Hungary travel guide

But for travellers, it’s a history worth grappling with. You’ll start to understand why Hungarians are so proud of their Magyar roots, why Renaissance and Ottoman architecture sits side by side, why the wine industry was almost wiped out by Soviet rule, and how the Holocaust still haunts Budapest.

Hungary’s recorded history starts in the 4th century, when it was part of the Western Roman Empire. The next 200 years or so are something of a mystery. Rome lost its grip on the province, so assorted nomadic tribes and peoples moved in. There’s a theory that the nomadic Late Avars (AKA Early Magyars) arrived in the 6th century, merging with the Siberian Magyars and laying the foundations of the Hungary we know today. The Magyars were eventually backed into the steppes, where they became the semi-nomadic herders still celebrated in Hortobagy National Park.

In the 8th century, a new ruler moved in: Charlemagne (“the Father of Europe”). He and his successors turned Western Hungary into a patchwork of Slavic dukedoms and a federation of Magyar tribal clans named the Ten Tribes – or On-Ogur. Ongry, with a Slavic pronunciation.

In the 9th century, the Hungarian tribes chose folk hero Arpad as chief and took up shop in the central plain. The Arpad dynasty ruled Hungary until the 14th century. Along the way, Christianity crept into their ways. Arpad’s great-great-grandson became King Stephen I – and later, Saint Stephen – the legendary founder of the Hungarian state.

The following centuries were a rollercoaster of damaging wars and gasps of stability. Brief flashes of peace came from Hungary’s second great sainted king, Ladislas I. Twelfth-century King Bela II married the sister of the French king, introducing Western dress, French literature and Gothic architecture. King Bela IV (“the second founder of Hungary”) rebuilt the kingdom after the Mongol invasion of the 13th century. Louis I took the Polish throne and mined gold in Transylvania, giving Hungary its first material wealth. Arts, trade and crafts prospered, while monasteries, cathedrals and universities sprung up on the skylines. The 15th-century King Matthias – the first non-Arpad Hungarian king – brought the Renaissance to his new capital, Buda.

But there was more unrest than peace. Royal descendants squabbled over the throne. Hungarian territories were swapped for favours from neighbouring rulers. Expensive and damaging wars were fought. Foreign kings took the throne, giving wealth but neglecting home affairs – a theme repeated right through to the Soviet era. Nationwide rural rebellions inspired crackdowns that led to centuries of aristocratic rule and peasant servitude.

The Ottomans invaded Hungary in the 16th century; their short rule brought paprika into the cuisine and bath houses to Budapest. The Austrian House of Habsburg wrestled Hungary back in the 17th century. Rebellions bubbled under Habsburg rule. Strict trading rules and a lack of industrialisation meant that Hungary’s economy fell far behind the rest of Europe. Even the language was neglected, with Latin, Austrian and German spoken in the courts. Peace was only established in 1711.

Reform came Hungary’s way in the 19th century. Count Szechenyi campaigned for social, economic and political modernisation away from the Vienna rule, championing labourers and the poor. The more radical Lajos Kossuth pushed for complete political independence. Magyar returned as the official language in administration and schools. Poetry and fiction took on nationalist themes, and the National Library, National Theatre and Hungarian Academy of Sciences were born. The Hungarian Revolution of 1848 arrived on March 15 (now a national holiday). A violent tug of war between Vienna and self-proclaimed independent Hungary continued until 1867, when a dual Austria-Hungary monarchy was agreed.

A period of modernisation began. Judicial and educational systems were brought in line with Western Europe and public debt sunk. Buda, Pest and Obuda merged to form Budapest. But the population growth outran production in many places, and industrial and rural workers lived in poverty. Almost two million Hungarians emigrated to the USA. Hungary ploughed on with a Magyar-first philosophy, even though less than half the population spoke Magyar as a first language.

Another change was coming: the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand in 1914 pushed Austria-Hungary into World War I, against the will of Hungarian nationalists. Around 661,000 men died in battle and economic collapse was close. After the armistice, Hungary announced complete independence.

But Hungary had little power. Allied countries annexed large areas of Hungary to Czechoslovakia, Romania and Yugoslavia, cutting the Hungarian population by almost two thirds. Many Hungarians became bitter at the loss of territory.

Communist revolutionary Bela Kun briefly fought his way to rule in 1919, kicking off the bloody Red Terror. The reactionary White Terror came on its heels, designed to crush pro-Soviet sentiment. Communists, radical democrats and Jewish intellectuals emigrated in their thousands as violently antisemite leaders worked their way into government. Many Hungarians were open to Germany’s support; they were ideologically in tune and tired of feeling as though they were being dismissed by the West.

World War II arrived, with Hungary allied with Germany. In 1944, Hitler offered Prime Minister Miklos Horthy a choice between German supervision or German occupation; Horthy chose collaboration. Hungarian Jews were imprisoned in ghettos and deported to concentration and labour camps. Diplomats saved tens of thousands of lives by forging travel documents for refugees. In the end, 550,000 of 800,000 Jews were killed in the Hungarian Holocaust.

There was to be no peace for Hungary. When the war ended, the Soviet Red Army moved in. Those thought untrustworthy were driven out of Budapest to villages or labour camps on the Great Hungarian Plain and Hortobagy National Park. Industrial output rose, but standard of living remained poor.

The Revolution of 1956 came as no surprise, suddenly kicking off when police shot into peaceful protests in Budapest. The Hungarian army joined the revolution and Soviet troops withdrew, before returning later in the year. Dissenters were imprisoned and executed.

Strict Soviet rule relaxed through the 1960s and 1970s. Contact with the West was encouraged. Agricultural co-operatives that had sunk the wine and farming industry could trade more freely. Tourism increased and Hungarians travelled abroad. But the economy didn’t recover as expected; massive debt remained. The regime changed peacefully into a democratic state in 1989.

Today, nationalist politics is again shaping Hungary’s path. Far-right voices have repeatedly been voted into parliament, including the anti-Roma and antisemitic Jobbik party. In 2018, the European Parliament voted to act against Hungary for the state-led erosion of democracy. Still, ultra conservative Viktor Orban has remained prime minister since 2010.