Hungary

Hungary is a republic country in Central Europe, bordered by Austria, Slovakia, Ukraine, Romania, Serbia, Croatia, and Slovenia. Its capital is Budapest.

The foundation of Hungary was laid in the late 9th Century by the Magyar chieftain Arpad, whose great-grandson Stephen was crowned in AD 1000. The Kingdom existed with interruptions for 946 years, and at various points was regarded as one of the cultural centers of the Western world. Part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire until the end of World War I, Hungary lost over two-thirds of its territory under the Treaty of Trianon, the terms of which have been considered humiliating by Hungarians. During World War II, anger over these concessions led Hungary to join the Axis, which ultimately led to its defeat in 1945. It fell under the influence of the Soviet Union from 1947–1989, during which Hungary gained widespread international attention regarding the Revolution of 1956 and the seminal move of opening its border with Austria in 1989, thus accelerating the collapse of the Eastern block. Since 1989, Hungary has been a parliamentary republic.

Hungary in The War That Came Early
Hungary's role in the early days of the Second World War was peculiar. In October, 1938, under Admiral Miklos Horthy, Regent of the Kingdom, Hungary reclaimed territory from Czechoslovakia simultaneously with Germany's invasion. While Britain and France broke all diplomatic ties with Hungary, neither did they formally declare war on her. Hungary was not a formal ally of Germany until the "big switch" of 1940, when Germany was able to broker a peace with Britain and France. With this completed, Hungary joined Germany in the war against the Soviet Union.

Hungary remained a German ally even after the British and the French left their alliance before the end of 1941. Throughout the remainder of the war, Hungarian troops fought exclusively in the Ukraine. As a consequence of the historical animosity between Hungary and Germany's other staunch ally, Romania, the German military placed German units between the Hungarian and Romanian units on the lines. However, by 1943, Germany's situation was so dire that an unreliable ally was better than no ally.

As 1943 ended, Germany and its allies were in constant retreat. In April, 1944, the Committee for the Salvation of the German Nation overthrew Adolf Hitler and the Nazis, bringing the war to a halt in Europe. Hungary kept the parts of Czechoslovakia it had taken early in the war, but otherwise derived no benefit from its alliance with Germany.

Hungary in In the Presence of Mine Enemies
Hungary was an ally of the Greater German Reich in 2010.

Hungary in Worldwar
Dominated politically by Germany, Hungary was forced to join the Axis in 1941. Though small, Hungary was not conquered by the Race when the Conquest Fleet arrived on Earth in 1942.

Although Hungary did not have diplomatic relations with the Race and had not been invited to attend the peace conference convened in Cairo by Atvar, Hungary's independence was ensured when Joachim von Ribbentrop asserted that Hungary was under German protection.

Hungary contributed troops to the Polish Front of the Race-German War of 1965. Any thought it may have had the idea of making a separate peace with the Race ended abruptly when the Germans destroyed Bucharest to punish Romania for attempting to do the same.

Hungary in Southern Victory
See Austria-Hungary.

Hungary in The Two Georges
Hungary was a long-standing province of the Austrian Empire, which ruled it since the late 17th Century. Counting also the earlier 150 years which the Hungarians spent under Ottoman rule, by the late 20th Century it was nearly 500 years since Hungary had last been a sovereign state.

Hungary in Agent of Byzantium
The Magyars were a nomad people which for a time posed a serious threat to the Byzantine Empire. However, eventually the empire was able to block them and keep its Danube border inviolate. Afterwards, the Magyars were displaced by later arriving nomads and disappeared from history. Basil Argyros, who centuries later confronted the Jurchens - the latest in this series of nomad invaders - hoped that they would meet the same end as the Magyars.

Hungary in "Batboy"
After Missouri farmboy Rip joined up with the St. Louis Browns, he encountered a number of Hungarian immigrants - whom he called bohunks - and learned new respect for their cultural legends.