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History of Budapest
Budapest is one of the world’s most cosmopolitian cities, with a long & storied history. This is a brief history of this city & what makes it what it is.
Although Hungary is in the region of 1000 years old, thanks to St. Stephen, Budapest has always had settlers, in fact at around 100 BC, we do know that a large group of Celts (around 20,000) settled in a town it is believed known as Gellert. This is what is now known as Gellert Hill & Spas. The Roman empire moved in eventually due to it’s strategic location on the banks of the river Danube, and renamed the city Aquincum.
When Rome fell in the mid 5th Century, a battle was fought over Aquincum which was eventually won by Attila the Hun, who ruled the area as part of his vast Hunnic Empire until the Maygars moved in & split Aquincum into 2 towns, Buda & Pest, one either side of the river Danube. This was 100 years before Hungary formed.
The Maygars settled in, and struck peace treaties with Bulgaria & most of it’s nearest neighbours. Maygars were receptive to Christianity, and as a result the borders were formed for Hungary. Budapest grew in the early thirteenth century, thanks to Western Europe influences, but was largely destroyed when the Mongol’s pillaged the city on their warpath through Europe.
Budapest was largely rebuilt & underwent a renaissance in the late 15th Century under the reign of Matyas, but when he died, he died with no heir, and Budapest & Hungary’s empire (which was built up under Matyas’s reign) collapsed. The Ottoman Empire moved in to capture Budapest, and they were successful for 3 weeks, until a mutinational army from Western Europe captured Buda Castle. Although Hungary still existed, it was largely ruled from outside by the Austrian Empire for over 200 years, until after the first World War, where it became it’s own entity again.
Although it’s own entity, it was allied to the Nazi’s in the Second World War, but many Jewish people saw the country as a safe haven. This saw many Jewish people move into Budapest & lived relatively well until Nazi Germany attacked Hungary, overthrew the sympathetic government & placed it’s own government in power in 1944. Jews were in grave danger. Although a violent & brutal regime, it didn’t last long – Soviet forces liberated Budapest in February 1945.
Unfortunately, Communism wasn’t too much better, and the city was a dangerous place to be or visit for a few years until 1956, where the first Hungarian revolution began. Although unsuccessful – The Soviet Union still controlled Hungary – it became very western friendly, with companies & brands such as Coca Cola having a presence in the country. In 1989, Hungary underwent more revolutions, these were successful in overthrowing Communism. As a result, democratic elections were held, the large industrial Soviet factories were replaced with more efficient service based industries & tourism. It has since joined the European Union.