Hungary

D

Partition of Hungary

The general political chaos became intensified during the first two decades of the 16th century, rendering the nation incapable of effective defence against its foreign foes. In August 1521 a Turkish army under Sultan Suleiman I captured Belgrade and Šabac (both now in Serbia), the chief strongholds of the kingdom in the south. In 1526 Suleiman crushed the Hungarian army at the Battle of Mohács, where King Louis II and more than 20,000 of his men perished. Following the capture of Buda, on September 10, 1526, Suleiman withdrew from Hungary.

For more than 150 years after the defeat at Mohács, Hungary was the scene of almost continuous strife, chiefly among the Habsburg Holy Roman emperors, who seized control of the western portion of the defunct kingdom, the Turks, who established their suzerainty in the central region, and groups of the native nobility, especially that of Transylvania. In the course of the struggle for control of Hungary, Transylvania became the centre of the Magyar movement against Turkish and Austrian, or Habsburg, domination. The Magyars had abandoned the Catholic Church during the Protestant Reformation, thereby aggravating the enmity of the Habsburgs and their papal allies. After the middle of the 16th century and the beginning of the Counter-Reformation, the strife between the Protestant Magyars and the Catholic Habsburgs became increasingly violent. At the end of the Long War (1593-1606), Emperor Rudolf II was forced to grant the Magyars of Transylvania political and religious autonomy, additional territory, and other concessions.

The Transylvanians sided against the Habsburgs during the Thirty Years’ War (1618-1648), led at first by Gabriel Bethlen, Prince of Transylvania and King of Hungary. George I Rákóczy, who succeeded Bethlen as Prince of Transylvania in 1631, resumed the fight against Habsburg domination of western Hungary. In alliance with the Swedes and French, Rákóczy invaded Austrian territory in 1644. Emperor Ferdinand III was forced to meet many of Rákóczy’s demands, including the extension of full freedom of religion to all Hungarians under Habsburg rule. In the decade following the accession of George II Rákóczy as Prince of Transylvania, the Turks extended their sphere of influence into Transylvania, gradually reducing it, in effect, to provincial status. Meanwhile, missionary efforts in the Habsburg section of Hungary won many people there back into the Roman Catholic Church. Under the influence of the Church, these Hungarians abandoned the nationalist fight against Habsburg overlordship and political reaction ensued. Increasingly repressive measures were adopted against Protestants. These persecutions provoked a new revolutionary uprising in the Hungarian dominions of the Habsburgs. Led by Count Imre Thököly, the rebels won a series of victories over the forces of Emperor Leopold I. Thököly obtained the military support of the Turks in 1682, but in the war that followed, the emperor’s armies succeeded in driving the Turks from most of Hungary. The collapse of Thököly’s insurgent forces followed swiftly. Besides taking severe reprisals against the rebel leaders, Leopold forced the Hungarian Diet to declare the crown of Hungary forever hereditary in the House of Habsburg. By the provisions of the Treaty of Karlowitz in 1699, the Turks retained only the Hungarian Banat, a region they were to lose 19 years later. The Treaty of Karlowitz also secured Transylvania to the Habsburgs.

E

Era of Habsburg Rule

In 1703 Francis II Rákóczy (1676-1735), taking advantage of Austrian involvement in the War of the Spanish Succession, incited a new uprising against Austrian rule. Rákóczy, who received substantial help from the French, organized a provisional government and held the Austrians at bay until 1708, when he met disastrous defeat at Trenčín. Resistance continued until, in April 1711, Emperor Charles VI offered satisfactory peace terms, which provided for a general amnesty, religious freedom, and a variety of political concessions. Relations between the Habsburgs and their Hungarian subjects continued to be generally tranquil for more than a century thereafter.

E

1

National Revival

Throughout the tumultuous period following the outbreak of the French Revolution in 1789, the overwhelming majority of the Hungarian population remained loyal to Austria. Numerous Magyar nationalists, however, were influenced by revolutionary ideas, and their campaigning led to a resurgence of Hungarian nationalism, beginning about 1815. Among other things, this development resulted in the creation of the Liberal Party, which launched a vigorous campaign for constitutional government and other reforms. The Liberal movement, headed by such Hungarian statesmen as Count István Széchenyi, József Eötvös, Ferenc Deák, Lajos Kossuth, and Lajos Batthyány, was accompanied by remarkable activity in the field of literature. Overcoming repressive moves by the government, the Liberals secured the passage of a number of progressive bills, including a measure that made commoners eligible for public office and another that curtailed certain feudal restrictions on the peasantry.

E

2

Revolution of 1848 and the Ausgleich

The progressive political groups of Hungary won a decisive victory in the diet election of 1847. At first the Austrian government ignored the voters’ mandate, but when threatened by revolution in Vienna the following year, it yielded to Hungarian nationalist demands and authorized the formation of a Hungarian ministry, with Batthyány as premier. By the terms of legislation enacted in March 1848, the ministry severed practically all ties with Austria. Extreme Magyar nationalism, expressed in part by a decree making Hungarian the official language of the state, rapidly alienated the non-Magyar portions of the population, and rebellions broke out among the Romanians and Croats. When the revolutionary movement in Vienna was defeated in November, the Austrian army tried to restore Habsburg rule in Hungary too, but was unsuccessful. In April 1849, the Hungarian Diet proclaimed the dethronement of the Habsburg dynasty and the independence of Hungary.

The following month, however, Austria’s Emperor Francis Joseph I succeeded in arranging a military alliance with Nicholas I of Russia. Austrian and Russian arms were uniformly successful against the outnumbered Hungarians, who surrendered in August 1849. On October 6, 1849, still a day of national mourning in Hungary, Batthyány and 13 other revolutionary leaders were executed. This and other severe reprisals inaugurated a period of centralized Austrian rule extending over more than a decade. After the Austrian defeat in 1859 in the Italian War of Liberation, the imperial regime suffered a succession of diplomatic and military reverses. Francis Joseph was consequently obliged to adopt a conciliatory attitude towards his Hungarian subjects. Magyar nationalism, ably guided by Ferenc Deák, gradually re-emerged as an important force in Hungary. In 1865 the imperial government sanctioned the draft of a new constitution for the Magyar nation. Before this document could be completed, Prussia defeated Austria in the Seven Weeks’ War, a debacle that vastly strengthened the position of the Hungarians. By the provisions of the compromise (Ausgleich) constitution, as finally adopted in March 1867, Austria and Hungary became dual monarchies, under one ruler. The constitution granted Hungary full sovereignty in the conduct of internal affairs and parity with Austria in the conduct of national defence, foreign affairs, and certain other matters. On June 8, 1867, Emperor Francis Joseph was crowned King of Hungary. The dual monarchy of the Austro-Hungarian Empire endured until the defeat of Germany and with it the empire in World War I.

F

World War I and the Republic

The Hungarian political leaders supported the Austrian war effort largely because they feared that a Russian victory would lead to the defection of Hungary’s Slavic minorities and the dismemberment of the country. As the conflict continued, however, war losses, food shortages, and other privations engendered profound dissatisfaction among the people. The death of Francis Joseph on November 21, 1916, and the succession of Emperor Charles I weakened the ties between Hungary and Austria. Internal unrest increased steadily, and on October 25, 1917, Count Mihály Károlyi established a national council, which intensified the struggle for general suffrage, dissolution of the parliament, and the conclusion of peace with the Allies. The empire was officially dissolved on November 11, 1918, and five days later the national council proclaimed the Hungarian Democratic Republic, with Károlyi as its first president.

Social and political unrest continued, however, and in March 1919 Károlyi’s government was overthrown by the Communists under Béla Kun. The new government confiscated all industrial and commercial enterprises as communal property. Banks were expropriated and a number of newspapers were banned. Meanwhile, the Czechs had invaded Hungary from the north and the Romanians invaded it from the south. Unable to cope with foreign intervention and confronted by growing counter-revolution among the peasantry, Béla Kun resigned on August 1, 1919, and fled to Austria. Three days later Budapest was occupied by the Romanians, who retained control until November 14.