Mile Posts of Hungarian History

AD 895-900
Seven Magyar tribes from the East occupy the Carpathian basin.

1000
Foundation of the Hungarian state; St. Stephen, the first Hungarian king converts the country to western Christianity. Western orientation.

1222
Andrew II (1175-1235) issues the Golden Bull stating the basic rights and privileges of the nobility; it plays a role similar to that of the Magna Carta of 1215.

1241-1242
Mongolian invasion. Hungary is a wealthy and flourishing kingdom again. In the 14th century it extends its borders to the Baltic, the Black Sea, and the Adriatic Sea.

1458-1490
The court of king Matthias Hunyadi Corvinus is a center of Renaissance culture, visited by numerous great humanist thinkers and artists of the period. A core mercenary army was constructed, and modern managerial practices were established to control the Hungarian economy. Matthias Corvinus appoints Magyars to the most important offices and authorities, though the German population (approx. 50%) retains its own rights; struggle against the Turks.

1514
Peasant’s uprising weakens the country

1526
Crushing defeat of the Hungarian army at the hands of the Turks in the Battle of Mohács. Country split into three parts: the west ceded to the Habsburgs, the principality of Transylvania established in the east, the central regions under Turkish occupation

1541-1686
Under Turkish rule (lasting 145 years) Buda becomes the western outpost of the Ottoman Empire. 1686 Recapture of Buda and Pest by the Imperial troops under Prince Eugene of Savoy. The entire Hungary goes under Habsburg rule, in a semi-colonial situation.

1703-1711
Independence struggle against the Habsburg claim to power in Transylvania led by Prince Ferenc II Rákóczi -defeated.

1836 Hungarian becomes the official language in Hungary.

1848-49
March 15, 1848: the national independence struggle leads to revolution (proclamation of independence on 14 April 1849). August 1849: Russian troops coming to help Austria suppress Hungarians’ fight for independence.

1867-1914
Pest becomes seat of the Imperial Diet and of all Hungarian offices of the Austro-Hungarian Dual Monarchy. Austrian Emperor Francis Joseph the 1st crowned King of Hungary. Economic, social and political development.

1914-1918
The Monarchy, allied with the German empire, is defeated in the First World War.

1918
Bourgeois democratic revolution, republic proclaimed

1919
Bolshevik soviet republic lasting 133 days

1920
In the Treaty of Trianon, Hungary loses two-thirds of its territory and one-third of its population; 3 million Hungarians are left outside the country’s borders.

1919-1944
The regency of Miklós Horthy. Hungary is a kingdom without a king, governed by a conservative elite, which obstructs social and political development. From the start, Horthy endeavors to have Hungary’s original borders restored and sets up a conservative parliamentary regime with dictatorial elements.

1941
During the Second World War, Hungary allows German troops to cross its territory on their way to Yugoslavia. Prime minister Count Teleki commits suicide. Hungary declares war on the Soviet Union; following devastating defeat of 2nd Hungarian army.

1944
After six-week siege, Budapest occupied by German troops. Persecution of Jews begins under direction of Eichmann. Provisional government declares war on Germany.

1945
After a year of devastating war, Hungary is “liberated” from the German troops and conquered by the Soviet Red Army. The capital and most of its industry is lying in ruins.

1945-1947
The country is governed by a coalition of political parties; parliamentary democracy is disturbed by strong Soviet pressure and interference. At the elections of 1945, the Communist party receives only 17 % of votes. At the 1947 elections, in spite of large scale electoral cheating, it receives only 22 %.

1948
Turning point; the Hungarian Workers’ Party (which is a forced alliance of the Communists and the Social Democrats) seizes power and establishes a totalitarian one-party rule.

1953
The first attempt at loosening the totalitarian rule; the first government of Imre Nagy.

1955
Come-back of the Stalinists

1956-57
National uprising against Soviet domination and the beginning of a democratic revolution against communist rule. October 23 - beginning of the Hungarian Revolution against Soviet rule which is brutally crushed by the invasion of Soviet troops on 4 November 1956. Re-establishment of communist rule.

1957-88
The Kádár regime - Socialist People’s Republic with one-party system. After bloody reprisals in 1957-58, and the execution of former prime minister Imre Nagy and about 400 freedom fighters and politicians, a slow liberalisation begins in the mid 1960s. The 1970s are the “goulash-communism” of Kádár: relative affluence, gradual relaxation of political control, enlightened and paternalistic absolutism. In 1968, the so-called New Economic System is launched, which is the first important step on the road of transforming the centralized and planned state socialist economy into a market or mixed economy. In 1970, the reform process is obstructed by the conservative forces and slowed down by the resistance of Brezhnev and the Soviet leadership. Economic and social crisis followed.

1989
Hungary opens its borders to Austria and lets Germans from East-Germany go to the “West”. October 23 - Proclamation of the Republic of Hungary – end of the Socialist People’s Republic.

The first free parliamentary election in forty-two years (- adopted from Hankiss, E.
1990, East European Alternatives, Clarendon Press, Oxford. 275-277). Victory of the conservative Hungarian Democratic Forum under Prime Minister József Antall.

The first President of the Republic of Hungary, which was proclaimed in 1989, was Árpád Göncz, elected by the National Assembly on 3 August 1990 for five years. On June 19, 1995 he was re-elected as head of state as the candidate of the parliamentary majority at the time.

Hungary joins the Council of Europe (November 6, 1990). New things introduced: multi-party system, private ownership,increasing unemployment, adjusting from backward technology to top technology. Major reduction in social welfare and security, no job security, increasing gap between the rich and the poor. The abolishment of free health-care and free higher education.

1991 February
Visegrád Group formed (together with Poland and the then Czechoslovakia).

1991 June
Red Army withdraws from Hungary.

1991 July
Warsaw Pact dissolved

1991 December
Association Agreement signed with the EC (in force since 1 February 1994). Admission to NATO’s North Atlantic Cooperation Council.

1994
Second free elections: victory of the moderate left wing Hungarian Socialist Party (MSzP) under Prime Minister Gyula Horn; coalition formed with the liberal Alliance of Free Democrats (SzDSz). Hungary applies to join the EU.

1997
Hungary invited to begin accession negotiations with the European Union at the European Council meeting in Luxembourg, NATO Protocol of Accession signed.

1998
First (screening) phase of EU accession negotiations begins. Parliamentary elections: victory of moderate right-wing FIDESZ, which forms a coalition with the FKGP and MDF under Prime Minister Viktor Orbán Accession negotiations with EU begin.

1999
Hungary joins NATO.

2000
When the second presidential mandate of Árpád Göncz expired, the National Assembly elected professor Ferenc Mádl, candidate of FIDESz-FKGP-MDF, as the new President of the Republic.

2002
Parliamentary elections won by the moderate-left wing MSzP (social democrats), which forms a coalition government with the liberal SzDSz (soc-lib) again, headed by prime minister Péter Medgyessy. A cabinet of 15 ministers make up the government. Successful conclusion to negotiations for the EU accession treaty.

2004 May 1
Hungary joins the European Union.

2004 fall
After the resignation of Péter Medgyessy (2004 September) the new Prime Minister became Ferenc Gyurcsány, successful businessman and party member of MSZP. The new government was formed on October 4, 2004.

2004 December
Low turnout invalidates referendum initiated by right wing opposition on whether or not to offer citizenship to some five million ethnic Hungarians living outside Hungary.

Parliament ratifies EU constitution.

2005 June
On 7th June 2005 the National Assembly of Hungary elected opposition-backed László Sólyom President of the Republic after Socialists’ candidate is blocked by their Free Democrat coalition partners. The former president of the Constitutional Court (1990-1998) took office on August 5, 2005.

2006 April
More than 10,000 troops and police battle floodwaters as the Danube river reaches record levels.

April 9 - General elections return to power Socialist-led coalition under Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsány. Thousands rally in Budapest demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Gyurcsány after opposition convinced them that the new government had lied during elections.

Main source: The Shadow of Hungarian History, Dr. Katalin Illés & Dr. Bronwen Rees, 2000, Anglia Business School, Cambridge, UK. Recommended reading: Hungary, a Thousand Years of Victory and Defeat by Paul Lendvai