HUNGARY

Hungary lies in the Carpathian Basin. The area has been populated by successive peoples for thousands of years. Nomadic Magyars reached the area as early as the mid-8th century. Known for their equestrian skills, the Magyars raided far and wide, but were stopped by the Germans in 955. In the year 1000, the Magyar prince Stephen was crowned 'Christian King' Stephen I, with a crown sent from Rome by the pope, and Hungary, the kingdom and the nation, was officially born.

Stephen consolidated royal authority, established a system of counties, and evangelised the countryside. By the time of his death in 1038, Hungary was a nascent Christian culture, increasingly westward-looking and multi-ethnic.



The next two and a half centuries - during the reign of the House of �rp�d - tested the new kingdom to the limit. The period was marked by constant struggles between rival claimants to the throne, and land grabs by powerful neighbours. Hungary's descent into anarchy was arrested only after Andrew III, the �rp�d's last in line, died in 1301.

After the death of Andrew III, Hungary flourished. A succession of able rulers, beginning with Charles Robert and culminating in the golden reign of Matthias Corvinus, made the country one of Europe's leading powers. However, the death of Matthias in 1490 resulted in another setback. His successor Vladislav was unable to maintain royal authority, funds were squandered, and retrograde laws reduced the peasantry to serfdom.

In 1526, Hungary's army was crushed by the Ottoman Turks at the Battle of Moh�cs. The defeat marked the end of a relatively prosperous and independent Hungary. Turkish occupation did little to improve the country, and increasing resistance to their rule forced the Turks out in 1699.

The country became a province of the Austrian Habsburg Empire. Thus began a period of enlightened absolutism. Hungary blossomed economically and culturally under the Habsburgs, but nationalist urges were never far from the surface.

In 1849, under the rebel leadership of Lajos Kossuth, Hungary declared full independence and the dethronement of the Habsburgs. The Habsburgs replied by quickly crushing the revolution and instigating a series of brutal reprisals. Hungary was again merged into the empire as a conquered province, and absolutism was reinstated. However, passive resistance among Hungarians and a couple of disastrous military defeats for the Habsburgs prompted negotiations between the two sides. The outcome was the Compromise of 1867, which created the Dual Monarchy of Austria the empire and Hungary the kingdom. This 'Age of Dualism' set off an economic, cultural and intellectual rebirth in Hungary, but there were worrying signs that all was not well in the kingdom.

The Dual Monarchy entered WWI as an ally of Germany - with disastrous results - and was replaced by a republic immediately after the war. Hungarian Communists then seized power, but were overthrown five months later by troops from Romania. In 1920, the Allies drew up a postwar settlement under the Treaty of Trianon which drastically reduced Hungary's size. Hungary sought help from the fascist governments of Germany and Italy to get its land back. Hungarian prime minister G.Gombos start negotiations with A.Hitler immediately after the latter became a chancelor in 1933. In 1940 Hungary acceded to the pact of fascist states and was in a war establishment in turn with Soviet union, Great Britain and USA. Hungarian goverment of Mr. Kallay tried unsuccesfully to sign a separate peace agreement with Allies from 1943. Hungary was liberated by Soviet army in april 1945 and Russians kept their influence here so that communist state was formed here after 1946.

In 1947, rigged elections brought the Communists to power. Bitter feuding within the party started, and purges and Stalinesque show trials became the norm. Ten years later there was another uprising against foreign dominators, which finished in bloodbath with soviet tanks attendance. After reprisals - the worst in the country's history - and the consolidation of the regime, J�nos K�d�r began a programme of 'goulash' (consumer-oriented) Communism. His reforms worked, and by the mid-1970s, Hungary was the most developed, most liberal and the richest nation in the region. However, the continuing spectre of unemployment, a soaring inflation rate and mounting debt meant K�d�r was ousted in 1988.

After accelerating the collapse of Communism by dismantling the fence along its border with Austria, the nation became the Republic of Hungary in 1989, and went on to hold free elections - the first in more than four decades. Despite initial success in curbing inflation and lowering interest rates, a host of economic problems has slowed the pace of development.

In April 1999, Hungary joined NATO and went about the final preparations for its entry into the European Union. That entry took place in 2004 after an April 2003 plebiscite in which Hungarians approved the country's entry into an enlarged EU.

In August 2004 Prime Minister Medgyessy was forced to resign when he lost the support of a coalition partner after a falling-out following a cabinet reshuffle. He was replaced by former minister for sport Ferenc Gyurcsany.