civil unrest. Then liberalization was tried again in 1979 and 80, and that led to open revolt.

After 1980, Soviet determination waned and there was a steady movement toward independence, with election reform enacted in 1983, an independent foreign policy instituted in 1984 and a multi-party democratic system in place by 1989.

Today the marks of the years of war and oppression are still evident, especially in the countryside, but the wounds are healing. Budapest is now a lively city on the verge of Western-style prosperity -- and all the joys and vulgarities that state of affairs implies.