Hungarians: nationality (people of Hungary)

GEOGRAPHY

Hungary is landlocked: Slovakia lies to the north; Ukraine to the northeast; Romania to the east; Austria to the west; and Croatia, serbia and Montenegro, and Slovenia to the south. The total area is 35,919 square miles. Hungary’s principal river, the Danube, forms part of the Slovakian-Hungarian border and then flows southward through the center of the country. To the east of the Danube lies the Great Hungarian Plain (Great Alfold); to the west lies the Transdanubian region. Transdanubia contains the Mecsek Mountains to the south and Little Plain to the northwest; to the north the forested Bakony Mountains overlook Hungary’s principal lake, Lake Balaton. Mount Kekes (3,327 feet), Hungary’s highest peak, is found in the Matra Mountains (part of the Carpathian Mountains) near the northeastern Slovakian-Hungarian border. Other important rivers include the Tisza, the Raab, and the Drava.

INCEPTION AS A NATION

The Maygars, led by Arpad, seized present-day Hungary and invaded German territories, the Italian Peninsula, Moravia, and Burgundy by the late ninth century C. E. Holy Roman Emperor Otto I stopped Maygarian expansion in 955. With this defeat the Maygars united remaining territory under Stephen I, king of Hungary His successors expanded Hungary’s territory to include Croatia, Bosnia, Dalmatia, and parts of Transylvania, much of which by now was the homeland of the Slavs. Mongols briefly conquered Hungary in 1241, leaving it in anarchy Charles I reconsolidated the Hungarian monarchy in 1308, further increasing Hungary’s borders through conquest. His son, Louis I, acquired the Balkans and Poland. Battles with the Ottoman Turks (see Turkics) in the late 15th century cost Hungary some of its territories in the Balkans and destabilized the country

In the mid - to late 15th century, Matthias Corvinus reclaimed power for Hungary in central Europe, annexing Moravia, silesia, and Lusatia and temporarily ending Hapsburg control. Hungary dissolved after his death; the Ottomans conquered some former Hungarian territories, while other territories gained autonomy. Constant war of the following 150 years led to the partitioning of Hungary among Austria, the Ottoman Empire, and Transylvania. By 1718 Austrian Hapsburg monarchs gained control of the entire region. A brief attempt at independence was made in 1849; the movement was suppressed with Russian military aid.

When Prussia defeated Austria in the seven Weeks’ War (1866), Hungary regained independence. In 1867 Austria-Hungary formed; it lasted until the defeat of the Austro-Hungarian Empire in World War I (1914-18). The Hungarian Democratic Republic was established in 1918 only to be overthrown by Communists the following year. Czech and Romanian forces invaded the country, forcing the Allies to

Hungarians: nationality time line (continued)

1938 Hungary regains Southern Slovakia and Northern Transylvania after Munich and Vienna Treaties.

1944  Nazis occupy Hungary during World War II; Fascists take over government.

1945  World War II ends; Soviet Union (USSR) occupies Hungary.

1949 People's Republic is established.

1956 Uprisings against Communism erupt; Soviet army crushes resistance.

1960s Filmmakers Miklos Jancso, Istvan Szabo, and Marta Meszaros help establish Hungarian New Wave of cinema.

1989 Communist party relinquishes autocracy; Hungary establishes parliamentary democracy as Republic of Hungary.

1999 Hungary joins North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).

2002 Novelist Imre Kertesz wins Nobel Prize in literature.

2004 Hungary joins European Union (EU).

Reestablish a monarchical government under the Treaty of Trianon in 1920; decreasing Hungary by two-thirds; removing Transylvania, Croatia, and Slovakia; and forming the borders of present-day Hungary. The country attempted to regain many of its lost territories while allied with Germany and Italy in World War II (1939-45). Its attempt to withdraw from that alliance led to German occupation, and at the end of the war the majority of its 1920 borders were reinforced by Allied powers. After World War II Hungary again became a Communist state with strong ties to the Soviet Union (USSR) that lasted until the Communist Party voted to dissolve itself in 1989. By 1991 all Soviet troops had withdrawn from the country, and Hungary established a multiparty democracy.

CULTURAL IDENTITY

Hungarian cultural identity first arose out of a fusion of Magyar and Slav elements that occurred after the Magyars, steppe warriors speaking a Ugric language (part of the Finno-Ugric language family), conquered the territory of the princedom of Moravia, where Slavs were in power. Its oldest roots thus lie in the steppe and forest steppe cultures out of which the Magyar and Slav ethnicities emerged. Centuries-long domination of Hungary by foreign powers, in more recent times the Austrian Hapsburg dynasty, has caused the Hungarian cultural identity to become politicized. Hungarians, like many European peoples who were swept into the orbit of great powers, defined themselves as a people in part as a reaction to their conquerors.

The rise in the 19th century of a romantic fascination with ancient ethnic roots that swept across Europe affected Hungarians as well. As a result cultural life has been highly political. Theater, opera, and literature in particular played crucial roles in developing national consciousness. Poets and writers rose to the status of national heroes and prophets.

In the case of the Hungarians, however, the experiences of having been a center of high culture during the late Middle Ages and of being on the front line in the battle between Europe and the Ottoman Turks have left their mark. The focus on Hungarian cultural identity has often been modified by the sense of Western European identity, honed by resistance against the Turks and amplified by Hungary’s inclusion in the Hapsburg Empire. All of this has resulted in a diverse mix of genuine Hungarian peasant culture and the cosmopolitan culture of an influential German and Jewish urban population.

Hungary’s cuisine is notable for the ubiquity of the use of the spice paprika, made from the pods of chili peppers (Capsicum annuum), which may have been introduced either from Spain, from India by way of the Turks, or from the Americas. The fondness of Hungarians for this spice, used in the way salt and pepper are in other countries, may be an exotic echo of the Magyar past. Hungarian food is very rich, and red meat is frequently used as an ingredient, again possibly a relic of the steppe nomadic Magyar past, when people subsisted on the meat of their cattle. Goulash (gulyds), bean soup with smoked meat, and beef stew are national dishes. Among Hungary’s spicy dishes are haldszle, a fish soup, and lecso, made with hot paprika, tomato, and sausage.

Today in Hungary there is a rise of interest in the ancient steppe practice of shamanism and the extent to which it may have influenced Hungarian culture as practiced by the ancient Finno-Ugrians. Researchers have pointed to elements of folk song and dance and the use of the drum in both as possible derivatives of shamanistic practices.

Further Reading

Stephen R. Burant, ed. Hungary: A Country Study (Washington, D. C.: Library of Congress, 1990). Laszlo Kontler. A History of Hungary: Millennium in Central Europe (Basingstoke, U. K.: Palgrave Macmillan, 2002).

Paul Lendvai. The Hungarians: A Thousand Years of Victory in Defeat (Princeton, N. J.: Princeton University Press, 2003).

Miklos Molnar. A Concise History of Hungary (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001). Andras Rona-Tas. Hungarians and Europe in the Early Middle Ages: An Introduction to Early Hungarian History (Budapest: Central European University Press, 1999).

Denis Sinor. History of Hungary (Westport, Conn.: Greenwood, 1976).

Stephen Sisa. The Spirit of Hungary: A Panorama of Hungarian History and Culture (Morristown, N. J.: Vista Court, 1995).

Peter F. Sugar, ed. A History of Hungary (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1990).