Hungarians descend from nomadic Magyar tribes who conquered local Slavs in 896 AD. Culturally the country thrived during the 15th century, although large areas of land were lost to Ottoman Turks.

The Hapsburg dynasty ruled for several centuries and crushed a Hungarian rebellion in 1850. Then in 1867, Hungary joined with Austria to establish the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Nationalism in conquered countries grew under the weight of the empire and led to its demise and the start of World War I.

Following the war, Hungary became an independent nation but lost 2/3 of its territory and 3/5 of its population. As a result, more than 1/3 of Hungarians live outside their nation’s borders even today. In an effort to regain that land, Hungary sided with Germany during World War II. The allegiance ended when Germany attacked Hungary to halt their surrender negotiations with the Allies.

Soviet troops arrived in 1945 and by 1949 had declared Hungary a Socialist state. Imre Nagy, a Communist reformer, took several steps to change the system but the Soviets responded by attacking Hungary, stifling the movement and executing Nagy in 1956. The new leader, Janos Kadar, ruled until 1988 when pressures to reform forced him to resign.

By October 1989, Hungary had thrown off the shackles of Communist domination. Nagy was reburied as a national hero and the country held its first free elections in 1990. Since then, Hungary has turned from one political party to another in its pursuit of economic development, and sustained growth remains one of the country’s main goals. In 2004 Hungary joined the European Union.

Source: Hungary CultureGram 2009