Little Hungarian History Book

Although it is not easy to summarize the history and culture of a nation or a country in a few words, I would like to present some information for those interested. I think, as in case of every nation, there are events and factors in our history that are worth reviewing if you would like to get to know Hungary or the people of Hungary. Perhaps not all foreigners know that, surrounded by Slavic, Germanic and Latin nations, we speak a language of Finno-Ugric origin, which is something unique in the region because our closest relatives, i.e. the Finns and Estonians, live far in the north. Not everybody knows that the territory of the Hungarian Kingdom was four times larger than that of the present Hungary nearly one hundred years ago. 
More than a thousand years ago, Hungarians used to live as a nomadic nation dealing with animal husbandry in the Ural region somewhere in the territory of the present Russia. After several settling places, they approached the Carpathian Basin. The present territory was occupied in 896 when the Hungarians, using their cavalry and bowmen, overran the nations of the region engaged in agricultural activities through the eastern and southern straits of the Carpathian Mountains. This was the Hungarian conquest.
The next century was the time of adventures: while pagan princes were reigning at home, the nomadic Hungarian cavalries were looting the treasures of western Christian states. After two major defeats in Germany, their last sovereign, Géza realized that his nation could not survive without a firm state, so he had his son, Vajk, the later St. Stephen, brought up in a Roman Catholic spirit. St. Stephen was crowned king in 1001 with the Saint Crown received from the Pope. The Árpád House named after the prince who had established it existed for three hundred years. The first major shock to the state came in the 13th century by the Mongol invasion, when these nomadic people burnt the country to ashes after having lost a major battle. Also the sovereign had to flee. After the Árpád House had died out, famous foreign dynasties held possession of the Hungarian throne.
In the course of their history, the Hungarians had the chance to take their fate in their own hands only once more, in the 15th century. János Hunyadi, the great Hungarian commander in 1456 at Nándorfehérvár (the present Beograd) stopped the Osmanli army which meant the greatest threat to Europe at that time. János Hunyadi’s son, Mátyás was a powerful Renaissance sovereign who was respected all over Europe. He conquered provinces with the help of his famous ‘black army’, however, he had no heir. His people liked him very much: according to folk legends, he wandered the country in disguise and whenever he found some evil deeds or unlawfulness, he gave up his incognito and did justice.
The 16th and 17th centuries were the age of the Ottoman Turkish occupation of Hungary: the Turks kept attacking the country and finally, in 1541 they captured Buda, the capital. The country was torn into three parts: the northern part of the country, Felvidék surrounded by the Carpathian Mountains was Hungary officially where the prevailing German emperor reigned, while the central and southern parts were under Turkish rule. The ‘last resort’ for Hungarians was Transylvania where a Hungarian prince was the governor (today the whole of Transylvania belongs to Romania). The heroism of the Hungarian people during the 150 years of Turkish rule could be seen in border fortress battles. The most well-known of them was the defence of the castle of Eger, where the captain, István Dobó, was successful in defending the castle with a thousand Hungarian soldiers against a Turkish army of a hundred thousand people. In lack of ammunition, the defenders of Eger, including women, poured hot water and even hot soup onto the enemy. In the West, in Christian states terrified of the Turks there was a saying: Hungary, the stronghold of Europe.
In 1686 the western forces were joined and took back Buda. This is the beginning of the descent of the Turkish Empire. However, Hungary remained under foreign rule: Hapsburg rulers followed each other on the throne, which could not be changed even by the heroic Rákóczi War of Independence. The war of independence named after II Ferenc Rákóczi, the prince of Transylvania, lasted from 1704 to 1711.
On 15th March 1848 Hungary was the first to rise against the Hapsburg rule in the form of a civil revolution and national war of independence, which was received enthusiastically by the followers of liberal ideas. The next year the ‘48 War of Independence was put down by the Austrian troops, in alliance with the Russian from the direction of Transylvania. Then came the period of bloodstained revenge. Two decades later, as a consequence of the wise politics of Ferenc Deák, the Compromise with the Hapsburg Empire (Austria) took place. Hungary rose to the same level as Austria in terms of rights, while the sovereign was the same in both states: the Hapsburg emperor was also the king of Hungary. This was a relatively peaceful and prospering period. Buda and Pest united and became a real metropolis.
Hungary was drifted into World War I together with Austria. As a small nation, the Hungarians in the 20th century could do nothing but join a power closest to them. During the peace talks following World War I, three-fourths of the territory of Hungary was lost and several million Hungarians found themselves outside the borders of Hungary. The most significant historical towns were detached from the homeland: Pozsony, Kassa, Kolozsvár, Nagyvárad. Because of the desire for getting back the territories lost and also the fact that, due to Hungary’s geographical location, the country could not resist the imperial ambitions of Germany, Hungary entered World War II on the side of Germany, the Nazi and fascist powers. In the so-called battle at river Don, the army consisting of Hungarian soldiers suffered a crushing defeat: nearly 300 thousand Hungarian men lost their lives (including the uncle of the writer of these lines, in all likelihood). As the war progressed, the country was taken over by irredentist, chauvinist and anti-Semitic powers. In the last months of the war, the Soviet army took back the country from the Germans, however, Hungary was on the defeated side again. Anti-Hungarian movements were most striking in Czechoslovakia: Hungarians were collectively declared war-criminals and thus they were deprived of their rights and nationality and were deported and forced into population exchange. After World War II, until the 1989-90 change of regime, Hungary fell under the sphere of the influence of the Soviet Union. Especially the ‘50s were characterized by Stalinist absolutism, political attacks, spies, forced labour and a personality cult around the first person in the party. In 1956 the Hungarians were the first in Europe to start a revolution against oppression.