1.
Hungary
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Hungary is a unitary parliamentary republic in Central Europe. With about 10 million inhabitants, Hungary is a member state of the European Union. The official language is Hungarian, which is the most widely spoken language in Europe. Hungarys capital and largest metropolis is Budapest, a significant economic hub, major urban areas include Debrecen, Szeged, Miskolc, Pécs and Győr. His great-grandson Stephen I ascended to the throne in 1000, converting the country to a Christian kingdom, by the 12th century, Hungary became a middle power within the Western world, reaching a golden age by the 15th century. Hungarys current borders were established in 1920 by the Treaty of Trianon after World War I, when the country lost 71% of its territory, 58% of its population, following the interwar period, Hungary joined the Axis Powers in World War II, suffering significant damage and casualties. Hungary became a state of the Soviet Union, which contributed to the establishment of a four-decade-long communist dictatorship. On 23 October 1989, Hungary became again a democratic parliamentary republic, in the 21st century, Hungary is a middle power and has the worlds 57th largest economy by nominal GDP, as well as the 58th largest by PPP, out of 188 countries measured by the IMF. As a substantial actor in several industrial and technological sectors, it is both the worlds 36th largest exporter and importer of goods, Hungary is a high-income economy with a very high standard of living. It keeps up a security and universal health care system. Hungary joined the European Union in 2004 and part of the Schengen Area since 2007, Hungary is a member of the United Nations, NATO, WTO, World Bank, the AIIB, the Council of Europe and Visegrád Group. Well known for its cultural history, Hungary has been contributed significantly to arts, music, literature, sports and science. Hungary is the 11th most popular country as a tourist destination in Europe and it is home to the largest thermal water cave system, the second largest thermal lake in the world, the largest lake in Central Europe, and the largest natural grasslands in Europe. The H in the name of Hungary is most likely due to historical associations with the Huns. The rest of the word comes from the Latinized form of Medieval Greek Oungroi, according to an explanation the Greek name was borrowed from Proto-Slavic Ǫgǔri, in turn borrowed from Oghur-Turkic Onogur. Onogur was the name for the tribes who later joined the Bulgar tribal confederacy that ruled the eastern parts of Hungary after the Avars. The Hungarians likely belonged to the Onogur tribal alliance and it is possible they became its ethnic majority. The Hungarian endonym is Magyarország, composed of magyar and ország, the word magyar is taken from the name of one of the seven major semi-nomadic Hungarian tribes, magyeri
2.
Danube
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The Danube is Europes second-longest river, after the Volga River, and also the longest river in the European Union region. It is located in Central and Eastern Europe, the Danube was once a long-standing frontier of the Roman Empire, and today flows through 10 countries, more than any other river in the world. Its drainage basin extends into nine more countries, the Latin name Dānuvius is one of a number of Old European river names derived from a Proto-Indo-European *dānu. Other river names from the root include the Dunajec, Dzvina/Daugava, Don, Donets, Dnieper, Dniestr. In Rigvedic Sanskrit, dānu means fluid, drop, in Avestan, in the Rigveda, Dānu once appears as the mother of Vrtra. Known to the ancient Greeks as the Istros a borrowing from a Daco-Thracian name meaning strong, in Latin, the Danube was variously known as Danubius, Danuvius or as Ister. The Dacian/Thracian name was Donaris for the upper Danube and Istros for the lower Danube, the Thraco-Phrygian name was Matoas, the bringer of luck. The Latin name is masculine, as are all its Slavic names, the German Donau is feminine, as it has been re-interpreted as containing the suffix -ouwe wetland. Classified as a waterway, it originates in the town of Donaueschingen, in the Black Forest of Germany, at the confluence of the rivers Brigach. The Danube then flows southeast for about 2,800 km, passing through four capital cities before emptying into the Black Sea via the Danube Delta in Romania and its drainage basin extends into nine more. The highest point of the basin is the summit of Piz Bernina at the Italy–Switzerland border. The land drained by the Danube extends into other countries. Many Danubian tributaries are important rivers in their own right, navigable by barges, from its source to its outlet into the Black Sea, its main tributaries are, The Danube flows through many cities, including four national capitals, more than any other river in the world. Danube remains a mountain river until Passau, with average bottom gradient 0. 0012%. Middle Section, From Devín Gate to Iron Gate, at the border of Serbia and Romania, the riverbed widens and the average bottom gradient becomes only 0. 00006%. Lower Section, From Iron Gate to Sulina, with average gradient as little as 0. 00003%, about 60 of its tributaries are also navigable. In 1994 the Danube was declared one of ten Pan-European transport corridors, routes in Central, the amount of goods transported on the Danube increased to about 100 million tons in 1987. In 1999, transport on the river was difficult by the NATO bombing of three bridges in Serbia during the Kosovo War
3.
Slovakia
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Slovakia, officially the Slovak Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Austria to the west, Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Slovakias territory spans about 49,000 square kilometres and is mostly mountainous. The population is over 5 million and comprises mostly ethnic Slovaks, the capital and largest city is Bratislava. The Slavs arrived in the territory of present-day Slovakia in the 5th and 6th centuries, in the 7th century, they played a significant role in the creation of Samos Empire and in the 9th century established the Principality of Nitra. In the 10th century, the territory was integrated into the Kingdom of Hungary, which became part of the Habsburg Empire. After World War I and the dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, a separate Slovak Republic existed in World War II as a client state of Nazi Germany. In 1945, Czechoslovakia was reëstablished under Communist rule as a Soviet satellite, in 1989 the Velvet Revolution ended authoritarian Communist rule in Czechoslovakia. Slovakia became an independent state on 1 January 1993 after the dissolution of Czechoslovakia. The country maintains a combination of economy with universal health care. The country joined the European Union in 2004 and the Eurozone on 1 January 2009, Slovakia is also a member of the Schengen Area, NATO, the United Nations, the OECD, the WTO, CERN, the OSCE, the Council of Europe and the Visegrád Group. The Slovak economy is one of the fastest growing economies in Europe and its legal tender, the Euro, is the worlds 2nd most traded currency. Although regional income inequality is high, 90% of citizens own their homes, in 2016, Slovak citizens had visa-free or visa-on-arrival access to 165 countries and territories, ranking the Slovak passport 11th in the world. Slovakia is the world’s biggest per-capita car producer with a total of 1,040,000 cars manufactured in the country in 2016 alone, the car industry represents 43 percent of Slovakia’s industrial output, and a quarter of its exports. Radiocarbon datingputs the oldest surviving archaeological artefacts from Slovakia – found near Nové Mesto nad Váhom – at 270,000 BC and these ancient tools, made by the Clactonian technique, bear witness to the ancient habitation of Slovakia. Other stone tools from the Middle Paleolithic era come from the Prévôt cave near Bojnice, the most important discovery from that era is a Neanderthal cranium, discovered near Gánovce, a village in northern Slovakia. The most well-known finds include the oldest female statue made of mammoth-bone, the statue was found in the 1940s in Moravany nad Váhom near Piešťany. Numerous necklaces made of shells from Cypraca thermophile gastropods of the Tertiary period have come from the sites of Zákovská, Podkovice, Hubina and these findings provide the most ancient evidence of commercial exchanges carried out between the Mediterranean and Central Europe. The Bronze Age in the territory of modern-day Slovakia went through three stages of development, stretching from 2000 to 800 BC
4.
Hungarian Revolution of 1848
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The Hungarian Revolution of 1848 was one of the many European Revolutions of 1848 and closely linked to other revolutions of 1848 in the Habsburg areas. The revolution in the Kingdom of Hungary grew into a war for independence from the Austrian Empire, Czar Nicholas I answered, and sent a 200,000 men strong army with 80,000 auxiliary forces. Finally, the joint army of Russian and Austrian forces defeated the Hungarian forces, after the restoration of Habsburg power, Hungary was placed under brutal martial law. The anniversary of the Revolutions outbreak,15 March, is one of Hungarys three national holidays, the Kingdom of Hungary had always maintained a separate parliament, the Diet of Hungary, even after the Austrian Empire was created in 1804. The administration and government of the Kingdom of Hungary remained largely untouched by the government structure of the overarching Austrian Empire, Hungarys central government structures remained well separated from the imperial government. The country was governed by the Council of Lieutenancy of Hungary - located in Pozsony and later in Pest -, ignác Martinovics worked as a secret agent for the new Holy Roman Emperor, Leopold II, until 1792. In another of his works, Catechism of People and Citizens, he argued that citizens tend to oppose any repression and he also became a Freemason, and was in favour of the adoption of a federal republic in Hungary. As a member of the Hungarian Jacobins, he was considered a forerunner of revolutionary thought by some. He was in charge of stirring up a revolt against the nobility among the Hungarian serfs, for these subversive acts, Francis II, the Holy Roman Emperor, dismissed Martinovics and his boss, Ferenc Gotthardi, the former chief of the secret police. He was executed, together with six other prominent Jacobins, in May 1795, the Diet of Hungary had not convened since 1811. The frequent diets held in the part of the reign occupied themselves with little else but war subsidies. In the latter years of Francis I. the dark shadow of Metternichs policy of stability fell across the kingdom, but beneath the surface a strong popular current was beginning to run in a contrary direction. Hungarian society, not unaffected by western Liberalism, but without any help from abroad, was preparing for the future emancipation. In 1825 Emperor Francis II convened the Diet in response to growing concerns amongst the Hungarian nobility about taxes and this – and the reaction to the reforms of Joseph II – started what is known as the Reform Period. But the Nobles still retained their privileges of paying no taxes, the influential Hungarian politician Count István Széchenyi recognized the need to bring the country the advances of the more developed West European countries, such as England. It was an attack upon the constitution which, to use the words of István Széchenyi. In 1823, when the powers were considering joint action to suppress the revolution in Spain. The county assemblies instantly protested against this act, and Francis I was obliged, at the diet of 1823
5.
Hungarian conquest of the Carpathian Basin
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Before the arrival of the Hungarians, three early medieval powers, the First Bulgarian Empire, East Francia and Moravia had fought each other for control of the Carpathian Basin. They occasionally hired Hungarian horsemen as soldiers, therefore, the Hungarians who dwelt on the Pontic steppes east of the Carpathians were familiar with their future homeland when their land-taking started. The Hungarian conquest started in the context of a late or small migration of peoples, contemporary sources attest that the Hungarians crossed the Carpathian Mountains following a joint attack in 894 or 895 by the Pechenegs and Bulgarians against them. They first took control over the lowlands east of the river Danube and they exploited internal conflicts in Moravia and annihilated this state sometime between 902 and 906. The Hungarians strengthened their control over the Carpathian Basin by defeating a Bavarian army in a battle fought at Brezalauspurc on July 4,907 and they launched a series of plundering raids between 899 and 955 and also targeted the Byzantine Empire between 943 and 971. However, they settled in the Basin and established a Christian monarchy. Byzantine authors were the first to record these events, nearly contemporary narration can be read in the Continuation of the Chronicle by George the Monk. However, De Administrando Imperio provides the most detailed account and it was compiled under the auspices of Emperor Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus in 951 or 952. Works written by clergymen in the states of the Carolingian Empire narrate events closely connected to the conquest. The Annals of Fulda which ends in 901 is the earliest among them, a letter from Archbishop Theotmar of Salzburg to Pope John IX in 900 also refers to the conquering Hungarians, but it is often regarded as a fake. Abbot Regino of Prüm who compiled his World Chronicle around 908 sums up his knowledge on the Hungarians in an entry under the year 889. Another valuable source is Bishop Liutprand of Cremonas Antapodosis from around 960, Aventinus, a 16th-century historian provides information not known from other works, which suggests that he used now-lost sources. An Old Church Slavonic compilation of Lives of saints preserved an account on the Bulgarian-Byzantine war of 894–896. Similarly late manuscripts offer the text of the Russian Primary Chronicle and it provides information based on earlier Byzantine and Moravian sources. The Hungarians themselves initially preserved the memory of the events in the form of folk songs. The earliest local chronicle was compiled in the late 11th century and it exists now in more than one variant, its original version several times extended and rewritten during the Middle Ages. For instance, the 14th-century Illuminated Chronicle contains texts from the 11th-century chronicle, an anonymous authors Gesta Hungarorum, written before 1200, is the earliest extant local chronicle. However, this most misleading example of all the early Hungarian texts contains much information that cannot be confirmed based on contemporaneous sources, around 1283 Simon of Kéza, a priest at the Hungarian royal court wrote the next surviving chronicle
6.
Czechoslovakia
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From 1939 to 1945, following its forced division and partial incorporation into Nazi Germany, the state did not de facto exist but its government-in-exile continued to operate. From 1948 to 1990, Czechoslovakia was part of the Soviet bloc with a command economy and its economic status was formalized in membership of Comecon from 1949, and its defense status in the Warsaw Pact of May 1955. A period of liberalization in 1968, known as the Prague Spring, was forcibly ended when the Soviet Union, assisted by several other Warsaw Pact countries. In 1993, Czechoslovakia split into the two states of the Czech Republic and Slovakia. Form of state 1918–1938, A democratic republic, 1938–1939, After annexation of Sudetenland by Nazi Germany in 1938, the region gradually turned into a state with loosened connections among the Czech, Slovak, and Ruthenian parts. A large strip of southern Slovakia and Carpatho-Ukraine was annexed by Hungary, 1939–1945, The region was split into the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia and the Slovak Republic. A government-in-exile continued to exist in London, supported by the United Kingdom, United States and its Allies, after the German invasion of Russia, Czechoslovakia adhered to the Declaration by United Nations and was a founding member of the United Nations. 1946–1948, The country was governed by a government with communist ministers, including the prime minister. Carpathian Ruthenia was ceded to the Soviet Union, 1948–1989, The country became a socialist state under Soviet domination with a centrally planned economy. In 1960, the country became a socialist republic, the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic. It was a state of the Soviet Union. 1989–1990, The federal republic consisted of the Czech Socialist Republic, 1990–1992, Following the Velvet Revolution, the state was renamed the Czech and Slovak Federal Republic, consisting of the Czech Republic and the Slovak Republic. Neighbours Austria 1918–1938, 1945–1992 Germany Hungary Poland Romania 1918–1938 Soviet Union 1945–1991 Ukraine 1991–1992 Topography The country was of irregular terrain. The western area was part of the north-central European uplands, the eastern region was composed of the northern reaches of the Carpathian Mountains and lands of the Danube River basin. Climate The weather is mild winters and mild summers, influenced by the Atlantic Ocean from the west, Baltic Sea from the north, and Mediterranean Sea from the south. The area was long a part of the Austro Hungarian Empire until the Empire collapsed at the end of World War I, the new state was founded by Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk, who served as its first president from 14 November 1918 to 14 December 1935. He was succeeded by his ally, Edvard Beneš. The roots of Czech nationalism go back to the 19th century, nationalism became a mass movement in the last half of the 19th century
7.
Treaty of Trianon
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The treaty regulated the status of an independent Hungarian state and defined its borders. It left Hungary as a state covering 93,073 square kilometres. Its population was 7.6 million, only 36% of the kingdoms population of 20.9 million. The areas that were allocated to neighbouring countries in total possessed a majority of non-Hungarian population, five of the pre-war kingdoms ten largest cities were drawn into other countries. The treaty limited Hungarys army to 35,000 officers and men, the principal beneficiaries of territorial division of pre-war Kingdom of Hungary were the Kingdom of Romania, the Czechoslovak Republic, and the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. One of the elements of the treaty was the doctrine of self-determination of peoples. In addition, Hungary had to pay war reparations to its neighbours, the treaty was dictated by the Allies rather than negotiated and the Hungarians had no option but to accept its terms. The Hungarian delegation signed the treaty under protest on 4 June 1920 at the Grand Trianon Palace in Versailles, the treaty was registered in League of Nations Treaty Series on 24 August 1921. The modern boundaries of Hungary are the same as those defined by the Treaty of Trianon except for three villages that were transferred to Czechoslovakia in 1947, the Hungarian government terminated its union with Austria on 31 October 1918, officially dissolving the Austro-Hungarian state. The de facto borders of independent Hungary were defined by the ceasefire lines in November–December 1918. On 1 December 1918, the National Assembly of Romanians in Transylvania declared union with the Kingdom of Romania, Slovakia, which became part of Czechoslovakia. That was signed on 6 December 1918, territories of Banat, Bačka and Baranja came under military control of the Kingdom of Serbia and political control of local South Slavs. The Great Peoples Assembly of Serbs, Bunjevci and other Slavs from Banat, Bačka, the ceasefire line had a character of temporary international border until the treaty. The city of Fiume was occupied by the Italian Army and its affiliation was a matter of international dispute between the Kingdom of Italy and the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes. Croatian-populated territories in modern Međimurje remained under Hungarian control after the agreement of Belgrade from 13 November 1918. After the Romanian Army advanced beyond this line, the Entente powers asked Hungary to acknowledge the new Romanian territory gains by a new line set along the Tisza river. Unable to reject these terms and unwilling to accept them, the leaders of the Hungarian Democratic Republic resigned, in spite of the country being under Allied blockade, the Hungarian Soviet Republic was formed and the Hungarian Red Army was rapidly set up. In the end, this invitation was not issued
8.
Hungarians in Slovakia
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Hungarians in Slovakia are the largest ethnic minority in the country. According to the 2011 Slovak census,458,467 people declared themselves Hungarians, Hungarians in Slovakia are concentrated mostly in the southern part of the country, near the border with Hungary. They form the majority in two districts, Komárno and Dunajská Streda, after the defeat of the Central Powers in the Western Front in 1918, the Treaty of Trianon was signed between the winning Entente powers and Hungary in 1920, at the Paris Peace Conference. The treaty greatly reduced the Kingdom of Hungarys borders, including ceding all of Upper Hungary, consequently, the newly created state contained areas that were overwhelmingly ethnic Hungarian. According to the 1910 census conducted in Austria–Hungary, there were 884,309 ethnic Hungarians, constituting 30. 2% of the population, in what is now Slovakia, the Czechoslovak census of 1930 recorded 571,952 Hungarians. Czechoslovak and Hungarian censuses become target of discussion with political impact, according to official Hungarian definition from 1900, a mother tongue was defined as a language considered by a person as his own, the best spoken and mostly preferred. This definition did not match the definition of mother tongue, introduced subjective factors dependent on environment. More, in the atmosphere of raising magyarization a person could risk if he did not declare Hungarian language to be his favorite for a census commissar. Between 1880–1910, Hungarian population increased by 55. 9%, level of differences does not allow to explain this process by emigration or by population moves and natural assimilation during industrialization. In 16 northern counties, Hungarian population raised by 427,238 while majority Slovak population only by 95,603, after the creation of Czechoslovakia, people could declare their nationality more freely. Furthermore, censuses from Kingdom of Hungary and Czechoslovakia differed in a view on nationality of Jewish population, Czechoslovakia allowed Jews to declare separate Jewish nationality, while Jews were counted mostly as Hungarians in the past. In 1921,70,529 people declared Jewish nationality, population of larger towns like Košice or Bratislava was historically bilingual or trilingual and part of them used to declare the most popular or the most beneficial nationality in particular time. According to the Czechoslovak censuses, 15–20% of the population in Košice was Hungarian, but during the parliamentary elections, however, such comparisons are not fully reliable, because ethnic Hungarian parties did not necessarily present themselves to Slovak population as ethnic and had also Slovak subsidiaries. Finally, Hungarian state employees who refused to take an oath of allegiance had to decide between retirement and moving to Hungary, the same applies also for Hungarians who did not receive Czechoslovak citizenship, were forced to leave or simply did not self-identify with new state. Two famous examples of forced to leave were the families of Béla Hamvas. The numerous refugees necessitated the construction of new housing projects in Budapest, at the beginning of the school year 1918/1919, Slovakia had 3,642 elementary schools. Only 141 schools taught in Slovak language,186 in Slovak and this large deformation was a direct result of previous magyarization activities of Hungarian government. Also after system reform, Czechoslovakia provided several times larger educational network for Hungarian minority than Kingdom of Hungary did for the whole Slovak nation before 1918, due to the lack of qualified personnel among Slovaks, Hungarian teachers were replaced in large numbers by Czechs
Germany
Slovakia
Romania
Ukraine
Poland
Komárno, Slovakia
Lieto, Finland
Naumburg, Germany
Judendorf-Straßengel, Austria
Sebeș, Romania
Sosnowiec, Poland
