History Handout

Based on

McDougal Littell World history

Glencoe World History

Figeczkin Szab Mnika Fazekas Krisztina, History 10-12

Contents
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ANCIENT EAST
1. Origin of Civilization
2. City-States in Mesopotamia
3. The Babylonian Empire
4. Pyramids on the Nile
5. Civilization on the Indus
6. China
7. The Phoenicians
8. The Israelites
9. The Persian Empire

ANCIENT GREECE
10. The Center of Greek Life
11. Greek Expansion
12. Sparta
13. Athens
14. The Challenge of Persia
15. Greek Religion
16. Alexander and the Hellenistic Era

ANCIENT ROME
17. The Roman Republic
18. Roman Expansion
19. The Republic Collapses
20. The Age of Augustus
21. Christianity
22. Christianity spreads through the Empire
23. The Fall of the Roman Empire
24. The Western Empire Crumbles

EARLY MIDDLE AGE

25. The Frankish Empire
26. The Role of the Church
27. From Eastern Roman Empire to Byzantine Empire
28. The Rise of Islam
29. The Arab Empire
30. The Development of Feudalism

HIGH MIDDLE AGE

31. The New Agriculture
32. The Revival of Trade and Cities
33. The Holy Roman Empire
34. Church Reform
35. Culture of the High Middle Age
36. Birth of Estate Monarchies in Western Europe
37. Crisis of the Middle Ages
38. Renaissance
39. The Ottoman Empire

THE FOUNDATION OF HUNGARY

40. The Prehistory of Magyar people
41. The Magyar Conquest
42. The Foundation of the Feudal Hungarian Kingdom
43. The Crisis and Consolidation of the Feudal Kingdom in Hungary
44. The reign of Bela III
45. The Golden Bull Movement
46. Bla IV (1235-70) and the Tartar Invasion
47. The Reorganisation of the Hungarian Kingdom under Charles Robert
48. Louis the Great (1342-1382)
49. Society and economy in the 14th century
50. The Formation of the Limited Monarchy under Sigismund
51. Struggle against the Turks - Jnos Hunyadi
52. The First Phase of Mtys Reign - The limited monarchy (1458-71)
53. The Second Phase of Mtys' Reign - An absolutist attempt (1471-90)
54. The Fall of the Feudal Kingdom

EARLY MODERN AGE

55. Reformation
56. Spread of the Reformation
57. The Catholic Reformation
58. Europeans Explore the East and the West
59. Global trade
60. The Habsburg Empire
61. Parliament Limits the English Monarchy
62. The French Absolutism
63. Rise of Russia

HUNGARY 1526-1711
64. The Tripartite of Hungary
65. Life under Turkish Yoke
66. Warfare in the 16-17th Centuries
67. Economy and Society in the 16-17th Centuries
68. Reformation and Counter Reformation in Hungary
69. The Bocskai uprising
70. The Golden Age of Transylvania
71. The Political Program of Zrnyi Mikls
72. The Reconquest of Hungary
73. The Rkoczi Insurrection (1703-11)

AGE OF REVOLUTIONS
74. The Scientific Revolution
75. The Enlightenment in Europe
76. Enlightened Absolutism
77. The American Revolution
78. The Preceding of the French Revolutions
79. The French Revolution
80. The French Republic
81. Napoleon
82. The Congress of Vienna
83. Industrialization
84. Consequences of the Industrialization

HUNGARY IN THE 18-19th CENTURIES

85. Hungary in the Habsburg Empire
86. Maria Theresa (1740-80)
87. The Enlightened Despotism of Joseph II (1780-90)
88. Economy and Society at the Beginning of the 19th Century
89. Age of Reform - Szchenyi
90. Age of Reform - Kossuth
91. Debate between Szchenyi and Kossuth
92. Before the Revolution of 1848
93. The Revolution of 1848 in Hungary
94. The April Laws
95. The Beginning of the Hungarian War of Independence
96. The End of the War of Independence and the Revenge
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IMPERIALISM AND INDUSTRIALIZIATION

97. The Industrial Revolution Continues
98. Awekening of the Working Class
99. The Unification Of Italy and Germany
100. War And Expansion In The United States
101. Imperialism

THE DUALIST ERA

102. Neo-Absolutism in Hungary
103. Antecedent of the compromise
104. The compromise of 1867
105. Economy and Society
106. The Crisis of the Dual Monarch

THE AGE OF WORLD WARS

107. Marching Toward War
108. World War I (1914-1918)
109. A Flawed Peace
110. Revolutions in Russia
111. Postwar Uncertainty
112. Democracies between the World Wars
113. A Worldwide Depression
114. Totalitarianism
115. Nacism
116. Stalinism
117. Precedings of the World War II
118. World War II The Axis powers advance (1939-1942)
119. World War II The Allied powers advance (1942-1945)
120. The Holocaust
HUNGARY AND THE WORLD WARS
121. The Aster Revolution
122. The Krolyi Government
123. The Hungarian Republic of Councils
124. The Formation of a New State
125. The Peace Treaty of Trianon
126. Consolidation and Stabilization in Hungary
127. Cultural Policy and Political Thinking in the 1920s
128. The Gmbs Government
129. Hungary towards World War II
130. Hungary at War
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THE COLD WAR AND GLOBAL ISSUES

131. Superpowers Face Off
132. The Cold War
133. Hot Spots in the Cold War
134. Decolonization
135. The Soviet Block
136. End of the Cold War
137. Collapse of Communism
138. Globalization
139. The European Union

HUNGARY IN THE POSTWAR PERIOD

140. The Provisional Government
141. Consolidation
142. The Communist Takeover
143. Social and Economic Changes in the 1950s
144. The Crisis of the Rkosi Dictatorship
145. The Revolution of 1956
146. The Kdr Regime
147. The Crisis of the Kdr Regime
148. Hungary's Peaceful Revolution
149. Elections in Hungary
150. Requirements for the Maturation exam

ANCIENT EAST

1. Origin of Civilization
By about 40,000 years ago, human beings had become fully modern in their physical appearance. However,
over the following thousands of years, the way of life of early humans underwent incredible changes. People
developed new technology, artistic skills, and most importantly, agriculture.
Men and women of the Old Stone Age were nomads. Nomads were highly mobile people who moved from
place to place foraging, or searching, for new sources of food. Nomadic groups whose food supply depends on
hunting animals and collecting plant foods are called hunter-gatherers. They used stone, bone, and wood to
make spears, digging sticks, fish hooks and harpoons and bone needles.
The Beginnings of Agriculture
About 10,000 years ago, some of the women may have scattered seeds near a regular campsite. When they
returned the next season, they may have found new crops growing. This discovery would usher in the Neolithic
Revolution, or the agricultural revolution. Some groups practiced slash-and-burn farming, in which they cut
trees or grasses and burned them to clear a field. The ashes that remained fertilized the soil. Farmers planted
crops for a year or two, and then moved to another area of land. After several years, trees and grass grew back,
and other farmers repeated the process of slashing and burning. The domestication of animals: taming horses,
dogs, goats, and pigs.
Villages Grow into Cities
Over the centuries, people settled in stable communities that were based on agriculture. Domesticated
animals became more common. The invention of new toolshoes, sickles, and plows sticksmade the task of
farming easier. Settlements with a plentiful supply of food could support larger populations.

Economic Changes
To cultivate more land and to produce extra crops, ancient people built elaborate irrigation systems. The
resulting food surpluses freed some villagers to develop skills besides farming. Craftspeople created valuable
new products, such as pottery, metal objects, and woven cloth. Traders exchanged craftwork, grains, and many
raw materials. Two important inventionsthe wheel and the sailalso enabled traders to move more goods
over longer distances.
Social Changes
Social classes with varying wealth, power, and influence began to emerge. Farming peoples worshiped the
many gods and goddesses who they believed had power over the rain, wind, and other forces of nature. It is
named polytheism.

Features of Civilization
Advanced Cities became centers of trade for a larger area. Farmers, merchants brought goods to market in
the cities. The city dwellers themselves produced a variety of goods for exchange.
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Need for more specialized workers, such as traders, government officials, and priests. Food surpluses
provided the opportunity for specializationthe development of skills in a specific kind of work. Some city
dwellers became artisansskilled workers who make goods by hand.
Complex institutions were organnized for government, religion, and the economy. The temple was the hub
of both government and religious affairs. It also served as the citys economic center. There food and trade items
were distributed.
Record keeping became widespread. Government officials had to document tax collections, the passage of
laws, and the storage of grain. Priests needed a way to keep track of the calendar and important rituals.
Merchants had to record accounts of debts and payments. Around 3000 B.C., Sumerian scribes invented a
system of writing called cuneiform. They also wrote about their cities dramatic eventswars, natural disasters,
the reign of kings.
Farmers harnessed the powers of animals as using ox-drawn plows to turn the soil. They also created
irrigation systems to expand planting areas. Sumerian artisans used the potters wheel to shape jugs, plates,
and bowls. Sumerian metalworkers discovered that melting together certain amounts of copper and tin made
bronze. The Bronze Age started in Sumer around 3000 B.C

2. City-States in Mesopotamia
Environment
A desert climate dominates the landscape between the Persian Gulf and the Mediterranean Sea in
Southwest Asia. It is the Fertile Crescent. It includes Mesopotamia (land between the rivers). The rivers
framing Mesopotamia are the Tigris and Euphrates. The Tigris and Euphrates rivers flooded Mesopotamia at
least once a year. Farmers planted grain and irrigated the fields with river water. The results were large
quantities of wheat and barley at harvest time.
The surpluses from their harvests allowed villages to grow. People first began to settle and farm in southern
Mesopotamia before 4500 B.C. Around 3300 B.C., the people called the Sumerians arrived on the scene.

Solving Problems through Organization

To provide water, they dug irrigation ditches that carried river water to their fields and allowed them to
produce a surplus of crops. For defense, they built city walls with mud bricks.
Sumerians traded their grain, cloth, and crafted tools with the peoples of the mountains and the desert. In
exchange, they received raw materials such as stone, wood, and metal.
These activities required organization, cooperation, and leadership. Leaders were needed to plan and
supervise the projects. These projects also created a need for laws to settle disputes over how land and water
would be distributed. These leaders and laws were the beginning of organized governmentand eventually of
civilization.

Sumerians Create City-States

The Sumerians stand out in history as one of the first groups of people to form a civilization.By 3000 B.C.,
the Sumerians had built a number of cities, each surrounded by fields of barley and wheat. Although these cities
shared the same culture, they developed their own governments, each with its own rulers. Each city and the
surrounding land it controlled formed a city-state. (Uruk, Kish, Lagash, Ur).
In all Sumerian cities there was the walled temple with a ziggurat in the middle. There the priests and rulers
prayed to the gods for the well-being of the city-state. The farmers believed that the success of their crops
depended upon the blessings of the gods, and the priests acted as go-betweens with the gods. The belief in
more than one god is called polytheism. Priests demanded a portion of every farmers crop as taxes.
In time of war, the men of the city chose a tough fighter who could command the citys soldiers. At first, a
commanders power ended as soon as the war was over. Gradually, Sumerian priests and people gave
commanders permanent control of standing armies. These rulers usually passed their power on to their sons,
who eventually passed it on to their own heirs. Such a series of rulers from a single family is called a dynasty.

Life in Sumerian Society

With civilization came the beginning of what we call social classes. Kings, landholders, and some priests
made up the highest level in Sumerian society. Wealthy merchants ranked next. The vast majority of ordinary
Sumerian people worked with their hands in fields and workshops. At the lowest level of Sumerian society were
the slaves. Some slaves were foreigners who had been captured in war. Others were Sumerians who had been
sold into slavery as children to pay the debts of their poor parents. Debt slaves could hope to eventually buy
their freedom.
Sumerian Science and Technology
Historians believe that Sumerians invented the wheel, the sail, and the plow and that they were among the first
to use bronze. Many new ideas and inventions arose from the Sumerians
practical needs.
They developed a number system in base 60, from which stem the
modern units for measuring time (60 seconds = 1 minute) and the 360
degrees of a circle.
Arches, columns, ramps, and the pyramid shaped the design of the
ziggurat.
Cuneiform: Sumerians created a system of writing. They used clay
tablets to record all the important facts and events.

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3. The Babylonian Empire

In about 2000 B.C., nomadic warriors known as Amorites invaded Mesopotamia. Gradually, the Amorites
overwhelmed the Sumerians and established their capital at Babylon, on the Euphrates River. The Babylonian
Empire reached its peak during the reign of Hammurabi, from 1792 B.C. to 1750 B.C. Hammurabis most
enduring legacy is the code of laws he put together. Hammurabi recognized that a single, uniform code of laws
would help to unify the diverse groups within his empire. He collected existing rules, judgments, and laws into
the Code of Hammurabi. Hammurabi had the code engraved in stone, and copies were placed all over his
empire.
The code lists 282 specific laws dealing with everything that affected the community, including family
relations, business and crime, many of the laws related to property issues. Although the code applied to
everyone, it set different punishments for rich and poor and for men and women.It frequently applied the
principle of retaliation (an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth) to punish crimes.
1. Ha egy awelum (szabad ember) gyilkossggal vdol egy szabad embert, de nem bizonyt: a vdl lessk meg.
2. Ha egy szabad ember tanknt jelentkezik egy prben, s kimondott szavt nem bizonytja: ha a per lettel kapcsolatos,
az illet lessk meg.
8. Ha egy szabad ember akr krt, akr juhot, akr disznt lopott, ha a templom vagy a palot, harmincszorosan trtse
meg, ha egy musknum (flszabad), tzszeresen trtse meg. Ha a tolvaj nem tudja megtrteni: lessk meg.
15. Ha egy szabad ember a vroskapun kiviszi a palota rabszolgjt vagy rabszolganjt: lessk meg.
22. Ha valakit lopson kapnak rajta: az illet lessk meg.
25. Ha egy szabad ember hzban tz t ki, s az, aki oltani siet oda, a hz gazdjnak holmijra szemet vetvn, brmit is
eltulajdont: az illett ugyanabba a tzbe vessk.
53. Ha valaki hanyagsgbl nem ersti meg fldjn a gtat, s a gton rs nylik, gy, hogy a megmvelt fld a vz al
kerl: az elpusztult gabont az fizesse meg, akinek a gtja tszakadt. Ha nem kpes a gabont megtrteni, t magt s
vagyont pnzrt eladvn, a pnzen osztozzanak meg azok, akiknek a vz elsodorta a gabonjt.
117. Ha egy szabad embert az adssga szorongatja, s ezrt felesgt, fit vagy lnyt knytelen pnzrt eladni vagy
szolglnak kldeni: annak hzba, aki megvette ket, vagy gazdjuk lett, hrom vig dolgozzanak. A negyedik vben fel
kell, hogy szabaduljanak.
195. Ha egy fi megti az apjt, vgjk le a kezt.
196. Ha egy szabad ember kiszrja brkinek a szemt a szabadok rendjhez tartozk kzl, szrjk ki az szemt is.
197. Ha egy szabadember szabad embernek csontjt tri, trjk el az csontjt is.
198. Ha egy musknum szemt szrta ki, vagy egy musknum csontjt trte el: egy mina (500 gramm) ezstt fizessen.
199. Ha egy szabadember rabszolgjnak (wardum) szrta ki a szemt, vagy egy szabad ember rabszolgjnak trte el a
csontjt: fizesse meg a vtelra felt.
200. Ha egy szabad ember kiveri egy szabad ember fogt: ssk ki az fogt is.
202. Ha egy szabad ember arcul t valaki olyant, aki nla elkelbb helyzet: a nyilvnossg eltt mrjenek r hatvanat a
bikacskkel.
205. Ha egy szabad ember rabszolgja arcul t valakit, aki a szabadok rendjhez tartozik, vgjk le az flt.

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4. Pyramids on the Nile

While Sumerian civilization was on the rise, a similar process took place along the banks of the Nile in
Egypt. Yet the Egyptian civilization turned out to be very different from the city-states in Mesopotamia. Early on,
Egypt was united into a single kingdom, which allowed it to enjoy a high degree of unity, stability, and cultural
continuity over a period of 3,000 years.
The Gift of the Nile
The Nile River flows northward across Africa for over 4,100 miles, making it the longest river in the world.
Egypts settlements arose along the Nile on a narrow strip of land made fertile by the river. As in Mesopotamia,
yearly flooding brought the water and rich soil that allowed settlements to grow. Before the scorching sun could
dry out the soil, the peasants would prepare their wheat and barley fields. All fall and winter they watered their
crops from a network of irrigation ditches. The vast and forbidding deserts on either side of the Nile acted as
natural barriers between Egypt and other lands. They forced Egyptians to live on a very small portion of the land
and reduced interaction with other peoples. However, the deserts shut out invaders.
Kingdom of Egypt
Egypt was united around 3000 B.C. The first king, Menes, settled his capital, Memphis, near the spot where
Upper and Lower Egypt met, and established the first Egyptian dynasty. Eventually, the history of ancient Egypt
would consist of 31 dynasties, spanning 2,600 years.
To the Egyptians, kings were gods. The Egyptian god-kings, called pharaohs, were thought to be almost as
splendid and powerful as the gods of the heavens. This type of government in which rule is based on religious
authority is called a theocracy. The pharaoh stood at the center of Egypts religion as well as its government
and army.
Egyptians believed that their king ruled even after his death. Since kings expected to reign forever, their
tombs were even more important than their palaces. For the kings the resting place after death was an immense
structure called a pyramid. Unlike the Sumerians, however, the Egyptians did have a good supply of stone, both
granite and limestone. For the Great Pyramid of Giza, for example, the limestone facing was quarried just
across the Nile. Each perfectly cut stone block weighed at least 2 1/2 tons. Some weighed 15 tons. More than 2
million of these blocks were stacked with precision to a height of 146 meters. The pyramids also show that Old
Kingdom dynasties had developed the economic strength and technological means to support massive public
works projects, as well as the leadership and government organization to carry them out.
Religion and Life
The early Egyptians were polytheistic, believing in many gods. The most important gods were Re, the sun
god, and Osiris, god of the dead. The most important goddess was Isis, who represented the ideal mother and
wife. In all, Egyptians worshiped more than 2,000 gods and goddesses. Egyptians believed they would be
judged for their deeds when they died. Royal and elite Egyptians bodies were preserved by mummification,
which involves embalming and drying the corpse to prevent it from decaying. Scholars still accept Herodotus
description of the process of mummification as one of the methods used by Egyptians.

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Egyptian Writing
Simple pictographs were the earliest form of writing in Egypt, but scribes quickly developed a more
flexible writing system called hieroglyphics. In the earliest form of hieroglyphic writing, a picture stood for an
idea. For instance, a picture of a man stood for the idea of a man. In time, the system changed so that pictures
stood for sounds as well as ideas. The owl, for example, stood for an m sound or for the bird itself. Hieroglyphs
could be used almost like letters of the alphabet. The Egyptians invented a great writing surface, papyrus reed.
These grew in the marshy delta. The Egyptians split the reeds into narrow strips, placed them crosswise in two
layers, dampened them, and then pressed them. As the papyrus dried, the plants sap glued the strips together
into a paper like sheet.
Egyptian Science and Technology
The Egyptians developed a calendar to help them keep track of the time between floods and to plan their
planting season. They calculated the number of days between two floods 365 daysa solar year. They divided
this year into 12 months of 30 days each and added five days for holidays and feasting. This calendar was so
accurate that it fell short of the true solar year by only six hours. Egyptian architects were the first to use stone
columns in homes, palaces, and temples.
Egyptian medicine was also famous in the ancient world. Egyptian doctors knew how to check a persons
heart rate by feeling for a pulse in different parts of the body. They set broken bones with splints and had
effective treatments for wounds and fevers. They also used surgery to treat some conditions.

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5. Civilization on the Indus

Indus Valley Civilization
Around 2500 B.C., while Egyptians were building pyramids, people in the Indus Valley were laying the bricks for
Indias first cities. They built strong levees, or earthen walls, to keep water out of their cities. When these were
not enough, they constructed human-made islands to raise the cities above possible floodwaters. Early
engineers also created sophisticated plumbing and sewage systems. These systems could rival any urban
drainage systems built before the 19th century. The uniformity in the cities planning and construction suggests
that the Indus peoples had developed a strong central government. The largest cities were Mohenjo-Daro, and
Harappa.

Aryans Transform India

Before 2000 B.C. an Indo-European people, the Aryans, whose homeland was probably somewhere
between the Caspian and Aral seas, crossed over the northwest mountain passes into the Indus River Valley of
India.
The Aryans differed from the earlier population in many ways. Aryans were taller, lighter in skin color, and
spoke a different language. Unlike the earlier inhabitants of the Indus Valley, the Aryans had not developed a
writing system. They were also a pastoral people and counted their wealth in cows. Aryans were organized into
four groups based on occupation: priests, warriors, traders and landowners, peasants or traders
The group, that an Aryan belonged to, determined his or her role in society. As the Aryans settled in India,
they developed closer contacts with non-Aryans. To regulate those contacts, the Aryans made class restrictions
more rigid. Shudras were laborers who did work that Aryans did not want to do.
The four major groups came to be known as the varnas (Varna is skin color). Later, European explorers
called these groups castes.
Over time, some communities developed a system in which people were born into their caste. Their caste
membership determined the work they did, whom they could marry, and the people with whom they could eat.
The most impure workers, because of their work (butchers, gravediggers, collectors of trash), lived outside the
caste structure. They were known as untouchables, since even their touch endangered the ritual purity of
others.

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6. China

Natural barriers isolated ancient China from all other civilizations. Two major river systems flow from the
mountainous west to the Pacific Ocean. The Huang He, also known as the Yellow River is found in the north. In
central China, the Chang Jiang, also called Yangtze flows east to the Yellow Sea.
For thousands of years, farmers had depended on rainfall to water crops such as rice and millet. By the
sixth century B.C., irrigation was in wide use. Large-scale water projects were set in motion to control the flow of
rivers and spread water evenly to the fields. By the mid-sixth century B.C., the use of iron led to the development
of iron plowshares to plow land that had not been farmed previously. Because of advances in farming tools and
practices, Chinas population rose as high as fifty million people.
One of the most important items of trade in ancient China was silk. Chinese silk fragments from the period
have been found throughout central Asia and as far away as Athens, Greececlear indications of a far-reaching
trade network, called Silk Road.
The most important cultural contribution of ancient China to later Chinese society was the creation and
development of the Chinese written language. Like many other ancient languages, it was primarily pictographic
and ideogram. Ideographs are characters that combine two or more pictographs to represent an idea. For
example, the word east symbolizes the sun coming up behind the trees.
In the Gobi, there resided a nomadic people known to the Chinese as the Xiongnu. They were organized
loosely into tribes, and moved with the seasons from one pasture to another. The Xiongnu had mastered the art
of fighting on horseback. When the Xiongnu challenged Chinese communities near the northern frontier, a
number of states constructed walls to keep the nomads out. Eventually, the answer to the problem was to
strengthen the existing system of walls and link them together to create The Great Wall of China.

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7. The Phoenicians

The Phoenicians lived in the area of Palestine along the Mediterranean coast on a narrow band of land 193
kilometers long. After the downfall of the Egyptians, the newfound political independence of the Phoenicians
helped them expand their trade. Trade had long been the basis of their prosperity. The chief cities of
PhoeniciaByblos, Tyre, and Sidonwere ports on the eastern Mediterranean.
The Phoenicians produced a number of goods for foreign markets, including purple dye, glass, and lumber
from the cedar forests of Lebanon. The Phoenicians built ships and became great international sea traders.
They eventually created a trade empire.
The Phoenicians charted new routes not only in the Mediterranean but also in the Atlantic Ocean, where they
reached Britain and sailed south along the west coast of Africa. They set up a number of colonies in the
western Mediterranean. Carthage, on the North African coast, was their most famous colony.
Phoenician culture is best known for its alphabet. The Phoenicians simplified their writing by using 22
different signs to represent the sounds of their speech. These 22 characters, or letters, could be used to spell
out all the words in the Phoenician language. Although the Phoenicians were not the only people to invent an
alphabet, theirs was important because it was eventually passed on to the Greeks. From the Greek alphabet
came the Roman alphabet that we still use today.

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8. The Israelites
To the south of the Phoenicians lived another group of Semitic-speaking people known as the Israelites.
Their religionknown today as Judaismflourished and later influenced the religions of Christianity and Islam.
Much of the Israelites history and religious beliefs was eventually written down in the Hebrew Bible, which is
known to Christians as the Old Testament.
According to Israelite traditions, they are descendants of the patriarch Abraham. Their ancestors migrated
from Mesopotamia to Canaan. Their lifestyle was based on grazing animals rather than on farming. Then,
because of drought, the Israelites moved to Egypt, where they were enslaved until Moses led them out of Egypt.
They wandered for many years in the desert until they returned to Canaan.
Between 1200 B.C. and 1000 B.C. the Israelites organized in tribes and established a united kingdom known
as Israel. By the time of King Solomon, who ruled in the 10th Century B.C., the Israelites had established
control over all the land that came to be called Israel and made Jerusalem into its capital. Solomon is best
known for building a temple in the city of Jerusalem. The Israelites viewed the temple as the symbolic center of
their religion and of the Israelite kingdom itself. Under King Solomon, ancient Israel reached the height of its
power.
After Solomons death, tension among the tribes within Israel led to the creation of two separate kingdoms.
The Kingdom of Israel was composed of the ten northern tribes and had its capital at Samaria. To the south, the
Kingdom of Judah consisted of two tribes and had its capital at Jerusalem.
In 722 B.C, the Assyrians overran the Kingdom of Israel and sent many Israelites to other parts of the
Assyrian Empire. Most of these scattered Israelites (the ten lost tribes) merged with neighboring peoples and
gradually lost their identity. The Kingdom of Judah managed to retain its independence for a while, but a new
enemy soon appeared on the horizon. The Babylonians conquered the Kingdom of Judah, and completely
destroyed Jerusalem in 586 B.C. Many people of Judah were sent as captives to Babylonia. The Babylonian
captivity did not last. New conquerors, the Persians, allowed the people of Judah to return to Jerusalem and
rebuild their city and temple. The people of Judah survived, eventually becoming known as the Jews and giving
their name to Judaism.
The Jews were forced by the Romans to leave Palestine in 70 A.D., they began nearly 1,900 years without a
homeland. As they settled throughout the world, many Jews assimilated into the cultures of their new
communities by following local customs and speaking the local language. Still, they maintained their religious
beliefs and customs, even though it often resulted in persecution.

Judaism
The Jews were monotheistic; they believed in one God called Yahweh, the Creator of the world and
everything in it. In the Jews view, God ruled the world; all peoples were his servants, whether they knew it or
not. God was just and good, and he expected goodness from his people. If they did not obey his will, they would
be punished.
The Jews believed that during the exodus from Egypt, when Moses led his people out of bondage, God
made a covenant, or contract, with them. Yahweh promised to guide them if they obeyed the laws of God as
expressed in the Ten Commandments.

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In other ancient religions, only priests had access to the gods. In the Jewish tradition, Gods will was
available to anyone who could read the Hebrew Bible.
1. I am the Lord your God. . . . You shall have no other gods
besides me.
2. You shall not make for yourself a sculptured image.
3. You shall not swear falsely by the name of the Lord your
God.
4. Remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy.
5. Honor your father and your mother.
6. You shall not murder.
7. You shall not commit adultery.
8. You shall not steal.
9. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
10. You shall not covet . . . anything that is your neighbors.
Exodus 20: 214

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9. The Persian Empire

The Persians were Indo-Europeans who lived in what is today southwestern Iran. Cyrus created a powerful
Persian state that stretched from Asia Minor to India. The people of his time called Cyrus the Great. He
demonstrated wisdom and compassion in the conquest and organization of his empire His son Cambyses
successfully invaded Egypt.
Darius, who ruled from 521 B.C. to 486 B.C, added a new Persian province in western India. He then
conquered Thrace in Europe, creating the worlds largest empire to that time. Contact with Greece led Darius to
invade the Greek mainland.
Darius strengthened the Persian government. He divided the empire into 20 provinces, called satrapies. A
governor, or satrap, ruled each province. Each satrap collected taxes, provided justice, and recruited soldiers.
An efficient communication system sustained the Persian Empire. Officials easily traveled through the empire
on well-maintained roads dotted with way stations that provided food, shelter, and fresh horses. The Royal
Road stretched from Lydia to Susa, the empires chief capital. In this system, the Persian kingthe Great
King had the power of life and death.
By the time of Darius, Persian kings had created a standing army of professional soldiers from all over the
empire. At its core were a cavalry force and an elite infantry force. They were known as the Immortals because
whenever a member was killed, he was immediately replaced.
After Darius, the Persian kings became isolated at their courts, surrounded by luxuries. As the kings
increased taxes, loyalty to the empire declined. Struggles over the throne weakened the monarchy and finally
led to its conquest by the Greek ruler Alexander the Great during the 330s B.C.
Zoroastrianism, the Persians religion, was monotheistic. Ahuramazda (the Wise Lord) was a supreme
god who created all things. Ahuramazda was supreme, but the evil spirit Ahriman opposed him. Ahuramazda
gave humans the freedom to choose between right and wrong. The good person chooses the way of
Ahuramazda, who would eventually triumph. Traces of Zoroastrianismsuch as the concept of Satan and a
belief in angelscan be found in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.

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ANCIENT GREECE

10. The Center of Greek Life

The polis or city-state was the central focus of Greek life. The citizens of a polis had defined rights and
responsibilities, as well as a strong identity and loyalty that kept the city-states divided. By 750 B.C., the citystateor what the Greeks called a polisbecame the central focus of Greek life. Our word politics is derived
from the Greek word polis. In a physical sense, the polis was a town, a city, or even a village, along with its
surrounding countryside. The town, city, or village served as the center of the polis where people could meet for
political, social, and religious activities.
Organization of the City-State
The main gathering place in the polis was usually a hill. At the top of the hill was a fortified area called an
acropolis. The acropolis served as a place of refuge during an attack and sometimes came to be a religious
center on which temples and public buildings were built. Below the acropolis was an agora, an open area that
served as a place where people could assemble and as a market.
City-states varied greatly in size, from a few square miles to a few hundred square miles. They also varied in
population. Athens had a population of more than 300,000 by the fifth century B.C., but most city-states were
much smaller, consisting of only a few hundred to several thousand people.
Community of the City-State
The polis was, above all, a community of people who shared a common identity and common goals. As a
community, the polis consisted of citizens with political rights (adult males), citizens with no political rights
(women and children), and noncitizens (including agricultural laborers, slaves, and resident aliens). Citizens
had rights, but these rights were coupled with responsibilities.
As the polis developed, so too did a new military system. In earlier times, nobles on horseback fought wars in
Greece. These aristocrats, who were large landowners, also dominated the political life of their city-states. By
700 B.C., however, the military system was based on hoplites, who were heavily armed infantry soldiers, or foot
soldiers. Each carried a round shield, a short sword, and a spear. Hoplites went into battle as a unit, marching
shoulder to shoulder in a rectangular formation known as a phalanx. This close formation created a wall of
shields to protect the hoplites. As long as they kept their order, it was difficult for enemies to harm them.

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11. Greek Expansion

Between 750 B.C. and 550 B.C., large numbers of Greeks left their homeland to settle in distant lands.
Across the Mediterranean, new Greek colonies were established along the coastlines of southern Italy,
southern France, eastern Spain, and northern Africa west of Egypt. At the same time, to the north the Greeks
set up colonies in Thrace, where they sought good farmland to grow grains. The Greeks also settled along the
shores of the Black Sea, setting up cities on the Hellespont and the Bosporus straits. The most notable of
these cities was Byzantium; the site of what later became Constantinople and is now Istanbul. In establishing
these colonies, the Greeks spread their culture and political ideas throughout the Mediterranean. Controlling of
the straits and waterways between the Mediterranean and Black Seas also gave the Greeks great economic
advantages.
The Greeks on the mainland exported pottery, wine, and olive oil. In return, they received grains and metals
from the west and fish, timber, wheat, metals, and slaves from the Black Sea region.
The expansion of trade and industry created a new group of wealthy individuals in many of the Greek citystates. These men wanted political power, but found it difficult to gain because of the power of the ruling
aristocrats. The landowners would not willingly give up their political power to the newly rich merchants.

Tyranny in the City-States

The creation of this new group of rich men fostered the rise of tyrants in the seventh and sixth centuries B.C.
Tyrants were not necessarily oppressive or wicked, as our word tyrant implies. Greek tyrants were rulers who
seized power by force from the aristocrats. Support for the tyrants came from the newly rich who had made
their money in trade and industry. These people were hungry for the social prestige and political influence that
aristocrats had denied them. Poor peasants who were in debt to landholding aristocrats also supported the
tyrants. Both the newly rich and the peasants were tired of aristocratic domination of their city-states. The tyrants
gained power and kept it by using hired soldiers. Once in power, the tyrants tried to help the poor and
launched public works projects. They built new marketplaces, temples, and walls. These efforts glorified the
city but, more importantly, increased the tyrants popularity. Despite their achievements, however, the tyrants
eventually came to be seen as oppressive. The tyrants had fallen out of favor by the end of the sixth century
B.C.
Although tyranny did not last, it played an important role in Greek history. The rule of the tyrants ended the
rule of the aristocrats in many city-states. The end of tyranny then allowed many new people to participate in
government. In some Greek city-states, this led to the development of democracy, which is government by the
people or rule of the many. Other city-states remained committed to government by an oligarchy, rule by the
few.

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12. Sparta
Like other Greek city-states, Sparta needed more land. Instead of starting new colonies, as some states did,
the Spartans conquered the neighboring Laconians. Later, beginning around 730 B.C., the Spartans undertook
the conquest of neighboring Messenia despite its larger size and population. After their conquest, the
Messenians and Laconians became serfs and were made to work for the Spartans. Messenians became
perioicos and Laconians were known as helots, a name derived from a Greek word for capture. To ensure
control over them, the Spartans made a conscious decision to create a military state.

Lifestyle
Between 800 B.C. and 600 B.C., the lives of Spartans were rigidly organized and tightly controlled thus, our
word spartan, meaning highly self-disciplined. Males spent their childhood learning military discipline. Then
they enrolled in the army for regular military service at age 20. Although allowed to marry, they continued to live
in the military barracks until age 30. All meals were eaten in public dining halls with fellow soldiers. At 30,
Spartan males were allowed to vote in the assembly and live at home, but they stayed in the army until the age
of 60. While their husbands lived in the barracks, Spartan women lived at home. Because of this separation,
Spartan women had greater freedom of movement and greater power in the household than was common
elsewhere in Greece. Spartan women were expected to remain fit to bear and raise healthy children. Many
Spartan women upheld the strict Spartan values, expecting their husbands and sons to be brave in war. The
story is told of a Spartan mother who, as she handed her son his shield, told him to come back carrying his
shield or being carried on it. In other words, he was not to drop his shield in retreat, but to be victorious or to die
bravely.

Government
The Spartan government was an oligarchy headed by two kings, who led the Spartan army on its campaigns.
A group of five men, known as the ephors, were elected each year and were responsible for the education of
youth and the conduct of all citizens. A council of elders, or gerusia composed of the two kings and 28 citizens
over the age of 60, decided on the issues that would be presented to an assembly made up of male citizens.
This assembly did not debate; it only voted on the issues.

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13. Athens
By 700 B.C., Athens had become a unified polis on the peninsula of Attica. Early Athens was ruled by a king.
By the seventh century B.C., however, Athens had become an oligarchy under the control of its aristocrats.
These aristocrats owned the best land and controlled political life. The assembly of all the citizens had few
powers. Near the end of the seventh century B.C., Athens faced political turmoil because of serious economic
problems. Many Athenian farmers were sold into slavery when they were unable to repay their debts to their
aristocratic neighbors. Over and over, there were cries to cancel the debts and give land to the poor. Civil war
seemed likely.
Birth of democracy
The ruling Athenian aristocrats reacted to this crisis in 594 B.C. by giving full power to Solon, a reformminded aristocrat. Solon canceled all land debts and freed people who had fallen into slavery for debts.
He refused, however, to take land from the rich and give it to the poor. Despite Solons reforms aristocrats were
still powerful and poor peasants could not obtain land. These reasons led to the very thing Solon had hoped to
avoidtyranny. Peisistratus, an aristocrat, seized power in 560 B.C. He then aided Athenian trade as a way of
pleasing the merchants. He also gave aristocrats land to the peasants in order to gain the favor of the poor.
The Athenians rebelled against Peisistratuss son, who had succeeded him, and ended the tyranny in 510
B.C. Two years later, with the backing of the Athenian people, Cleisthenes, another reformer, gained the upper
hand. Cleisthenes created a council of 500 that supervised foreign affairs, oversaw the treasury, and proposed
laws. The Athenian assembly, composed of male citizens, was given final authority to pass laws after free and
open debate.
Because the assembly now had the central political role, the reforms of Cleisthenes created the foundations
for Athenian democracy.
Our constitution does not copy the laws of neighboring states; we are rather a pattern to others than imitators
ourselves. Its administration favors the many instead of the few; this is why it is called a democracy. If we look to
the laws, they afford equal justice to all in their private differences; if no social standing, advancement in public
life falls to reputation for capacity, class considerations not being allowed to interfere with merit; nor again does
poverty bar the way. (Pericles)
Olyan alkotmnnyal lnk, amely nem igazodik szomszdjaink trvnyei utn, s inkbb mi magunk
szolglunk pldul, mintsem, hogy utnoznnk msokat. A neve pedig, mivel nem kevesekre, hanem a
tbbsgre tmaszkodik: demokrcia, Trvnyeink szerint a szemlyes gyeket tekintve mindenki egyenjog , de
ami a megbecslst illeti , hogy a kzssg eltt kinek miben van j hre, itt nem trsadalmi helyzet hanem a
kivlsg r tbbet, s ha valaki olyasmire kpes ami a vros javra van, szegny sorsa s gy jelentktelen
trsadalmi rangja nem ll tjban. (Periklsz)
By creating a direct democracy, Pericles expanded the involvement of Athenians in their democracy. In
such a system, every male citizen participates directly in government decision making through mass meetings.
In Athens, every male citizen participated in the governing assembly and voted on all major issues.
The assembly of 500 officials ran the government on a daily basis. Ten officials or strategos directed policy.
The generals could be reelected, so individual leaders could play an important political role.

23

Athenians devised the practice of ostracism to protect against ambitious politicians. On a pottery fragment
members of the assembly could write the name of a person they considered harmful. A person named by at
least 6,000 members was banned from the city for 10 years.

Society and trade

By the fifth century B.C., Athens had the largest population of the Greek city-states. Before the plague in
430 B.C., there were about 150,000 citizens living in Athens. About 43,000 of them were adult males with
political power. Most residents of Athens were not citizens. Foreigners living in Athens, who numbered about
35,000, received the protection of the laws. They were also subject to some of the responsibilities of citizens
military service and the funding of festivals. Slaves numbered around 100,000.
Because of the number of people and the lack of fertile land, Athens had to import from 50 to 80 percent of its
grain, a basic item in the Athenian diet. This meant that trade was highly important to the Athenian economy.
The building of a port at nearby Piraeus helped Athens become the leading trade center in the fifth-century B.C.
Greek world.

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14. The Challenge of Persia

As the Greeks spread throughout the Mediterranean, they came in contact with the Persian Empire to the
east. The Ionian Greek cities in western Asia Minor had fallen to the Persian Empire by the mid-sixth century
B.C. In 499 B.C., an unsuccessful revolt by the Ionian citiesassisted by the Athenian navyled the Persian
ruler Darius to seek revenge.
In 490 B.C., the Persians landed on the plain of Marathon, only 42 km from Athens. There, an outnumbered
Athenian army led by Miltiades attacked and defeated the Persians decisively. The Persians returned to Asia.
According to legend, news of Persias defeat was brought by an Athenian runner named Pheidippides, who
raced from Marathon to Athens. With his last breath, he announced, Victory, we win, before dropping dead.
Todays marathon race is based on this heroic story. Although the Battle of Marathon was a minor defeat to the
Persians, to the Athenians it proved that the Persians could be beaten and gave them new confidence in their
city-state.
After Darius died in 486 B.C., Xerxes became the new Persian monarch. Xerxes vowed revenge and planned
to invade Greece. In preparation for the attack, some of the Greek states formed a defensive league under the
Spartans, the Peloponnesian League. The Athenians, however, followed a new military policy insisted on by
Themistocles, one of the Athenian leaders, and built a navy. By the time the Persians invaded in 480 B.C., the
Athenians had a fleet of about 200 vessels. Xerxes led a massive invasion force into Greece. His forces included
about 180,000 troops and thousands of warships and supply vessels.
In spite of their differences, Athenians, Spartans, and other Greeks were united by a common goal of
defeating the Persian invaders. The Greeks tried to delay the Persians at the pass of Thermopylae, along the
main road into central Greece. A Greek force of about 7,000 held off the Persian army for two days. The 300
Spartans in the Greek army were especially brave. Unfortunately, a traitor told the Persians how to use a
mountain path to outflank the Greek force. The Athenians, now threatened by the arrival of Persian forces,
abandoned their city. Near the island of Salamis, the Greek fleet, though outnumbered, managed to defeat the
Persians. A few months later, early in 479 B.C., the Greeks formed the largest Greek army up to that time and
defeated the Persian army at Plataea, northwest of Athens.

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15. Greek Religion

Greek religion was fundamental to Greek society and is remembered today for the Olympic Games and
Greek drama, which were part of religious festivals. Religion affected every aspect of Greek life. Greeks
considered religion necessary to the well-being of the state. Temples dedicated to gods and goddesses were the
major buildings in Greek cities.
Twelve chief gods and goddesses were thought to live on Olympus, the highest mountain in Greece. Among
the twelve were Zeus, the chief god and father of the gods; Athena, goddess of wisdom and crafts; Apollo, god
of the sun and poetry; Artemis, the sister of Apollo, who was goddess of the moon and of the hunt; Ares, god of
war; Aphrodite, goddess of love; and Poseidon, brother of Zeus and god of the seas and earthquakes. Greek
religion did not have a body of doctrine, nor did it focus on morality. The spirits of most people, regardless of
what they had done in life, went to a gloomy underworld ruled by the god Hades. Because the Greeks wanted
the gods to look favorably upon their activities, rituals became important. Rituals are ceremonies or rites. Greek
religious rituals involved prayers often combined with gifts to the gods based on the principle I give so that you
[the gods] will give [in return].
Festivals also developed as a way to honor the gods and goddesses. Certain festivals were held at special
locations, such as those dedicated to the worship of Zeus at Olympia or to Apollo at Delphi. Numerous events,
including athletic games, took place in honor of the gods at the Greek festivals. The first such games were held
at the Olympic festival in 776 B.C.
The Greeks also had a great desire to learn the will of the gods. To do so, they made use of the oracle, a
sacred shrine where a god or goddess revealed the future through a priest or priestess. The most famous was
the oracle of Apollo at Delphi, located on the side of Mount Parnassus overlooking the Gulf of Corinth. At Delphi,
a priestess, thought to be inspired by Apollo, listened to questions. Her responses were then interpreted by
priests and given in verse form to the persons asking the questions. Representatives of states and individuals
traveled to Delphi to consult the oracle of Apollo. The responses provided by the priests and priestesses were
often puzzling and could be interpreted in more than one way. For example, Croesus, king of Lydia and known
for his incredible wealth, sent messengers to the oracle at Delphi asking whether he shall go to war with the
Persians. The oracle replied that if Croesus attacked the Persians, he would destroy a mighty empire.
Overjoyed to hear these words, Croesus made war on the Persians but was crushed by his enemy. A mighty
empirethat of Croesuswas destroyed!
Although Greek religion is no longer practiced, it was the source of most Greek drama and art. Not only did
the Romans adopt the Greek gods, but many stories and references about Greek gods appear in European and
American literature.

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16. Alexander and the Hellenistic Era

The Greeks viewed their northern neighbors, the Macedonians, as barbarians. They were a rural people of
farmers and agricultural laborers, organized into groups, not in city-states like the Greeks. Although they spoke a
dialect of Greek, they had not been involved in the rivalries of Greek city-statestheir leaders focused mostly on
defending their northern borders. By the end of the fifth century B.C., however, Macedonia emerged as a
powerful kingdom.
In 359 B.C., Philip II came to the throne. He built a powerful army and turned Macedonia into the chief power
of the Greek world. Philip was soon drawn into Greek affairs. A great admirer of Greek culture, he longed to
unite all of Greece under Macedonia. Fearing Philip, the Athenians allied with a number of other Greek states
and fought the Macedonians at the Battle of Chaeronea near Thebes, in 338 b.c. The Macedonian army crushed
the Greeks. Philip quickly gained control of all Greece, bringing an end to the freedom of the Greek city-states.
He insisted that the Greek states form a league and then cooperate with him in a war against Persia. Before
Philip could undertake his invasion of Asia, however, he was assassinated, leaving the task to his son
Alexander.
Alexanders Conquests
Alexander the Great was only 20 when he became king of Macedonia. Philip had carefully prepared his son
for kingship. By taking Alexander along with him on military campaigns, Philip taught Alexander the basics of
military leadership. After his fathers death, Alexander moved quickly to fulfill his fathers dreamthe invasion of
the Persian Empire. He was motivated by the desire for glory and empire but also by the desire to avenge the
Persian burning of Athens in 480 b.c.
Alexander was taking a chance in attacking the Persian Empire. Although weakened, it was still a strong state
in the spring of 334 B.C. when Alexander entered Asia Minor with an army of some 37,000 men, both
Macedonians and Greeks. By the next year, Alexander had freed the Ionian Greek cities of western Asia Minor
from the Persians and defeated a large Persian army at Issus. He then turned south. By the winter of 332 B.C.,
Alexander had Syria, Palestine, and Egypt under his control. He built Alexandria as the Greek capital of Egypt.
It became and remains today one of the most important cities in both Egypt and the Mediterranean world. It was
also the first of a series of cities named after him. In 331 B.C., Alexander turned east and fought the decisive
battle with the Persians at Gaugamela, not far from Babylon. After this victory, Alexander took possession of the
rest of the Persian Empire. Over the next three years, Alexander moved as far as modern Pakistan. In 326 B.C.,
Alexander reached India, where the campaigning was hard. When his soldiers refused to go farther, he agreed
to go home. Alexander returned to Babylon, planning more conquests. But in 323 B.C., exhausted from wounds,
fever, and too much alcohol, he died. He was 32 years old.
Alexanders Legacy
Alexander created an enormous legacy.He extended Greek and Macedonian rule over a vast area, which
brought large quantities of gold and silver into their economies. Alexanders successors tried to imitate him,
using force and claims of divine rule to create military monarchies. Due to his conquests, Greek language,
architecture, literature, and art spread throughout Southwest Asia, Central Asia, and parts of North Africa. The
Greeks also absorbed aspects of Eastern culture.
27

ANCIENT ROME

17. The Roman Republic

In 509 B.C., the Romans overthrew the last Etruscan king and established a republic from the Latin phrase
res publica which means public affairs. A republic is a form of government in which power rests with citizens
who have the right to vote for their leaders. In Rome, citizenship with voting rights was granted only to free-born
male citizens.
Roman Political Structure
Early Rome was divided into two groups or ordersthe patricians and the plebeians. The patricians
were wealthy landowners, who became Romes ruling class. Less wealthy landowners, small farmers,
craftspeople, and merchants were part of a larger group called plebeians. Men in both groups were citizens and
could vote, but only the patricians could be elected to office.
Two consuls, chosen every year, ran the government and led the Roman army into battle. However,
their power was limited. A consuls term was only one year long. The same person could not be elected consul
again for ten years. Also, one consul could always overrule, or veto, the others decisions.
Two praetors were in charge of civil lawlaws that applied to Roman citizens. As Roman territory
expanded, another praetor was added to judge cases involving noncitizens.
The Roman Senate came to hold an especially important position in the Roman Republic. It was a select
group of three hundred patricians who served for life. At first, the Senates only role was to advise government
officials. By the third century B.C., however, it had the force of law. The Roman Republic had several assemblies
in addition to the Senate.
By far the most important of these was the Centuriate assembly, which elected the chief officials, such
as consuls and praetors, and passed laws. Because it was organized by classes based on wealth, the wealthiest
citizens always had a majority. Another assembly, the Council of the plebs, came into being as a result of the
struggle between the two Roman social orders.
In times of crisis, the republic could appoint a dictatora leader who had absolute power to make laws
and command the army. A dictators power lasted for only six months. Dictators were chosen by the consuls and
then elected by the senate.

The Struggle of the Orders

There was often conflict between the two orders in the early Roman Republic. Children of patricians and
plebeians were forbidden to marry each other. Plebeians resented this situation, especially since they served in
the Roman army that protected the Republic. They thought that they deserved both political and social equality
with the patricians.
The struggle between the patricians and plebeians dragged on for hundreds of years. Ultimately, it led to
success for the plebeians. A popular assembly for plebeians only, the council of the plebs, was created in 471
B.C. New officials, known as tribunes of the plebs, had the power to protect the plebeians using their right of
veto. In the fourth century B.C., plebeians were permitted to marry patricians and to become consuls. Finally, in
287 B.C., the council of the plebs received the right to pass laws for all Romans. All male Roman citizens were
now supposedly equal under the law. In reality, a few wealthy patrician and plebeian families formed a new
ruling class.
28

An important victory for the plebeians was to force the creation of a written law code. With laws unwritten,
patrician officials often interpreted the law to suit themselves. In 451 B.C., a group of ten officials began writing
down Romes laws. The laws were carved on twelve tablets, or tables, and hung in the Forum. They became the
basis for later Roman law. The Twelve Tables established the idea that all free citizens had a right to the
protection of the law.

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18. Roman Expansion

War and Conquest
At the beginning of the republic, Rome was surrounded by enemies. For the next two hundred years, the
city was engaged in almost continuous warfare. In 338 B.C., Rome crushed the Latin states. During the next 50
years, the Romans waged a fierce struggle against people from the central Apennines. Rome was again
victorious, giving the Romans control over a large part of Italy. It also brought them into direct contact with the
Greek communities of southern Italy. By 264 B.C., the Romans had overcome the Greeks and completed their
conquest of southern Italy.
After defeating the remaining Etruscan states to the north, Rome had conquered virtually all of Italy. To
rule Italy, the Romans devised the Roman Confederation. Under this system, Rome allowed some peoples
especially Latinsto have full Roman citizenship. Most of the remaining communities were made allies. They
remained free to run their own local affairs but were required to provide soldiers for Rome. The Romans made it
clear that loyal allies could improve their status and become Roman citizens. The Romans made the conquered
peoples feel they had a stake in Romes success.
Successful Strategies
Romans believed that their early ancestors were successful because of their sense of duty, courage, and
discipline. The Roman historian Livy, writing in the first century B.C., provided a number of stories to teach
Romans the virtues that had made Rome great. His account of Cincinnatus, a simple farmer who was chosen
as a dictator a temporary rulerto save Rome from attack, is one such example.
What other characteristics made Rome successful? First, the Romans were good diplomats. They were
shrewd in extending Roman citizenship and allowing states to run their own internal affairs. Second, the Romans
excelled in military matters. They were not only accomplished soldiers but also persistent ones. The loss of an
army or a fleet did not cause them to quit but instead spurred them on to build new armies and new fleets. In
addition, they were brilliant strategists. As they conquered, the Romans built coloniesfortified towns
throughout Italy. By building roads to connect these towns, the Romans could move troops quickly throughout
their conquered territory.
Finally, the Romans placed great value on their military. All citizens who owned land were required to
serve in the army. Seekers of certain public offices had to perform ten years of military service. Roman soldiers
were organized into large military units called legions. The Roman legion was made up of some 5,000 heavily
armed foot soldiers (infantry). A group of soldiers on horseback (cavalry) supported each legion. Legions were
divided into smaller groups of 80 men, each of which was called a century. The military organization and
fighting skill of the Roman army were key factors in Romes rise to greatness.
The first Punic war
The Phoenicians founded Carthage around 800 B.C. on the coast of North Africa. By the third century
B.C., Carthage had an enormous trading empire in the western Mediterranean. With colonies from Spain to
Sicily, Carthage was the largest and richest state in the area. The First Punic War Romes first war with
Carthage began in 264 B.C. It is called the First Punic War, after the Latin word for Phoenician, punicus. The
presence of Carthaginians in Sicily, an island close to the Italian coast, made the Romans fearful. The Romans
30

sent an army to Sicily, and the Carthaginians responded. Both sides were determined to control Sicily. The
Romansa land powerrealized that they could not win the war without a navy and built a large fleet. Romans
invented the corvus (raven), which was a walkway that they use to board Punic ships, and kill them.
After a long struggle, a Roman fleet defeated the Carthaginian navy, and the war came to an end. In 241
B.C., Carthage gave up all rights to Sicily and paid an indemnity to the Romans. Sicily became the first Roman
province. A province was an invaded territory, ruled by pro-consuls or pro-praetors from Rome, had to pay
annual taxes and indemnity. Carthage vowed revenge, however, and added new lands in Spain to make up for
the loss of Sicily. The Romans encouraged one of Carthages Spanish allies to revolt against Carthage. In
response, Hannibal, the greatest Carthaginian general, struck back, beginning the Second Punic War.
The Second Punic War
Hannibal decided to bring the war to Rome. Hannibal entered Spain, moved east, and crossed the Alps
with an army of about 46,000 men, a large number of horses, and 37 battle elephants. The Alps took a toll on
the Carthaginian army; most of the elephants did not survive, but the remaining army posed a real threat. In 216
B.C., the Romans made a serious mistake; they met Hannibal head-on. At Cannae, the Romans lost an army of
almost 40,000 men. On the brink of disaster, the Romans refused to surrender and raised yet another army.
Rome gradually recovered.
Although Hannibal remained free to roam Italy, he had neither the men nor the equipment to attack the
major cities. The Romans began to reconquer some of the Italian cities that had been taken by Hannibal. They
also sent troops to Spain and, by 206 B.C., they had pushed the Carthaginians out of Spain. Rome invaded
Carthage rather than fight Hannibal in Italy, forcing the Carthaginians to recall Hannibal from Italy. At the Battle
of Zama in 202 B.C., the Roman general Scipio crushed Hannibals forces, and the war was over. Spain
became a Roman province. Rome had become the dominant power in the western Mediterranean.
More Conquests
Fifty years later, the Romans fought their third and final battle with Carthage, the Third Punic War. For
years, a number of prominent Romans had called for the complete destruction of Carthage. In 146 B.C., it was
destroyed. For ten days, Roman soldiers burned and demolished the city. The inhabitants were sold into slavery.
The territory of Carthage became a Roman province called Africa. During its struggle with Carthage, Rome also
battled the Hellenistic states in the eastern Mediterranean. By 146 B.C., Macedonia and Greece were under
Roman control. Rome was now master of the Mediterranean

31

19. The Republic Collapses

Romes increasing wealth and expanding boundaries brought many problems. The most serious were
growing discontent among the lower classes of society and a breakdown in military order. These problems led to
a shakeup of the republicand the emergence of a new political system.
Economic Turmoil
As Rome grew, the gap between rich and poor grew wider. Many of Romes rich landowners lived on
huge estates, called latinfundium (plural: latifundia). Thousands of enslaved personsmany of whom had been
captured peoples in various warswere forced to work on these estates. By 100 B.C., enslaved persons formed
perhaps one-third of Romes population. Small farmers found it difficult to compete with the large estates run by
the labor of enslaved people. Many of these farmers were former soldiers. A large number of them sold their
lands to wealthy landowners and became homeless and jobless. Most stayed in the countryside and worked as
seasonal migrant laborers. Some headed to Rome and other cities looking for work. They joined the ranks of the
urban poor, a group that totaled about one-fourth of Roman society.
Two brothers, Tiberius and Gaius Gracchus, attempted to help Romes poor. They urged the council of
the plebs to pass land-reform bills that called for the government to take back public land held by large
landowners and give

it

to landless

Romans.
Many senators, themselves large
landowners whose estates included large
areas of public land, were furious. A
group of senators took the law into their
own hands and killed Tiberius in 133 B.C.
His brother Gaius in 123 B.C. suffered the
same fate. The attempts of the Gracchus
brothers to bring reforms had opened the
door to the period of civil war, or conflict
between groups within the same country.
Changes in the Roman army soon
brought even worse problems.

A New Role for the Army

In 107 B.C., a Roman general named Marius became consul and began to recruit his armies by
promising them land. These volunteers swore an oath of loyalty to the general, not to the Roman state. As a
result, Marius created a new type of army that was not under government control. In addition, generals were
forced to become involved in politics to get laws passed that would provide the land they needed for their
veterans.
Marius left a powerful legacy. He created a new system of military recruitment that placed great power in
the hands of the individual generals. Lucius Cornelius Sulla was the next general to take advantage of the new
military system. The Senate had given him command of a war in Asia Minor. The council of the plebs tried to
32

transfer command to Marius, and a civil war broke out.

Sulla won and seized Rome itself in 82 B.C., conducting a reign of terror to wipe out all opposition. Then
Sulla restored power to the hands of the Senate and eliminated most of the powers of the popular
assemblies.His example of using an army to seize power would prove most attractive to ambitious men.
The First Triumvirate
In 60 B.C., a military leader named Julius Caesar joined forces with Crassus, a wealthy Roman, and
Pompey, a popular general. With their help, Caesar was elected consul in 59 B.C. For the next ten years, these
men dominated Rome as a triumvirate, a group of three rulers. Caesar was a strong leader and a genius at
military strategy. Following tradition, he served only one year as consul. He then appointed himself governor of
Gaul (now France). During 5850 B.C., Caesar led his legions in a grueling but successful campaign to conquer
all of Gaul. Because he shared fully in the hardships of war, he won his mens loyalty and devotion. The reports
of Caesars successes in Gaul made him very popular with the people of Rome. Pompey, who had become his
political rival, feared Caesars ambitions.
In 49 B.C., Caesar took his army across the Rubicon River in Italy, the southern limit of the area he
commanded. The phrase crossing the Rubicon means to take a decisive action that cannot be taken back. He
marched his army swiftly toward Rome. The decisive battle was fought at the Greek town of Pharsalus in 48.
B.C. In 46 B.C., Caesar returned to Rome, where he had the support of the army and the masses. That same
year, the senate appointed him dictator. In 44 B.C., he was named dictator for life. Caesar governed as an
absolute ruler, one who has total power. However, he started a number of reforms. He granted Roman
citizenship to many people in the provinces. He expanded the senate, adding friends and supporters from Italy
and other regions. Caesar also helped the poor by creating jobs, especially through the construction of new
public buildings. He started colonies where people without land could own property and he increased pay for
soldiers.
A number of important senators, led by Marcus Brutus and Gaius Cassius, plotted his assassination. On
March 15, 44 B.C., they stabbed him to death in the senate chamber.
The Second Triumvirate
A new power struggle followed the death of Caesar. Three menOctavian, Caesars heir and
grandnephew; Antony, Caesars ally and assistant; and Lepidus, who had been commander of Caesars
cavalryjoined forces to form the Second Triumvirate. In 42 B.C., they defeated the conspirators army at
Philippi in Greece. Within a few years after Caesars death, however, only two men divided the Roman world
between them. Octavian took the west; Antony, the east. The empire of the Romans, large as it was, was still too
small for two masters. Octavian and Antony soon came into conflict. Antony allied himself with the Egyptian
queen Cleopatra VII. At the Battle of Actium in Greece in 31 B.C., Octavians forces smashed the army and
the navy of Antony and Cleopatra. Both fled to Egypt, where they committed suicide a year later. Octavian, at
the age of 32, stood supreme over the Roman world. The civil wars had ended. So had the republic. ,

33

20. The Age of Augustus

Octavian, titled Caesar Augustus, created a new order that began the Roman Empire. In 27 B.C., Octavian
proclaimed the restoration of the Republic. He knew that only traditional republican forms would satisfy the
Senate. At the same time, he was aware that the republic could not be fully restored. Although he gave some
power to the Senate, Octavian in fact became the first Roman emperor.
In 27 B.C., the Senate awarded Octavian the title of Augustusthe revered one, a fitting title in view of his
power. Augustus proved to be highly popular. No doubt people were glad the civil wars had ended, but his
continuing control of the army was the chief source of his power.
The Senate gave Augustus the title imperator, or commander in chief. The English word emperor comes
from imperator.
Augustus maintained a standing army of 28 legions, or about 151,000 men. Only Roman citizens could be
legionnairesmembers of a legion.
Subject peoples could serve as
auxiliary forces, which numbered
around 130,000 under Augustus.
Augustus

also

instituted

praetorian guard of roughly 9,000

men who had the important task of
guarding the emperor.
While claiming to have restored
the republic, Augustus began a new
system for governing the provinces.
Under the Roman Republic, the
Senate had appointed the governors
of the provinces. Now, the emperor
controlled the most important provinces and appointed deputies to govern them.
Augustus stabilized the frontiers of the Roman Empire, conquering many new areas. The first period of
the Roman Empire is called Principate, extending from the beginning of the reign of Augustus to the Crisis of
the Third Century. The Principate is characterized by an effort of the Emperors to preserve the illusion of the
formal

continuance

of

the Roman

Republic.

The

word

derived

from

the Latin word princeps,

meaning chief or first, this reflects that the emperors were merely "first among equals" among the citizens of
Rome.
Romanization
Rome was at the peak of its power from the beginning of Augustuss rule in 27 B.C. to A.D. 180. For 207
years, peace reigned throughout the empire, except for some fighting with tribes along the borders. This period of
peace and prosperity is known as the Pax Romana Roman peace. During this time, the Roman Empire
included more than 3 million square miles. Its population numbered between 60 and 80 million people. About
1million people lived in the city of Rome itself.
Most cities were not large by modern standards. But cities were important in the spread of Roman
34

culture, Roman law, and the Latin language. Provincial cities resembled each other because they followed a
Roman plan. Each Roman-built city contained temples, markets, and public buildings, such as law courts and
baths. Latin was the language of the western part of the empire, whereas Greek was used in the east as a result
of Alexander the Greats earlier conquests. Roman culture spread to all parts of the empire and freely mixed with
Greek culture. The result has been called Greco-Roman civilization.
Slavery
Slavery was common throughout the ancient world, but no people had more slaves or relied so much on
slave labor as the Romans did. Before the third century B.C., a small Roman farmer might possess one or two
slaves, who would help farm his few acres and work in the house. These slaves would most likely be from Italy
and be regarded as a part of the family household. The very rich would have many slaves. The Roman conquest
of the Mediterranean brought a change in the use of slaves. Large numbers of foreign peoples who had been
captured in wars were brought back to Italy as slaves. Greek slaves were in much demand as tutors, musicians,
doctors, and artists. Roman businessmen would employ them as shop assistants or craftspeople. Slaves of all
nationalities were used as household workers, such as cooks, valets, waiters, cleaners, and gardeners. Slaves
were used as farm laborers on the large estates of the wealthy. Roads, aqueducts, and other public structures
were built by slave labor.
The conditions under which these slaves lived were often pitiful. One Roman writer argued that it was
cheaper to work slaves to death and then replace them than it was to treat them well. Some slaves revolted
against their owners and even murdered them, causing some Romans to live in great fear of their slaves. The
murder of a master by a slave might mean the execution of all the other household slaves. The most famous
slave revolt in Italy occurred in 73 B.C. Led by the gladiator Spartacus; the revolt broke out in southern Italy and
involved 70,000 slaves. Spartacus managed to defeat several Roman armies before being trapped and killed in
71 B.C. The Romans crucifiedput to death by nailing to a cross6,000 of Spartacuss followers.
Religion
The Romans believed that the observance of proper ritual by state priests brought them into a right
relationship with the gods. This guaranteed peace and prosperity. Indeed, the Romans believed that their
success in creating an empire meant that they had earned the favor of the gods. At the same time, the Romans
were tolerant of other religions. They allowed the worship of native gods and goddesses throughout their
provinces. They even adopted some of the local gods. After the Romans conquered the states of the Hellenistic
east, religions from those regions flooded the western Roman world. The desire for a more emotional spiritual
experience drew many people to these religions. They promised their followers an entry into a higher world of
reality and the promise of a future life superior to the present one. It was believed that, by participating in these
ceremonies, a person could communicate with spiritual beings and open the door to life after death.

35

21. Christianity
Judaism in the Empire
By 63 B.C, however, Judaea, which embraced the lands of the old Jewish kingdom of Judah, had been
made a Roman province placed under the direction of an official called a procurator. Unrest was widespread in
Judaea, but the Jews differed among themselves about Roman rule.

The priestly Sadducees favored cooperation with Rome.

The scholarly Pharisees held that close observance of religious law would protect them from Roman
influences.

The Essenes lived apart from society, sharing goods in common. Like many other Jews, they waited
for God to save Israel from oppression. According to biblical tradition, God had promised that a savior
known as the Messiah would arrive and restore the kingdom of the Jews.

The Zealots called for the violent overthrow of Roman rule.

Jesus of Nazareth
Although the exact date is uncertain, historians believe that sometime around 6 to 4 B.C., a Jew named
Jesus was born in the town of Bethlehem in Judea. Jesus was raised in the village of Nazareth in northern
Palestine. He was baptized by a prophet known as John the Baptist. As a young man, he took up the trade of
carpentry. At the age of 30, Jesus began his public ministry. For the next three years, he preached, taught, did
good works, and reportedly performed miracles.
His teachings contained many ideas from Jewish tradition, such as monotheism, or belief in only one god,
and the principles of the Ten Commandments. Jesus emphasized Gods personal relationship to each human
being. He stressed the importance of peoples love for God, their neighbors, their enemies, and even
themselves. He also taught that God would end wickedness in the world and would establish an eternal kingdom
after death for people who sincerely repented their sins.
The main sources of information about his teachings are the Gospels, the first four books of the New
Testament of the Bible. Some of the Gospels are thought to have been written by one or more of Jesus
disciples, or pupils. These 12 men later came to be called apostles. As Jesus preached from town to town, his
fame grew. He attracted large crowds, and many people were touched by his message. Because Jesus ignored
wealth and status, his message had special appeal to the poor. Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the
earth, he said.
Jesus growing popularity concerned both Roman and Jewish leaders. When Jesus visited Jerusalem about
A.D. 29, enthusiastic crowds greeted him as the Messiah, or kingthe one whom the Bible had said would
come to rescue the Jews. The chief priests of the Jews, however, denied that Jesus was the Messiah. They said
his teachings were blasphemy. The Roman governor Pontius Pilate accused Jesus of defying the authority of
Rome. Pilate arrested Jesus and sentenced him to be crucified, or nailed to a large wooden cross to die. After
Jesus death, his body was placed in a tomb. According to the Gospels, three days later his body was gone, and
a living Jesus began appearing to his followers (resurrection). The Gospels go on to say that then he
ascended into heaven. The apostles were more convinced than ever that Jesus was the Messiah. It was from
this belief that Jesus came to be referred to as Jesus Christ. Christos is a Greek word meaning messiah or
savior. The name Christianity was derived from Christ.
36

22. Christianity spreads through the Empire

Strengthened by their conviction that he had triumphed over death, the followers of Jesus continued to
spread his ideas. Jesus teachings did not contradict Jewish law, and his first followers were Jews. Soon,
however, these followers began to create a new religion based on his messages. Despite political and religious
opposition, the new religion of Christianity spread slowly but steadily throughout the Roman Empire.
One man, the apostle Paul, had enormous influence on Christianitys development. Paul was a Jew who
had never met Jesus and at first was an enemy of Christianity. While traveling to Damascus in Syria, he
reportedly had a vision of Jesus. He spent the rest of his life spreading and interpreting Jesus teachings. The
Pax Romana, which made travel and the exchange of ideas fairly safe, provided the ideal conditions for
Christianity to spread. Common languagesLatin and Greekallowed the message to be easily understood.
In his teaching, Paul stressed that Jesus was the son of God who died for peoples sins. He also declared
that Christianity should welcome all converts, Jew or non-Jew. It was this universality that enabled Christianity
to become more than just a local religion.
Persecution of the Christians
Christians also posed a problem for Roman rulers. The main reason was that they refused to worship Roman
gods. This refusal was seen as opposition to Roman rule. Some Roman rulers also used Christians as
scapegoats for political and economic troubles. By the second century, as the Pax Romana began to crumble,
persecution of the Christians intensified. Romans exiled, imprisoned, or executed Christians for refusing to
worship Roman deities. Thousands were crucified, burned, or killed by wild animals in the circus arenas. Other
Christians and even some non-Christians regarded persecuted Christians as martyrs. Martyrs were people
willing to sacrifice their lives for the sake of a belief or a cause.
A World Religion
Despite persecution of its followers, Christianity became a powerful force. By the late third century A.D.,
there were millions of Christians in the Roman Empire and beyond. The widespread appeal of Christianity was
due to a variety of reasons. Christianity grew because it

embraced all peoplemen and women, enslaved persons, the poor, and nobles;

gave hope to the powerless;

offered a personal relationship with a loving God;

promised eternal life after death

In 313, Emperor Constantine announced an end to the persecution of Christians. In the Edict of Milan, he
declared Christianity to be one of the religions approved by the emperor. Christianity continued to gain strength.
In 380, the emperor Theodosius made it the empires official religion.
Early Christian Church
By this time, Christians had given their religion a structure, much as the Roman Empire had a hierarchy. At
the local level, a priest led each small group of Christians. A bishop, who was also a priest, supervised several
local churches. However, later bishops of Rome claimed to be the heirs of Peter, who was the first bishop of
Rome. These bishops said that Peter was the first pope, the father or head of the Christian Church. They said
37

that whoever was bishop of Rome was also the leader of the whole Church. Also, as Rome was the capital of
the empire, it seemed the logical choice to be the center of the Church.
The Christian church was creating a new structure in which the clergy, or church leaders, had distinct
functions separate from the laity, or the regular church members.
As Christianity grew, disagreements about beliefs developed among its followers. Church leaders called any
belief that appeared to contradict the basic teachings a heresy. Dispute over beliefs became intense. In an
attempt to end conflicts, Church leaders tried to set a single, official standard of belief. These beliefs were
compiled in the New Testament, which contained the four Gospels, the Epistles of Paul, and other documents.
The New Testament was added to the Hebrew Bible, which Christians called the Old Testament. In A.D. 325,
Constantine moved to solidify further the teachings of Christianity. He called Church leaders to Nicaea in
Anatolia. There they wrote the Nicene Creed, which defined the basic beliefs of the Church. All those Christians,
who did not follow the official Catholic (it means general, universal) religion, became excommunicated and
persecuted. These people were called heretics.

38

23. The Fall of the Roman Empire

Rome Weakens
During the third century A.D., several factors prompted the weakening of Romes economy. Hostile tribes
outside the boundaries of the empire and pirates on the Mediterranean Sea disrupted trade. Having reached
their limit of expansion, the Romans lacked new sources of gold and silver. Desperate for revenue, the
government raised taxes. It also started minting coins that contained less and less silver. It hoped to create more
money with the same amount of precious metal. However, the economy soon suffered from inflation, a drastic
drop in the value of money coupled with a rise in prices.
Agriculture faced equally serious problems. Harvests in Italy and Western Europe became increasingly
meager because overworked soil had lost its fertility. Whats more, years of war had destroyed much farmland.
Eventually, serious food shortages and disease spread, and the population declined.
By the third century A.D., the Roman military was also in disarray. Over time, Roman soldiers in general had
become less disciplined and loyal. They gave their allegiance not to Rome but to their commanders, who fought
among themselves for the throne. To defend against the increasing threats to the empire, the government began
to recruit mercenaries, foreign soldiers who fought for money. While mercenaries would accept lower pay than
Romans, they felt little sense of loyalty to the empire.
Emperors Attempt Reform
In A.D. 284, Diocletian, a strong-willed army leader, became the new emperor. He ruled with an iron fist and
severely limited personal freedoms. Nonetheless, he restored order to the empire and increased its strength.
Diocletian doubled the size of the Roman army and sought to control inflation by setting fixed prices for
goods. To restore the prestige of the office of emperor, he claimed descent from the ancient Roman gods and
created elaborate ceremonies to present himself in a godlike aura.
Diocletian believed that the empire had grown too large and too complex for one ruler. In perhaps his most
significant reform, he divided the empire into the Greek-speaking East (Greece, Anatolia, Syria, and Egypt) and
the Latin-speaking West (Italy, Gaul, Britain, and Spain). He took the eastern half for himself and appointed a
co-ruler for the West. While Diocletian shared authority, he kept overall control. His half of the empire, the East,
included most of the empires great cities and trade centers and was far wealthier than the West.
Because of ill health, Diocletian retired in A.D. 305. However, his plans for orderly succession failed. Civil
war broke out immediately. By 311, four rivals were competing for power. Among them was an ambitious young
commander named Constantine, the same Constantine who would later end the persecution of Christians. He
moved the capital from Rome to the Greek city of Byzantium. The new capital stood on the Bosporus Strait,
strategically located for trade and defense purposes on a crossroads between West and East. With Byzantium
as its capital, the center of power in the empire shifted from Rome to the east. Soon the new capital stood
protected by massive walls and the city eventually took a new nameConstantinople.
After some temporary unificiation the empire became finally divided in 395 by Theodosius.

39

24. The Western Empire Crumbles

The decline of the Western Roman Empire took place over many years. Its final collapse was the result of
worsening internal problems, the separation of the Western Empire from the wealthier Eastern part, and
outside invasions.
Since the days of Julius Caesar, Germanic peoples had gathered on the northern borders of the empire and
coexisted in relative peace with Rome. Around A.D. 370, all that changed when a fierce group of nomads from
central Asia, the Huns, moved into the region and began destroying all in their path. In an effort to flee from the
Huns, the various Germanic people pushed into Roman lands. (Romans called all invaders barbarians, a term
that they used to refer to non-Romans.) They kept moving through the Roman provinces of Gaul, Spain, and
North Africa. The Western Empire was unable to field an army to stop them. In 410, hordes of Germans overran
Rome itself and plundered it for three days.
Meanwhile, the Huns, who were indirectly responsible for the Germanic assault on the empire, became a
direct threat. In 444, they united for the first time under a powerful chieftain named Attila. With his 100,000
soldiers, Attila terrorized both halves of the empire. In the East, his armies attacked and plundered 70 cities.
(They failed, however, to scale the high walls of Constantinople.) The Huns then swept into the West. In A.D.
452, Attilas forces advanced against Rome, but bouts of famine and disease kept them from conquering the
city. Although the Huns were no longer a threat to the empire after Attilas death in 453, the Germanic invasions
continued.
The last Roman emperor, a 14-year-old boy named Romulus Augustulus, was ousted by German forces in
476. After that, no emperor even pretended to rule Rome and its western provinces. Roman power in the
western half of the empire had disappeared. The eastern half of the empire, which came to be called the
Byzantine Empire, not only survived but flourished. It preserved the great heritage of Greek and Roman culture
for another 1,000 years.
Even though Romes political power in the West ended, its cultural influence did not. Its ideas, customs, and
institutions influenced the development of Western civilizationand still do so today.

Western

Eastern

weak central power

strong central power

economic decline

stronger economy

self-suffiency

flourishing trade

rural society

urbanisation

Latin language

Greek language

40

Early Middle Age

25. The Frankish Empire

New Germanic Kingdoms
The Germanic peoples had begun to move into the lands of the Roman Empire by the third century. The
Visigoths occupied Spain and Italy until the Ostrogoths, another Germanic tribe, took control of Italy in the fifth
century. By 500, the Western Roman Empire had been replaced by a number of states ruled by German kings.
The merging of Romans and Germans took different forms in the various Germanic kingdoms. Both the kingdom
of the Ostrogoths in Italy and the kingdom of the Visigoths in Spain retained the Roman structure of government.
However, a group of Germanic warriors came to dominate the considerably larger native populations and
eventually excluded Romans from holding power. Roman influence was even weaker in Britain. When the
Roman armies abandoned Britain at the beginning of the fifth century, the Angles and Saxons, Germanic tribes
from Denmark and northern Germany, moved in and settled there. Eventually, these peoples became the AngloSaxons.

The Kingdom of the Franks

Only one of the German states on the European continent proved long lastingthe kingdom of the Franks.
The Frankish kingdom was established by Clovis, a strong military leader who around 500 became the first
Germanic ruler to convert to Christianity. Clovis found that his conversion to Christianity won him the support of
the Roman Catholic Church, as the Christian church in Rome was now known. Not surprisingly, the Catholic
Church was eager to gain the friendship of a major ruler in the Germanic states.
By 510, Clovis had established a powerful new Frankish kingdom that stretched from the Pyrenees in the
southwest to German lands in the eastmodern-day France and western Germany. He defeated the many
Germanic tribes surrounding him and unified the Franks as a people. After Cloviss death his sons followed
Frankish custom and divided his newly created kingdom among themselves.
The Carolingian Empire
During the 600s and 700s, the Frankish kings gradually lost their power to the mayors of the palace
/majordomo/, chief officers of the kings household. One of them, Pepin, finally took the logical step of assuming
the kingship for himself and his family. He enjoyed the support of the Catholic Church as well. In return, Pepin
granted Central Italy to the papacy thus the Papal States came to exist. Pepin was the son of Charles Martel,
the leader who defeated the Muslims at the Battle of Tours /Battle of Poitiers/ in 732.
Upon Pepins death in 768, his son became the new Frankish king. This powerful ruler is known to history as
Charles the Great, or Charlemagne. He was a determined and decisive man who was highly intelligent and
curious. Charlemagne was a fierce warrior, a strong statesman, and a pious Christian. Although possibly unable
to write, he was a wise patronsupporterof learning. During his long rule from 768 to 814, Charlemagne
greatly expanded the Frankish kingdom and created what came to be known as the Carolingian Empire. At its
height, his empire covered much of western and central Europe. Not until Napoleon Bonapartes time in the
nineteenth century would an empire its size be seen again in Europe. The administration of the empire
41

depended both on Charlemagnes household staff and on counts (German nobles) who acted as the kings
chief local representatives. In order to limit the counts powers, Charlemagne set up the missi dominici
(messengers of the lord king)two men sent out to local districts to ensure that the counts carried out the kings
wishes.
As Charlemagnes power grew, so too did his prestige as the most powerful Christian ruler. One monk even
described Charlemagnes empire as the kingdom of Europe. In 800, Charlemagne acquired a new title emperor
of the Romans. Charlemagnes coronation as Roman emperor showed the strength of the idea of an enduring
Roman Empire. After all, his coronation took place 300 years after the collapse of the Western Roman Empire.
The coronation also symbolized the joining of Roman, Christian, and Germanic elements. A new civilization had
emerged.

Carolingian Renaissance
Charlemagne had a strong desire to promote learning in his kingdom. This desire stemmed from his own
intellectual curiosity and from the need to educate Catholic clergy and government officials. His efforts led to an
intellectual revival sometimes called the Carolingian Renaissance, or rebirth. This revival involved renewed
interest in Latin culture and classical worksthe works of the Greeks and Romans. The monasteries, many of
which had been founded by Irish and English missionaries, played a central role in this cultural renewal.
By the 800s, the work asked of Benedictine monks included copying manuscripts. Monasteries established
scriptoria, or writing rooms, where monks copied not only the works of early Christianity, such as the Bible, but
also the works of classical Latin authors. Their work was a crucial factor in the preservation of the ancient
legacy. Most of the ancient Roman works we have today exist because they were copied by Carolingian monks.
They improved a new, unified writing style called Carolingian minuscule in order to make reading and writing
easier.

42

26. The Role of the Church

Organization of the Church
By the fourth century, the Christian Church had developed a system of organization. Priests led local
Christian communities called parishes. A group of parishes was headed by a bishop, whose area of authority
was called a bishopric, or diocese. Several bishoprics were joined together in a primacy or archbisopric under
an archbishop.
Over time, one bishop - the Bishop of Rome began to claim that he was the leader of what had become the
Roman Catholic Church. Catholics believed that Jesus gave the keys to the kingdom of Heaven to Peter, who
was considered the chief apostle and the first bishop of Rome. Later bishops of Rome were viewed as Peters
successors. They came to be known as popes (from the Latin word papa, father) of the Catholic Church.
Western Christians came to accept the bishop of Romethe popeas head of the Church, but they did not
agree on how much power he should have. In the sixth century, a strong pope, Gregory I, known as Gregory the
Great, strengthened the power of the papacy (office of the pope) and the Church.
Gregory I, pope from 590 to 604, was also leader of the city of Rome and its surrounding territories (later
called the Papal States), thus giving the papacy a source of political power. Gregory I increased his spiritual
authority over the Church in the West. He was especially active in converting non-Christian peoples of Germanic
Europe to Christianity. He did this through the monastic movement.
Monks and Monasteries
A monk is a man who separates himself from ordinary society to dedicate himself to God. The practice of
living the life of a monk is known as monasticism. At first, Christian monasticism was based on the hermit who
led an isolated spiritual life. In the sixth century, however, Saint Benedict wrote a set of rules to guide a
community of monks he founded. This community became the model for monasticism in the Catholic Church
and the Benedictine rule was used by other monastic groups.
Benedicts rule divided each day into a series of activities, with primary emphasis on prayer and manual
labor. Physical work was required of all monks for several hours a day, because idleness was the enemy of the
soul. At the very heart of community practice was prayer, the proper Work of God. Although prayer included
private meditation and reading, all monks gathered together seven times during the day for common prayer and
the chanting of Psalms - sacred songs. A Benedictine life was a communal one. Monks ate, worked, slept, and
worshiped together. Each Benedictine monastery was led by an abbot or father, whom the monks were
expected to obey. The abbot had complete authority over the monks. Each monastery owned lands that enabled
it to be self-sustaining and isolated from the world. In the monastery, monks were to fulfill their vow of poverty,
chastity and obedience. Monks became the new Christian heroes, an important force in the new European
civilization. The monastic community set the highest ideal of Christian life and provided a moral example to all.
Monks were the social workers of their communities, providing schools for the young, hospitality for travelers,
and hospitals for the sick. They also taught peasants carpentry and weaving and made agricultural
improvements that they passed on to others. Monasteries became centers of learning.

43

The monks worked to spread Christianity to all of Europe. English and Irish monks were very enthusiastic
missionaries - people sent out to carry a religious message - who undertook the conversion of non-Christian
peoples, especially in German lands. By 1050 most western Europeans had become Catholics.
Although the first monks were men, women, called nuns, also began to withdraw from the world to dedicate
themselves to God. These women played an important role in the monastic movement. Nuns lived in convents
headed by abbesses.

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27. From Eastern Roman Empire to Byzantine Empire

The Reign of Justinian
When Justinian became emperor of the Eastern Roman Empire in 527, he was determined to reestablish
the Roman Empire in the entire Mediterranean world. By 552, he appeared to have achieved his goals. His
empire included Italy, part of Spain, North Africa, Asia Minor, Palestine, and Syria. However, only three years
after Justinians death in 565, the Lombards had conquered much of Italy, and other areas were soon lost.
Justinians most important contribution was his codification of Roman law. He simplified a vast quantity of legal
materials, resulting in The Body of Civil Law. This code of Roman laws was the basis of imperial law in the
Eastern Roman Empire until its end in 1453. In addition, it became the basis for much of the legal system of
Europe.

The Byzantine Empire

Justinians accomplishments had been spectacular, but his conquests left the Eastern Roman Empire with
serious problems: too much far-flung territory to protect, an empty treasury, a decline in population after a
plague, and renewed threats to its frontiers. The most serious challenge came from the rise of Islam, which
unified Arab groups and created a powerful new force that swept through the Eastern Roman Empire. Islamic
forces defeated an army of the Eastern Roman Empire at Yarmuk in 636. As a result, the empire lost the
provinces of Syria, Egypt and Palestine.
By the beginning of the eighth century, the Eastern Roman Empire was much smaller, consisting only of the
eastern Balkans and Asia Minor. Historians call this smaller empire the Byzantine Empire, a unique civilization
that lasted until 1453. The Byzantine Empire was both a Greek and a Christian state. Greek replaced Latin as
the empires official language. At the same time, the Byzantine Empire was built on a Christian faith that was
shared by many of its citizens. The Christian church of the Byzantine Empire came to be known as the Eastern
Orthodox Church. To honor this faith, a great artistic effort was undertaken to enrich church building,
ceremonies, and decorations.
The emperor occupied a crucial position in the Byzantine state. Portrayed as chosen by God, he was
crowned in sacred ceremonies. His subjects were expected to prostrate themselves in his presence. His power
was considered absolute. Because the emperor appointed the head of the Eastern Orthodox Church, known as
the patriarch, the emperor exercised control over church as well as state.

Macedonian Emperors
The Macedonian emperors expanded the empire to include Bulgaria in the Balkans, Crete, Cyprus, and
Syria. By 1025, the Byzantine Empire was the largest it had been since the 600s. By expanding trade with
Western Europe, the Macedonians renewed prosperity to Constantinople. The new dynasty restored much of the
empires power, but incompetent successors undid most of the gains. Power struggles between army leaders
and wealthy families led to disorder in the late eleventh century. The Byzantine Empires greatest external threat
came from the Seljuk Turks in Asia Minorthe empires main source of food and workers. In 1071, a Turkish
army defeated Byzantine forces at Manzikert. As a result, Emperor Alexius I turned to Europe for military aid to
fight the Turks.

45

Religious Issues
Relations with the Catholic Church grew worse because the Eastern Orthodox Church did not accept the
pope as the sole head of Christianity. In 1054, the pope and the Byzantine patriarch formally excommunicated
each other - each took away the others rights of church membership. This began a schism, or separation,
between the two great branches of Christianity that has not been completely healed to this day.

Western

Eastern

service was held in Latin

service was held in local languages

priests cannot marry

priest are allowed to marry

the head of the church is the Pope

the head of the church is the patriarch of

Constantinople

independent church

the empire controlled the church

active monastery

passive monastery

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28. The Rise of Islam

The Arabs
Like the Hebrews and the Assyrians, the Arabs were a Semitic speaking people who lived in the Arabian
Peninsula, a desert land sorely lacking in rivers and lakes. The Arabs were nomads who, because of their hostile
surroundings, moved constantly to find water and food for their animals. Survival in such a harsh environment
was not easy, and the Arabs organized into tribes to help one another. Each tribe was ruled by a sheikh who
was chosen from one of the leading families by a council of elders. Although each tribe was independent, all the
tribes were loosely connected to one another. The Arabs lived as farmers and sheepherders on the oases and
rain-fed areas of the Arabian Peninsula. After the camel was domesticated in the first millennium B.C., the Arabs
populated more of the desert. They also expanded the caravan trade into these regions. Towns developed
along the routes as the Arabs became major carriers of goods between the Indian Ocean and the
Mediterranean, where the Silk Road ended. Camel caravans transported highly prized frankincense and myrrh
along this route. Communities along this route prospered from the increased trade. Tensions arose, however, as
increasingly wealthy merchants showed little concern for the welfare of poorer clans people and slaves.
Most early Arabs were polytheistic - they believed in many gods. The Arabs recognized a supreme god
named Allah but they also believed in other tribal gods. The Arabs trace their ancestors to Abraham and his son
Ishmael, who were believed to have built a house of worship called the Kaaba at Mecca. A sacred stone, called
the Black Stone, is the cornerstone of the Kaaba.

The Life of Muhammad

Into this world of tension stepped a man named Muhammad. Born in Mecca to a merchant family, he was
orphaned at five. He grew up to become a caravan manager and married a rich widow named Khadija. Over
time, Muhammad became troubled by the growing gap between the generosity of most Meccans and the
greediness of the wealthy elite. Deeply worried, he began to visit the hills to meditate. During one of these visits,
Muslims believe, Muhammad received revelations from God. According to Islamic teachings, the messages
were given by the angel Gabriel. Gabriel told Muhammad to recite what he heard. Muhammad came to believe
that Allah had already revealed himself through Moses and Jesusand thus through the Hebrew and Christian
traditions. He believed, however, that the final revelations of Allah were now being given to him. Out of these
revelations, which were eventually written down, came the Quran, the holy book of the religion of Islam. The
word Islam means peace through submission to the will of Allah. The Quran contains the ethical guidelines and
laws by which the followers of Allah are to live. Those who practice the religion of Islam are called Muslims.
Islam has only one god, Allah, and Muhammad is Gods prophet.
Muhammad then set out to convince the people of Mecca of the truth of the revelations. Many were surprised
at Muhammads claims to be a prophet. The wealthy feared that his attacks on corrupt society would upset the
established social and political order. After three years of preaching, he had only 30 followers. Muhammad was
discouraged by the persecution of his followers, as well as by the Meccans failure to accept his message. In
622, the year 1 of the Islamic calendar, he and his supporters left Mecca and moved north to Yathrib, later
renamed Medina (Medina; city of the prophet).
The journey to Medina is known as the Hijrah. Muhammad began to win support from people in Medina, as
well as from Arabs in the desert, known as bedouin. These groups formed the first community of practicing
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Muslims. Submission to the will of Allah meant submission to his prophet, Muhammad. For this reason,
Muhammad soon became both a religious and a political leader. His political and military skills enabled him to
put together a reliable military force to defend himself and his followers. In 630, Muhammad returned to Mecca
with 10,000 men. After the city surrendered, and most of the people converted to Islam, Muhammad declared
the Kaaba a sacred shrine of Islam. Two years after his triumphal return to Mecca, just as Islam was spreading
through the Arabian Peninsula, Muhammad died.
The Teachings of Muhammad
Like Christianity and Judaism, Islam is a monotheistic religion. Allah is the all-powerful being who created
the universe and everything in it. Islam emphasizes salvation and offers the hope of an afterlife. Those who
desire to achieve life after death must subject themselves to the will of Allah. Muhammad is considered a
prophet, similar to Moses, but he was also a man like other men.
Islam is a direct and simple faith, stressing the need to obey the will of Allah. This means practicing acts of
worship known as the Five Pillars of Islam: belief, prayer, charity, fasting, and pilgrimage. Muslims believe
there is no deity but the One God, and Muhammad is his messenger (belief). They perform prescribed prayers
five times a day (prayer) and give part of their wealth to the poor (charity). During Ramadan, Muslims refrain
from food and drink from dawn to sunset (fasting). Finally, believers are expected to make a pilgrimage to Mecca
at least once in their lifetime (pilgrimage).The faithful who follow the law go to an eternal paradise. Islam is not
just a set of religious beliefs but a way of life as well.
After Muhammads death, Muslim scholars developed a law code known as the shariah. The shariah
applies the teachings of the Quran to daily life. It regulates all aspects of Muslim life including family life,
business practice, government, and moral conduct. The shariah does not separate religious matters from civil or
political law. Believers are expected to follow sound principles for behavior. In addition to acts of worship called
the Five Pillars, Muslims must practice honesty and justice in dealing with others. Muslims are forbidden to
gamble, eat pork, drink alcoholic beverages, or engage in dishonest behavior. Family life is based on marriage.

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29. The Arab Empire

Shortly after Muhammads death, some of his closest followers chose Abu Bakr, a wealthy merchant and
Muhammads father-in-law, to be their leader. In 632 Abu Bakr was named caliph or successor to Muhammad.
The Quran permitted wars as jihad or struggle in the way of God.
Unified under Abu Bakr, the Arabs began to turn the energy they had once directed toward each other
against neighboring peoples. At Yarmuk in 636, the Arab army defeated the Byzantine army in the midst of a
dust storm that enabled the Arabs to take their enemy by surprise. Four years later, they took control of the
Byzantine province of Syria. By 642, Egypt and other areas of northern Africa had been added to the new Arab
Empire. To the east, the Arabs had conquered the entire Persian Empire by 650. The Arabs, led by a series of
brilliant generals, had put together a large, dedicated army. The courage of the Arab soldiers was enhanced by
the belief that Muslim warriors were assured a place in paradise if they died in battle.
At the beginning of the eighth century, the Arabs carried out new attacks at both the eastern and western
ends of the Mediterranean world. Arab armies moved across North Africa and conquered and converted the
Berbers, a pastoral people living along the Mediterranean coast. Around 710, combined Berber and Arab forces
crossed the Strait of Gibraltar and occupied southern Spain. By 725, most of Spain had become a Muslim state
with its center at Cordoba. In 732, however, Arab forces were defeated at the Battle of Tours (Poitiers) in
France. Arab expansion in Europe came to a halt. In 717, another Muslim force had launched an attack on
Constantinople with the hope of defeating the Byzantine Empire. The Byzantines survived, however, by
destroying the Muslim fleet. By 750, the Arab advance had finally come to an end, but not before the southern
and eastern Mediterranean parts of the old Roman Empire had been conquered. Arab power also extended to
the east in Mesopotamia and Persia and northward into central Asia. Expansion had brought not only great
wealth and new ethnic groups into the fold of Islam, but also contact with other civilizations. As a result, the new
Arab Empire would be influenced by Byzantine culture, as well as that of the Persians.
In the conquered territories, life went on much as it had done before. Arab administrators were tolerant,
sometimes even allowing local officials to continue to govern. The conquered people were not forced to convert
to Islam, though some conversions occurred. Some Christians experienced better treatment than they had under
Byzantine rule. Those who chose not to convert were required only to be loyal to Muslim rule and to pay an extra
per capita tax.

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30. The Development of Feudalism

The Vikings and other invaders posed a large threat to the safety of people throughout Europe. Rulers found
it more and more difficult to defend their subjects as centralized governments such as the Carolingian Empire
were torn apart. Thus, people began to turn to local landed aristocrats, or nobles, to protect them. To survive, it
became important to find a powerful lord who could offer protection in return for service. This led to a new
political and social order known as feudalism.

Knights and Vassals

At the heart of feudalism was the idea of vassalage. In Germanic society, warriors swore an oath of loyalty to
their leaders and fought in battles for them. The leaders, in turn, took care of the warriors needs. By the eighth
century, a man who served a lord in a military capacity was known as a vassal.
The Frankish army had originally consisted of foot soldiers dressed in coats of mail (armor made of metal
links or plates) and armed with swords. Horsemen had been throwers of spears. In the eighth century, however,
larger horses and the stirrup were introduced. Now, horsemen were armored in coats of mail (the larger horses
could carry the weight). They wielded long lances that enabled them to act as battering rams (the stirrups kept
them on their horses). For almost five hundred years, warfare in Europe was dominated by heavily armored
cavalry, or knights, as they came to be called. The knights had great social prestige and formed the backbone
of the European aristocracy.
It was expensive to have a horse, armor, and weapons. It also took more time and practice to learn to use
these instruments skillfully. With the breakdown of royal governments, the more powerful nobles took control of
large areas of land. When these lords wanted men to fight for them, they granted each vassal a piece of land
that supported the vassal and his family. In the society of the Early Middle Ages, where there was little trade and
wealth was based primarily on land, land was the most important gift a lord could give to a vassal.
In feudal society, having loyalty to ones lord was the chief virtue. The relationship between lord and vassal
was made official by a public ceremony. To become a vassal, a man performed an act of homage to his lord.
By the ninth century, the grant of land made to a vassal had become known as a fief. Vassals who held fiefs
came to hold political authority within them. As the Carolingian world fell apart, the number of separate, powerful
lords and vassals increased. Instead of a single government, many different people were responsible for keeping
order.
Feudalism became increasingly complicated. The vassals of a king, who were great lords, might also have
vassals who would owe them military service in return for a grant of land taken from their estates. Those
vassals, in turn, might likewise have vassals. At that level, the vassals would be simple knights with barely
enough land to provide income for their equipment. The lord-vassal relationship bound together greater and
lesser landowners. It was an honorable relationship between free men and implied no sense of servitude.
Feudalism came to be characterized by a set of unwritten rulesknown as the feudal contractthat
determined the relationship between a lord and his vassal. The major obligation of a vassal to his lord was to
perform military service, usually about 40 days a year. When summoned, a vassal had to appear at his lords
court to give advice. Vassals were responsible for making payments to the lord on certain occasions, for
example, the knighting of the lords eldest son or marriage of his eldest daughter.

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Under the feudal contract, the lord also had responsibilities to his vassals. Of course, he supported a vassal
by granting him land but he also had to protect his vassal by defending him militarily or by taking his side in a
dispute.
Nobility and Chivalry
The nobles were the kings, dukes, counts, barons, and even bishops and archbishops who had large landed
estates. Their landholdings gave them considerable political power in medieval society. They formed an
aristocracy, or nobility, that consisted of people who held political, economic, and social power.
Great lords and ordinary knights came to form a common group within the aristocracy. They were all
warriors, and the institution of knighthood united them all. However, there were also social divisions among
them based on extremes of wealth and landholdings. Trained to be warriors but with no adult responsibilities,
young knights had little to do but fight. In the twelfth century, tournaments - contests where knights could
demonstrate their fighting skills - began to appear. By the late twelfth century, the joust - individual combat
between two knights - had become the main part of the tournament. Knights saw tournaments as an excellent
way to train for war. In the eleventh and twelfth centuries, under the influence of the Catholic Church, there
gradually evolved among the nobility an ideal of civilized behavior, called chivalry. Chivalry was a code of ethics
that knights were supposed to uphold. In addition to their oath to defend the Church and defenseless people,
knights were expected to treat captives as honored guests instead of putting them in dungeons. In terms of the
treatment of women, chivalry put the aristocratic woman on a pedestal. A knight was to treat her with tenderness
and respect. Chivalry also implied that knights should fight only for glory and not for material rewards. Of course,
this ideal was not always followed.

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High Middle Age

31. The New Agriculture

In the Early Middle Ages, Europe had a relatively small population. In the High Middle Ages, however,
population increased dramaticallydoubling between 1000 and 1300 from 38 million to 74 million people. What
caused this huge increase? For one thing, conditions in Europe were more settled and peaceful after the
invasions of the Early Middle Ages had stopped. This increased peace and stability also led to an expansion in
food production after 1000. In part, food production increased because the climate changed during the High
Middle Ages and improved growing conditions.
In addition, peasants cultivated more land when they cut down trees and drained swamps during the 1000s
and 1100s. By 1200, Europeans had more land for farming than they do today.Changes in technology also aided
the development of farming. The Middle Ages witnessed an explosion of labor-saving devices. For example, the
people of the Middle Ages harnessed the power of water and wind to do jobs once done by human or animal
power. Many of these new devices were made from iron, which was mined in various areas of Europe. Iron was
used to make scythes, axes, and hoes for use on farms. It was also used in hammers and nails for building. Iron
was crucial in making the carruca, a heavy, wheeled plow with an iron plowshare. Unlike earlier plows, this plow
easily turned over heavy clay soils. Because of the weight of the carruca, six or eight oxen were needed to pull
it. However, oxen were slow. The inventions of a new horse collar and the horseshoe made it possible for a
series of horses to pull the carruca faster and plow more land in the rocky, heavy clay soil of northern Europe.
Use of the carruca also led to the growth of farming villages, because people had to work together. Because iron
was expensive, an entire community had to buy a carruca. Likewise, one family could not afford a team of
animals, so villagers shared their beasts. To minimize the amount of turning of the heavy carruca, people plowed
land in long strips. Shifting from a two-field to a three-field crop rotation also increased food production. In the
Early Middle Ages, peasants divided their land into two fields of equal size. They planted one field and allowed
the other to lie fallow (unplanted) to regain its fertility. Now, however, lands were divided into three parts.
Peasants planted one field in the fall with grains (rye and wheat) that they harvested in summer. They planted
the second field in spring with grains (oats and barley) and vegetables (peas and beans) that they harvested in
fall. They allowed the third field to lie fallow. This way, only one-third, rather than one-half, of the land lay fallow
at any time. This practice of rotating crops kept the soil fertile, while allowing people to grow more crops.

The Manorial System

You will remember that feudalism created alliances between nobles (lords and vassals). The landholding
nobles were military elite whose ability to be warriors depended on their having the leisure time to pursue the
arts of war. Landed estates, located on the fiefs given to a vassal by his lord and worked by peasants, provided
the economic support that made this way of life possible. A manor was an agricultural estate that a lord ran and
peasants worked. Although free peasants continued to exist, increasing numbers of free peasants became
serfs, or peasants legally bound to the land. Serfs had to provide labor services (socage), pay rents, and be
subject to the lords control. By 800, probably 60 percent of western Europeans were serfs. A serfs labor
services included working the lords land. The lords land made up one-third to one-half of the cultivated land
scattered throughout the manor. Peasants used the rest of the estates land to grow food for themselves. Such
tasks as building barns and digging ditches were also part of the labor services peasants provided. Serfs usually
worked about three days a week for their lords. The serfs paid rents by giving the lords a share of every product
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they raised. Serfs also paid the lords for the use of the manors common pasturelands, streams, ponds, and
surrounding woodlands. If a serf fished in the pond or stream on a manor, he turned over part of the catch to his
lord. Peasants were also obliged to pay a tithe (a tenth of their produce) to their local village churches. In the
feudal contract, lords and vassals were tied together through mutual obligations to each other. On individual
estates, lords had a variety of legal rights over their serfs. Serfs could not leave the manor without the lords
permission and could not marry anyone outside the manor without the lords approval. Lords often had political
authority on their lands, which gave them the right to try peasants in their own courts. Peasants were required to
pay lords for certain services, such as having their grain ground into flour in the lords mills. Even with these
restrictions, however, serfs were not slaves. The land assigned to serfs to support themselves usually could not
be taken away, and their responsibilities to the lord remained fairly fixed. It was also the lords duty to protect his
serfs, giving them the safety to farm the land.

A Manor house Home to the lord and his family and refuge for the peasants during an attack
B Common lands Shared areas such as pasture where peasants could graze animals or forest where peasants
could hunt, fish, and gather firewood
C Cultivated land Spring and fall plantings laid out in long strips to minimize the number of turns required while
plowing
D Fallow land During crop rotation, land left unplanted to allow it to recover E Common workshops Shared work
areas such as a mill to grind grain; bake house to bake bread; wine press to make wine; or barn to shelter and
care for animals

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32. The Revival of Trade and Cities

Trade
Medieval Europe was an agricultural society with small villages. In the 1000s and 1100s, however, the
economic foundation of European civilization changed. Changes included a revival of trade and an associated
growth of towns and cities. The revival of trade in Europe after the chaotic Early Middle Ages was gradual. Cities
in Italy took the lead. Venice developed a mercantile fleet (a fleet of trading ships) and by the end of the 900s
had become a major trading center in the Mediterranean (Levantine trade route). The towns of Flanders, an
area along the coast of present-day Belgium and northern France, were ideally located for northern European
traders. Merchants from England, Scandinavia, France, and Germany (Hanseatic League) met there to trade
their goods for the high-quality woolen cloth of Flanders. By the 1100s, a regular exchange of goods had
developed between Flanders and Italy. To encourage this trade, the counts of Champagne, in northern France,
initiated a series of trade fairs. Six fairs were held every year in the chief towns. At these fairs, northern
merchants brought the furs, woolen cloth, tin, hemp, and honey of northern Europe and exchanged them for the
cloth and swords of northern Italy and the silks, sugar, and spices of the East. As trade increased, demand for
gold and silver coins arose at fairs and trading markets of all kinds. Slowly, a money economy - an economic
system based on money, rather than barter - began to emerge. New trading companies and banking firms were
set up to manage the exchange and sale of goods. All of these new practices were part of the rise of commercial
capitalism, an economic system in which people invested in trade and goods to make profits.

The Growth of Cities

Towns had greatly declined in the Early Middle Ages, especially in Europe north of the Alps. Old Roman
cities had continued to exist, but they had dwindled in both size and population. With the revival of trade,
merchants began to settle in the old Roman cities. They were followed by craftspeople or artisans - people who
had developed skills and saw a chance to make goods that the merchants could sell. In the course of the
eleventh and twelfth centuries, the old Roman cities came alive with new populations and growth. Many new
cities or towns were also founded, especially in northern Europe. Usually, a group of merchants built a
settlement near a castle because it was located along a trade route and because the lords of the castle would
offer protection. If the settlement prospered and expanded, new walls were built to protect it. The merchants and
artisans of these cities later came to be called burghers or bourgeoisie, from the German word burg, meaning
a walled enclosure. Medieval cities were small in comparison with either ancient or modern cities. A large
Medieval trading city would number about 5000 inhabitants. By the late 1200s, London - Englands largest city had more than 40,000 people. Italian cities tended to be even larger than this. For instance, Venice, Florence,
and Milan each had more than 80,000 inhabitants. Even the largest European city, however, seemed small
when compared to the Byzantine capital of Constantinople or the Arab cities of Damascus, Baghdad, and Cairo.
Most towns were closely tied to the land around them because they depended on the food grown in the
surrounding manors. In addition, the towns were often part of the territory belonging to a lord, and therefore were
subject to his authority. The lords wanted to treat townspeople as they did their vassals and serfs. However,
townspeople saw things differently. Townspeople needed freedom to trade. They needed their own unique laws
and were willing to pay for them. Lords and kings, in turn, saw that they could also make money and sold to the
townspeople the liberties they wanted. By 1100, townspeople had numerous rights from local lords. These
54

included the right to buy and sell property, freedom from military service to the lord, a written law that guaranteed
townspeople their freedom, and the right for an escaped serf to become a free person after living a year and a
day in the town. The people in almost every new town and city gained these basic liberties. Some new towns
also received the right to govern themselves by choosing their own officials and having their own courts of law.
Over time, medieval cities developed their own governments for running the affairs of the community. Only
males who had been born in the city or who had lived there for some time were citizens. In many cities, these
citizens elected the city council members, who served as judges and city officials and who passed laws.
Elections were rigged so that only patricians - members of the wealthiest and most powerful families - were
elected.
City Life
Medieval towns were surrounded by stone walls. Walls were expensive to build, so the space within was
tightly filled. Thus, medieval cities had narrow, winding streets. Houses were crowded against one another, with
the second and third stories built out over the streets. The danger of fire was great. Dwellings were mostly made
of wood before the 1300s and candles were used for light and heat. Medieval cities burned rapidly once a fire
started.
The physical environment of medieval cities was not pleasant. Often dirty, cities smelled from animal and
human waste. Air pollution was also a fact of life. Smoke from wood fires, present everywhere, or from the
burning of cheap grades of coal filled the air. Water pollution was also a problem. Butchers dumped blood and
all other waste products from their butchered animals into the rivers. Tanners, who converted animal hides to
leather, unloaded tannic acids and other waste products of their operations. Cities did not use the rivers for
drinking water but relied instead on wells. While medieval towns had private and public baths - Paris had 32 they were closed during the great plague of the fourteenth century.
Industry and Guilds
With the revival of trade, cities and towns became important centers for manufacturing a wide range of
goods, such as cloth, metalwork, shoes, and leather goods. Many craft activities were carried on in houses
located in the narrow streets of medieval cities. From the 1000s on, craftspeople began to organize themselves
into guilds, or business associations. Guilds played a leading role in the economic life of cities. By the 1200s,
there were guilds for almost every craft tanners, bakers) and separate guilds for specialized groups of
merchants, such as dealers in silk, spices, or wool. Craft guilds directed almost every aspect of the production
process. They set the standards for the quality of the articles produced, specified the methods of production to
be used, and even fixed the price at which the finished goods could be sold. Guilds also determined the number
of people who could enter a specific trade and the procedure they must follow to do so. A person who wanted to
learn a trade first became an apprentice, usually at around the age of 10, to a master craftsperson. Apprentices
were not paid, but they did receive room and board from their masters. After five to seven years of service during
which they learned their craft, apprentices became journeymen and worked for wages for other masters.
Journeymen aspired to become masters as well. To do so, they were expected to produce a masterpiece, a
finished piece in their craft. This piece allowed the master craftspeople of the guild to judge whether a
journeyman was qualified to become a master and join the guild.

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33. The Holy Roman Empire

In the tenth century, the powerful dukes of the Saxons became kings of the eastern Frankish kingdom,
which came to be known as Germany. The best-known Saxon king of Germany was Otto I. Otto was a patron of
German culture and brought the Church under his control by lay investiture as he appointed church bishops. In
return for protecting the pope, Otto I was crowned Emperor of the Romans in 962.
Investiture Controversy
When Gregory VII, a reformist monk, was elected as pope in 1073, the controversy between emperor and
pope began. Opposing lay investiture made Gregory an enemy to Henry IV of Germany. Therefore King
Henry declared Gregory was no longer pope and the Romans should choose a new pope. When Gregory heard
of this he excommunicated Henry IV, declared he was no longer emperor and absolved his subjects from the
oaths they had sworn to him.
The excommunication of the king made the Saxons began a rebellion, and the anti-royalist party grew in
strength from month to month. The situation now became extremely critical for Henry. The ruler tried to force the
pope to grant him absolution by doing penance before him at Canossa, where Gregory stayed. For a Christian
it seemed impossible to deny a penitent re-entrance into the church, and therefore Gregory removed the ban.
In 1081 a new conflict arose between Henry and Gregory in Italy. Rome surrendered to the German king,
and Henry emperor was crownded emperor by a new pope, while Gregory himself had to flee from Rome.
Struggles in Italy
As leaders of a new Roman Empire, the German kings attempted to rule both German and Italian lands.
Many a German king lost armies in Italy in pursuit of the dream of an empire. One of the most famous members
of these German monarchs proves this. Frederick I (Barbarossa), instead of building a strong German kingdom,
tried to create a new kind of empire. Frederick I planned to get his chief revenues from Italy. He considered Italy
the center of a holy empire, as he called ithence the name Holy Roman Empire.
Fredericks attempt to conquer northern Italy led to severe problems. The pope opposed him, fearing that
he wanted to include Rome and the Papal States as part of his empire. The cities of northern Italy, which had
become used to their freedom, were also unwilling to become his subjects. An alliance of these northern Italian
cities and the pope defeated the forces of Frederick on the battlefield of Legnano in 1176.
Effects on the Empire
The struggle between popes and emperors had dire consequences for the Holy Roman Empire. By
spending their time fighting in Italy, the German emperors left Germany in the hands of powerful German lords.
These nobles ignored the emperor and created their own independent kingdoms. This made the German
monarchy weak and incapable of maintaining a strong monarchical state. In the end, the German Holy Roman
Emperor had no real power over either Germany or Italy. Both Germany and Italy consisted of many small,
independent states. Not until the nineteenth century did these states ultimately become unified.
Rise of the Habsburgs
In these troubled times emerged a new dynasty that would rule half of the world in the 16 th century. In
order to seize the Austrian provinces, Rudolph of Habsburg formed an alliance with King Ladislaus IV of
Hungary and gave additional privileges to the Vienna citizens. On 26 August 1278, he beat his rival at the
the Battle on the Marchfeld, and became the emperor.

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34. Church Reform

The Age of Faith
Monasteries led the spiritual revival. The monastery founded at Cluny in France in 910 was especially
important. The reformers there wanted to return to the basic principles of the Christian religion. To do so, they
established new religious orders. Influenced by the religious devotion and reverence for God shown by the new
monasteries, the popes began to reform the Church. They restored and expanded its power and authority. A
new age of religious feeling was born - the Age of Faith. Still, many problems troubled the Church. Some priests
were nearly illiterate and could barely read their prayers. Some of the popes were men of questionable morals.
Many bishops and abbots cared more about their positions as feudal lords than about their duties as spiritual
leaders. Reformers were most distressed by three main issues.
Many village priests married and had families. Such marriages were against Church rulings.
Bishops sold positions in the Church, a practice called simony.
Using the practice of lay investiture, kings appointed church bishops. Church reformers believed the
Church alone should appoint bishops.
Reform and Church Organization
Pope Leo IX and Pope Gregory VII enforced Church laws against simony and the marriage of priests. The
popes who followed Leo and Gregory reorganized the Church to continue the policy of reform. In the1100s and
1200s, the Church was restructured to resemble a kingdom, with the pope at its head. The popes group of
advisers was called the papal Curia. The Curia also acted as a court. It developed canon law (the law of the
Church) on matters such as marriage, divorce, and inheritance. Diplomats for the pope traveled through Europe
dealing with bishops and kings. In this way the popes established their authority throughout Europe. The Church
collected taxes in the form of tithes. These consumed one-tenth the yearly income from every Christian family.
The Church used some of the money to perform social services such as caring for the sick and the poor. In fact,
the Church operated most hospitals in medieval Europe.

New Religious Orders

In the early 1200s, wandering friars traveled from place to place preaching and spreading the Churchs
ideas. Like monks, friars took vows of chastity, poverty, and obedience. Unlike monks, friars did not live apart
from the world in monasteries. Instead, they preached to the poor throughout Europes towns and cities. Friars
owned nothing and lived by begging. Dominic, a Spanish priest, founded the Dominicans, one of the earliest
orders of friars. Because Dominic emphasized the importance of study, many Dominicans were scholars.
Francis of Assisi, an Italian, founded another order of friars, the Franciscans. They lived among the people,
preaching repentance and aiding the poor.In 1212, a woman named Clare and her friend Francis of Assisi
founded the Franciscan order for women. It was known as the Poor Clares.

The Crusades
From the eleventh to the thirteenth centuries, European Christians carried out a series of military expeditions
to regain the Holy Land from the Muslims. These expeditions are known as the Crusades. The push for the
Crusades came when the Byzantine emperor Alexius I asked the Europeans for help against the Seljuk Turks,
who were Muslims. Pope Urban II, who responded to the request, saw a golden opportunity to provide
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leadership for a great cause. That cause was rallying Europes warriors to free Jerusalem and the Holy Land
(Palestine) from the Muslims. At the Council of Clermont in southern France near the end of 1095, Urban II
challenged Christians to take up their weapons and join in a holy war. Warriors of Western Europe, particularly
France, formed the first crusading armies. These knights were mostly motivated by religious fervor, but some
sought adventure and welcomed the chance to fight. Others saw an opportunity to gain wealth and a possible
title. Italian merchants also sought new trading opportunities in Byzantine and Muslim lands.
The First Crusade began as three organized bands of mostly French warriors made their way to the East.
The crusaders proceeded down the Palestinian coast, avoiding the welldefended coastal cities, and reached
Jerusalem in June 1099. The Holy City was taken amid a horrible massacre of its inhabitants. After further
conquests, the crusaders organized four Latin crusader states in the East. Surrounded by Muslims, these
crusader kingdoms depended on Italian cities for supplies.
By the 1140s, the Muslims had begun to strike back. In 1187, the Holy City of Jerusalem fell to Muslim forces
under Saladin. The English king Richard I (Richard the Lionhearted), and French king Philip II Augustus
organized the Third Crusade in 1189. The English and French arrived by sea and captured the coastal cities but
were unable to move inland against the Muslim forces. After Philip returned home, Richard negotiated a
settlement with Saladin that permitted Christian pilgrims free access to Jerusalem.
Did the Crusades have much effect on European civilization? Historians disagree. Clearly, the Crusades
benefited the Italian port cities, especially Genoa, Pisa, and Venice. Even without the Crusades, however, Italian
merchants would have increased trade with the Eastern world. The Crusades had some unfortunate side effects
on European society. The first widespread attacks on the Jews began in the context of the Crusades. Some
Christians argued that to fight the Muslims while the murderers of Christ, as they called the Jews, ran free at
home was unthinkable. The massacre of Jews became a feature of medieval European life.

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35. Culture of the High Middle Age

Architecture
The eleventh and twelfth centuries witnessed an explosion of building in medieval Europe, especially building
of churches. The cathedrals of the eleventh and twelfth centuries were built in the Romanesque style.
Romanesque churches were normally built in the basilica shape used in the construction of churches in the late
Roman Empire. Basilicas were rectangular buildings with flat wooden roofs. Romanesque builders replaced the
basilicas flat wooden roof with a long, round stone arched vault (called a barrel vault) or with a cross vault, in
which two barrel vaults intersected. The builder used the cross vault to create a church plan in the shape of a
cross. Barrel and cross vaults were considered more beautiful than flat roofs. Because stone roofs were
extremely heavy, Romanesque churches required massive pillars and walls to hold them up. This left little space
for windows, so Romanesque churches were dark on the inside. With massive walls and pillars, these churches
resembled fortresses.
A new style, called Gothic, appeared in the twelfth century and was brought to perfection in the thirteenth.
The Gothic cathedral remains one of the greatest artistic triumphs of the High Middle Ages. Two basic
innovations made Gothic cathedrals possible. One innovation was the replacement of the round barrel vault of
Romanesque churches with a combination of ribbed vaults and pointed arches. This change enabled builders
to make Gothic churches higher than Romanesque churches. The use of pointed arches and ribbed vaults also
creates an impression of upward movement, as if the building is reaching to God. Another technical innovation
was the flying buttress - a heavy, arched support of stone built onto the outside of the walls. Flying buttresses
made it possible to distribute the weight of the churchs vaulted ceilings outward and down. This eliminated the
heavy walls needed in Romanesque churches to hold the weight of the massive barrel vaults. Gothic cathedrals
were built, then, with relatively thin walls. Since they were not supporting great weight, these walls could be filled
with stained glass windows. These windows depict both religious scenes and scenes from daily life. The
colored glass windows create a play of light inside the cathedral that varies with the sun at different times of the
day. Natural light was believed to be a symbol of the divine light of God. The Gothic cathedral, with its towers
soaring toward Heaven, bears witness to an age when most people believed in a spiritual world.
The Revival of Learning
In the 1100s, Christian scholars from Europe began visiting Muslim libraries in Spain. Few Western scholars
knew Greek but most did know Latin. So Jewish scholars living in Spain translated the Arabic versions of works
by Aristotle and other Greek writers into Latin. All at once, Europeans acquired a huge new body of knowledge.
This included science, philosophy, law, mathematics, and other fields. At the center of the growth of learning
stood a new European institution - the university. The word university originally referred to a group of scholars
meeting wherever they could. People, not buildings, made up the medieval university. Universities arose at Paris
and at Bologna, Italy, by the end of the 1100s. Others followed at the English town of Oxford and at Salerno,
Italy. Most students were the sons of burghers or well-to-do artisans. For most students, the goal was a job in
government or the Church. Earning a bachelors degree in theology might take five to seven years in school;
becoming a master of theology took at least 12 years of study. New ideas and forms of expression began to flow
out of the universities. At a time when serious scholars and writers were writing in Latin, a few remarkable poets
began using the everyday language of their homeland. Some of these writers wrote masterpieces of vernacular
59

literature that are still read today. Dante Alighieri wrote The Divine Comedy (13081314) in Italian. Geoffrey
Chaucer wrote The Canterbury Tales (about 13861400) in English.

Aquinas and Medieval Philosophy

Christian scholars were excited by the ideas of Greek philosophers. They wondered if a Christian scholar
could use Aristotles logical approach to truth and still keep faith with the Bible. In the mid-1200s, the scholar
Thomas Aquinas argued that the most basic religious truths could be proved by logical argument. Between
1267 and 1273, Aquinas wrote the Summa Theologicae. Aquinass great work, influenced by Aristotle, combined
ancient Greek thought with the Christian thought of his time. Aquinas and his fellow scholars who met at the
great universities were known as schoolmen, or scholastics.

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36. Birth of Estate Monarchies in Western Europe

England
In 1066 duke of Normandy, who became known as William the Conqueror, invaded England with a Norman
army. After his victory, William declared all England his personal property. William kept about one-fifth of
England for himself. The English lords lost their lands. William then granted their lands to about 200 Norman
lords who swore oaths of loyalty to him personally. By doing this, William unified control of the lands and laid the
foundation for centralized government in England. Over the next centuries, English kings tried to achieve two
goals. First, they wanted to hold and add to their French lands. Second, they wanted to strengthen their own
power over the nobles and the Church.
After Richard the Lion-Hearted, hero of the Third Crusade, his younger brother John took the throne. John
ruled from 1199 to 1216. John lost Normandy and all his lands in northern France to the French under Philip
Augustus. This loss forced a confrontation with his own nobles. John raised taxes to an all-time high to finance
his wars. His nobles revolted. On June 15, 1215, they forced John to agree to the most celebrated document in
English history, the Magna Carta (Great Charter). This document, drawn up by English nobles and approved by
King John, guaranteed certain basic political rights. The nobles wanted to safeguard their own feudal rights and
limit the kings powers. Guaranteed rights included no taxation without representation, a jury trial, and the
protection of the law.
Another important step toward democratic government came during the rule of the next English king Edward
I. Edward needed to raise taxes for a war against the French, the Welsh, and the Scots. In 1295, Edward
summoned two burgesses (citizens of wealth and property) from every borough (a selfgoverning town) and two
knights from every county to serve as a parliament, or legislative group. In November 1295, knights, burgesses,
bishops, and lords met together at Westminster in London. This is now called the Model Parliament because its
new makeup (commoners, or non-nobles, as well as lords) served as a model for later kings. Over the next
century, from 1300 to 1400, the king called the knights and burgesses whenever a new tax was needed. In
Parliament, these two groups gradually formed an assembly of their own called the House of Commons.
Nobles and bishops met separately as the House of Lords. Under Edward I, Parliament was in part a royal tool
that weakened the great lords. As time went by, Parliament became strong. Like the Magna Carta, it provided a
check on royal power.

France
The kings of France, like those of England, looked for ways to increase their power. After the breakup of
Charlemagnes empire, French counts and dukes ruled their lands independently under the feudal system. By
the year 1000, France was divided into about 47 feudal territories. The Capet family ruled only a small territory,
but at its heart stood Paris. Hugh Capet began the Capetian dynasty of French kings that ruled France from
987 to 1328. One of the most powerful Capetians was Philip II, called Philip Augustus, who ruled from 1180 to
1223. He set out to weaken the power of the English kings in France. He seized Normandy from King John in
1204 and within two years had gained other territory. By the end of Philips reign, he had tripled the lands under
his direct control. For the first time, a French king had become more powerful than any of his vassals. Philip II
not only wanted more land, he also wanted a stronger central government. He established royal officials called
bailiffs.
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They were sent from Paris to every district in the kingdom to preside over the kings courts and to collect the
kings taxes.
In 1302, Philip IV, who ruled France from 1285 to 1314, was involved in a quarrel with the pope. The pope
refused to allow priests to pay taxes to the king. Philip disputed the right of the pope to control Church affairs in
his kingdom. As in England, the French king usually called a meeting of his lords and bishops when he needed
support for his policies. To win wider support against the pope, Philip IV decided to include commoners in the
meeting. In France, the Church leaders were known as the First Estate, and the great lords as the Second
Estate. The commoners, wealthy landholders or merchants that Philip invited to participate in the council
became known as the Third Estate. The whole meeting was called the Estates-General. Like the English
Parliament in its early years, the Estates-General helped to increase royal power against the nobility. Unlike
Parliament, however, the Estates-General never became an independent force that limited the kings power.
However, centuries later, the Third Estate would play a key role in overthrowing the French monarchy during the
French Revolution.

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37. Crisis of Middle Ages

The Bubonic Plague Strikes
During the 1300s an epidemic struck parts of Asia, North Africa, and Europe. Approximately one-third of
the population of Europe died of the deadly disease known as the bubonic plague. The plague began in Asia.
Traveling trade routes, it infected parts of Asia, the Muslim world, and Europe. In 1347, a fleet of Genoese
merchant ships arrived in Sicily carrying bubonic plague, also known as the Black Death. It got the name
because of the purplish or blackish spots it produced on the skin. The disease swept through Italy. From there it
followed trade routes to Spain, France, Germany, England, and other parts of Europe and North Africa. The
bubonic plague took about four years to reach almost every corner of Europe. Some communities escaped
unharmed, but in others, approximately two-thirds to three-quarters of those who caught the disease died.
Before the bubonic plague ran its course, it killed almost 25 million Europeans and many more millions in Asia
and North Africa. The economic and social effects of the plague were enormous. The old manorial system
began to crumble. Some of the changes that occurred included these:
Town populations fell.
Trade declined. Prices rose.
The serfs left the manor in search of better wages.
Nobles fiercely resisted peasant demands for higher wages, causing peasant revolts in England,
France, Italy and Belgium.
Jews were blamed for bringing on the plague. All over Europe, Jews were driven from their homes or,
worse, massacred.
The Church suffered a loss of prestige when its prayers failed to stop the onslaught of the
bubonic plague and priests abandoned their duties.
The bubonic plague and its aftermath disrupted medieval society, hastening changes that were already in
the making. The society of the Middle Ages was collapsing. The century of war between England and France
was that societys final death struggle.
A Church Divided
At the beginning of the 1300s, the Age of Faith still seemed strong. Soon, however, both the pope and the
Church were in desperate trouble. In 1300, Pope Boniface VIII attempted to enforce papal authority on kings as
previous popes had. When King Philip IV of France asserted his authority over French bishops, Boniface stated
that kings must always obey popes. Instead of obeying the pope, Philip had him held prisoner in September
1303 and Boniface died a month later. Never again would a pope be able to force monarchs to obey him. In
1305, Philip IV persuaded the College of Cardinals to choose a French archbishop as the new pope, who moved
from Rome to the city of Avignon in France. Popes would live there for the next 69 years.
In 1378, Pope Gregory XI died while visiting Rome. The College of Cardinals announced that an Italian had
been chosen: Pope Urban VI. The new popes passion for reform and his arrogant personality caused the
cardinals to elect a second pope a few months later. They chose Robert of Geneva. Now there were two popes.
Each declared the other to be a false pope, excommunicating his rival. The French pope lived in Avignon, while
the Italian pope lived in Rome.
This began the split in the Church known as the Great Schism, or division. In 1414, the Council of
Constance attempted to end the Great Schism by choosing a single pope. With the help of the Holy Roman
63

Emperor Sigismund, the council forced popes to resign. In 1417, the Council chose a new pope, Martin V,
ending the Great Schism but leaving the papacy greatly weakened.
The Hussites
In the 13-14th centuries Bohemia became a Ieading power in Central Europe. Towns started to develop,
they had contacts with Flanders, Venice, Danzig, they imported luxury goods and spices, and exported wne,
wheat, wood and silver. Mining developed; Bohemia became the greatest producer of silver in Europe (half of
Europe's production came from Bohemia). The development of economy attracted German citizens to Czech
towns and the social conflict within towns (between patricians/burghers and commoners) grew into a national
conflict (between the Bohemians and Germans).
In 1306 the Premysl dynasty (the dynasty of the founders of state) died out and the Luxemburg dynasty
came to power and the Bohemian king became one of the seven electoral princes of the Holy Roman Empire.
The Holy Roman Emperor, Charles IV made Prague a centre of the empire, he even founded a university there.
He based his power on the clergy; they received 1/3 of the country and as they were mostly Germans, the social
conflict even here grew into a national conflict. Social discontent accumulated; the Bohemian nobility hoped to
gain lands, the peasants and burghers wanted to ease their burdens and the Bohemian lower clergy wanted to
regain their influence and position.
Jan Hus was a university teacher in Prague and his ideas united the reforms of the Church and the
Bohemian national movements. He drafted several proposals:

Priests should live in poverty like the Apostles.

The Church should fight against unjust powers.

The Church should give support for Bohemian culture.

Hus was dismissed from the university and sent away from Prague but his teachings spread quickly so

the new king, Sigismund of Luxemburg (King of Germany and Hungary started a campaign against Hus and his
followers. The Catholic clergy summoned the Council of Constanze in 1415; Hus was invited and called to
renounce his ideas but though he had a letter of immunity from the king, he was sentenced as a heretic and
burnt at the stake. The execution, however, did not achieve its aims and Hus' followers started a new movement
in Bohemia.
The uprising broke out in 1419 when citizens of Prague occupied the Town Hall and the council was
thrown out of the window. Hus' follower, Jerome of Prague called for the freedom of preaching, the communion
with both bread and wine, an end to the privileged position of the clergy and the distribution of the huge estates
of the higher clergy.
These ideas were taken up by the moderate movement of patricians, lower nobility, small and middle
landowners - the Utraquists or Calixtines. At the same time there arose a more radical movement of peasants
and commoners - the Taborites. They wanted to return to the evangelical poverty, common property and
equality. Their leader was Jan Zizka. When Sigismund satisfied the claims of the Calixtines, their movement was
finished but the Taborites continued their struggle and they were finally defeated in 1434 at Lipany.

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38. Renaissance
During the late Middle Age, Europe suffered from both war and plague. Those who survived wanted to
celebrate life and the human spirit. They began to question institutions of the Middle Ages, which had been
unable to prevent war or to relieve suffering brought by the plague. Some people questioned the Church, which
taught Christians to endure suffering while they awaited their rewards in heaven. In northern Italy, writers and
artists began to express this new spirit and to experiment with different styles. These men and women would
greatly change how Europeans saw themselves and their world.
Classics Lead to Humanism
The study of classical texts led to humanism, an intellectual movement that focused on human potential and
achievements. Instead of trying to make classical texts agree with Christian teaching as medieval scholars had,
humanists studied them to understand ancient Greek values. Humanists influenced artists and architects to carry
on classical traditions. Also, humanists popularized the study of subjects common to classical education, such
as history, literature, and philosophy. These subjects are called the humanities.
Worldly Pleasures
In the Middle Ages, some people had demonstrated their piety by wearing rough clothing and eating plain
foods. However, humanists suggested that a person might enjoy life without offending God. In Renaissance
Italy, the wealthy enjoyed material luxuries, good music, and fine foods. Most people remained devout Catholics.
However, the basic spirit of Renaissance society was secular - worldly rather than spiritual and concerned with
the here and now. Even church leaders became more worldly. Some lived in beautiful mansions, threw lavish
banquets, and wore expensive clothes.
Leonardo, the Renaissance Man
Leonardo da Vinci was a painter, sculptor, inventor, and scientist. A true Renaissance man, he was
interested in how things worked. He studied how a muscle moves and how veins are arranged in a leaf. He filled
his notebooks with observations and sketches. Then he incorporated his findings in his art. Among his many
masterpieces, Leonardo painted one of the best-known portraits in the world, the Mona Lisa (page 478). The
woman in the portrait seems so real that many writers have tried to explain the thoughts behind her smile.
Leonardo also produced a famous religious painting, The Last Supper.

Christian Humanists
The best known of the Christian humanists were Desiderius Erasmus of Holland and Thomas More of
England. The two were close friends. In 1509, Erasmus wrote his most famous work, The Praise of Folly. This
book poked fun at greedy merchants, heartsick lovers, quarrelsome scholars, and pompous priests. Erasmus
believed in a Christianity of the heart, not one of ceremonies or rules. He thought that in order to improve
society, all people should study the Bible. Thomas More tried to show a better model of society. In 1516, he
wrote the book Utopia. In Greek, utopia means no place. In English it has come to mean an ideal place as
depicted in Mores book. The book is about an imaginary land where greed, corruption, and war have been
weeded out. In Utopia, because there was little greed, Utopians had little use for money.
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Gutenberg Improves the Printing Process

During the 13th century, blockprinted items reached Europe from China. European printers began to use
block printing to create whole pages to bind into books. However, this process was too slow to satisfy the
Renaissance demand for knowledge, information, and books. Around 1440 Johann Gutenberg, a craftsman from
Mainz, Germany, developed a printing press that incorporated a number of technologies in a new way. The
process made it possible to produce books quickly and cheaply. Using this improved process, Gutenberg printed
a complete Bible, the Gutenberg Bible, in about 1455. It was the first full-sized book printed with movable type.
The printing press enabled a printer to produce hundreds of copies of a single work. For the first time, books
were cheap enough that many people couldbuy them. At first printers produced mainly religious works. Soon
they began to provide books on other subjects such as travel guides and medical manuals.

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39. The Ottoman Empire

By 1300, the Byzantine Empire was declining, and the Mongols had destroyed the Turkish Seljuk kingdom of
Rum. Anatolia was inhabited mostly by the descendants of nomadic Turks. These militaristic people had a long
history of invading other countries. Loyal to their own groups, they were not united by a strong central power.
Osman Establishes a State
Osman also called Othman and his followers Ottomans - built a small Muslim state in Anatolia between
1300 and 1326. His successors expanded it by buying land, forming alliances with some emirs, and conquering
others. The Ottomans military success was largely based on the use of gunpowder. They replaced their
archers on horseback with musket-carrying foot soldiers. They also were among the first people to use cannons
as weapons of attack. Even heavily walled cities fell to an all-out attack by the Turks. His successors felt strong
enough to declare themself sultan, meaning overlord or one with power. A new Turkish empire was on the
rise. The Ottomans acted wisely toward the people they conquered. They ruled through local officials appointed
by the sultan and often improved the lives of the peasants. Most Muslims had to serve in Turkish armies and
make contributions required by their faith. Non-Muslims did not have to serve in the army but had to pay for their
exemption with a small tax.
Conquering Constantinople and the Holy Cities
Mehmed II, or Mehmed the Conqueror, achieved the most dramatic feat in Ottoman history. By the time
Mehmed took power in 1451, the ancient city of Constantinople had shrunk from a population of a million to a
mere 50,000. Although it controlled no territory outside its walls, it still dominated the Bosporus Strait. Controlling
this waterway meant that it could choke off traffic between the Ottomans territories in Asia and in the Balkans.
Mehmed II decided to face this situation head-on. Give me Constantinople! he thundered, shortly after taking
power at age 21. Then, in 1453, he launched his attack. Mehmeds Turkish forces began firing on the city walls
with mighty cannons. The city held out for over seven weeks, but the Turks finally found a break in the wall and
entered the city. Mehmed the Conqueror, as he was now called, proved to be an able ruler as well as a
magnificent warrior. He opened Constantinople to new citizens of many religions and backgrounds. Jews,
Christians, and Muslims, Turks and non-Turks all flowed in. They helped rebuild the city, which was now called
Istanbul.
Mehmeds grandson, Selim the Grim, came to power in 1512. He was an effective sultan and a great
general. In 1514, he defeated the Safavids of Persia at the Battle of Chaldiran. Then he swept south through
Syria and Palestine and into North Africa. At the same time that Cortez was toppling the Aztec Empire in the
Americas, Selims empire took responsibility for Mecca and Medina. Finally he took Cairo, the intellectual center
of the Muslim world. The once-great civilization of Egypt had become just another province in the growing
Ottoman Empire.
Suleyman the Lawgiver
Suleyman came to the throne in 1520 and ruled for 46 years. His own people called him Suleyman the
Lawgiver. He conquered the important European city of Belgrade in 1521. The next year, Turkish forces
captured the island of Rhodes in the Mediterranean and now dominated the whole eastern Mediterranean. In
1526, Suleyman advanced into Hungary and Austria, throwing central Europe into a panic. Suleymans armies
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then pushed to the outskirts of Vienna, Austria. He had become the most powerful monarch on earth. Only
Charles V, head of the Habsburg Empire in Europe, came close to rivaling his power. The massive empire
required an efficient government structure and social organization. Suleyman created a law code to handle both
criminal and civil actions. He also simplified and limited taxes, and systematized and reduced government
bureaucracy. These changes improved the lives of most citizens. The sultans 20,000 personal slaves staffed
the palace bureaucracy. The slaves were acquired as part of a policy called devshirme. Under the devshirme
system, the sultans army drafted boys from the peoples of conquered Christian territories. The army educated
them, converted them to Islam, and trained them as soldiers. An elite force of 30,000 soldiers known as
janissaries was trained to be loyal to the sultan only. Their superb discipline made them the heart of the
Ottoman war machine. In fact, Christian families sometimes bribed officials to take their children into the sultans
service, because the brightest ones could rise to high government posts or military positions. The officiers of the
cavalry were called spahi. A spahi was holder of a fief (timar) granted directly by the Ottoman sultan and was
entitled to all of the income from it in return for military service. The peasants on the land were subsequently
attached to the land and became serfs. As a Muslim, Suleyman was required to follow Islamic law. In
accordance with Islamic law, the Ottomans granted freedom of worship to other religious communities,
particularly to Christians and Jews.

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The Foundation of Hungary

40. The Prehistory of Magyar people

The origins of the Magyars
Lack of the written records makes investigation of the Magyar prehistory really difficult. The Magyar tribes
lived far away from the important ancient cultures so the first written sources date back to the 9th century when a
Byzantine emperor, Constantine mentioned the Magyars in his treaties on government. Having no written
records, all we know about the Magyars' origin are the results of archaeology and linguistics. However, it is
sometimes difficult to match linguistic facts with artefacts so we are not able to create a clear picture of the
Magyar prehistory. It means that different theories exist which make hard to learn about this topic. Basically,
most historians agree that the pre-Magyars were a part of the Finno-Ugrian tribes which lived in the Urals, at
the border of Europe and Asia in the 4th millennium.
The migration of the Magyar people
The Ural period (4th millennium) Finno-Ugrian and Samoyed people lived together in the Urals hunting and
fishing. They used stone tools. The words hal, hl (mesh), tz, evez (row), nyl (arrow), j (bow) are related to
this age. At the end of the period the Samoyeds moved to the north-east.
The Finno-Ugrian period (3rd millennium) The words of body parts, natural phenomena and everyday life
have common cores in Finno-Ugrian languages. As a result of technological changes the population grew and
around 2000 BC it forced the Finnish tribes to move to the Volga and later to the Baltic Sea. At the same time,
the Ugrians spread from the south-eastern slopes of the Ural Mountains to the valleys of the rivers Tobol, Ishim
and Irtis.
The Ugric period (2nd millennium) In the valley of the rivers above, there was a huge influence of Persian
tribes who lived southern from the Magyar tribes. In this period the Magyar tribes switched from hunting and
fishing to farming and animal husbandry. The words tehn, tej, nemez (felt), szekr (cart), show Persian origin.
The words l, nyereg (saddle), ostor (whip) are similar in Ugric languages. Technology changed due to the use
of copper and bronze. At the and of the period a climate change made the Magyar tribes equestrian nomads and
they left the thinning forest and moved to the steppe. The other Ugric tribes, like Voguls and Ostyaks followed
the forest zone to the North so they broke away from the Magyars between 1000-500 BC.
Bashkiria - Magna Hungaria (500 BC - 500 AD) After the Magyars became nomad they moved to Europe from
Western Asia. They found a new home between the river Volga and the Urals. There they had Turkic Bulgars as
neighbours. There are several words in Magyar language reflecting the influence of Bulgars: eke (plough), sarl
(sickle), bza (wheat), rpa (barley), kr (ox), borj (calf), diszn (hog), tyk (hen). Growing grapes and
drinking wine arrived from the Bulgarians.It was the time when tribal organization appeared and seven tribes
were created. Nyk, Megyer, Krt-Gyarmat, Tarjn, Jen, Kr, Keszi.

69

Levedia (8th century) By that age the majority of the Magyar population left Magna Hungaria (those who
remained were still living there in the 13th century until the Mongol invasion. Friar Julianus reported about
those Eastern Hungarians). They settled at the region of Don, Donets and the Azov Sea. They became vassals
of the Khazars who built an enormous empire based on trading between East and West.The Khazar Khaganate
set an example of state organization for the Magyars. They established dual principality as there were two
leaders. The spiritual leader was the kende (knd), the sun, the main prince. The gyula was the moon, the
actual political and military leader. Levedi was the first mythical kende.
Etelkz (9th century) The name means 'between rivers' as 'etil' was the word for river. It could be the region
between the Danube and the Dnieper. The Magyars became independent of the Khazars around 850 following a
rebellion. Actually, the Magyars had to escape as they supported the rebels and an 8th tribe, the rebellious
Kabars joined them. (Kabar=rebellious). The kende, lmos strengthened central power and according to the
legends, the tribes sealed their alliance with a covenant of blood. As a nomad tribe-alliance, Magyars led
raids into the neighbouring regions. They often attacked Slavic people in the north and sold them as slaves.
They preferred the Carpathian Basin as a stop on the way to South and Western Europe. The first raid - which is
called 'kalandozsok' euphemistically - started in 862.

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41. The Magyar Conquest

The Carpathian Basin before the Magyar Conquest
After the death of Attila the Hun in 453 his empire collapsed and German tribes took control over the region.
The most important tribe was the Langobard which later moved to Northern Italy in 568 and created there a
strong kingdom. They were pushed out of the Carpathian Basin by the Avars who were a nomadic tribe, similar
to the Huns. About 680 a new population arrived in the Carpathian Basin which assimilated to the Avar tribe. The
Avar Khaganate led raids again the Western and Southern civilizations until Charlemagne defeated them and
established a duchy in Pannonia.
Examining the Avar artefacts, Gyula Lszl arose a new theory of the Magyar Conquest, which is called
the dual conquest. According to this theory, the second Avar wave was the first appearance of Magyars. Their
culture was the griffes-inds which was a typical nomad feature (see in the picture). If it is true, it can give an
explanation for the origin of Seklers (szkelyek). Although their mother tongue is Hungarian, their myths and
script (rovsrs) refer to rather clear Turkic origin.
After 800 the Carpathian Basin was ruled by the Franks and Bulgarians. New settlers arrived in that age.
They were Slavs and lived under Frankish authority. They lived in the mountains, farmed and herd cattle. In the
North-western region a new state was born under Svatopluk the Great called Principality of Moravia. After his
death his sons started a civil war and the arriving Magyar tribes destroyed this state.
The Magyar Conquest
The Magyar settlement in Etelkz was surrounded by strong states from all direction (i.e. Duchy of Kiev, the
Khazar Empire and the Bulgar Empire). The political vacuum and the gentle climate of the Carpathian Basin
attracted the Magyars. They knew this area very well as they often led raids in there. In 894 they fought in
Bulgaria as an ally of Byzantine. The Bulgars were defeated and its king was killed. Next year the Bulgars made
an alliance with the Pechenegs, who were fleeing from the Cumans. The Pechenegs were also nomad and
stronger than the Magyars so they decided to occupy the Magyars lands. It was quite easy as the Magyar army
was fighting far away from its home. The Magyars had to flee away and having no other choices, they set off to
the Carpathian Basin, where the army was staying. In order to the nomad traditions they sacrificed the kende,
lmos, to gain the support of the spiritual powers.
In 895 the main wing of the Magyars entered the Carpathian Basin crossing the Verecke pass while
some small parts of them crossed other passes, like Tatr and Bks. At this stage they took only the eastern
part of the basin. They needed time to recover their loss and decide what the next step would be. In 899 the
Magyar army was in Italy in alliance with the Eastern Frankish king. As they returned home, their ally died so
they decided to occupy the western part of the basin, which belonged to the Eastern Frankish Kingdom. In 907
at the Battle of Bratislava the Bavarians were defeated and the Magyars gained control of the basin. After 904
the dual principality did not exist anymore and rpd became the sole leader. He gave the name to the first
dynasty of Hungarian kings, the House of rpd.
The raids
The Magyar tribes continued their raids westwards and southwards. These raids were military expeditions for
plunder and slaves. German and Italian princes often called the Magyars to help and paid for their service, so
they were free-lances as well. The disintegrated situation of the former Frankish Empire and the nomad tactics
71

made these raids successful. The Hungarians were famous for their special cavalry tactics. After light attack they
pretended withdrawal then they turned and showered the enemy with arrows. Their favourite targets were towns
and monasteries where they could plunder gold and valuable goods as well.
In 933 at Merseburg king Henry the Fowler defeated the Magyars for the very first time and made a
peace treaty. In 955 at Lechfeld (Augsburg) Otto I defeated the Magyars captured and executed their generals,
Lehel and Bulcs. It put an end to the raids in the west. This victory helped Otto to gain the main power among
the German principalities and finally he became the first emperor of the Holy Roman Empire in 963. In 970 the
Magyars were defeated in Byzantine as well and that ended the end of the raids for ever.
Society
The structure of the 10th century society was rather obscure. That was the age of the disintegration of
tribal / clan society. It means that the traditional familiar ties were split up and material values determined the
place of the people in the new era. Another problem was question of central power. The eight tribes settled in a
nomad way as the central tribe of Megyer was surrounded by the other seven tribes in order to be protected. It
resulted that only the western and southern tribes were affected in the raids and only they enjoyed the profit of
the expeditions. It made them stronger and in fact the tribe alliance did not work anymore. The Megyer tribe had
to improve its agriculture to ensure its living. After 970 this feature became an advantage as the border tribes
were getting weaker. So the Megyer tribe started to gain the power over the other tribes again and its young
leader, Gza became soon the ultimate prince of the Magyars.

Prince and heads of clans

(uruszg)
Retinue
(bsg)
Free common people
Slaves
(nsg)
The society of Magyars in
the 10th century

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42. The Foundation of the Feudal Hungarian Kingdom

I. Prince Gza
Arpd's successors followed the traditional order of seniority, which meant the eldest male member of
the dynasty inherited the throne. Prince Gza (972-997) sought contact with western Christendom, he asked the
pope to send a bishop. In 973 he was invited to Quedlinburg by the emperor Otto II. Gza sent envoys to the
imperial assembly offering peace and friendship. The emperor sent missionaries to Hungary. The prince
received baptism, his son, Vajk was christened Stephen and married the Bavarian princess, Gizella. In internal
policy Gza was a tough prince. He married the daughter of the Transylvanian Gyula, Sarolt, thus obtaining the
eastern part of Hungary. Later he ended the independence of tribal and clan leaders in bloody fights. In his
marriage policy Gza tried to create contact with the influential dynasties of his time, his son married a Bavarian
princess; his daughters married the doge of Venice and a Polish prince.
In the question of succession there was a controversial between the tribal and Christian system of
inheritance. According to the pagan system, seniority, Gza had to be followed by Koppny, the eldest male
member of the clan. But Gza wanted Stephen to be the prince and he based the succession on
primogeniture, so the first-born son was to become the heir. Gza nominated his son as his successor but
Koppny led an uprising against Stephen who suppressed it with the help of western knights.
Stephen I (997/1000-1038)
After defeating Koppny, Stephen gained
power and asked pope Sylvester II to send him a
crown. With this step he could avoid the influence of
the Holy Roman Emperor. At Christmas 1000 he was
crowned king of Hungary. He established the
institutional framework for the social and political
transformation

of

Hungary

and

organized

the

Hungarian kingdom. He confiscated the hill forts and

2/3 of the clan territories from the chiefs.
He

took

Transylvania

from

Gyula

and

defeated Ajtony, the lord of Temeskz (1003). Most

of the land came into Stephen's possession where
he formed counties. [See the illustration on the
right.] Counties were territorial, economic, judiciary and military units under the control of royal bailiffs, called
ispn. The inhabitants became castle-people responsible for the upkeep of the castle.

The establishment of Church

With the help of missionaries (Czech, German and Italian) and by force Stephen turned the entire nation
into the Catholic church. Every ten village had to build a church and support its priest. There were ten
episcopates, two of them became primacies, which had a great importance to our future history; Hungary did
not come under the control of a German primacy. Monasteries were founded and supervised by the Benedictine
order in Pannonhalma and Pcsvrad. The king granted huge estates to the Church. He obliged all the
73

commoners to pay the tithe. Every ten villages were ordered to build a temple and take care of it. People were
forced to visit Sunday masses.
Bishop Gellrt of Csand, the martyr, introduced writing and was the first ecclesiastical writer in Hungary.
(The first Hungarian writer was Stephen I writing his Admonitions to his son.) Stephen established a patrimonial
feudal kingdom, he controlled the majority of the country as a private possession, the army and the Church
depended on him.
Stephen's only son, Prince Imre was killed in a hunting accident, Vazul, the next in the order of succession
was the follower of the old rgime, a pagan so he was blinded and lead was poured into his ears thus making
him incapable of becoming a king. Vazul's sons had to flee and Stephen named Pter Orseolo his nephew from
Venice, as his heir.

Social and political system of Hungary in the 11th Century

74

43. The Crisis and Consolidation of the Feudal Kingdom in Hungary

Foreign threat and Anti-Christian uprisings
After Stephens death rivalry started for the throne. Meanwhile the Holy Roman Empire temporary extended her
influence over Hungary. The dissatisfaction with the German and Christian rule resulted in anti-Christian
movements. It was the time when bishop Gellrt, the tutor of Prince Imre was martyred by the rebels. The
pagans wanted to keep their old way of life and blamed Christianity for all their sufferings.
The consolidation of feudalism
Following a long period of civil wars, Lszl I (1077-1095) strengthened the royal power in his kingdom by
introducing draconian laws protecting private property and prohibiting the practice of pagan rites. He supported
the church and canonized Stephen, Imre and Gellrt (1083).
12. A lopson rt szabadrl vagy rabszolgrl
a) Ha valamely szabadot vagy rabszolgt lopson rnek, akasszk fel
b) Ha pedig ( a tolvaj ), hogy megmenekljn az akasztftl, a templomba menekl, kihozvn t a templombl,
vaktsk meg.
c) A lopson rt rabszolgt, ha nem menekl a templomba, miknt a szabadot, akasszk fel. Az ilyen szolga
urnak legyen a vesztesge a felakasztott szolga, az elveszett dolgok urnak pedig legyen a vesztesge: az
elveszett dolgok.
d) A lopson rt szabadnak, ha a templomba meneklt, s onnan kivezettetvn megvaktottk, fiai s lenyai, ha
tzvesek vagy annl fiatalabb korak, szabadsgban maradjanak, ha pedig tz vnl idsebbek, vessk ket
szolgasgra, s minden vagyonukat vegyk el.
e) Az olyan rabszolga pedig avagy szabad ( ember ), aki libt vagy tykot lop, fl szemt vesztse, s amit
lopott, adja vissza.
13. Egyhzi szemlyek lopsrl
Ha egyhzi rend szemly libt vagy tykot, gymlcst vagy ehhez hasonlt lop, csupn a mester fenytse
meg vesszzssel, de amit lopott, adja vissza, ha ezeknl nagyobb dolgot lop, pspke fokozza le, s a vilgi
brsgtl nyerjen bntetst.
14. A lopst elkvet szabadrl
a) Ha valamely szabad tz dnr rtkt lop, akasszk fel, ha tz dnrnl kisebb rtkt lop, a lopott rtket
tizenktszeresen adja vissza, s egy krt fizessen.
b) A rabszolga pedig, ha ilyen lopst kvet el, adja meg ktszeresen, s orrt vesztse.
c) A szktt rabszolgt, ha valahol lopson rik, vaktsk meg. s ezrt gy hatroztuk ne akasszk fel, se
nyelvt ne tpjk ki, s ha ksbb ura megtallja, keresse rajta, ha valamit elvesztett. Lszl I
Ladislas drove back the repeated attacks of the Cumans and started campaigns against Slavonia and
Croatia uniting the crowns and establishing a personal union between Hungary and these countries. Ladislas
had no heir, so he was succeeded by his nephew, Klmn.
Knyves Klmn (1095-1116) was originally intended for a Church office, therefore he was a literate,
educated king (hence his byname 'the Bookish'). He inherited a consolidated kingdom. He completed the
occupation of Croatia and managed to take the towns of the coastline of Dalmatia (Spalato, Zra) thus leading
Hungary into conflicts with Venice. Coloman also defeated the attempts of the pope to make Hungary his vassal
- he declined the invitation to take part in the First Crusade. He also started campaigns in the north, in Galicia
(called Halics at that time) - these campaigns did not bring success but weakened the royal power.
Being an educated man he encouraged literature written in Latin, drafters of laws and writers of legends and
chronicles. His intensive legislation made less severe laws (as a result of Ladislas' laws feudal order was
secured). Two issues made him an enlightened monarch of his time: he forbade the execution of witches and he
made granted land inheritable only from father to son -he tried to stop the loss of royal properties.

75

A Szent Istvn ltal, illetleg az utdai ltal adomnyozott birtokok klnbz rklsi rendjrl
Minden olyan birtok, melyet Szent Istvn adomnyozott, illessen meg minden, termszetes leszrmazs szerinti
utdot vagy rkst. Az olyan birtok azonban, amelyet ms kirlyok adtak, (csak) aprl fira szlljon, s ha
ilyenek ( ti. firksk ) nincsenek, rkljn a fitestvr, s ennek halla utn fiait se zrjk ki az rksgbl. Ha
pedig az illetnek fitestvre nincsen, az rksget a kirly rszre vegyk t.
A boszorknyperek megszntetsrl
A boszorknyokrl pedig, mivel ilyenek nincsenek, semmifle vizsglatot ne tartsanak. Klmn

76

44. The reign of Bela III

The problem of succession
The civil wars for succession gave a splendid opportunity for our mighty neighbours to interfere in Hungarys
life - the Holy Roman Empire, the Papacy and the Byzantine Empire wanted to gain power over Hungary. The
Byzantine ambition was especially strong under Manuel (the grandson of Lszl I). He took Gza II's son, Bla
hostage. When Prince Bla returned to Hungary he was crowned as Bla III (1172-1196). He ended feudal
anarchy, using the hostile lords against each other and defeating his brother, Gza. He reorganized government
in line with Byzantine administration practice: he established the royal chancellery and made written
documents compulsory. Bla himself was accustomed to a life of luxury and through his French wives he
became familiar with Western fashion. As Hungary had no permanent capital the king was travelling from one
court to another where living standards were high. Bla established a splendid palace in Esztergom, where the
Holy Roman Emperor, Frederich I Barbarossa could be received.
Economy
The use of money began and the royal income consisted of the taxes of counties and foreign settlers. This
type of income was called royal prerogatives. Royal estates dominated landed property although granting fiefs
had already started. Royal estates were managed by the county system and royal manors. Large estates of the
nobles were growing by granting fiefs but they were not in one piece. The centre of production was the so-called
predium (the Hungarian name for manor). As the size of manors increased, more people started to settle down
in manors thus helping the formation of villages. At the same time peasant communities continued existing.
Those free farmers who had to ask protection from their lords received their land back for crop and socage work.
Church estates were the centres of advanced technology and innovation. Innovations were also introduced
by settlers (or hospes = guest) who also contributed to the income of the treasury. In the 12 th century cultivation
was dominated by the pasture ground system but the settlers introduced two-field-system, more advanced
ploughs appeared, besides grains, vines, vegetables and fruits (bean, pea, apple, cherry nut, peach, melon)
were grown. Animal husbandry became widespread but hunting and fishing were also common in the 12th
century. The appearance of crafts brought potters, bakers, butchers, millers, etc but they were also cultivating
lands as their main job.

Social changes
By the 11-12th centuries free peasants had started to lose their freedom while free communities were taken
over and supervised by lords. Castle communities were inhabited by castle people and warriors called
'vrjobbgy' whose upper layer managed to own land. The Western settlers carried on a profitable trade, they
exchanged wax, animal skins and precious metals for Western luxury goods. (Flander cloth, French jewellery,
German weapons and Italian silk). They also traded with lead, salt, wine and slaves.
The arrival of settlers brought social changes, the rights of peasants gradually had to be agreed. Settlers
(hospes) came from France, Flanders and Italy (they are the so-called 'Latin' settlers), Germans (Saxons)
settled down in Transylvania together with Vlach herdsmen and shepherds. Jewish and Muslim people settled in
towns.

77

45. The Golden Bull Movement

Internal policy under Andrs II (1205-1235)
The short reign of Bla's elder son, Imre (1196-1204) was embittered by the repeated rebellions of his
younger brother, Andrs. The latter promised lands to the barons in return for their help against Imre. After
Andrs II had become king he distributed much of the royal property to favourites - they became powerful
barons having more political power - while the basis of central power, the size of royal properties decreased.
Andrs's foreign policy
He was full of ambition, attached to pomp, so he took part in a hopeless war against Galicia and ceded Zara
to Venice in exchange for its help in the 5th Crusade. As he had no economic basis, these processes burdened
the society and caused general discontent. The Crown was even more impoverished by Andrs's wife Gertrude
of Meran who brought German knights to Hungary. Gertrude enriched her relatives while her husband was away
on campaigns. She was not popular with Hungarian barons and was assassinated by Bnk bn, Pter and
Simon.

Economic policy
The money-economy received encouragement from the king's new income based on taxes. However, the
process created a great burden for society. To cope with the constant financial difficulties he had the coinage
depreciated year by year making a profit by devaluation. (Coins had to be exchanged for new ones and the
difference enriched the treasury). He also levied new taxes and customs duty - royal salt monopoly and
collecting customs duties - these were collected and borrowed by Jewish and Muslim tax collectors, which
generated social tension.
Andrs's opposition
Though for different reasons but all layers of Hungarian society opposed Andrs II's policy.

Feudal lords who were not among the favourites were not given land.

Churchmen felt their old commercial privileges being hurt by giving them to non-Christians.

High-rank professional soldiers - servientes (szerviens) - were threatened by serfdom. Servientes were
freemen in the king's service, vassals of the king who owed loyalty and military service to the king and were
under royal jurisdiction. Originally they were under the king's control but the large-scale granting of crown lands
threatened their freedom. Feudal lords tried to force 'servientes' to be their vassals or serfs, thus demanding
either permanent service or rent. The same was the situation with castle people (vrjobbgy). The discontented
'servientes' organized a social movement to secure their interests.
The Golden Bull - 1222
It was the charter of feudal privileges that extended the old nobility's privileges to the lower nobility and royal
servientes.

It assured immunity from local courts, taxes and military service abroad.

Nobles were protected from arbitrary arrest and punishment.

It made royal ministers and officials responsible to the annual meeting of nobles and clergy the Diet held
annually.

Whole counties could not be given as grants.

Offices were not hereditary and could not be accumulated.

78

Foreigners were not to receive offices without the consent of the Diet.

The right of resistance was given to the nobles if any of the provisions of the Bull were violated.

Rendeljk, hogy venknt a szent kirly nnept hacsak nm slyos foglalkozs vagy betegsg ltal nem
akadlyoztatunk Szkesfehrvrott tartozunk meglni. s ha mi jelen nem lehetnk a ndor ktsgkivl ott
leszen helyettnk s kpnkben meg fogja hallgatni az gyeket. Minden nemesek, tetszsk szerint, szabadon
oda gylekezzenek.
(I. p.) Akarjuk azt is, hogy sem mi, sem utdaink brmi idben le ne tartztassk s el ne nyomjk a nemeseket
valamely hatalmasnak kedvert, hanem ha elbb megidztettk s trvny rende szerint elmarasztaltattak.
(II. p.) Tovbb semmi adt, semmi szabad dnrokat nem szedetnk a nemesek rksgn; sem hzaikban,
sem falvaikban meg nem szllunk, hanem ha meghivatunk. Az egyhzak npeitl is teljessggel semmi adt
sem szedetnk.
(III. p.) Ha valamely nemes meghallozik fi nlkl, lnyt illesse birtoknak negyedrsze; a tbbirl tetszse
szerint rendelkezzk s ha a hall kzbejtte miatt nem rendelkezhetik, a hozz kzelebb ll rokonra szlljon;
s ha teljessggel semmi nemzetsge nincsen, szlljon a kirlyra.
(IV. p.) Ha a kirly sereget akar vinni az orszgon kivl, a nemesek ne tartozzanak vele menni, hanemha az
pnzert. Ellenben, ha sereg jnne az orszgra, mindnyjan tartozzanak menni.
(VII. p.) A ndor orszgunk minden emberei felett klnbsg nlkl birskodjk; de a nemesek fben- s
birtokbanjr gyeit a kirlynak tudomsa nlkl el ne vgezhesse.
(VIII. p.) Ha klfldiek, tudniillik tisztessges emberek, jnnek az orszgba, az orszg tancsa nlkl
mltsgokra ne emeltessenek. (XI. p.) Fekv birtok az orszgon kivlieknek ne adomnyoztassk.
(XXVI. p.) Egsz vrmegyket vagy brmely mltsgokat rk birtokul nem adunk.
(XVI. p.) Ezen ngy furon, t. i. a ndor, a bn, a kirly s kirlyn udvarbrin kivl, kt mltsgot senki se
viselhessen.
(XXIV. p.)Hogy izmaelitk s zsidk tisztsget ne viseljenek. Pnzvlt, kamara-ispnok, s-kamarsok s
vmosok, orszgunkbli nemesek legyenek. Izmaelitk s zsidk ne lehessenek.
(XXXI. p.) Hogyha pedig mi, vagy utdaink valamelyike brmikor ezen rendeletnk ellen vteni akarnnk, lljon
szabadsgukban ezen levl erejnl fogva, minden htlensgi vtek nlkl, mind a pspkknek, mind ms
uraknak s az orszg nemeseinek, szvesen s egyenknt, jelenleg s a jvben neknk s utdainknak
ellenllani s ellenmondani rkre. The Golden Bull, 1222
The beginnings of a new county system
The Golden Bull could not stop the increase of the barons' political power and protect the royal servants from
barons. Thus 'servientes' started a movement to gain local power in their counties. In 1232 the servientes of Zala
County were given the right to elect their own judges in self-defence to avoid the barons.
This represents the beginning of nobiliary counties. These were self-governing assemblies of nobles, where
the bailiffs and the judges were appointed by the king and the assemblies elected the county officials and
magistrates in charge of local administration.

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46. Bla IV (1235-70) and the Tartar Invasion

The reforms of Bla IV
Bla IV was quite different from his father. He was a devout Christian inspired by Erzsbet (his sister), St
Francis and St Dominic; his model was Bla III and after Andrs II's death Bla IV tried to restore the ideal
conditions of the kingdom. He tried to get back and integrate crown lands (royal estates) and counties thus
provoking the resistance of barons. As Europe was threatened by the Mongol invasion, he tried to fortify the
Transylvanian borders. Bla sent Friar Julianus (a Dominican friar) to Bashkiria to the Magyars to ask them to
move to Hungary.
To secure the borders he invited the Cumans (nomadic tribes attacked by the Mongols). The problem was
that the Cumans could not adapt to the new conditions so both the lords and the peasants revolted against them
and turned against the king. This internal tension contributed to the devastating defeat in 1241. It simply was bad
timing for reforms.

The Mongol Invasion 1241-42

In 1240 Kiev was destroyed by the Mongols and then they threatened Hungary Bla asked for help from the
nobles but they were offended so they refused to send sufficient military support. He asked help from the pope,
Gregory IX and Frederick II (Holy Roman Emperor), but they were engaged in the investiture struggle. To make
things worse, the nobles assassinated the Cuman king and the Cumans left Hungary. As a result, Bla was left
standing without an efficient army when Batu Khan attacked Hungary.
In 1241 Bla met the Mongols on the river Saj on 12th April at Muhi and suffered a crucial defeat. Bla had to
flee (to Trau / Trogir) and the Tartars ravaged the country for more than 12 months - only stone fortresses could
resist the attacks (Esztergom, Szkesfehrvr, Pannonhalma). 1/3 of the population was killed or enslaved. In
spring 1242, however, the Tartars withdrew (the Great Khan Ogodai died).

The reorganization and resettlement of the country

Bla's primary aim was to establish an effective defence against another possible Tartar invasion. To this end
he donated the devastated lands to the lords on the condition that stone fortresses were built. The lords set up a
heavily armoured force recruited among lesser nobility (former 'servientes') under their leadership (the so-called
banderium).He invited settlers to resettle the devastated country:

Saxons moved into Transylvania and western towns (Sopron, Gyr).

Moravian, Ruthenian, Romanian peasants settled giving up their nomadic life.

Cumans were invited and returned to Hungary.

As a result of these steps Hungary became a multinational country. The arrival of settlers helped the
formation of a homogenous peasantry and by the 1300s the unified class of the serfs called Jobbgy'
appeared. At the same time, the settlers in towns helped the development of these towns; a mixed urban
population appeared (burghers) and mining towns enriched the country - precious metals were produced in
Selmecbnya, Beszterce and this helped the spread of coinage. As Bla IV resettled the country and
reorganized life in Hungary by pursuing tolerant policies, he is remembered as 'the second home-founder'.

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Social and political changes

The last years of Bla IV's reign saw the first steps
of what was to grow into Parliament. In 1267 new laws
were introduced that confirmed the privileges of royal
servants and called them nobles for the first time. The
laws institutionized the autonomy of the lesser nobility
in counties led by the 'ispn' (bailiff) who was appointed
by the king.
Towns were granted special rights and many trading
centres were granted town charters. 1267 also marks the beginning of parliamentary institutions - elected
representatives from all counties were invited to meet. In 1275 lesser nobles were invited to joint sessions with
the bishops and barons. In 1289 the first meeting of the so-called Parlamentum Publicum was summoned.

The mighty barons

The power of barons or magnates increased. Having greater estates their political and economic power
increased, too. The mighty barons divided the country and ruled over their huge estates as petty monarchs
practising royal prerogatives.Lesser nobility had to enter into the baron's service and a special relationship
developed between the lord and vassal. It was not based on granting land but the increased power of the baron
forced the lower nobles into feudal dependency. The vassal served in the lord's private army, the banderium. It
was a mutual relationship, the lord protected the vassal in return for military service (and the vassal belonged to
the lord's household, wider family, hence the name: 'familiarits'). This relationship was characteristic of Central
and Eastern Europe and thus we call familiarity it to distinguish it from the western type of feudal dependency.
1301 with Andrs III, the male line of the rpd Dynasty died out and the struggle for the throne began
between the heirs of female descendants.

81

47. The Reorganisation of the Hungarian Kingdom under Charles Robert

Interregnum in Hungary
The demise of the House of rpd was followed by an interregnum from 1301 to 1308. It was not in the strict
sense of the word, as Hungary had more than one king during this period of political turmoil. European dynasties
claimed the Hungarian crown, the claimants descended from the rpd dynasty in the female line. Finally Anjou
Charles Robert of Naples and Sicily emerged triumphant from the rivalry among European dynasties.

Fight against the mighty barons

In the first phase of his reign Caroberto gradually subdued the barons who defied him. At first Csk Mt, the
most powerful baron forced him and his court to Temesvr. Csk Mt controlled the northwestern part, Aba
Amad held the north-eastern part of Hungary and Kn Lszl was the petty monarch in Transylvania, the
Kszegi family held control over Transdanubia. Pursuing the well-tried strategy of 'Divide et impera' he turned
the barons against each other, which was not difficult as the petty monarchs were constantly at war with each
other for lands. The king could be victorious over them one by one and his fight against the over-mighty petty
monarchs he was supported by:

the pope and the Church

the lesser nobility

the townspeople

the peasants

The people in Hungary desired peace, which Charles Robert gave them after long decades of chaos. In 1312
the Battle of Rozgony was the decisive battle, in which the mighty barons were finally defeated by the king with
the help of the townspeople of Kassa. After overcoming the petty monarchs, Charles Robert could concentrate
on reorganising the feudal monarchy in Hungary in the second phase of his reign.
Military reforms
Charles Robert confiscated the lands of the defeated barons and they either enriched the crown or were
given to a new aristocracy (e.g. Garai, Lackfi, and Bthory). However, the king was careful not to grant too big
lands in one tag so he could prevent new petty monarchs to grow up again. The defence of the country was
based on the military service of this new nobility nobles and barons loyal to the king.
Charles Rbert impoved the military system: the banderia of the barons and the counties provided the core
of the royal army. (Bandrium comes from the Italian word "bandiera" meaning banner, flag). The barons could
lead their banderia, private armies, into war under their own family banner. The military reform resulted in a
strong and efficient royal army.
The reform of the treasury
In the Middle Ages Hungary was the first in the production of gold
and the second in the production of silver. Charles Robert managed
to stabilise the economy by more effectively exploiting the rich
Hungarian mines, by introducing a monetary reform and pursuing a
healthy tax policy:

He reformed urbura - meaning rent of a mine. Mining gold

and silver was a royal monopoly but Charles Robert made
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the landlords interested in mining. Whose land had a mine could keep 1/3 of the income of the mine.
Earlier landlords had concealed their gold or silver mines because if they had declared, it they wouldn't
have had any profit.

Golden forint (florin), a new monetary system was introduced. Instead of regular devaluation Charles
Robert issued stable, high-value gold coins, the forint, modelled on the Florentine fiorino d'oro. Minting
money became a royal monopoty again.

A new tax on the lands of the peasantry was also introduced to increase royal revenue. Gate-tax
(Kapuad) was paid on the basis of peasants' estates.

The thirtiest tax became an important new source of royal income (harmincadvm = 3.33% of the value
of goods had to be paid as custorns).

1/3 of the papal income in Hungary came under the king's supervision.

Royal estates and towns paid special royal taxes.

Foreigners had to pay special taxes for privileges (Jews, Saxons, and Cumans) directly to the king.

To deal with the royal revenues he established the royal chamber. Many of the taxes were collected in the
king's name - this is what we call revenues collected by royal prerogative. However, special taxes could be
introduced only with the lords' consent. With his successful economic policy Charles Robert brought prosperity
after a long period of regression.
Foreign policy
In 1335 Charles Robert called together John of Luxemburg, King of Bohemia and Casimir III of Poland. With
the so-called Visegrd summit he introduced the first Central European alliance by initiating political and trade
cooperation. The three kings agreed on not using trade routes, which led through Vienna to avoid paying high
customs duty and its staple right. Instead 1/30 of the profit of distance trade, the custorns, enriched the royal
treasury.
Besides the economic agreement, the Hungarian and the Polish king also concluded a dynastic treaty. Not
only did he establish excellent relations with his brother-in-law, Casimir III, King of Poland, but also with the
Anjou Kingdom of Naples:

His elder son, Louis, was to inherit the Polish throne if his uncle died without a male heir.

His younger son, Andrs was to take over the Anjou heritage in Southern Italy as the husband of its
heiress, Joanna.

Charles Robert managed to consolidate royal power with his reforms in internal politics and with his foreign
policy. With his reforms in economic policy he stabilized the economy; his social policy led to important social
changes: a new layer of lords appeared. He strengthened Church estates that supported the new king. By
strengthening towns (mining and trade) he significantly increased the income of the treasury. Charles Robert
successfully reorganised the feudal monarchy in Hungary and his son inherited a stabilised kingdom, which
served as a good basis for his active foreign policy.

83

48. Louis the Great (1342-1382)

Foreign policy
Louis the Great is often referred to as the knight king as his reign is primarily memorable due to his policy of
conquests. It reflected the considerable strengthening of the country. Hungary had grown to be a Central
European great power. It was bordered by Bulgaria in the south, Moldavia and Wallachia in the east swore
feudal allegiance to King Louis. Venice yielded Dalmatia from Naples. Louis's reign started with two campaigns
to Naples in Southern Italy to take revenge for the assassination of his brother, Andrs, who had been murdered
by his wife, Queen Joanna. Although Louis took Naples, Southern Italy was too far to be held for long.
By controlling Dalmatia, which was against Venice, the naval power, Louis restored Hungarian supremacy
over the entire Croatian and Dalmatian coast (from Rijeka to Ragusa). On the Balkans, Louis extended
Hungarian supremacy over the territories of today's Bosnia, Serbia and Romania. The Hungarian army first
clashed with the Ottoman Turks in the Balkans under his reign. There was a new relationship with Poland.
On the death of his uncle, Casimir the Great (1370), he inherited the Polish throne, thus the PolishHungarian personal union came into being (though his mother governed Poland as the regent). As a Polish
king he led several campaigns against the pagan Lithuanians. The only shadow of the 'Great' king's reign was
the lack of a male heir.

The renewal of the Golden Bull

As a result of his active foreign policy Louis the Great was seeking support of the lower nobility. The taxes
levied on the serfs were higher and they tried to avoid taxation by moving to the barons thus Ieaving noblemen
with-out workforce. When in 1351 he renewed the Golden Bull of 1222 he fixed the most important clauses:

The law of entailment / principle of aviticity (sisg) stated that the lands of the nobility could not be
sold or granted. If the family died out without an heir, the land became royal property again. This
regulation was in force until 1848 representing a huge hinder in the development ofthe modern society of
the 19th century.

One ninth (kilenced) was the law that unified the proportion of the crop the serf owed to the landlord.

Tithe (tized) was the law that unified the proportion of the crop the serf owed to the Church.

The law legally unified the nobility, giving the same rights and privileges to the barons and the nobles.
Actually it meant the equality of the nobility before the law.

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49. Society and economy in the 14th century

Social changes in the 14th century
The unified layer of serfs owed the same duties to the landlord and to the Church.They owed the ninth tenth
of the crop, rent paid in cash, gift and socage work to the landlords. They owed the tithe to the Church.By the
end of the 14th century they gained the right to move freely, they could inherit the land.They could turn to the
village mayor as the local law court, but the landlord still held power of life and death, being the higher law court.
The law of 1351 fixed the nobles equality before the law, they had the same privileges.

They could not be arrested without a rightful judgement.

Only the king could administer justice for them.

They were obliged to do military service for the king only in Hungary.

They did not pay any tax.

The Hungarian nobility was highly differentiated according to wealth and lands. Barons / aristocracy had
huge estates and castles, they either held offices in the royal council or they were Church leaders. Nobles /
lower nobility with smaller estates lived in the special dependency of familiarity.
The social mobility of this layer was significant because kings in Central and Eastern Europe raised crowds of
commoners to the nobility to counterbalance the political power of the barons. It was a contradictory position; on
the one hand because of familiarity they depended on the barons, but on the other hand they were interested in
centralising royal power to defend them from the barons. The self-governing nobiliary counties were the
organisations for the protection of their interests.
Burghers were townspeople, rich enough to buy property in the town (land, house or workshop). The majority
of patricians were of German origin. Burghers as an estate were very weak in Hungary, they did not demand a
say in politics, and they concentrated on their economic interests.
By the 15 century the meetings of parliament, where all the estates could take part, became regular. There
were 3 (or 4) estates in Hungary: barons / church leaders, lower nobility, and royal free cities. During the period
of the Anjou kings, limited monarchy was in the making in Hungary.
Economic boom
The reign of the Anjou kings can be considered as the first century of the High Middle Ages in Hungary. In
agriculture production for the market became widespread, which resulted in the development of towns. Selfsufficiency was replaced by the peasants' surplus production, which they sold at the market. The landlords
started to demand the rent in cash instead of a proportion of the crop.
Furthermore, the manorial lands were also distributed among the serfs, so that the landlords could collect
more and more rent. These changes in agricultural production led to the differentiation of the serfdom - some
became wealthy peasants - but others became cottars (peasants without lands). Crafts and trade could also
develop quickly in Hungary.

85

Development of towns
With the production of agricultural surplus, there was a need for marketplaces to develop. That is how towns
came into being: along important roads, at river crossings, near mines, near castles and religious centres. We
can distinguish three subtypes of towns in Hungary depending on whose land it could be found and what type of
privileges it had.

Market towns marked a transition between village and town, it usually came into being because real
towns were too far and smaller local market places were necessary to develop. They were founded on
the lands of nobles so they were under the control of the landlords and the inhabitants were mostly
peasants who did agricultural production. Privileges: they could hold markets regularly, they paid the rent
to the landlords in one sum, and they could choose village mayors/judges (e.g. Debrecen, Temesvr).

Merchant towns were free royal cities. Bla IV started the royal policy of town development in Hungary.
Later on kings consciously founded and supported towns as the taxes of towns meant an increase in
royal income. Inhabitants were burghers, merchants and artisans who started to organise guilds in the
14th century. Privileges: they could hold markets and had staple right, they were customs free places,
could elect the mayor and the members of the town communes freely and they were under royal
jurisdiction, not under the control of the landlords (e.g. Buda, Kassa, Eperjes, Brtfa, Pozsony, Sopron,
and Nagyszombat).

Mining towns were privileged royal towns. One of the most abundant sources of royal income was the
gold and silver mines. The inhabitants of mining towns were mainly miners and craftsmen (e.g.:
Krmcbnya, Nagybnya, Selmecbnya, Besztercebnya).

Hierarchy of settlements
Culture
A cultural boom witnessed the fact that the Hungary of the Anjous flourished, while Western Europe was deep
in crisis (14th century crisis). Louis had a splendid royal palace built at Buda. He also had the castle of Disgyr
built; Louis founded the country's first university in Pcs.

86

50. The Formation of the Limited Monarchy under Sigismund

Struggle for the throne
In 1382 Louis the Great died without a male heir. Years of chaos followed, as the baronial leagues presented
some pretenders. Finally Mary, a daughter of Luis and his fianc Sigismund managed to end the anarchy. In
1387 Sigismund (1387-1437) was elected and crowned King of Hungary, with the help of a baronial league. A
baronial league was a new form of order, an alliance of barons for a common political purpose, usually
confirmed by marriage.
Sigismund's supporters helped him to power not for selfless reasons. He had to distribute significant part of
the royal property among them and also promised the barons to govern Hungary with their active participation.
So, it took some time for him to restore the authority of royal administration again.
He tried to end the influence of the barons: e.g. he gave the most important offices to lesser nobles, or
foreigners, loyal to him. He also supported the lesser nobles with the decrees of the 1397 parliament.

According to these decrees the lands granted under threat of force could be withdrawn by the king.

Lesser nobles could take part in the parliament in arms and they could collect taxes in their own counties.

Beginnings of the limited monarchy in Hungary

With his several measures, Sigismund helped to cement the estates in Hungary. Barons basically kept their
influence but could not take part in everyday politics. Main offices were given without a fief and high officials had
no fiefs, they got salary. The advisors of the king were chosen mostly form the king's foreign supporters who
could be even commoners and they received land but not salary. In 1397 he summoned a parliamentary
meeting where the new decrees gave more power to the lesser nobles (see above). In 1405 the representatives
of towns were invited to a nationwide assembly, which marks the beginning of the estate monarchy in Hungary.
The decrees of the king helped the growth and development of
towns. Buda, Kassa, Sopron, Nagyszombat, Pozsony and some
more towns received privileges, but the majority of towns remained
away from the main trade routes. The right of jurisdiction was also
widened in towns (they came under royal jurisdiction). In the Royal
Council he relied more and more on the work of trained officials, so
the most important decisions were made without the barons.
Sigismund was the first monarch in Hungary to appreciate the
advantages of working with parliament.

Turkish expansion
In 1354 the Turks stepped onto European soil and within a few decades subjugated Bulgaria, Albania, Serbia,
Bosnia and the Romanian Principalities. In 1389 in the first Battle at Kosovopolje (Rigmez) the Serbs suffered
a crushing defeat and the Turks were pushing against Hungary's southern borders. In 1396 in the Battle of
Nicopolis (Nikpoly) Sigismund led an international army of Western European knights against the Turks. The
crusaders gathered at the papal call, but the better organised Turkish army defeated the army of proud knights.
Sigismund changed his strategy against the Turks: he set up three lines of defence, which proved so effective,
that they held against the Turks for over a century.

87

Hungary's vassal states in the Balkans (Bosnia, Serbia, Moldavia, Wallachia) got assistance from
Hungary in their fight against the Turks.

New territorial and military units, the so-called 'Bnsg' were set up in the south. The bn was the official
responsible for the defence in the 'Bnsg'.

A defence line of border fortresses was set up along the Lower Danube (e.g. Belgrade was bought from
the Serbs at that time).

Hungarian military was also reformed. To compensate for the lack of light cavarly, a law ordered every
noblemen to raise one horse archer after 20 (later 33) mansions of serfs. This law assured a large, but
low quality force.

Western orientation
In the second half of his reign, Sigismund spent ever less time in Hungary as in 1410 he was elected King of
Germany. In 1419 he was elected King of Bohemia. In 1433 he was elected Holy Roman Emperor.
Preoccupied by important European affairs, he couldn't keep strong control over the barons. From 1414 to 1418,
he presided over the council of Constance, where Jan Hus was condemned then in 1419 the uprising in
Prague broke out, which was followed by the Hussite wars.
Peasant revolt in Transylvania
As production for the market became more and more widespread, the landlords increasingly demanded the
rent in cash. It was very difficult for the peasants to pay, especially on the edges of the country, e.g. in
Transylvania. Hussite ideas also spread here quickly.
The Transylvanian bishop Gyrgy Lpes demanded that the tithe be paid in one sum even for the previous
years, that's why the peasant revolt broke out in 1437 in Transylvania. Budai Nagy Antal, a lesser noble, took
the leader-ship of the peasants. The peasant army was first victorious, as a result the Compromise of
Kolozsmonostor was concluded: the serfs won the right to move freely and the tax and the tithe was reduced.
As a response, in September 1437 the Union of Kpolna was made with the participation of the three
estates (and three nations) of Transylvania - Hungarian nobles, Szkely (Sekler) heads of clans and Saxon
burghers. It was actually an alliance of the three estates against enemies outside and inside, and for centuries it
remained the basis of the political organisation of the limited monarchy in Transylvania. Finally the peasants
were disarmed and defeated at Kolozsvr. In 1437 Sigismund died without an heir and according to his will
Albert of Habsburg became king of Hungary (1437-39).

88

51. Struggle against the Turks - Jnos Hunyadi

The problem of succession
Albert was elected and crowned by the estates. In return, he was forced to promise that he would stop
foreigners in offices of Hungary, stop the taxation of the Church and abandon Sigismund's innovations. Suddenly
however, he died of dysentery in a military camp. Albert's death caused a succession crisis. Two parties were
formed.

The Habsburg or court party: they supported Sigismund's grandson, Ladislas V (Posthumous) who was
born two months after Albert's death. Ladislas was crowned officially in 1440.

The National party formed basically by county nobility. They invited Wladyslaw Jagiello from Poland
(Ulszl I in Hungary). He was also crowned, which showed the estates had influence over the crown.
This coronation meant the second Polish-Hungarian personal union. This situation split the country into
two parts: the western part supported Ladislas and the eastern Wladyslaw. Finally Wladyslaw managed
to strengthen his power greatly due to Mikls jlaki and Jnos Hunyadi.

Hunyadi's origins
Jnos Hunyadi was born in a Wallachian
family. His father received his first estate in
Hungary from Sigismund in 1409: the
manor of Hunyadvr (Vajdahunyad) was
given to him. Jnos was educated in the
household

of

the

Bishop

of

Zagreb,

Chancellor of the country and in various

courts e.g. at the court of the Duke of
Milan. He became a court knight of
Sigismund, and took part in the Synod of
Constance and in the imperial coronation in
Rome. In 1439 he became Ban of Szrny.
Wladyslaw

made

him

Voevode

of

Transylvania, and comes/bailiff (ispn) of several counties. He also received the salt monopoly, he was the
Captain of Belgrade and he was in charge of the southern line of defence.

Hunyadi, the military leader

He got a great military experience: he accompanied Sigismund to the Hussite war and learnt the Hussites'
tactics. He was a captain of mercenaries in Italy. As a Hungarian nobleman he was familiar with traditional
cavalry tactics. Hunyadi based his army on his own banderium, mercenaries, runaway Hussite soldiers and the
insurrection of the nobility. His basic aim was to stop the Turks. In 1441 he raided Serbia and defeated the Bey
of Szendr (Smerdevo). In 1442 he smashed the Turks in Southern Transylvania and led the first successful
campaign against the Turks. In 1443-44 the 'Long Campaign' - or the Winter Campaign: The Hungarian army
led by Wladyslaw and Hunyadi marched triumphantly as south as Sofia while a Christian coalition was formed to
lead a crusade to liberate the Balkans. The Sultan, Murad II asked for peace and in June 1444 a peace treaty
89

was signed in Drinapoly. The Turks were ready to give up the Lower Danube, Wallachia, the border fortresses
and Serbia. However, the Papal legate, Cesarius absolved Wladyslas from his promise to an infidel and forced
the attack. Finally Wladyslaw led his army against the Turks taking no notice of Hunyadi's advice and suffered a
devastating defeat in 1444 at the Battle of Vrna. He lost 1/5 of the army and he himself died on the battlefield.
Hunyadi - the politician
After the death of the king Hungary was threatened by two enemies: Frederick III the Holy Roman Emperor
and the Turks, who sought revenge for the breach of peace. Seeing the situation the Hungarian barons called a
diet and in 1445 they elected Seven Captains to rule the country. The young king was accepted only after he
came of age; until that time the estates finally decided to commission Hunyadi to run the affairs of the country.
Hunyadi became Governor of Hungary (1446-53). He started to put his programme into practice:

To stop feudal anarchy he reduced the power of the barons - their offices were decided upon by the
estates. He restored the power of the estates, returned illegally confiscated lands, and restored the unity
of counties and collected royal revenues. So, he consolidated the kingdom and remained loyal to
Ladislas V.

In his struggle against the Turks he led successful campaigns into the Balkans (earning the nickname
'the Turk Beater') but in 1448 in the 2nd Battle of Kosovopolje he suffered a crucial defeat as a result of
the treason of George Barankovic, the Serbian prince, who had agreed to join forces with Hunyadi but he
didn't arrive in the battle.

In 1453 Ladislas V returned to Hungary. Hunyadi received compensation - he administered the royal revenue,
became Captain General of Hungary and the Count of Beszterce - it was the first aristocratic title in Hungary.
However, at the same time he became more isolated.

The new Turkish threat

In 1453 Constantinople was conquered by the Turks led by Mehmed II. The sultan soon captured Serbia
and in 1456 he reached Belgrade. There he met Hunyadi's army and the insurrection of southern commoners
led by Giovanni Capistrano, a Franciscan monk from Italy. The final strike hit the fortress on July 22, but the
Turks had to retreat largely thank to the heroism of the defenders. Thus Hunyadi secured the southern defence
and warded off further expansion of the Ottoman Empire.
However, he died of the plague that broke out in the military camp under Belgrade. Due to the expert
leadership of Jnos Hunyadi and the enthusiasm of Capistrano, it was a Hungarian victory at Belgrade in 1456.
On papal order church bells have tolled every noon since then commemorating Christian victory over the Muslim
Turks and the heroism of Hungarian soldiers.

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52. The First Phase of Mtys Reign - The limited monarchy (1458-71)
Origin of Mtys
He was born in Kolozsvr in 1443 as the second son of Jnos Hunyadi and Erzsbet Szilgyi. He received a
humanist education; his tutor was Jnos Vitz. Mtys received a good education in politics, diplomacy,
economic studies, military practices and languages.
He was enthroned near Pest on 24th January 1458. In spring 1459 Frederick attacked Hungary but due to
Mtys' diplomacy the invaders were defeated and 1463 a peace treaty was signed. For 80,000 forints the Holy
Crown was returned /it had been stolen years before and Frederick owned it/ and in 1464 Mtys was crowned.
Nevertheless, a dynastic treaty was also the price for giving back the Holy Crown. They agreed that Frederick or
his successors would inherit the throne if Mtys died without an heir.
Mtys established a strong centralized monarchy based on professional officials, a professional army and
a broad taxing power.

Government reforms

He ignored the Royal Council as an advisory body The Chancellery became the main institution of
administration but Mtys mostly relied on the secret or minor chancellery.

Steps were taken towards the standardisation of law codes. He reorganized jurisdiction. The Court
Tribunal was presided over by the king himself and thus he took the role of the palatine and the main
judge.

The authority of royal courts was extended

and he tried to suppress corruption. For his
attempt he was awarded the byname
'Mtys the Just'. Diets were quite frequent
with a greater role for the nobles, though
their task was basically to vote taxation.

He applied professional officials from among

even lesser nobility and commoners (e.g.
Thomas Bakcz, a prelate of serf origins).

91

Financal reforms

The revenues of the crown were hardly enough for the

defence of the country so Mtys started a financial reform:
the main income was the so-called subsidy (rendkvli
hadiad), a special war tax (1 forint).

Exemptions from ordinary revenues were abolished, noblemen

living on serf estates had to pay taxes. Revenues were
administered by a Jewish merchant, Jnos Ernuszt, who
converted to Christianity.

A new taxation of serfs was introduced: they paid taxes not by

estates 'kapuad' but by households, the so-called smokemoney' (fstpnz). In return Mtys confirmed the right of free
movement and forbade unjust taxation.

Military reform

Mtys established a powerful, reliable and disciplined standing army of mercenaries - the Black Army.
Thus the king was no longer dependent on the banderia of barons. He started to build his army from the
ex-Hussites whom he pacified in Northern Hungary in 1462. It was a multiethnic army combining
different types of warfare (heavy cavalry, infantry, Hussite war-wagons and artillery).

He also established a navy on the Danube.

Foreign affairs

Throughout his reign, Mtys was almost constantly at war with the Ottoman Empire, Mtys's basic
principle was active defence. Not only to beat Ottoman attacks but to break into Ottoman territories and
to take strategic points. He strengthened the fortresses in the south and made the local lords help in the
defence. By 1459 Mehmed II completed the conquest of Serbia and in 1463 he overran Bosnia. Mtys
agreed on mutual aid with Venice and took Jajca, the most important castle in Bosnia. Mtys made up
an effective line of defence in Bosnia and in 1464 he took Srebrenik. After establishing the second
defence line of border fortresses there was no major conflict until the middle of the 1470s.

Mtys started a crusade against his former father-in-law because of his Hussite religion. Mtys was
not supported in his attempts by the pope and Venice as they expected him to fight against the Turks.
Although Bohemian Catholic nobles elected Mtys King of Bohemia, the Holy Roman Emperor, the
Habsburgs and the Jagellos wanted Wladyslaw so after George Podebrad's death Wladyslaw became
king of Bohemia.

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53. The Second Phase of Mtys' Reign - An absolutist attempt (1471-90)

Internal policy
1471 marks a turning point in Mtys's reign. By this time he had carried out the majority of his reforms and
they caused serious discontent in many layers of society.

The barons were pushed out of power, the nobles often felt they were tools in the king's hands. In 1471
Jnos Vitz and Janus Pannonius plotted against Mtys. They intended to replace him with Polish King
Casimir but by the time he invaded Hungary Mtys had stifled the movement by returning from
Bohemia.

From 1471 Mtys started a new way of governing: he hardly summoned the Diet, and instead ruled by
royal decrees. He brought all royal institutions under his personal control thus establishing absolutism
for the rest of his reign. He relied on the taxes of the serfs and the support of the nobility (not of the
burghers) and the whole process depended rather on his per-sonality than on the conditions of 15th
century Hungary. This is one of the reasons why the system of absolutism collapsed after Mtys's
death.

Foreign affairs

In 1474 the Turks attacked Moldavia, Mtys had to react and in 1476 he took Sabac, a stronghold on
the Lower Danube. In 1479 Mehmed II led his last campaign, which culminated in the Battle of
Kenyrmez where the Turks were beaten by Pl Kinizsi and Stephen Bthory, the Voevode (vajda) of
Transylvania. 1480-81 saw two more successful campaigns but in 1481 the new sultan Bajazid II came
to power and in 1483 he signed a peace treaty of 5 years. Having established peace in the southern
borders Mtys turned to western politics. His aim was to establish a strong 'Danube Empire' to stop the
Turkish expansion. To achieve this goal he wanted to unite the region and be Holy Roman Emperor.

After he had to accept Wladyslaw as king of Bohemia Mtys and Wladyslaw signed a peace treaty and
in 1478 Moravia and Silesia came under Mtys's control while Wladyslaw kept Bohemia. This seemed
to secure peace in the region for a longer period.

With marrying Beatrice, princess of Naples (the daughter of Ferdinand of Aragon), Mtys received a
new, influential ally in Italy and he seemed to have enough power to achieve his aim, the Imperial
Crown. He made diplomatic moves but in 1482 he declared war on the Habsburg Emperor. In 1485 he
occupied Vienna and by 1487 he had taken Styria and Lower Austria. Mtys took the title Duke of
Austria and moved his centre of government to Vienna. The German electors, however, chose
Frederick's son, Maximilian as King of Rome (heir of the Holy Roman Emperor).

The question of succession

Mtys lacked one condition of establishing a dynasty: a legitimate heir. Although he tried to secure the
throne for his natural son John Corvin, born in 1473, the question of succession was not settled. Beatrice had no
children and John was rather unlikely to be accepted by the barons and the Habsburgs. Mtys died in Vienna
on 6th of April 1490.

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Evaluation of Mtys's reign

It is still a question of heated debates. Some say that by the l480s Mtys had established the strongest state
in the region, with settled internal situation, strong royal power and economic development. He led successful
campaigns against the Turks and in the West and helped the development of Renaissance culture in Hungary.
Others blame him for his active western orientation and negligence in the face of the Turkish danger. However,
some historians believe that his western orientation resulted from his desire to establish a strong 'Danube
Empire' that could represent an appropriate counterbalance to the Ottoman Empire. Mtys came to see that
Hungary on its own was no match for the growing power of the Turks however rich and strong he had made the
country. It is a fact that by introducing basic reforms in the country, Mtys made Hungary one of the strongest
and richest feudal kingdoms in Renaissance Europe.

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54. The Fall of the Feudal Kingdom

The problem of succession
With the death of Mtys, his centralised administration soon felt apart, giving the opportunity to the barons
to take control of the country. As Mtys died without a legitimate successor, the struggle for the throne started
soon. There were three pretenders:

John Corvinus was Mtys's natural son. He proved to be a good soldier and organiser in the south but
was less talented as a politician. Politically he was not a good choice.

Maximilian Habsburg claimed the Hungarian throne on the basis of the dynastic treaty of 1463. He had
the strongest claim and he could have given efficient help against the Turks.

Wladyslaw Jagiello was invited by the estates. He was king of Bohemia and the pretender to the Polish
throne and the ideal candidate for the estates, a king 'whose braids they could hold in their hands'.

Wladyslaw Jagiello secured the throne by giving Corvin the title Duke of Slavonia and beating off Maximilian
with the help of the Black Army. The army however remained unpaid: they started to pillage the countryside and
finally the army was dissolved by Kinizsi in 1492. Banderia returned securing influence for the barons and lords.
Wladyslaw's reign
Wladyslaw was crowned Hungarian king. He was powerless, a foreigner, lacking any will to centralise royal
power. No wonder, his reign was a period of anarchy under the limited monarchy in Hungary. The parliament
was the stage for the controversies of the barons and nobles. The barons aimed at gaining profitable royal
offices with the help of which they had ever-growing influence in politics. Lesser nobles tried to counterbalance
the growing power of the nobles with their great number at the parliament. His reign was not significant as he
was totally under the influence of the magnates, but three events under his reign are worth mentioning.

In 1505 the Hungarian estates (gathered in the meadow of Rkos) passed the declared Decree of
Rkos according to which in case of the king's death without an heir only a national king was to be
elected.

In reaction, in 1506 Wladyslaw and Maximilin signed an inheritance treaty. It was a dynastic
agreement: Wladyslaw's daughter (Anna) should marry Maximilian's grandson (Ferdinand) and
Wladyslaw's son (Louis) should marry Maximilian's granddaughter (Mary) (they got married in 1515) to
make either couple capable of inheriting the throne.

Stephen Werbczy compiled a book of Hungarian law, the Tripartitum. Werbczy was a lesser noble
who became a senior judge and who owed his initial advancement to King Mtys. His law code was a
fundamental text of Hungarian jurisdiction for centuries.

Wladyslaw's reign was a peaceful period on the surface; the Ottomans concluded peace after some failed
attempts. The changes began in 1512 when Bayezid II was deposed by his son, Selim I. Under Wladyslaw
Hungary lost only Srebrenik. In fact, Hungary was ruled by the barons who took over the control of Mtys's
institutions and the decisions of the royal council were never questioned by the king. (He said 'Dobre' - "very
well" to everything) Especially great power was accumulated by Tams Bakcz, the Archbishop of Esztergom
and Chancellor. Another outstanding personality of the time was Jnos Szapolyai, Voevode of Transylvania.

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The Battle of Mohcs

The loss of Belgrade in 1521 caused great alarm in Hungary, but the too-late and too-slowly-recruited
60,000 strong royal army led by the king - forgot to take food along, so therefore the army disbanded
spontaneously under the pressure of hunger and disease without even trying to recapture Belgrade, the
Southern key of Hungary, from the newly installed Turkish garrisons. In 1523, Archbishop Pl Tomori, a valiant
priest-soldier was made Captain of Southern Hungary. The general apathy that had characterized the country
forced him to lean on his own bishopric revenues when he started to repair and reinforce the second line of
Hungarys border defense system.

Three years later, an Ottoman army set out from Constantinople on April 16, 1526, led by Suleiman the
Magnificent personally. Hungary had an expensive but obsolete army, mostly reliant on old fashioned heavily
armoured knights on armoured horseback. The Ottoman army at the time was one of the most modern and
professional armies in Europe, reliant on disciplined firearm equipped infantry and artillery.

The Hungarian forces chose the battlefield, an open but uneven plain with some swampy marshes
near Mohcs leading down to the Danube. The Ottomans had been allowed to advance almost unopposed. As
the first of Suleiman's troops, the Rumelian army, advanced onto the battlefield, they were attacked and routed
by Hungarian troops led by Pl Tomori.
This attack by the Hungarian right was successful in causing considerable chaos among the irregular
Ottoman troops. While the Hungarian right advanced far enough the Ottoman regulars and the Janissaries, the
elite troops of the Ottomans, overwhelmed the attackers, particularly on the Hungarian left. The Hungarians took
serious casualties from the skillfully handled Turkish artillery. The Hungarians could not hold their positions, and
those who did not flee were surrounded and killed or captured. The result was a disaster. The king left the
battlefield sometime around twilight but was thrown from his horse in a river at Csele and died, weighed down by
his heavy armor. Some 1,000 other Hungarian nobles and leaders were also killed. It is generally accepted that
more than 14,000 Hungarian soldiers were killed in the initial battle.
The victory did not give the Ottomans the security they wanted. Though they entered the unguarded
evacuated Buda and pillaged the castle and surroundings, they retreated soon afterwards. It was not until 1541
that the Ottomans finally captured and occupied Buda. However, to all intents and purposes, the Battle of
Mohcs meant the end of the independent Kingdom of Hungary as a unified entity.

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THE EARLY MODERN AGE

55. Reformation
Causes of the Reformation
By 1500, many forces weakened the Church:

The printing press spread these secular ideas.

Some rulers began to challenge the Churchs political power.

Northern merchants resented paying church taxes to Rome.

The popes who ruled during the Renaissance patronized the arts, spent extravagantly on personal
pleasure, and fought wars. Pope Alexander VI, for example, admitted that he had fathered several
children.

Many priests and monks were so poorly educated that they could scarcely read, let alone teach people.
Others broke their priestly vows by marrying, and some drank to excess or gambled.

Luther and the beginning the Reformation

Martin was a monk and teacher at the University of Wittenberg in the German state of Saxony. In 1517,
Luther decided to take a public stand against raising money to rebuild St. Peters Cathedral in Rome by selling
indulgences. An indulgence was a pardon. It released a sinner from performing the penalty that a priest
imposed for sins. In response, he wrote 95 Theses, or formal statements, attacking the pardon-merchants. On
October 31, 1517, he posted these statements on the door of the castle church in Wittenberg and invited other
scholars to debate him. Someone copied Luthers words and took them to a printer. Quickly, Luthers name
became known all over Germany. His actions began the Reformation, a movement for religious reform. It led to
the founding of Christian churches that did not accept the popes authority.
His teachings rested on three main ideas:

People could win salvation only by faith in Gods gift of forgiveness. (The Church taught that faith and
good works were needed for salvation.)

All Church teachings should be clearly based on the words of the Bible. Both the pope and Church
traditions were false authorities.

All people with faith were equal. Therefore, people did not need priests to interpret the Bible for them.

Luther was astonished at how rapidly his ideas spread and attracted followers. In 1520, Pope Leo X issued a
decree threatening Luther with excommunication unless he took back his statements. Luther did not take back a
word and Leo excommunicated Luther. Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, a devout Catholic, also opposed
Luthers teaching. However, Prince Frederick the Wise of Saxony disobeyed the emperor. For almost a year he
sheltered Luther in one of his castles. While there, Luther translated the New Testament into German. Luther
returned to Wittenberg in 1522 where he and his followers established a separate religious group, called
Lutherans.

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Germany at War
Many northern German princes supported Lutheranism because they saw his teachings as a good
excuse to seize Church property and to assert their independence from Charles V. In 1529, German princes who
remained loyal to the pope agreed to join forces against Luthers ideas. Those princes who supported Luther
signed a protest against that agreement. These protesting princes came to be known as Protestants. Eventually,
the term Protestant was applied to Christians who belonged to non-Catholic churches. Charles V went to war
against the Protestant princes. In 1555, the princes agreed that each ruler would decide the religion of his state.
This famous religious settlement was known as the Peace of Augsburg.

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56. Spread of the Reformation

Calvin Continues the Reformation

In 1536, Calvin published Institutes of the Christian Religion. This book expressed ideas about God,
salvation, and human nature. It was a summary of Protestant theology, or religious beliefs:

men and women are sinful by nature.

God chooses a very few people to save. Calvin called these few the elect.

God has known since the beginning of time who will be saved. This doctrine is called predestination.

The religion based on Calvins teachings is Calvinism.

Calvin believed that the ideal government was a theocracy, a government controlled by religious leaders. In
1541, Protestants in Geneva, Switzerland, asked Calvin to lead their city. When Calvin arrived there in the
1540s, Geneva was a self-governing city of about 20,000 people. He and his followers ran the city according to
strict rules. Everyone attended religion class. No one wore bright clothing or played card games. Authorities
would imprison, excommunicate, or banish those who broke such rules. Anyone who preached different
doctrines might be burned at the stake. Yet, to many Protestants, Calvins Geneva was a model city of highly
moral citizens.
A Scottish preacher named John Knox put Calvins ideas to work in Scotland in 1559. Each community
church was governed by a group of laymen called elders or presbyters. Followers of Knox became known as
Presbyterians.

Elsewhere, Dutch, and French reformers adopted the Calvinist form of church organization. In France,
Calvins followers were called Huguenots. Hatred between Catholics and Huguenots frequently led to violence.
The most violent clash occurred in Paris on August 24, 1572the Catholic feast of St. Bartholomews Day. At
dawn, Catholic mobs began hunting for Protestants and murdering them. The massacres spread to other cities
and lasted six months. Scholars believe that as many as 12,000 Huguenots were killed.
The Anabaptists
Protestants taught that the Bible is the source of all religious truth and that people should read it to discover
those truths. A protestant group baptized only those persons who were old enough to decide to be Christian.
They said that persons who had been baptized as children should be rebaptized as adults. These believers were
called Anabaptists, from a Greek word meaning baptize again. They shared their possessions. Viewing
Anabaptists as radicals who threatened society, both Catholics and Protestants persecuted them.

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Reformation in England
The English Reformation was rooted in politics, not religion. King Henry VIII wanted to divorce his first wife,
Catherine of Aragon, with whom he had a daughter, Mary, but no son. Since he needed a male heir, Henry
wanted to marry Anne Boleyn. Impatient with the popes unwillingness to annul (declare invalid) his marriage to
Catherine, Henry turned to Englands own church courts. As the archbishop of Canterbury, head of the highest
church court in England, ruled in May 1533 that the kings marriage to Catherine was null and absolutely void.
At the beginning of June, Anne was crowned queen. Three months later a child was born. Much to the kings
disappointment, the baby was a girl. She would later become Queen Elizabeth I. In 1534, at Henrys request,
Parliament moved to finalize the break of the Catholic Church in England with the pope in Rome. The Act of
Supremacy of 1534 declared that the king was the only supreme head on earth of the [new] Church of
England.
This position gave the king control over religious doctrine, clerical appointments, and discipline. Henry used
his new powers to dissolve the monasteries and sell their land and possessions to wealthy landowners and
merchants. The king received a great boost to his treasury and a group of supporters who now had a stake in
the new order. In matters of doctrine, however, Henry remained close to Catholic teachings.
Summary
Protestantism is a branch of Christianity. It developed out of the Reformation, the 16th-century protest in
Europe against beliefs and practices of the Catholic Church. Three distinct branches of protestantism emerged
at first. They were Lutheranism, based on the teachings of Martin Luther in Germany; Calvinism, based on the
teachings of John Calvin in Switzerland; and Anglicanism, which was established by King Henry VIII in England.
Protestantism spread throughout Europe in the 16th century, and later, the world. As differences in beliefs
developed, new denominations formed.

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57. The Catholic Reformation

While Protestant churches won many followers, millions remained true to Catholicism. Helping Catholics to
remain loyal was a movement within the Catholic Church to reform itself. This movement is now known as the
Catholic Reformation. Historians once referred to it as the Counter Reformation.

Ignatius of Loyola
In 1540, the pope created a religious order established by Ignatius of Lolyola and his followers called the
Society of Jesus. Members were called Jesuits. The Jesuits focused on three activities.

First, they founded schools throughout Europe. Jesuit teachers were well-trained in both classical studies
and theology.

The Jesuits second mission was to convert non-Christians to Catholicism. So they sent out missionaries
around the world.

Their third goal was to stop the spread of Protestantism. The aim of the Jesuits overcame the drift toward
Protestantism in Poland and southern Germany.

Reforms in the Church

From 1545 to 1563, at the Council of Trent, Catholic bishops and cardinals agreed on several doctrines:

The Churchs interpretation of the Bible was final. Any Christian who substituted his or her own
interpretation was a heretic.

Christians needed faith and good works for salvation. They were not saved by faith alone, as Luther
argued.

The Bible and Church tradition were equally powerful authorities for guiding Christian life.

Indulgences were valid expressions of faith. But the false selling of indulgences was banned.

Inquisition was to seek out heresy in papal territory

Listing books considered dangerous to the Catholic faith. This list was known as the Index of Forbidden
Books. Catholic bishops throughout Europe were ordered to gather up the offensive books (including
Protestant Bibles) and burn them in bonfires.

Religious and Social Effects of the Reformation

Despite religious wars Protestant churches flourished and the Roman Catholic Church itself became
more unified as a result of the reforms started at the Council of Trent. Both Catholics and protestants gave more
emphasis to the role of education in promoting their beliefs. This led to the founding of parish schools and new
colleges and universities throughout Europe.
The popularity and success of the Baroque - a new artistic style - was encouraged by the Roman
Catholic Church which had decided at the time of the Council of Trent, in response to the Protestant
Reformation, that the arts should communicate religious themes in direct and emotional involvement. The
aristocracy also saw the dramatic style of Baroque architecture and art as a means of impressing visitors and
expressing triumphant power and control.

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58. Europeans Explore the East and the West

Causes of the Explorations
The desire for new sources of wealth was the main reason for European exploration. Through overseas
exploration, merchants and traders hoped ultimately to benefit from what had become a profitable business in
Europe: the trade of spices and other luxury goods from Asia. The Muslims and the Italians controlled the trade
of goods from East to West. Other European traders did not like this arrangement. Paying such high prices to
the Italians severely cut into their own profits. By the 1400s, European merchants sought a sea route directly to
Asia.
The desire to spread Christianity also motivated Europeans to explore. European countries believed
that they had a sacred duty not only to continue fighting Muslims, but also to convert non-Christians throughout
the world.
In the 1400s, shipbuilders designed a new vessel, the caravel. The caravel was sturdier than earlier
vessels. In addition, triangular sails adopted from the Arabs allowed it to sail effectively against the wind.
Europeans also improved their navigational techniques. Using the astrolabe, a captain could calculate latitude,
or how far north or south of the equator the ship was. Explorers were also able to more accurately track direction
by using a magnetic compass, a Chinese invention.

Portuguese Sailors Reach Asia

In 1497, Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama began exploring the east African coast. In 498, he
reached the port of Calicut, on the southwestern coast of India. The Portuguese sailors filled their ships with
such spices as pepper and cinnamon and returned to Portugal in 1499. Their cargo was worth 60 times the cost
of the voyage. Da Gamas remarkable voyage of 27,000 miles had given Portugal a direct sea route to India.
Spain discovers America
As the Portuguese were establishing trading posts along the west coast of Africa, Spain watched with
increasing envy. The Spanish monarchs also desired a direct sea route to Asia. In 1492, an Italian sea captain,
Christopher Columbus, convinced Spain to finance his plan to find a route to Asia by sailing west across the
Atlantic Ocean. In October of that year, Columbus reached an island in the Caribbean. He was mistaken in his
thought that he had reached the East Indies.

The rivalry between Spain and Portugal

In 1493, the Pope suggested an imaginary dividing line, drawn north to south, through the Atlantic Ocean. All
lands to the west of the line, known as the Line of Demarcation, would be Spains. These lands included most of
the Americas. All lands to the east of the line would belong to Portugal. In 1494, Spain and Portugal signed the
Treaty of Tordesillas, in which they agreed to honor the line.
The era of exploration and colonization was about to transform the discovered territories into colonies, or
lands that are controlled by another nation. Over the next two centuries, many European explorers began sailing
across the Atlantic in search of new lands to claim.

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Magellan sails around the Globe

In 1519, Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan, with about 250 men and five ships, sailed around the
southern end of South America and into the waters of the Pacific. The fleet sailed for months without seeing
land, except for some small islands. Food supplies soon ran out. Magellan and his crew eventually reached the
Philippines. Unfortunately, Magellan became involved in a local war there and was killed. His crew, greatly
reduced by disease and starvation, continued sailing west toward home. Out of Magellans original crew, only 18
men and one ship arrived back in Spain in 1522, nearly three years after they had left. They were the first who
sailed around the world.
Spanish Conquest of America
Spanish explorers, known as conquistadors (conquerors), were lured by rumors of vast lands filled with
gold and silver. They carved out colonies in regions that would become Mexico, South America, and the United
States.
Hernando Corts conquered the vast and wealthy Aztec Empire in Central Americas interior. Franciso
Pizarro intruded into Peru and soon he took control over the vast native empire. Several factors played a key
role in the stunning victory.

The Spanish had the advantage of weaponry. Aztec arrows were no match for the Spaniards muskets
and cannons.

The natives could not stop the invisible warrior that marched alongside the Spaniardsdisease.
Measles, mumps, smallpox, and typhus were just some of the diseases Europeans were to bring with
them to the Americas. Native Americans had never been exposed to these diseases. Thus, they had
developed no natural immunity to them. As a result, they died by the hundreds of thousands.

Life in the Americas after the conquests

The European monarchs declared Native Americans to be their subjects. They granted the right to the
landowners to use Native Americans as laborers. Native Americans were put to work on sugar plantations
and

in

the gold

and

silver mines. Few Spanish settlers worried about protecting them. Forced labor,

starvation, and especially disease took a fearful toll on Native American lives. With little natural resistance to
European diseases, the native peoples were ravaged by smallpox, measles, and typhus. Many of them died.
Hispaniola, for example, had a population of 250,000 when Columbus arrived.

By 1538, only 500 Native

Americans had survived. In Mexico, the population dropped from 25 million in 1500 to 1 million in 1630.
In the early years of the conquest, Catholic monks converted and baptized hundreds of thousands of
Native Americans. With the arrival of the missionaries came parishes, schools, and hospitalsall the trappings
of a European society.

Native American social and political structures were torn apart and replaced by

European systems of religion, language, culture, and government. As the Spanish and Native Americans
married and had families, they created a new people with roots in both cultures.
Plantations, or large agricultural estates, were established in the 1500s along the coast of Brazil and on
Caribbean islands to grow sugarcane. Growing cane sugar demands much labor. The small Native American
population, much of which had died of diseases imported from Europe, could not provide the labor needed.
Thus, enslaved Africans were shipped to Brazil and the Caribbean to work on plantations.
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59. Global trade

The colonization of the Americas dramatically changed the world. It prompted both voluntary and forced
migration of millions of people. Colonization resulted in the exchange of new items that greatly influenced the
lives of people throughout the world. The new wealth from the Americas resulted in new business and trade
practices in Europe.
The global transfer of foods, plants, and animals during the colonization of the Americas is known as the
Columbian Exchange. Ships from the Americas brought back a wide array of items that Europeans, Asians,
and Africans had never before seen. They included such plants as tomatoes, pumpkin, pineapples, tobacco, and
cacao beans (for chocolate). And they included animals such as the turkey, which became a source of food in
the Eastern Hemisphere. The most important items to travel from the Americas to the rest of the world were
corn and potatoes. Both were inexpensive to grow and nutritious. These foods helped people live longer. Thus
they played a significant role in boosting the worlds population.
The Early Capitalism
The establishment of colonial empires in the Americas influenced the nations of Europe in other ways. New
wealth from the Americas was coupled with a dramatic growth in overseas trade. The two factors together
prompted a wave of new business and trade practices in Europe during the 16th and 17th centuries.
One aspect of the European economic revolution was the growth of capitalism. Capitalism is an economic
system based on private ownership and the investment of resources, such as money, for profit. Due to overseas
colonization and trade, numerous merchants had gathered great wealth. Profits from these investments enabled
merchants and traders to reinvest even more money in other enterprises.
Demand for both agricultural and industrial goods was increased significantly. It was impossible to fulfil the
increased demands within the limits of guilds, that's why new forms of industry were needed that by-passed the
restrictions of guilds. It became the manufactory. All the workers were gathered in one place to be easily
controlled by the entrepreneur, they gave tools and raw material for wage workers and the products were sold.
Wage workers were exploited as they were underpaid. In the manufactories workers used specialised, but still
manual. Because of high level of division of labour production was much faster in manufactories than in guilds.
The workers did only tiny parts of the production so they could acquire high level of specific skills. This resulted
in cheaper products, as the output was greater.
The increase in economic activity in Europe led to an overall increase in many nations money supply. This in
turn brought on inflation, or the steady rise in the price of goods. Inflation occurs when people have more
money to spend and thus demand more goods and services. Because the supply of goods is less than the
demand for them, the goods become both scarce and more valuable. Prices then rise.
Another business venture that developed during this period was known as the joint-stock company. The
joint-stock company worked much like the modern-day corporation, with investors buying shares of stock in a
company. It involved a number of people combining their wealth for a common purpose. It was a jointstock
company that was responsible for establishing Jamestown, Englands first North American colony.

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Centres of world economy were England, the Netherlands and the northern parts of France, where
capitalist transformation took place both in agriculture and in industry. Hungary, Poland, the eastern parts of the
Habsburg Empire belonged to the periphery. In those countries no significant capitalist transformation took
place, but they kept in touch with Western Europe trading with agricultural goods for industrial products. This is
called the continental division of labour.

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60. The Habsburg Empire

The Rise of the Habsburgs
A European monarch of the 15th Century, Charles V, came close to rule most of the world. As the
Hapsburg king, Charles inherited Spain, Spains American colonies, parts of Italy, and lands in Austria and the
Netherlands. As the elected Holy Roman emperor, he ruled much of Germany. In 1525 he defeated and
captured the French king (Francis I) in the battle of Pavia and became almost the sole ruler of the continent. A
devout Catholic, Charles not only fought Muslims but also opposed Lutherans. In 1555, he unwillingly agreed to
the Peace of Augsburg, which allowed German princes to choose the religion for their territory. The following
year, Charles V divided his immense empire and retired to a monastery. To his brother Ferdinand, he left
Austria and the Holy Roman Empire. His son, Philip II, inherited Spain, the Spanish Netherlands, and the
American colonies.
In 1580, the king of Portugal died without an heir. Philip seized the Portuguese kingdom and its colonies
in Africa, India, and the East Indies; he now had an empire that circled the globe. Philips empire provided him
with incredible wealth. Between 1550 and 1650, roughly 16,000 tons of silver were unloaded from Spanish
galleons, or ships. With this wealth, Spain was able to support a large standing army of about 50,000 soldiers.
Philip believed it was his duty to defend Catholicism against the Muslims of the Ottoman Empire and the
Protestants of Europe. In 1571, more than 200 Spanish and Venetian ships defeated a large Ottoman fleet in a
battle near Lepanto. In 1588, Philip launched the Spanish Armada in an attempt to punish Protestant England
and its queen, Elizabeth I. However, his fleet was defeated.
The Thirty Years War
Religious disputes continued in Germany after the Peace of Augsburg in 1555. Religion played an
important role in the outbreak of the Thirty Years War. However, political and territorial motives were also
evident.
Beginning in 1618 in the Holy Roman Empire, the war first involved the struggle between Catholic forces,
led by the Hapsburg Holy Roman emperors, and Protestant (primarily Calvinist) nobles in Bohemia. As
Denmark, Sweden, France, and Spain entered the war, the conflict became more political. Especially important
was the struggle between France and Spain and the Holy Roman Empire for European leadership.
All major European powers except England became involved in the Thirty Years War. For 30 years
Germany was plundered and destroyed. The Peace of Westphalia officially ended the war in Germany in 1648.
The Peace of Westphalia divided the more than three hundred states of the Holy Roman Empire into
independent states and gave them power to determine their own religion and to conduct their own foreign policy.
This brought an end to the Holy Roman Empire as a political entity. Germany would not be united for another
two hundred years.

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61. Parliament Limits the English Monarchy

The Golden Age

Under the reign of Elizabeth I (1558-1603) England became the leading Protestant power. It broke Spanish
hegemon and started colonisation. The increasing naval power of England was largely due to piracy. As the
pirating activity of English ships went on with the full consent of the queen (she even got a share of the pillage),
the Spanish king decided to punish the English. In 1588 Philip II sent the 'invincible Spanish Armada to invade
England, but it was defeated partly by a sea storm and partly by the experienced English sea captains under the
admiralship of Sir Francis Drake. ,
Having defeated the Spanish, the English became the masters of the seas and the new naval powers started
establishing colonies in North America and trading posts in India. Soon it came under the control of the British
East India Company.
Cultural life was also flourishing in the Elizabethan era marked by the name of the greatest English
Renaissance author, William Shakespeare and the Globe Theatre for which he wrote his famous plays.

The Stuarts and Divine Right

With the death of Queen Elizabeth I in 1603, the Tudor dynasty came to an end. The Stuart line of rulers
began with the accession to the throne of Elizabeths cousin, the king of Scotland, who became James I of
England. James believed that he received his power from God and was responsible only to God. This is called
the divine right of Kings. Parliament did not think much of the divine right of kings. It had come to assume that
the king or queen and Parliament ruled England together.
Religion was an issue as well. The Puritans (English protestants inspired by Calvinist ideas) wished to
make the Church of England more Protestant. Many of Englands gentry, mostly well-to-do landowners, had
become Puritans. The Puritan gentry formed an important part of the House of Commons, the lower house of
Parliament. It was not wise to alienate them.
In 1625, James I died. Charles I, his son, took the throne. Charles always needed money, in part
because he was at war with both Spain and France. By 1628, Charles was forced to call Parliament again. This
time it refused to grant him any money until he signed a document that is known as the Petition of Right. In this
petition, the king agreed to four points:
He would not imprison subjects without due cause.
He would not levy taxes without Parliaments consent.
He would not house soldiers in private homes.
He would not impose martial law in peacetime.
After agreeing to the petition, Charles ignored it. To get money, he imposed all kinds of fees and fines on the
English people. His popularity decreased year by year.
English Civil War
During the autumn of 1641, Parliament passed laws to limit royal power. Charles fled London and raised
an army in the north of England, where people were loyal to him. From 1642 to 1649, supporters and opponents
of King Charles fought the English Civil War. Those who remained loyal to Charles were called Royalists or
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Cavaliers. On the other side were Puritan supporters of Parliament. Because these men wore their hair short
over their ears, Cavaliers called them Roundheads. The Puritans general Oliver Cromwell and his New Model
Army began defeating the Cavaliers, and in 1649, Cromwell and the Puritans brought Charles to trial for treason
against Parliament. They found him guilty and sentenced him to death. The execution of Charles was
revolutionary. Kings had often been overthrown, killed in battle, or put to death in secret. Never before, however,
had a reigning monarch faced a public trial and execution.
Cromwells Rule
In 1649, he abolished the monarchy and the House of Lords. He established a commonwealth, a republican
form of government. In 1653, Cromwell dissolved the Parliament and became a military dictator. He invaded
Ireland killed thousands of innocent civils and granted their lands to English settlers. Laws that promoted
Puritan morality and abolished activities they found sinful, such as the theater, sporting events, and dancing.
He introduced the Navigation Acts. These laws allowed only English traders to ship import goods.

Restoration and Revolution

After Oliver Cromwells death in 1658 the government he had established collapsed. The English people
were sick of military rule. In 1659, Parliament voted to ask the older son of Charles I to rule England. Charles II
restored the monarchy, so the period of his rule is called the Restoration.
In 1685, Charles II died, and his Catholic brother James II became king. Violating English law, he
appointed several Catholics to high office. When Parliament protested, James dissolved it. James had a
daughter, Mary, who was Protestant. She was also the wife of William of Orange, a prince of the Netherlands.
Seven members of Parliament invited William and Mary to overthrow James for the sake of Protestantism. When
William led his army to London in 1688, James fled to France. This bloodless overthrow of King James II is
called the Glorious Revolution.
Limits on Monarchs Power
At their coronation, William and Mary vowed to recognize Parliament as their partner in governing.
England had become not an absolute monarchy but a constitutional monarchy, where laws limited the rulers
power. To make clear the limits of royal power, Parliament drafted a Bill of Rights in 1689. This document listed
many things that a ruler could not do:

no suspending of Parliaments laws

no levying of taxes without a specific grant from Parliament

no interfering with freedom of speech in Parliament

no penalty for a citizen who petitions the king about complaints

After 1688, no British monarch could rule without the consent of Parliament. At the same time, Parliament

could not rule without the consent of the monarch. During the 1700s, this potential problem was remedied by the
development of a group of government ministers, or officials, called the cabinet. These ministers acted in the
rulers name but in reality represented the major party of Parliament. Therefore, they became the link between
the monarch and the majority party in Parliament. Under the cabinet system, the leader of the majority party in
Parliament heads the cabinet and is called the prime minister.

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62. The French Absolutism

In 1572, the St. Bartholomews Day Massacre in Paris sparked a six-week, nationwide slaughter of
Huguenots. It became the beginning of a civil war. Finally an Huguenot prince, Henry of Navarre inherited the
throne. He became Henry IV, the first king of the Bourbon dynasty in France. For the sake of his war-weary
country, Henry chose to give up Protestantism and become a Catholic. Explaining his conversion, Henry
reportedly declared, Paris is well worth a mass. In 1598, Henry declareted a religious toleration, called the
Edict of Nantes. He restored the French monarchy to a strong position.

The Reign of Louis XIV

The efforts of Henry IV to strengthen the French monarchy paved the way for the most powerful ruler in French
history - Louis XIV. In Louiss view, he and the state were one and the same. He boasted, Ltat, cest moi,
meaning I am the state. in 1661, the 22-year-old Louis took control of the government himself.

He weakened the power of the nobles by excluding them from his councils.

He increased the power of the government agents called intendants, who collected taxes and
administered justice.

His minister of finance, Jean Baptiste Colbert based the economy on the theory of mercantilism. To
prevent wealth from leaving the country, Colbert tried to make France self-sufficient. He wanted it to be
able to manufacture everything it needed instead of relying on imports.

To expand manufacturing, Colbert gave government funds and tax benefits to French companies.

To protect Frances industries, he placed a high tariff on goods from other countries.

Colbert also recognized the importance of colonies, which provided raw materials and a market for
manufactured goods.

After Colberts death, Louis slowed down Frances economic progress by canceling the Edict of Nantes.
In response, thousands of Huguenot artisans and business people fled the country.

Louis decided to expand Frances boundaries, but by the end of the 1680s, a Europeanwide alliance had
formed to stop France. By banding together, weaker countries could match Frances strength.

Wars in the 18th century

In 1700, the childless king of Spain, Charles II, died after promising his throne to Louis XIVs 16-year-old
grandson, Philip of Anjou. Other countries felt threatened by this increase in the Bourbon dynastys power. In
1701, England, Austria, the Dutch Republic, Portugal, and several German and Italian states joined together to
prevent the union of the French and Spanish thrones. The War of the Spanish Succession dragged on until
1714. Finally Louiss grandson was allowed to remain king of Spain so long as the thrones of France and Spain
were not united. Britain took Gibraltar, a fortress that controlled the entrance to the Mediterranean.
In 1740, a major war broke out in connection with the succession to the Austrian throne. When the
Austrian emperor Charles III died without a male heir, his daughter, Maria Theresa, succeeded him. King
Frederick II of Prussia took advantage of the confusion surrounding the succession of a woman to the throne by
invading Austrian Silesia. By this action, Frederick clearly stated that he did not recognize the legitimacy of the
empress of Austria. France then entered the war against Austria, its traditional enemy. In turn, Maria Theresa
allied with Great Britain. The War of the Austrian Succession (1740 to 1748) was fought in three areas of the
109

world. In Europe, Prussia seized Silesia while France occupied the Austrian Netherlands. In Asia, France took
Madras in India from the British. In North America, the British captured the French fortress of Louisbourg at the
entrance to the St. Lawrence River. After seven years of warfare, all parties were exhausted and agreed to the
Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle in 1748. This treaty guaranteed the return of all occupied territories except Silesia to
their original owners. Prussias refusal to return Silesia meant yet another war between Prussia and Austria.
Maria Theresa refused to accept the loss of Silesia. She rebuilt her army while working diplomatically to
separate Prussia from its chief ally, France. In 1756 her hopes were realized when a diplomatic revolution
reversed two longstanding alliances.
French-Austrian rivalry had been a fact of European diplomacy since the late sixteenth century. However,
two new rivalries now replaced the old one: the rivalry of Britain and France over colonial empires and the rivalry
of Austria and Prussia over Silesia. France abandoned Prussia and allied with Austria. Russia, which saw
Prussia as a major threat to Russian goals in central Europe, joined the new alliance with France and Austria. In
turn, Britain allied with Prussia. This diplomatic revolution of 1756 led to another worldwide war. The Seven
Years War had three major areas of conflict: Europe, India, and North America. Europe witnessed the clash of
the two major alliances: the British and Prussians against the Austrians, Russians, and French. Frederick the
Great of Prussia was admired as a great tactical genius. His superb army and military skill enabled Frederick to
defeat the Austrian, French, and Russian armies for a time. His forces were under attack from three different
directions, however, and were gradually worn down. Frederick faced disaster until Peter III, a new Russian czar
who greatly admired Frederick, withdrew Russian troops from the conflict and from the Prussian lands that the
Russians had occupied. This withdrawal created a stalemate and led to the desire for peace. The European war
ended in 1763. All occupied territories were returned to their original owners, except Silesia. Austria officially
recognized Prussias permanent control of Silesia.

110

63. Rise of Russia

Russia Contrasts with Europe
When Peter the Great came to power, Russia was still a land of boyars (lords) and serfs. Serfdom in Russia
lasted into the mid-1800s, much longer than it did in Western Europe. Russian landowners wanted serfs to stay
on the land and produce large harvests. The landowners treated the serfs like property. When a Russian
landowner sold a piece of land, he sold the serfs with it. The Russians had adopted the Eastern Orthodox
branch of Christianity. Western Europeans were mostly Catholics or Protestants, and the Russians viewed them
as heretics and avoided them.
Peters Reforms
He was fascinated by the modern tools and machines in the foreigners shops. Above all, he had a passion for
ships and the sea. Peters goal of westernization, of using Western Europe as a model for change, was not an
end in itself. Peter saw it as a way to make Russia stronger.
Peters Reforms Although Peter believed Russia needed to change, he knew that many of his people disagreed.

To force change upon his state, Peter increased his powers as an absolute ruler.

Peter brought the Russian Orthodox Church under state control.

He reduced the power of the great landowners. He recruited men from lower-ranking families. He then
promoted them to positions of authority and rewarded them with grants of land.

Peter hired European officers, who drilled his soldiers in European tactics with European weapons. Being
a soldier became a lifetime job.

Peter imposed heavy taxes.

Introduced potatoes, which became a staple of the Russian diet

Ordered the nobles to give up their traditional clothes for Western fashions

Advanced education by opening a school of navigation and introducing schools for the arts and sciences.

He began building a new capital city and named it St. Petersburg, after his patron saint.

111

HUNGARY 1526-1711

64. The Tripartite of Hungary

The elections of two kings
As Louis II died in the Battle of Mohacs in 1526, leaving no heir, there were two rival claims to the throne.

Janos Szapolyai, Voevode of Transylvania claimed the throne on the basis of the decree of Rakos (about

the election of a national king). He arrived late for the battle of Mohacs thus his army stayed intact at the
River Tisza. Janos Szapolyai became the last national king in Hungary as John I (1526-1540)

Ferdinand I of Habsburg (1526-64) became the second Habsburg king in Hungary. On the basis of the

dynastic treaty of 1506. His power expanded to some counties in the western and northern parts of
Hungary.
Ferdinand sought his brother, Charles V's help to expand his rule over Hungary. Finally in November 1527 John
Szapolyai was pushed back to Transylvania and then sought refuge in Poland.

The division of Hungary into two parts (1529)

In 1529 John asked for help from the Sultan Suleiman. The Turks helped to recapture Buda and made
Szapolyai the Sultan's vassal. At this time the Turks did not occupy Hungary, they relied on the loyalty of King
John. In the same year the Turks led the first (unsuccessful) campaign against Vienna.
It became clear that the future of Hungary depended on the balance of power of the Habsburg Empire
and the Turkish Empire, and the country was split into two parts: the Habsburg and Turkish.
Tripartite Hungary (1541)
Acknowledging the status quo, the two kings made the secret Peace Treaty of Varad in 1538. Szapolyai
realized that the interest of the country was to be defended by the Habsburgs rather than to be occupied by the
Turks. In the treat the two kings agreed that after Szapolyai's death the whole country would be reunited under
Ferdinand's crown.
In 1541 Johns wife, Isabella of Jagiello gave birth to a son, John Sigismund. Some months after his birth,
King John died. Before his death he asked Friar Gyrgy Martinuzzi (bishop of Varad) to help the baby. George
had the child elected as King John II. Ferdinand tried to implement the treaty of Varad and besieged Buda. The
Sultan offered to protect the infant and brought his army to Buda. While entertaining John and his retinue in the
camp, his soldiers occupied the city without striking a blow on August 29th 1541. From this moment Hungary was
split into three parts:

Royal Hungary ruled by the Habsburgs;

The Conquered part ruled by the Turks;

The principality of Transylvania.

112

65. Life under Turkish Yoke

Turkish Administration in Hungary
Hungary became a buffer zone between two cultures: European Christian and Turkish Muslim cultures. The
Turkish Empire was at the peak of its power under Suleiman I (1520-1566). He was the head of state and the
caliph; he was the head of the Islam and the commander-in-chief of all Turkish armies.
The Turkish oppressors occupied the central parts of Hungary the whole of the Great Plain and the eastern
half of Transdanubia. The actual borders of the Conquered Parts were constantly changing as border fortresses
were captured and recaptured in the course of the fighting. The conquered territories were divided into military
and administrative units called vilayets and smaller units called sandjaks. Pashas or Beglerbeghs were the heads
of the vilayets and Beghs were the heads of the sandjaks.
The defterdar was a Turkish tax collector, a mufti a Muslim canonist, a khadi a Turkish judge and a grand
vizier was a Turkish minister, the second in command after the sultan. The cause of the corruption, which

penetrated the Turkish administration, was the despotic power of the sultan. All officers were appointed by the
sultan but they could easily lose his favor and at the same time their positions and property.
Economic and social impact of the Turkish rule
All conquered land - with the people living on it - became the possession of the sultan. He granted lands
for the spahis, the Turkish military aristocracy in return for services, but this land was not inheritable. The spahis
exploited the serfs, as they did not know how long they would have control of the land.
The khas land was the territory under the sultan's direct management, where better conditions prevailed.
Usually territories belonging to market towns and cities became khas lands. The native population had heavy
burdens; taxation was especially heavy as peasants were often taxed twice, both by the Turks and by Hungarian
landlords; and sometimes they were even taxed by the Habsburg ruler as well. They had to pay:
o

a state tax

a war tax

non-Muslim subjects had to pay haradj, an annual tax

public socage work, e.g. transportation for the army, work in the construction of fortresses.

113

66. Warfare in the 16-17th Centuries

The system of border fortresses
The most important border fortresses were Kanizsa, Szigetvr, Gyr, Komrom, Drgely, Flek, Eger,
Kassa, Vrad, Gyula, Lippa and Temesvr. The followers of Ferdinand hoped to obtain support from the wealthy
Habsburg Empire against the Turks. However, when imperial money and troops were needed elsewhere, the
Hungarian soldiers of the border fortresses waited for their pay for long time. But it is noteworthy that more than
one hundred border fortresses in Royal Hungary were maintained, strengthened and rebuilt with Habsburg
funds.

The angle bastion

The main events of Turkish expansion

Between 1541 and 1547 the Turks occupied all the fortresses that could defend Buda in case of a
Habsburg attack. In 1552, an offensive Turkish campaign was begun to punish Hungary for Friar George's
attempt to reunite Royal Hungary and Transylvania (1551). Drgely was bravely defended by Gyrgy Szondi, but
it fell to the Turks, just like Temesvr, heroically defended by Istvn Losonczy. However, Eger held out under
Captain Istvn Dob (partly thanks to the heroism of the women of Eger) and finally the Turks withdrew. In 1566
Suleiman I started his last military campaign in Hungary, when the Turkish army attacked Szigetvr, which held
out to the very end. Mikls Zrnyi with the rest of the garrison broke out and died a hero's death. Finally in 1568
Maximilian I and Selim II signed the Peace Treaty of Drinapoly. It confirmed the status quo and Hungary
remained divided into three parts.
The last conflict of the century was the 15 Years' War (1593-1606). Rudolph II, Hungarian king and Holy
Roman Emperor, started an offensive campaign against the Turks allied to the Voivode of Wallachia and the
Prince of Transylvania Sigismund Bthory in 1593. Although in 1595 the allied Christian forces had a splendid
victory at Gyurgyevo, but the following year, they suffered a crushing defeat at Mezkeresztes. It became obvious
that the Habsburgs were not yet able to drive the Turks out of Hungary. The war ended with the Peace Treaty of
Zsitvatorok and brought no changes in the territorial division of the country.

114

67. Economy and Society in the 16-17th Centuries

Economic changes Agricultural boom

Hungary kept in touch with Western Europe through trade in
agricultural produce, mainly cattle and wine. Hungary exported cattle to
distant markets in Western Europe. Indeed, it became the biggest cattle
exporter of that time. Owing to the almost constant warfare there were
huge wastelands providing enough grazing grounds for the cattle.
In the long run the agricultural boom had harmful effects on
industry, as Hungary imported manufactured goods from Western
Europe, which held back the development of industry.

Social changes
The population of towns and the broad layer of soldiers increased the demand for grain, so prices
continued to rise and landlords wanted to have a share in the profitable trade. Landlords enlarged their manors;
peasants were forced to do more and more socage work. They were bound to the soil again, and lost their
freedom to move. A second serfdom was established in Hungary, just like in other Central Eastern European
countries.
The position of peasants came to be like the position of the serfs in the early Middle Ages as they were
not free to move. However, the economic changes led to the differentiation of serfs. The wealthy peasants took
advantage of the boom; they often cultivated the land with the help of other serfs. The majority of serfs took little
advantage of the boom, however: they suffered from the feudal taxes, sometimes from dual taxation by their
Turkish and former Hungarian landlords. The lowest layer of peasants was represented by day-laborers,
servants and cottars (landless peasants).
Noblemen and the wealthier burghers fled from the Turkish yoke either to Royal Hungary or to
Transylvania. However, the peasants remained, some of them fleeing to khas lands, where they were not
exploited as much as on spahi lands. Many of them became soldiers in the border fortresses.
The nobility could take part in parliaments since the Habsburg kings respected the Hungarian constitution
by swearing a Coronation Oath. It meant that the rights and privileges of the nobility were upheld. The magnates
could increase their landholdings: the dual election of kings after Mohacs was advantageous for them in this
respect. The lower nobility also had a say in politics in the nobiliary counties.
Soldiers in the border fortresses formed a separate layer, the so-called valiant order or vitzl rend.
They were free from feudal services. For a peasant, to be a soldier was a social ascent, while for a lower noble it
meant a social fall. They served in castles but in peacetime they worked in agriculture, produced wine or traded
with cattle, which meant an extra income for them.

115

68. Reformation and Counter Reformation in Hungary

Reformation in Hungary
The new ideas of the Reformation influenced all sections of Hungarian society. Lutheranism spread first
among die German population of towns in Northern Hungary and Transylvania. Debrecen, which was often
referred to as the Calvinist Rome in Hungary, became the centre for the followers of Calvin. The Unitarians,
who believe in the single personality of God, found refuge in Transylvania as they were persecuted in other parts
of Europe.
The most liberal law of religious toleration was passed by the Transylvanian Parliament in 1568 in Torda
and it granted religious freedom to all four denominations in Transylvania: Catholic, Lutheran, Calvinist and
Unitarian.
Famous Protestant schools were founded in Srospatak, Ppa, Debrecen and elsewhere. The Bible was
translated into Hungarian and the translated versions of the Bible by Sylvester Jnos and Kroli Gasper were
printed in Hungary. The famous Kroli Bible was printed in Vizsoly.
Counter-Reformation in Hungary
The compromise of the Habsburg ruler and the Hungarian estates was sealed with the recatholization of
several magnates. Their serfs had to follow them so it caused a mass recatholization in Hungary. The most
dedicated representatives of the Counter-Reformation in Hungary were Count Eszterhzy Mikls, the palatine
and Pzmny Pter, the Archbishop of Esztergom, who founded the university at Nagyszombat (it was later
moved to Pest and was the predecessor of ELTE).

116

69. The Bocskai uprising

The uprising led by Bocskai (1604 - 1606)
The grievances of Hungarian society were significant at the end of the 15 years war. It was not only the
Turks who devastated Hungary and Transylvania; the mercenaries of Christian forces and the imperial troops of
General Basta did so, too. Half of the Hungarian soldiers of the border fortresses were dismissed and foreign
mercenaries were employed instead. To meet the costs of the long-lasting war the taxes were increased. The
richest Hungarian magnates were tried for high treason and their lands were confiscated by Rudolph. He also
attempted to govern Hungary by excluding the estates, ambitious to establish absolutism. Rudolph started to
recatholicize by force as he decided it was high time to stamp out Protestantism in Hungary.
When Istvn Bocskai, an influential Transylvanian landowner, was also charged with high treason, he
rebelled. He recruited a strong and experienced army from among the Heyducks. They came from different
layers of Hungarian society: landless lower nobles, unemployed cowboys/drivers of oxen to distant markets,
dismissed soldiers and serfs who fled from feudal dependency. They formed a roaming military layer, and as
they were Protestants, they could easily be persuaded to join the fight against Habsburg absolutism.
In 1604 the Bocskai uprising started with victories for the Heyduck army at lmosd and Diszeg. By 1605
Bocskai had conquered Upper Hungary and Transylvania. The Turkish Porte offered him the kingship of
Hungary and even sent a crown to Bocskai, but he refused to be the vassal of the Turkish Sultan. After long
diplomatic negotiations Rudolph signed the peace treaty which acknowledged Bocskai's victory. The Peace
Treaty of Vienna was signed in 1606.

The independence of Transylvania was recognized again.

The constitutional rights of the Hungarian noble estates were reaffirmed.

The nobility and the Heyducks gained religious freedom.

When fighting was over, Bocskai settled the Heyducks in today's "Hajdsg". He granted the Heyducks
privileges in return for military service in case of danger: The Heyducks gained tax exemption. They became
freemen; they were not under the jurisdiction of the landlords. They did not owe any duties to the landlords.
In 1606 with Bocskai as mediator, the Turkish Sultan and the Habsburg Emperor ended the 15 Years'
In 1608 the parliament under the reign of Matthias II at Pozsony passed a number of significant acts,
which remedied the long-held grievances:

A law of religious toleration was passed (Catholicism. Lutheranism and Calvinism could be practiced
freely in Hungary).

The Chancellery became the most important political institution and the Palatine became the most
powerful political dignitary again.

Parliament reorganized itself, and was divided into two houses. The members of the Lower House were
elected in the counties from among the lower nobility. The members of the Upper House were the
bishops, the magnates with hereditary titles.

The right of serfs to move freely was ended and so this law strengthened the economic position of the
nobility.

These acts meant the reinforcement of the rights and privileges of the Hungarian nobility.

117

70. The Golden Age of Transylvania

The birth of the Principality of Transylvania
In 1541 Transylvania was given to John Sigismund, who became the first prince of Transylvania, and
Queen Isabella. Though the country was rich in resources, it was relatively poor compared with the west and it
was ethnically mixed:

Saxon burghers;

Sekler freemen;

Hungarian nobles and peasants;

Rumanian shepherds and farmers.

Transylvania also showed a great diversity in religious aspects:

Catholic (Hungarian)

Lutheran (Saxons)

Calvinist (Hungarian)

Unitarian (Hungarian)

Greek Orthodox (Rumanians)

The special situation of Transylvania and the Partium meant that it had its own Prince and relative
independence in internal affairs. Foreign affairs were subject to the Porte being vassal to the Turks. The election
of the Prince had to be confirmed by the Sultan and taxes had to be paid to the Porte. At the same time
Transylvania was still a part of the Hungarian Kingdom theoretically.
The golden age of Transylvania
Bethlen Gbor (1613-1629) was an outstanding

politician of his age under whose reign the Principality of

Transylvania had its golden age. His ultimate goal was to
reunite Hungary and Transylvania but he was also aware
of

Hungary's

dependence

on

the

Habsburgs

and

Transylvania's dependence on the Turkish Porte. With

clever political maneuvering, and diplomacy of survival, he
brought peace and prosperity to Transylvania so that he
could centralize his power.

He enlarged his own estates.

He appointed the main officers and established a

Principal Council.

He limited the power of the diet of Transylvania

and called it rarely.

Exploiting the growing strength of the economy, he

increased the income of the treasury and secured
the funding of the mercenary army.
118

Bethlen stabilized the economy. He introduced a state monopoly on goods for export, such as cattle, copper,
salt, wax, honey, etc. and forbade the export of gold. He also enhanced the development of industry by inviting
foreign artisans and miners to spread the advanced methods. He opened new mines and provided work for

many people.
Bethlen supported and sponsored culture, education, artists and scientists. He created a splendid princely
court in Gyulafehrvr with a bustling cultural life, and founded a Protestant college there.
It was easier to centralize princely power in Transylvania than royal power in Hungary as the noble
estates in Transylvania were relatively poor; the Transylvanian magnates had smaller estates and did not have
private armies.
Defending Hungary from the Habsburg Absolutism
In 1619 he started a military campaign against Upper Hungary to join Protestant German Princes against
the Habsburgs. In 1620 the Hungarian parliament proclaimed him King of Hungary. He could not accept the
crown as Transylvania was the vassal state of the Turkish Empire and he even had to ask permission of the
Porte to join the war. He briefly occupied the whole of Transdanubia and Upper Hungary. When his Protestant
allies were defeated in 1620, the unfavorable international circumstances forced him to conclude a peace treaty
with the Habsburgs. In 1621 the Peace Treaty of Nicolsburg Bethlen gave up most of his conquests in Hungary
except for seven Hungarian counties in the north. In return Ferdinand II promised to keep the terms of the 1606
Peace Treaty of Vienna and the laws of 1608.

119

71. The Political Program of Zrnyi Mikls

Zrnyi, the politician
The loyal Habsburg supporters were disappointed in the mid 1600s as it became obvious that the
Habsburgs did not want to take the lead in driving the Turks out of Hungary. So, the political activity of the
Hungarian noble estates was revived and Zrnyi Mikls was its energetic leader.
Zrnyi Mikls (1620 - 1664) was the Ban of Croatia; his family estates in the southern part of the country

were under the Turkish yoke. He was an excellent military leader, a poet, and the author of technical works of
military science. He was the great grandson of the hero of Szigetvr, whose heroism he commemorated in 'The
Peril of Sziget' (Szigeti veszedelem). He wanted to be the palatine when this office was vacant as the palatine

was the commander-in-chief of the army. His main ambition was to drive out the Turks using Hungary's own
resources. However, the Habsburg court prevented his nomination.
His main aim was to liberate Hungary form the Turks. He devoted his Remedy against the Turkish Opium
(Az trk fium ellen val orvossg) to this question. He wanted to establish a national monarchy. It meant that
the internal affairs of Hungary would be controlled by Hungarian magnates. He believed that a national standing
army was the pre-condition for independent politics. His the Brave Lieutenant' (Vitz hadnagy) is an essay on

military leadership.
Zrnyi, the military leader
Facing the Turkish danger Zrnyi was appointed the commander-in-chief of the Hungarian army. In 16631664 Zrnyi started his Winter Campaign and achieved a splendid victory at Eszk where he set the bridge on

fire, thus cutting off the route of Turkish supplies arid reinforcement. However, when he started the siege of
Kanizsa, Leopold I did not send reinforcements, and he dismissed Zrnyi making it clear that the court at Vienna
did not intend to use their resources against the Turks. Only when they started to raid in Styria did Leopold
finally send the imperial forces against the Turks. In 1664 the imperial army had a splendid victory at
Szentgotthrd. Nevertheless, Leopold immediately offered the Turks peace and in the Peace Treaty of Vasvr
(1664) Leopold I agreed to withdraw the imperial troops from Hungary and recognized all the recent Turkish

conquests in Hungary.
II. Leopold I introduced a reign of terror
As the Habsburgs officially announced that they would not drive the Turks out of Hungary, Hungary was
in uproar and a plot to remove Leopold was born. It came to be known as the Wesselnyi conspiracy. Zrnyi was
also involved in the conspiracy but he died in a hunting accident. The Hungarian magnets, who rebelled against
the Habsburg ruler, were condemned by an extraordinary imperial court and were executed in Austria. Leopold
then suspended the Hungarian constitution and introduced absolutism. A council of German officials (the socalled Gubernium) was to govern Hungary' by decrees, no parliament was convened and no palatine was
elected for a time. Hungarian soldiers in border fortresses were dismissed, instead imperial troops. German
mercenaries were stationed in Hungary. Arbitrary taxes were imposed which would increased the tax burden
twenty times. Religious toleration for Protestants was abolished.

120

72. The Reconquest of Hungary

The Kuruc revolt led by Thkly (1678 - 1685)
Transylvania became the refuge for the Hungarians in exile: nobles, who took part in the Wesselnyi
conspiracy and escaped execution, dismissed soldiers and persecuted Protestants; serfs who fled from feudal
dependency and double taxation also escaped to Transylvania. The leader who gave the Kuruc soldiers
cohesion was count Imre Thkly (1657-1705), who united anti-Habsburg forces under his command. In 1678
Thkly started an armed revolt against Leopold invoking the right of resistance of the Golden Bull. He took
Kassa and soon controlled the whole of Upper Hungary.
As the Habsburgs were unable to put down the revolt, in 1681 called the Diet in Sopron. The rights of the
estates were returned, the Gubernium and the tax reforms were abolished and a palatine was elected.
Protestantism was acknowledged, religious toleration returned.

The Reconquest of Hungary

The Turks started an offensive campaign against Vienna in 1683. They blockaded and besieged the
Austrian capital for two months but John Sobiesky, King of Poland arrived to lift the siege of Vienna and the
Turkish army withdrew. After the great victory over the Muslims, Pope Innocent XI, the Habsburg Empire,
Poland, Venice established the anti-Turkish Holy League in 1684.
On 2nd September 1686 Buda was retaken after a siege of more than two months. The allied forces of
80000 soldiers fought under the leadership of Charles, Prince of Lorraine. Some 15000 Hungarians, among
them the Kuruc soldiers of Thkly fought to liberate Buda. After the liberation of Buda the estates came
together for a Diet in Pozsony in 1687 and to express their gratitude to the liberators they gave up the right of
resistance and the right to freely choose a king.

The allied forces continued their push against the Turks: it was Prince Eugene of Savoy who brought to
an end the imperial campaign to drive the Turks out of Hungary when, in 1697, he defeated the Turkish army at
Zenta. In 1699 The Peace Treaty of Karlca abolished the Turkish yoke in Hungary. Transylvania was made a

separate province of the Kingdom of Hungary.

Grievances of Hungarian society
The peace treaty was signed without the participation of Hungary and the country was given wholesale to
the Habsburgs. Leopold, considering all landed property to be 'ownerless', granted huge-estates to his favorites.
The Habsburgs set up a so-called Commission of Neoaquisition, which forced the landowners to prove their right
of ownership. It demanded detailed documents to prove the rights of the owner and they had to pay a war
indemnity tax (10% of the estate's value), otherwise they could easily lose their lands. Lower nobility and

representatives of the military layer had to pay taxes.

Religious toleration was over and many German Catholic settlers were invited to Transdanubia.
Hundreds of soldiers were dismissed and foreign mercenaries and Catholics were invited to settle in the country.
Peasants had to provide free accommodation (kvrtly) free catering ('porci) and free transportation (forspont)
for the Habsburg troops. All these measures show that ruling by decree Leopold established absolutism, where
the Hungarian nobles had no involvement in government at all.

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73. The Rkoczi Insurrection (1703-11)

Rkczi Ferenc II (1676-1735)
His mother was Zrnyi Ilona and his step-father was Thkly Imre. He was together with his mother when
she was defending the castle of Munkcs for three years. After the surrender he and his sister were taken to
Vienna to get a proper' education. While he was staying in Hungary during a visit, he recognized the unbearable
situation of the country and returning to Vienna he started a conspiracy against the Habsburgs. He asked help
from the French king, Louis XIV. At the same time the War of Spanish Succession (1701-13) started.
Beginning of the war (1703-05)
In April 1703 by the Appeal from Brezan Rkczi called all Hungarians, nobles and commoners to join the
revolt against the oppression. In summer 1703 Rkczi returned to Hungary and joined the revolt. In August
1703 the Patent of Vets promised exemption from taxes and obligations to the serfs who joined the war.
By the end of 1703 the Kuruc arms expelled the Habsburgs from the north-western part of the country
and Louis XIV sent regular financial support and Rkczi was elected Prince of Transylvania in Gyulafehrvr.
The Kuruc army relied on professional soldiers: soldiers
of the border fortresses, deserted Hungarian soldiers from the
Habsburg (labanc) army, Kuruc soldiers of Thkly and foreign
mercenaries. The army could be divided into: light cavalry, which
made up the majority, infantry ('talpasok') consisted of fewer
soldiers and artillery represented by few people, especially
French. According to their drilling they were either regular
regiments or irregular troops (badly trained and not disciplined).
In August 1704 in the Battle of Hchstadt (Blenheim) the
Bavarian and French armies were defeated by Eugene of Savoy, which was a turning point in the course of the
War of Spanish Succession and had a great influence on the Hungarian events - we couldn't rely on a foreign
military support. In November in Nagyszombat Krolyi Sndor was defeated by Eugene of Savoy.
In 1705 Bottyn Jnos (the Blind) conquered Transdanubia. After the military advance in September 1705
a Diet was called at Szcseny. Hungary was declared as confederation. It meant that Rkczi could govern the

country with the approval of the estates. He controlled foreign affairs, religion, finance and military affairs as
commanding Prince of Hungary. He was helped by the 24 members of Senate (an advisory body).

Economic organization
It was directed by the Economic Council established in Besztercebnya. At the beginning the
organization was eventual they confiscated what they needed but as the war lasted longer, proper economic
policy was needed. Rkczis economic policy aimed at supplying the army with food, clothes and weapons,
that's why warehouses, weapon and textile manufactories were established.
The greatest problem was the lack of money (esp. gold and silver). What they had was spent on buying
weapons from abroad. For this reason, in internal economy Rkczi introduced copper coinage (rz libertas)
which however had no financial background and quickly devaluated and caused inflation. The taxes imposed
under Rkczi were higher than before but he also tried to introduce taxation on the whole society.
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As the war lasted longer than it was expected, agricultural production declined peasants were fighting
and the war devastated a huge part of animals. The serfs staying at home had to pay double taxes: ordinary
taxes and military taxation.

Height of the war and the end

In June 1707 Rkczi suggested general taxation and dethronement of the Habsburg Dynasty at the Diet
of nod. They introduced important reforms, e.g. the taxation came to be based on wealth. The greatest

problem of the diet was that they could not solve the question of serfs - serfdom wasn't abolished.
Peter I of Russia made an alliance with Rkczi signed in Warsaw (although it did not come true because
of Peters other war in the North).
In 1708, in the battle of Trencsny the Kuruc army suffered a crucial defeat from the imperial troops. The
failure of the battle of Trencsny showed the decline of the national co-operation and led to the advance of the
Habsburgs. Rkczi called the Diet of Srospatak in 1708. There they abolished serfdom for the peasants and
their families who continued to fight until the end of the war. This measure was too late, all layers of the society
were tired of the long war there was growing discontent in all layers of Hungarian society.
The last defeat of the Kuruc army occurred in 1710 in the Battle of Romhny. After this, the main aim of
the Kuruc rebels was to conclude a favorable peace treaty with the Habsburgs. Rkoczi gave full power to
Krolyi Sndor who started peace talks. At this time Rkoczi tried to get the support of the Russian czar, Peter
the Great.
In April 1711 Krolyi signed the Peace Treaty of Szatmr, which contained favorable terms for Hungary:

Amnesty was given to all the rebels.

Landlords regained their lands and estates confiscated by Leopold I.

The privileges of the nobility were returned, they had the right to elect a palatine and have the
diet.

Foreigners were removed from Hungarian offices.

Religious toleration was returned.

As a result of the favorable conditions of the peace treaty the Habsburgs were able to stop Hungarian
resistance and they got the support of Hungarian nobility for a long time.
Despite all this Rkczi decided to leave the country and after travelling around Europe he settled down
in Turkey, Rodosto, where he died in exile. Later his remnants were brought home and were buried in the
Cathedral of Kassa.

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AGE OF REVOLUTIONS

74. The Scientific Revolution

The Medieval View
During the Middle Ages, most scholars believed that the earth was an immovable object located at the
center of the universe. According to that belief, the moon, the sun, and the planets all moved in perfectly circular
paths around the earth. Common sense seemed to support this view. After all, the sun appeared to be moving
around the earth as it rose in the morning and set in the evening. This earth-centered view of the universe was
called the geocentric theory.
The Scientific Revolution
It was a new way of thinking about the natural world. That way was based upon careful observation and a
willingness to question accepted beliefs. A combination of discoveries and circumstances led to the Scientific
Revolution and helped spread its impact. The age of European exploration fueled a great deal of scientific
research, especially in astronomy and mathematics. Navigators needed better instruments and geographic
measurements, for example, to determine their location in the open sea. As scientists began to look more
closely at the world around them, they made observations that did not match the ancient beliefs. They found
they had reached the limit of the classical worlds knowledge.
Although backed by authority and common sense, the geocentric theory did not accurately explain the
movements of the sun, moon, and planets.
This problem troubled a Polish cleric and astronomer named Nicolaus Copernicus. In the early 1500s,
after studying planetary movements for more than 25 years, Copernicus reasoned that the stars, the earth, and
the other planets revolved around the sun . Fearing ridicule or persecution, Copernicus did not publish his findings

until 1543, the last year of his life.

In 1601, a brilliant mathematician named Johannes Kepler continued his work. He showed that the
planets revolve around the sun in elliptical orbits instead of circles, as was previously thought.
An Italian scientist named Galileo built a telescope and used it to study the heavens in 1609. Galileo
announced that Jupiter had four moons and that the sun had dark spots. He also noted that the earths moon
had a rough, uneven surface. Galileos findings frightened both Catholic and Protestant leaders because they
went against church teaching and authority. If people believed the church could be wrong about this, they could
question other church teachings as well. In 1616, the Catholic Church warned Galileo not to defend the ideas of
Copernicus. Although Galileo remained publicly silent, he continued his studies. The pope angrily summoned
Galileo to Rome to stand trial before the Inquisition. Galileo was never again a free man. He lived under house
arrest and died in 1642 at his villa near Florence. However, his books and ideas still spread all over Europe. (In
1992 the Catholic Church officially acknowledged that Galileo had been right.)

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The Scientific Method

The revolution in scientific thinking that Copernicus, Kepler, and Galileo began eventually developed into
a new approach to science called the scientific method. The scientific method is a logical procedure for gathering
and testing ideas. It begins with a problem or question arising from an observation. Scientists next form a
hypothesis, or unproved assumption. The hypothesis is then tested in an experiment or on the basis of data. In
the final step, scientists analyze and interpret their data to reach a new conclusion. That conclusion either
confirms or disproves the hypothesis
Bacon and Descartes
The work of two important thinkers of the 1600s, Francis Bacon and Ren Descartes, helped to advance
the new approach. Francis Bacon, an English statesman and writer, had a passionate interest in science. He
urged scientists to experiment and then draw conclusions. This approach is called empiricism, or the
experimental method.
In France, Ren Descartes also took a keen interest in science. He developed analytical geometry, which
linked algebra and geometry. As a mathematician, however, he approached gaining knowledge differently than
Bacon. Rather than using experimentation, Descartes relied on mathematics and logic. He believed that
everything should be doubted until proved by reason . The only thing he knew for certain was that he existed

because, as he wrote, I think, therefore I am. From this starting point, he followed a train of strict reasoning to
arrive at other basic truths. Modern scientific methods are based on the ideas of Bacon and Descartes.

Newton Explains the Law of Gravity

By the mid-1600s, Copernicus, Kepler, and Galileo had shattered the old views of astronomy and
physics. Later, the great English scientist Isaac Newton helped to bring together their breakthroughs under a
single theory of motion. Newtons great discovery was that the same force ruled motion of the planets and all
matter on earth and in space. The key idea that linked motion in the heavens with motion on the earth was the
law of universal gravitation. According to this law, every object in the universe attracts every other object. The

degree of attraction depends on the mass of the objects and the distance between them. In 1687, Newton
published his ideas in a work called The Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy.

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75. The Enlightenment in Europe

In the wake of the Scientific Revolution, and the new ways of thinking it prompted, scholars and philosophers
began to reevaluate old notions about other aspects of society. Their efforts spurred the Enlightenment, a new
intellectual movement that stressed reason and thought and the power of individuals to solve problems. Known
also as the Age of Reason, the movement reached its height in the mid-1700s and brought great change to many
aspects of Western civilization.
Two Views on Government
Thomas Hobbes expressed his views in a work called Leviathan (1651). The horrors of the English Civil
War convinced him that all humans were naturally selfish and wicked. Without governments to keep order,
Hobbes said, there would be war . . . of every man against every man, and life would be solitary, poor, nasty,
brutish, and short. Hobbes argued that people had to hand over their rights to a strong ruler. In exchange, they
gained law and order. Hobbes called this agreement by which people created a government the social contract.
Because people acted in their own self-interest, Hobbes said, the ruler needed total power to keep citizens
under control. In Hobbess view, such a government was an absolute monarchy, which could impose order and
demand obedience.
The philosopher John Locke held a different, more positive view of human nature. He believed that
people could learn from experience and improve themselves. As reasonable beings, they had the natural ability
to govern their own affairs and to look after the welfare of society. Locke criticized absolute monarchy and
favored the idea of self-government. According to Locke, all people are born free and equal, with three natural
rights life, liberty, and property. The purpose of government, said Locke, is to protect these rights. If a

government fails to do so, citizens have a right to overthrow it. His belief that a governments power comes from
the consent of the people is the foundation of modern democracy. The ideas of government by popular consent
and the right to rebel against unjust rulers helped inspire struggles for liberty in Europe and the Americas.
Philosophy
Voltaire published more than 70 books of political essays, philosophy, and drama. He made frequent

targets of the clergy, the aristocracy, and the government. Although he made powerful enemies, Voltaire never
stopped fighting for tolerance, reason, freedom of religious belief, and freedom of speech. He used his quill pen

as if it were a deadly weapon in a thinkers war against humanitys worst enemiesintolerance, prejudice, and
superstition. He summed up his staunch defense of liberty in one of his most famous quotes: I do not agree with
a word you say but will defend to the death your right to say it.
Another influential French writer, the Baron de Montesquieu, devoted himself to the study of political
liberty. Montesquieu believed that Britain was the best-governed and most politically balanced country of his own
day. The British king and his ministers held executive power. They carried out the laws of the state. The
members of Parliament held legislative power. They made the laws. The judges of the English courts held
judicial power. They interpreted the laws to see how each applied to a specific case. This division of power

among different branches is called separation of powers. This idea later would be called checks and balances.
A third great philosopher, Jean Jacques Rousseau, was passionately committed to individual freedom.
Rousseau strongly disagreed with other Enlightenment thinkers on many matters. Most of them believed that
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reason, science, and art would improve life for all people. Rousseau, however, argued that civilization corrupted
peoples natural goodness. Man is born free, and everywhere he is in chains, he wrote. Rousseau believed that
the only good government was one that was freely formed by the people and guided by the general will of
societya direct democracy. Under such a government, people agree to give up some of their freedom in favor
of the common good. In Rousseaus view of the social contract differed greatly from that of Hobbes. For Hobbes,
the social contract was an agreement between a society and its government. For Rousseau, it was an
agreement among free individuals to create a society and a government. Rousseau believed in a much broader
democracy than Locke had promoted. He argued that all people were equal and that titles of nobility should be
abolished. Rousseaus ideas inspired many of the leaders of the French Revolution who overthrew the
monarchy in 1789.

Legacy of the Enlightenment

Belief in progress: the successes of the Scientific Revolution gave people the confidence that human

reason could solve social problems. Philosophers and reformers urged an end to the practice of slavery
and argued for greater social equality, as well as a more democratic style of government.

A More Secular Outlook: another outcome was the rise of a more secular, or non-religious, outlook.

During the Enlightenment, people began to question openly their religious beliefs and the teachings of
the church.

Importance of the Individual Faith: a third outcome was the rise of individualism. As people began to turn

away from the church and royalty for guidance, they looked to themselves instead. People were
encouraged to use their own ability to reason in order to judge what was right or wrong. They also
emphasized the importance of the individual in society. Government, they argued, was formed by
individuals to promote their welfare.

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76. Enlightened Absolutism

The Enlightenment spirit also swept through Europes royal courts. Many philosophers, including Voltaire,
believed that the best form of government was a monarchy in which the ruler respected the peoples rights. The
philosophers tried to convince monarchs to rule justly. Some monarchs embraced the new ideas and made
reforms that reflected the Enlightenment spirit. They became known as enlightened despots. Despot means
absolute ruler. These rulers supported the new ideas. But they also had no intention of giving up any power.
The changes they made were motivated by two desires: they wanted to make their countries stronger and their
own rule more effective.
Frederick the Great
Frederick II, the king of Prussia from 1740 to 1786, committed himself to reforming Prussia. He granted
many religious freedoms, reduced censorship, and improved education. He also reformed the justice system and
abolished the use of torture. However, Fredericks changes only went so far. For example, he believed that
serfdom was wrong, but he did nothing to end it since he needed the support of wealthy landowners. As a result,
he never tried to change the existing social order. Perhaps Fredericks most important contribution was his
attitude toward being king. He called himself the first servant of the state. From the beginning of his reign, he
made it clear that his goal was to serve and strengthen his country.
Catherine the Great
Catherine II ruled Russia from 1762 to 1796. The well-educated empress exchanged many letters with
Voltaire. She ruled with absolute authority but also sought to reform Russia. In 1767, Catherine formed a
commission to review Russias laws. She presented it with a brilliant proposal for reforms based on the ideas of
Montesquieu. Among other changes, she recommended allowing religious toleration and abolishing torture and
capital punishment. Catherine eventually put in place limited reforms, but she did little to improve the life of the
Russian peasants. Her views about enlightened ideas changed after a massive uprising of serfs in 1773. With
great brutality, Catherines army crushed the rebellion. Catherine had previously favored an end to serfdom.
However, the revolt convinced her that she needed the nobles support to keep her throne. Therefore, she gave
the nobles absolute power over the serfs. As a result, Russian serfs lost their last traces of freedom.
Catherine sought access to the Black Sea. In two wars with the Ottoman Turks, her armies finally won
control of the northern shore of the Black Sea. Russia also gained the right to send ships through Ottoman
controlled straits leading from the Black Sea to the Mediterranean Sea. Catherine also expanded her empire
westward into Poland. In Poland, the king was relatively weak, and independent nobles held the most power.
The three neighboring powersRussia, Prussia, and Austriaeach tried to assert their influence over the
country. In 1772, 1793 and 1795, these land-hungry neighbors each took a piece of Poland in what is called the
Partition of Poland. Poland disappeared as an independent country for more than a century. By the end of her

remarkable reign, Catherine had vastly enlarged the Russian empire. Meanwhile, as Russia was becoming an
international power.

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77. The American Revolution

Britain and Its American Colonies
Throughout the 1600s and 1700s, British colonists had formed a large and thriving settlement along the
eastern shore of North America. When George III became king of Great Britain in 1760, his North American
colonies were growing by leaps and bounds. Their combined population soared from about 250,000 in 1700 to
2,150,000 in 1770, a nearly nine fold increase. Economically, the colonies thrived on trade with the nations of

Europe. Along with increasing population and prosperity, a new sense of identity was growing in the colonists
minds. By the mid-1700s, colonists had been living in America for nearly 150 years. Each of the 13 colonies had
its own government and people were used to a great degree of independence. Colonists saw themselves less as

British and more as Virginians or Pennsylvanians. However, they were still British subjects and were expected to
obey British law. In 1651, the British Parliament passed a trade law called the Navigation Act. This and
subsequent trade laws prevented colonists from selling their most valuable products to any country except
Britain. In addition, colonists had to pay high taxes on imported French and Dutch goods.
Americans Win Independence
In 1754, war erupted on the North American continent between the English and the French. The French
had also colonized parts of North America throughout the 1600s and 1700s. The conflict was known as the
French and Indian War and it was part of the Seven years war in Europe. The fighting lasted until 1763, when
Britain and her colonists emerged victoriousand seized nearly all French land in North America. The victory,
however, only led to growing tensions between Britain and its colonists. In order to fight the war, Great Britain
had run up a huge debt. Because American colonists benefited from Britains victory, Britain expected the
colonists to help pay the costs of the war. In 1765,
Parliament passed the Stamp Act. According to this law, colonists had to pay a tax to have an official
stamp put on wills, deeds, newspapers, and other printed material. American colonists were outraged. They had
never paid taxes directly to the British government before. Colonial lawyers argued that the stamp tax violated
colonists natural rights, and they accused the government of taxation without representation. In Britain, citizens
consented to taxes through their representatives in Parliament. The colonists, however, had no representation in
Parliament. Thus, they argued they could not be taxed.
Over the next decade, hostilities between the two sides increased. Some colonial leaders favored
independence from Britain. In 1773, to protest an import tax on tea, a group of colonists dumped a large load of
British tea into Boston Harbor. George III, infuriated by the Boston Tea Party, as it was called, ordered the
British navy to close the port of Boston. Such harsh tactics by the British made enemies of many moderate
colonists. In September 1774, representatives from every colony except Georgia gathered in Philadelphia to
form the First Continental Congress. This group protested the treatment of Boston. When the king paid little
attention to their complaints, the colonies decided to form the Second Continental Congress to debate their next
move. On April 19, 1775, British soldiers and American militiamen exchanged gunfire on the village green in
Lexington, Massachusetts. The fighting spread to nearby Concord. The Second Continental Congress voted to
raise an army and organize for battle under the command of a Virginian named George Washington. The
American Revolution had begun.

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Colonial leaders used Enlightenment ideas to justify independence. The colonists had asked for the
same political rights as people in Britain, they said, but the king had stubbornly refused. Therefore, the colonists
were justified in rebelling against a tyrant who had broken the social contract.
In July 1776, the Second Continental Congress issued the Declaration of Independence. This document,
written by political leader Thomas Jefferson, was firmly based on the ideas of John Locke and the
Enlightenment. We hold these truths to be self-evident, states the beginning of the Declaration, that all men
are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, which among these are
life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

The British were not about to let their colonies leave without a fight. Shortly after the publication of the
Declaration of Independence, the two sides went to war. At first glance, the colonists seemed destined to go
down in quick defeat. Washingtons poorly trained army faced the well-trained forces of the most powerful
country in the world. In the end, however, the Americans won their war for independence. Several reasons
explain the colonists success. Firstly, the Americans motivation for fighting was much stronger than that of the
British, since their army was defending their homeland. Secondly, the overconfident British generals made
several mistakes. Fighting an overseas war, 3,000 miles from London, was terribly expensive. After a few years,
tax-weary British citizens called for peace. Finally, Louis XVI of France was eager to weaken Frances rival,
Britain. French entry into the war in 1778 was decisive.
In 1781, combined forces of about 9,500 Americans and 7,800 French trapped a British army commanded by
Lord Cornwallis near Yorktown, Virginia. Unable to escape, Cornwallis eventually surrendered. The Americans
won their independence in Treaty of Paris in 1783.

Americans create a republic

In February 1787, Congress approved a Constitutional Convention to set the new structure of the States.
Using the political ideas of the Enlightenment, the delegates created a new system of government. They
established three separate brancheslegislative, executive, and judicial. This setup provided a built-in system of
checks and balances, with each branch checking the actions of the other two. For example, the president

received the power to veto legislation passed by Congress. However, the Congress could override a presidential
veto with the approval of two-thirds of its members.
Although the Constitution created a strong central government, it did not eliminate local governments. Instead,
the Constitution set up a federal system in which power was divided between national and state governments.
Later ten amendments known as the Bill of Rights were added to the Constitution. These amendments
protected such basic rights as freedom of speech, press, assembly, and religion.

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78. The Preceding of the French Revolutions

The Old Order
In the 1770s, under the social and political system of Francethe Old Regimethe people of France were
divided into three large social classes, or estates.

The Roman Catholic Church, whose clergy formed the First Estate, owned 10 percent of the land in
France. It provided education and relief services to the poor and contributed about 2 percent of its
income to the government.

The Second Estate was made up of rich nobles. Although they accounted for just 2 percent of the

population, the nobles owned 20 percent of the land and paid almost no taxes.

About 97 percent of the people belonged to the Third Estate. The three groups that made up this estate
differed greatly in their economic conditions.
o

The first groupthe bourgeoisie or middle classwere bankers, factory owners, merchants,
professionals, and skilled artisans. Often, they were well educated and believed strongly in the
Enlightenment ideals of liberty and equality.

The workers of Frances cities formed the second, and poorest, group within the Third Estate.
These urban workers included traders, apprentices, laborers, and domestic servants. Paid low
wages and frequently out of work, they often went hungry. If the cost of bread rose, mobs of these
workers might attack grain carts and bread shops to steal what they needed.

Peasants formed the largest group within the Third Estate, more than 80 percent of Frances 26
million people. Peasants paid about half their income in dues to nobles, tithes to the Church, and
taxes to the kings agents. They even paid taxes on such basic staples as salt.

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The Forces of Change

Members of the Third Estate were inspired by the success of the American Revolution. They began to
demand equality, liberty, and democracy.
By the 1780s, Frances once prosperous economy was in decline. The heavy burden of taxes made it almost
impossible to conduct business profitably within France. Further, the cost of living was rising sharply. In addition,
bad weather in the 1780s caused widespread crop failures, resulting in a severe shortage of grain. The price of
bread doubled in 1789, and many people faced starvation.
During the 1770s and 1780s, Frances government sank deeply into debt. Part of the problem was the
extravagant spending of Louis XVI and his queen, Marie Antoinette. In 1786 bankers refused to lend the
government any more money.
Louis XVI was indecisive and allowed matters to drift. He paid little attention to his government advisers, and
had little patience for the details of governing. Rather than cutting expenses, Louis put off dealing with the
emergency until he practically had no money left. His solution was to impose taxes on the nobility.
However, the Second Estate forced him to call a meeting of the Estates-General an assembly of
representatives from all three estatesto approve this new tax. The meeting, the first in 175 years, was held on
May 5, 1789, at Versailles.

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79. The French Revolution

Dawn of the Revolution
The clergy and the nobles had dominated the Estates-General throughout the Middle Ages and expected to
do so in the 1789 meeting. Under the assemblys medieval rules, each estates delegates met in a separate hall
to vote, and each estate had one vote. The two privileged estates could always outvote the Third Estate.
The Third Estate delegates, mostly members of the bourgeoisie whose views had been shaped by the
Enlightenment, were eager to make changes in the government. They insisted that all three estates meet
together and that each delegate have a vote. This would give the advantage to the Third Estate, which had as
many delegates as the other two estates combined.
Siding with the nobles, the king ordered the Estates-General to follow the medieval rules. The delegates of
the Third Estate, however, became more and more determined to wield power. In a dramatic speech, Sieyes
suggested that the Third Estate delegates name themselves the National Assembly.
On June 17, 1789, they voted to establish the National Assembly, in effect proclaiming the end of absolute
monarchy and the beginning of representative government. This vote was the first deliberate act of revolution.
In response to these events, Louis stationed his mercenary army of Swiss guards around Versailles. In Paris,
rumors flew. Some people suggested that Louis was intent on using military force to dismiss the National
Assembly. Others claimed that the foreign troops were coming to Paris to massacre French citizens.
People began to gather weapons in order to defend the city against attack. On July 14, a mob searching for
gunpowder and arms stormed the Bastille, a Paris prison. The mob overwhelmed the guard and seized control
of the building. The angry attackers hacked the prison commander and several guards to death, and then
paraded around the streets with the dead mens heads on pikes.
Before long, rebellion spread from Paris into the countryside. From one village to the next, wild rumors
circulated that the nobles were hiring outlaws to terrorize the peasants. A wave of senseless panic called the
Great Fear rolled through France.

The peasants soon armed with pitchforks and other farm tools, they broke into nobles manor houses and
destroyed the old legal papers that bound them to pay feudal dues. In some cases, the peasants simply burned
down the manor houses.

The Assembly Reforms France

Peasants were not the only members of French society to feel the Great Fear. Nobles and officers of the
Church were equally afraid. Throughout the night of August 4, 1789, noblemen declared their love of liberty and
equality. Motivated more by fear than by idealism, they joined other members of the National Assembly in
sweeping away the feudal privileges of the First and Second Estates, thus making commoners equal to the
nobles and the clergy. By morning, the Old Regime was dead.
The Rights of Man This document stated that men are born and remain free and equal in rights. These

rights included liberty, property, security, and resistance to oppression. The document also guaranteed citizens
equal justice, freedom of speech, and freedom of religion. In keeping with these principles, revolutionary leaders
adopted the expression Liberty, Equality, Fraternity as their slogan.
A State-Controlled Church The assembly took over Church lands and declared that Church officials and

priests were to be elected and paid as state officials. Thus, the Catholic Church lost both its lands and its
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political independence. The reasons for the assemblys actions were largely economic. Proceeds from the sale
of Church lands helped pay off Frances huge debt.
A Limited Monarchy In September 1791, the National Assembly completed the new constitution, which

Louis reluctantly approved. The constitution created a limited constitutional monarchy. It stripped the king of
much of his authority. It also created a new legislative bodythe Legislative Assembly. This body had the power
to create laws and to approve or reject declarations of war. However, the king still held the executive power to
enforce laws.
Factions
Despite the new government, old problems, such as food shortages and government debt, remained. The
question of how to handle these problems caused the Legislative Assembly to split into three general groups,
each of which sat in a different part of the meeting hall.

Radicals, who sat on the left side of the hall, opposed the idea of a monarchy and wanted sweeping

changes in the way the government was run.

Moderates sat in the center of the hall and wanted some changes in government, but not as many as the

radicals. They were also called the Girondists.

Conservatives sat on the right side of the hall. They upheld the idea of a limited monarchy and wanted

few changes in government.

In addition, factions outside the Legislative Assembly wanted to influence the direction of the government
too. Emigrants, nobles and others, who had fled France, hoped to undo the Revolution and restore the Old
Regime. In contrast, some Parisian workers and small shopkeepers wanted the Revolution to bring even
greater changes to France. They were called sans-culottes, or those without knee breeches.

Left, Right, and Center

The terms we use today to describe where people stand politically derive from the factions that developed in
the Legislative Assembly in 1791.
People who want to radically change government are called left wing or are said to be on the left.
People with moderate views often are called centrist or are said to be in the center.
People who want few or no changes in government often are called right wing or are said to be on the right.

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80. The French Republic

War and Execution
Monarchs and nobles in many European countries watched the changes taking place in France with alarm.
They feared that similar revolts might break out in their own countries. In fact, some radicals were keen to
spread their revolutionary ideas across Europe. As a result, some countries took action. Austria and Prussia, for
example, urged the French to restore Louis to his position as an absolute monarch. The Legislative Assembly
responded by declaring war in April 1792.
The war began badly for the French. By the summer of 1792, Prussian forces were advancing on Paris.
The Prussian commander threatened to destroy Paris if the revolutionaries harmed any member of the royal
family. This enraged the Parisians. On August 10, they imprisoned Louis, Marie Antoinette, and their children.
Under pressure from radicals in the streets and among its members, the Legislative Assembly set aside the
Constitution of 1791. It declared the king deposed, dissolved the assembly, and called for the election of a new
legislature.
This new governing body, the National Convention, took office on September 21. It was under the control of
wealthy businessmen who were called Girondins. They quickly abolished the monarchy and declared France a
republic. Adult male citizens were granted the right to vote and hold office. Women were not given the vote. The

National Convention also had to contend with the continuing war with Austria and Prussia. At about the time the
Convention took office, the French army won a stunning victory against the Austrians and Prussians at the Battle
of Valmy. The National Convention had reduced Louis XVIs role from that of a king to that of a common citizen

and prisoner. It tried Louis for treason. The Convention found him guilty, and, by a very close vote, sentenced
him to death. On January 21, 1793, the former king was beheaded by a machine called the guillotine.
The Reign of Terror
Foreign armies were not the only enemies of the French republic. It had thousands of enemies within
France itself. These included peasants who were horrified by the kings execution, priests who would not accept
government control. How to contain and control these enemies became a central issue.
In the early months of 1793, the Jacobin party (supported by the sans-culottes) slowly gained power. In
July 1793, its leader, Maximilien Robespierre became leader of the Committee of Public Safety. For the next year,
Robespierre governed France virtually as a dictator, and the period of his rule became known as the Reign of
Terror. The Committee of Public Safetys chief task was to protect the Revolution from its enemies. Under
Robespierres leadership, the committee often had these enemies tried in the morning and guillotined in the
afternoon. The enemies of the Revolution who troubled Robespierre the most were fellow radicals who
challenged his leadership. In 1793 and 1794, many of those who had led the Revolution received death
sentences. Their only crime was that they were considered less radical than Robespierre. Perhaps as many as
40000 were executed during the Terror.
In July 1794, fearing for their own safety, some members of the National Convention turned on
Robespierre. They demanded his arrest and execution. The Reign of Terror, the radical phase of the French
Revolution, ended on July 28, 1794, when Robespierre went to the guillotine.
French public opinion shifted dramatically after Robespierres death. People of all classes had grown
weary of the Terror. They were also tired of the skyrocketing prices for bread, salt, and other necessities of life.
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In 1795, moderate leaders in the National Convention drafted a new plan of government, the third since 1789. It
placed power firmly in the hands of the upper middle class and called for a two-house legislature and an
executive body of five men, known as the Directory. These five were moderates, not revolutionary idealists.
Some of them were corrupt and made themselves rich at the countrys expense. Even so, they gave their
troubled country a period of order. They also found the right general to command Frances armiesNapoleon
Bonaparte.

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81. Napoleon
In 1796, the Directory appointed Napoleon to lead a French army to Italy. Crossing the Alps, the young
general swept into Italy and won a series of remarkable victories. In an attempt to protect French trade interests
and to disrupt British trade with India, Napoleon led an expedition to Egypt. His army was pinned down in Egypt,
and the British admiral Horatio Nelson defeated his naval forces. When Napoleon returned from Egypt, in early
November 1799, his troops under his command surrounded the national legislature and drove out most of its
members. In its place, they established a group of three consuls, one of whom was Napoleon. Napoleon quickly
took the title of first consul and assumed the powers of a dictator. A sudden seizure of power like Napoleons is
known as a coup.
Napoleon Rules France

At first, Napoleon pretended to be the constitutionally chosen leader of a free republic. In 1800, a plebiscite,
or vote of the people, was held to approve a new constitution. This gave all real power to Napoleon as first
consul.
In general, he supported laws that would both strengthen the central government and achieve some of the
goals of the Revolution. Napoleon set up an efficient method of tax collection and established a national banking
system. He also took steps to end corruption and inefficiency in government. He dismissed corrupt officials. In
order to provide the government with trained officials, set up government-run public schools.
Napoleon signed a concordat, or agreement, with Pope Pius VII. This established a new relationship
between church and state. The concordat gained Napoleon the support of the organized Church as well as the
majority of the French people.
His greatest work was his comprehensive system of laws, known as the Napoleonic Code. This gave the
country a uniform set of laws and eliminated many injustices.
In 1804, Napoleon decided to make himself emperor, and the French voters supported him again. He
crowned himself on December 2 1804 in Notre Dame Cathedral.

Napoleon Creates an Empire

In order to concentrate his forces in Europe, he offered to sell all of the Louisiana Territory to the United
States, and in 1803 President Jeffersons administration agreed to purchase the land for $15 million. He had
already annexed the Austrian Netherlands and parts of Italy to France and set up a puppet government in
Switzerland. Napoleons battlefield successes forced the rulers of Austria, Prussia, and Russia to sign peace
treaties. These successes also enabled him to build the largest European empire since that of the Romans.
In his drive for a European empire, Napoleon lost only one major battle, the Battle of Trafalgar . This naval
defeat, however, was more important than all of his victories on land. The British commander, Horatio Nelson,
was as brilliant in warfare at sea as Napoleon was in warfare on land. The destruction of the French fleet had
two major results. First, it ensured the supremacy of the British navy for the next 100 years. Second, it forced
Napoleon to give up his plans of invading Britain.
During the first decade of the 1800s, Napoleons victories had given him mastery over most of Europe. By
1812, the only areas of Europe free from Napoleons control were Britain, Portugal, Sweden, and the Ottoman
Empire.
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In addition to the lands of the French Empire, Napoleon also controlled numerous supposedly independent
countries. These included Spain, the Grand Duchy of Warsaw, and a number of German kingdoms in Central
Europe. The rulers of these countries were Napoleons puppets; some, in fact, were members of his family.
Furthermore, the powerful countries of Russia, Prussia, and Austria were loosely attached to Napoleons empire
through alliances. Although not totally under Napoleons control, they were easily manipulated by threats of
military action.
The French Empire was huge but unstable. Napoleon was able to maintain it at its greatest extent for only
five yearsfrom 1807 to 1812. Then it quickly fell to pieces. Its sudden collapse was caused in part by
Napoleons actions.
Fall of Napoleons Empire

Napoleons own personality proved to be the greatest danger to the future of his empire. His desire for power
had raised him to great heights, and the same love of power led him to his doom.
In November 1806, Napoleon set up a blockadea forcible closing of portsto prevent all trade and
communication between Great Britain and other European nations. Napoleon called this policy the Continental
System because it was supposed to make continental Europe more self-sufficient. Napoleon also intended it to

destroy Great Britains commercial and industrial economy. Napoleons blockade, however, was not nearly tight
enough. Aided by the British, smugglers managed to bring cargo from Britain into Europe.
Napoleons most disastrous mistake of all came in 1812 when Napoleon decided to invade Russia. His
Grand Army of more than 420,000 soldiers marched into Russia. As Napoleon advanced, Czar Alexander pulled
back his troops and the Russians practiced a scorched-earth policy. This involved burning grain fields and
slaughtering livestock so as to leave nothing for the enemy to eat.

Even Moscow was destroyed by the

Russians. As the snowsand the temperaturebegan to fall in early November, Russian raiders attacked
Napoleons ragged, retreating army. Finally, in the middle of December, the last survivors straggled out of
Russia. The retreat from Moscow had devastated the Grand Armyonly 10,000 soldiers were left to fight.
After this defeat he faced the allied armies of the European powers outside the German city of Leipzig in
October 1813. The allied forces easily defeated his new and inexperienced army and French resistance
crumbled quickly. In April 1814, Napoleon accepted the terms of surrender and gave up his throne. The victors
gave Napoleon a small pension and exiled him to Elba, a tiny island off the Italian coast.
However, he escaped from Elba and, on March 1, 1815, landed in France. Within days, Napoleon was again
emperor of France. In response, the European allies quickly marshaled their armies. The British army, led by the
Duke of Wellington, prepared for battle near the village of Waterloo in Belgium. On June 18, 1815, the British and
the Prussian forces attacked the French and two days later, Napoleons exhausted troops gave way. Taking no
chances this time, the British shipped Napoleon to St. Helena, a remote island in the South Atlantic where
Napoleon died in 1821.

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82. The Congress of Vienna

European heads of government were looking to establish long-lasting peace and stability on the continent
after the defeat of Napoleon. They had a goal of the new European orderone of collective security and stability
for the entire continent. A series of meetings in Vienna, known as the Congress of Vienna, were called to set up
policies to achieve this goal. Most of the decisions were made in secret among representatives of the five great
powersRussia, Prussia, Austria, Great Britain, and France. By far the most influential of these representatives
was the foreign minister of Austria, Prince Metternich.

Balance of Power Although the leaders of Europe wanted to weaken France, they did not want to leave it

powerless. If they severely punished France, they might encourage the French to take revenge. If they
broke up France, then another country might become so strong that it would threaten them all. As a
result, France remained a major but diminished European power. Also, no country in Europe could easily
overpower another.

The Congress of Vienna was a political triumph in many ways. For the first time, the nations of an entire
continent had cooperated to control political affairs. The settlements they agreed upon were fair enough
that no country was left bearing a grudge. Therefore, the Congress did not sow the seeds of future wars.
In that sense, it was more successful than many other peace meetings in history. None of the five great
powers waged war on one another for nearly 40 years, when Britain and France fought Russia in the
Crimean War in 1853.

The rulers of Europe were very nervous about the legacy of the French Revolution. They worried that the
ideals of liberty, equality, and fraternity might encourage revolutions elsewhere. Late in 1815, Russia,
Austria and Prussia signed an agreement called the Holy Alliance. In it, they pledged to base their
relations with other nations on Christian principles in order to combat the forces of revolution.

Despite their efforts to undo the French Revolution, the leaders at the Congress of Vienna could not turn
back the clock. The Revolution had given Europe its first experiment in democratic government. Although
the experiment had failed, it had set new political ideas in motion. The major political upheavals of the
early 1800s had their roots in the French Revolution.

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83. Industrialization

The Industrial Revolution refers to the greatly increased output of machine-made goods that began in England in

the middle 1700s. Before the Industrial Revolution, people wove textiles by hand. Then, machines began to do
this and other jobs. Soon the Industrial Revolution spread from England to Continental Europe and North
America.
Agricultural Revolution in Britain

In 1700, small farms covered Englands landscape. Wealthy landowners, however, began buying up much of
the land that village farmers had once worked. The large landowners dramatically improved farming methods.
These innovations amounted to an agricultural revolution. After buying up the land of village farmers, wealthy
landowners enclosed their land with fences or hedges. The increase in their landholdings enabled them to
cultivate larger fields. Within these larger fields, called enclosures, landowners experimented with more
productive seeding and harvesting methods to boost crop yields. Large landowners forced small farmers to
become tenant farmers or to give up farming and move to the cities.
The process of crop rotation proved to be one of the best developments by the scientific farmers. One year,
for example, a farmer might plant a field with wheat, which exhausted soil nutrients. The next year he planted a
root crop, such as turnips, to restore nutrients. This might be followed in turn by barley and then clover.
Livestock breeders improved their methods too. Between 1700 and 1786, the average weight for lambs
climbed from 9 to 25 kilos. As food supplies increased and living conditions improved, Englands population
mushroomed.
Why the Industrial Revolution Began in England

In addition to a large population of workers, the small island country had extensive natural resources.
Industrialization, which is the process of developing machine production of goods, required such resources.
o

Water power and coal to fuel the new machines.

Iron ore to construct machines, tools, and buildings.

Rivers for inland transportation.

Harbors from which merchant ships set sail.

Britain had an expanding economy to support industrialization.

o

Businesspeople invested in the manufacture of new inventions.

Britains highly developed banking system also contributed to the countrys industrialization.

The availability of bank loans encouraged people to invest in new machinery.

Growing overseas trade, economic prosperity, and a climate of progress led to the increased
demand for goods.

Britains political stability gave the country a tremendous advantage over its neighbors. Parliament also passed
laws to help encourage and protect business ventures.

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Inventions Spur Industrialization

The textile industry was the first to be transformed. Cloth merchants boosted their profits by speeding up the
process by which spinners and weavers made cloth as the increasing population boosted the demand for goods
such as cloth (Inventions e.g. flying shuttle, spinning jenny, spinning mule). Wealthy textile merchants set up
machines in large buildings called factories. Factories needed waterpower, so the first ones were built near
rivers and streams
Improvements in Transportation

Progress in the textile industry spurred other industrial improvements. The first such development, the steam
engine, stemmed from the search for a cheap, convenient source of power. In 1765, James Watt figured out a
way to make the steam engine work faster and more efficiently while burning less fuel. Steam could also propel
boats. An American inventor named Robert Fulton built a steamboat which made its first successful trip in 1807.
In England, water transportation improved with the creation of a network of canals, or human-made
waterways. By the mid-1800s, 4,250 miles of inland channels slashed the cost of transporting both raw materials
and finished goods. British roads improved, too, thanks largely to the efforts of John McAdam, a Scottish
engineer. Working in the early 1800s, McAdam developed roads where even in rainy weather heavy wagons
could travel over the new macadam roads without sinking in mud.
A steam engine on wheelsthe railroad locomotivedrove English industry after 1820. One of the early
railroad engineers was George Stephenson. In 1821, Stephenson began work on the worlds first railroad line. It
was to run 43 kilometers from the Yorkshire coal fields to the port of Stockton on the North Sea.
The invention and perfection of the locomotive had at least four major effects. First, railroads spurred
industrial growth by giving manufacturers a cheap way to transport materials and finished products. Second, the
railroad boom created hundreds of thousands of new jobs for both railroad workers and miners. These miners
provided iron for the tracks and coal for the steam engines. Third, the railroads boosted Englands agricultural
and fishing industries, which could transport their products to distant cities. Finally, by making travel easier,
railroads encouraged country people to take distant city jobs. Also, railroads lured city dwellers to resorts in the
countryside. Like a locomotive racing across the country, the Industrial Revolution brought rapid and unsettling
changes to peoples lives.

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84. Consequences of the Industrialization

Industrialization Changes Life

By the 1800s, people could earn higher wages in factories than on farms. With this money, more people
could afford to heat their homes with coal from Wales and dine on Scottish beef. They wore better clothing, too,
woven on power looms in Englands industrial cities. Cities swelled with waves of job seekers.
For centuries, most Europeans had lived in rural areas. After 1800, the balance shifted toward cities. This
shift was caused by the growth of the factory system, where the manufacturing of goods was concentrated in a
central location. Between 1800 and 1850, the number of European cities boasting more than 100,000
inhabitants rose from 22 to 47. Most of Europes urban areas at least doubled in population; some even
quadrupled. This period was one of urbanizationcity building and the movement of people to cities.
Factories developed in clusters because entrepreneurs built them near sources of energy, such as water
and coal. Britains capital, London, was the countrys most important city. It had a population of about one
million people by 1800. During the 1800s, its population exploded, providing a vast labor pool and market for
new industry. London became Europes largest city, with twice as many people as its closest rival (Paris).
Because Englands cities grew rapidly, they had no development plans, sanitary codes, or building
codes. Moreover, they lacked adequate housing, education, and police protection for the people who poured in
from the countryside to seek jobs. Most of the unpaved streets had no drains, and garbage collected in heaps on
them. Workers lived in dark, dirty shelters, with whole families crowding into one bedroom. Sickness was
widespread. Epidemics of the deadly disease cholera regularly swept through the slums of Great Britains
industrial cities. In 1842 a British government study showed an average life span to be 17 years for workingclass people in one large city, compared with 38 years in a nearby rural area. But not everyone in urban areas
lived miserably. Well-to-do merchants and factory owners often built luxurious homes in the suburbs.
Working Conditions

To increase production, factory owners wanted to keep their machines running as many hours as
possible. As a result, the average worker spent 14 hours a day at the job, 6 days a week. Work did not change
with the seasons, as it did on the farm. Instead, work remained the same week after week, year after year.
Industry also posed new dangers for workers. Factories were seldom well lit or clean. Machines injured
workers. And there was no government program to provide aid in case of injury. The most dangerous conditions
of all were found in coal mines. Frequent accidents, damp conditions, and the constant breathing of coal dust
made the average miners life span ten years shorter than that of other workers.
Many women and children were employed in the mining industry because they were the cheapest source of
labor.
Class Tensions Grow

Though poverty gripped Britains working classes, the Industrial Revolution created enormous amounts of
wealth in the nation. Most of this new money belonged to factory owners, shippers, and merchants. These
people were part of a growing middle class, a social class made up of skilled workers, professionals,
businesspeople, and wealthy farmers.
The new middle class transformed the social structure of Great Britain. Gradually, a larger middle class
neither rich nor poor emerged. The upper middle class consisted of government employees, doctors,
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lawyers, and managers of factories, mines, and shops. The lower middle class included factory overseers and
such skilled workers as toolmakers, mechanical drafters, and printers. These people enjoyed a comfortable
standard of living.
During the years 1800 to 1850, however, laborers, or the working class, saw little improvement in their living
and working conditions. They watched their livelihoods disappear as machines replaced them. In frustration,
some smashed the machines they thought were putting them out of work. One group of such workers was called
the Luddites.
Positive Effects of the Industrial Revolution

Despite the problems that followed industrialization, the Industrial Revolution had a number of positive
effects. It created jobs for workers. It contributed to the wealth of the nation. It fostered technological progress
and invention. It greatly increased the production of goods and raised the standard of living. Perhaps most
important, it provided the hope of improvement in peoples lives.
The Industrial Revolution produced a number of other benefits as well. These included healthier diets,
better housing, and cheaper, mass-produced clothing. Because the Industrial Revolution created a demand for
engineers as well as clerical and professional workers, it expanded educational opportunities.
The middle and upper classes prospered immediately from the Industrial Revolution. For the workers it
took longer, but their lives gradually improved during the 1800s. Laborers eventually won higher wages, shorter
hours, and better working conditions after they joined together to form labor unions.

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HUNGARY IN THE 18-19 th CENTURIES

85. Hungary in the Habsburg Empire

Demographic changes
The Turkish yoke had a negative effect on the central territories of Hungary; there were huge uninhabited
regions. Having driven out the Turks great numbers of settlers arrived in these regions. The three sources of

population growth were migration, organized settling and immigration.

Hungarian peasants came from the more densely populated Western counties and many Slovaks from Upper

Northern Hungary to the Great Plains.

Settling was initiated by the Viennese Court and meant mainly the arrival of German Roman Catholics. This
process had two aims: to enhance the development of the economy and to create a bigger Roman Catholic
population to counter-balance the Reformation. As a result of this process, German-speaking regions came into
being, especially, in Buda, Baranya and Tolna.
Immigration meant the arrival of Romanian peasants and shepherds in Transylvania and Serbians arrived in
Southern Hungary and they mainly settled down as frontier guards.
As a result of the demographic changes, the Hungarians were an ethnic minority in Hungary by the end of
the 18th century: out of 9.3 million people, only 3.5 million were Hungarian. Hungary became a multiethnic
country.
Charles III and the Pragmatic Sanction
The Peace Treaty of Szatmr was a compromise between Habsburg absolutism and Hungarian feudal
constitutionalism. Charles III was the last male Habsburg; he tried to secure the throne for his daughter, Maria
Theresa. To achieve this, in the diet of 1712-15 he agreed to take the Coronation Oath and promised to call the

diet regularly, and to confirm the terms of the Golden Bull - especially the ancient rights and privileges of the
Hungarian nobility. He promised to respect the territorial unity and 'Independence' of the Hungarian Kingdom.
But in fact it meant that foreign, military and financial affairs were the responsibility of the Viennese Court; and
the nobles had to do military service in return for tax exemption. However, the Hungarian nobles upheld their
right to vote for a war tax and for the enlistment of Hungarian recruits.

After these measures the Diet of 1722-23 accepted the Pragmatic Sanction, including the succession of
the female line. In the first acts of the diet a perpetual personal union was established between Hungary and the

Austrian hereditary provinces and they were obliged to protect each other. The Pragmatic Sanction maintained
this relationship until 1918.

144

The
Hungarian state in
the 18th Century

The system
of the Diet
145

86. Maria Theresa (1740-80)

War of Austrian Succession (1740-48)
Maria Theresa followed her father on the throne of Austria. (The Holy Roman Emperor was her husband,
Charles of Lorraine and after his death, Joseph II) in 1741 she was also crowned Queen of Hungary but several
male members of the Habsburg and related dynasties claimed the throne. Frederick II, King of Prussia offered to
help Maria Theresa in return for Silesia. Vienna finally agreed but Frederick ignored his promise and invaded
Silesia. Maria Theresa turned to the Hungarians for help and the estates offered 'our lives and blood for our

Queen, and voted for the recruitment of 35.000 soldiers. Although in 1748 Frederick II acknowledged the
Pragmatic Sanction, the war of succession ended in failure for the Habsburgs just like the Seven Years' War
(1756-63) fought for the return of Silesia.

Administrative and economic reforms

During and after the wars Hungary was once again the focus of interest for Austria, Maria Theresa
introduced important administrative, economic and social reforms to help the integration of the remaining parts of
the Empire after losing Silesia.

Separation of administration and jurisdiction at the highest level.

Establishing the Council of State, the main advisory body.

From 1765 the estates were not called, Maria Theresa ruled by decree, with her chief advisor,
Kaunitz.

In 1754 a Tariff Regulation was introduced, influenced by mercantilism. It had a double aim: after
the loss of Silesia, to protect Austrian and Bohemian industries from the competition of the more
industrialized regions of Europe; and to find an extra source of income to make up for the fact that
the Hungarian nobles did not pay taxes. According to the regulation double borders were
introduced:
o

an external border around the empire with high taxes on foreign goods,

an internal border to separate the Austrian provinces and Hungary. It had low tariffs on
manufactured goods from Austria to Hungary and on agricultural goods from Hungary to
Austria.

As a result, Hungary remained the

major supplier of cheap food and raw material
for the western provinces, whereas the
hereditary

provinces

supplied

industrial

products for Hungary. In fact, Hungary had

depended on western industry before 1751; in
practice it was the partners that changed due
to the regulation. However, many historians
argue that Hungary was forced into a
backward position, and the biggest hindrance
to

the

development

of

the

Hungarian

economy was the Tariff Regulation.

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Social and educational reforms

The constant warfare at the beginning of the reign of Maria Theresa imposed ever-growing burdens on
the serfs and this led to occasional uprisings. Maria Theresa decided to regulate the relationship between serfs
and landlords mainly because she realized that the income of the state
depended on the serfs. In 1767 she issued the Urbarium, which regulated
and unified the duties and labour requirements of peasants.

She granted to serfs the right to move freely.

The ninth tenth of the crop and 1 golden forint had to be given
to the landlord as rent and the serfs had to do 1 day a week
socage with a horse or ox, or 2 days a week on foot.

The peasant also paid a tithe to the Church, a war tax to the
state and local tax to finance the administration of the county.

Finally, peasants had to do military service.

Maria Theresa also used royal decrees to regulate healthcare and education. In 1777 she issued Ratio
Education is which regulated education. Schools were taken under state control and compulsory education was

introduced between the ages of 6 and 12. Village schools were established and the language of education was
Hungarian. Teacher-training colleges, and technological institutions were founded (Buda, Selmecbnya) and a
national curriculum was worked out.

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87. The Enlightened Despotism of Joseph II (1780-90)

Joseph II the 'Hatted King'
After his father's death in 1765, Joseph II became Holy Roman Emperor. He travelled in the Empire and
Europe where he gained experience which helped shape his conception of government and his plans for reform.
He was raised up in the spirit of enlightened despotism: as a result, on the one hand, he regarded himself as the
absolute ruler of the empire, on the other hand, as the first servant of the state. His motto: 'Everything for the

people, nothing by the people', was the dominant idea of enlightened despots of the time.
When his mother died, Joseph II refused to be crowned king of Hungary to avoid swearing a Coronation
Oath. He had the Holy Crown, the symbol of the independent kingdom, brought to the Treasury in Vienna. This
meant that he was determined to reduce the power of privileged classes and thus he governed his empire by
decree; he did not convene the Hungarian Diet. The principle of his philosophy, known as Josephinism, was to
create a united and strong empire from the vastly different, multilingual regions. He planned to reform and

modernize the government and also to introduce social reforms.

Administrative reforms
Josephs dream was the unity of the empire and the abolition of Hungarian autonomy. To achieve this, he
abolished the traditional county system, the forum for policy-making by the lower nobility, and divided the country
into ten administrative units. Officials were appointed by the monarch and each unit was headed by a royal

intendant or commissioner. These reforms created great discontent among the nobility and many of Joseph's
previous supporters turned against the king. Another important step was when he ordered a national census,
with the aim of assessing the number of citizens (and therefore possible recruits to the army), and a land survey
to assess the number of tax-payers.
Church policy
Joseph decided to take radical steps against the powerful Roman Catholic Church. His anti-Catholic
policy was inspired by enlightened, practical considerations; he was convinced that faith should not limit the
rights of citizens. In 1781 he issued the Decree on Toleration. In this he granted freedom of religion and opened
higher positions for Protestant and Greek Orthodox subjects, but not for Jews. Joseph dissolved all religious
orders not involved in teaching or caring for the sick.

Language Decree
The emperor's administrative and religious reforms provoked resistance among the representatives of
Church and nobility; but the national resistance of the Hungarian nobility was provoked by the Language Decree
of 1784. The decree made the German language the official language of the whole empire. The language of
administration, jurisdiction and higher education was to be German. This gave rise to a strong national
movement, which turned to traditional Hungarian folklore and customs. At that time Hungarian nobles started to

learn the Hungarian language, wore traditional clothes, and in other ways openly defied the decree. They also
established a special guard to protect the Holy Crown.
Josephs attempt to Germanize the country contributed to the revival of Hungarian literature as well. In
1772 the Tragedy of Agis' was published by Gyrgy Bessenyei and this marks the beginning of the

148

Enlightenment in Hungarian literature. Bessenyei supported the development of the vernacular language
because, as he said: 'Every nation becomes learned in its own language.'
Decree on Serfdom
In 1784 a new peasants' uprising started in Transylvania. As a result, in 1785, Joseph II issued his
decree on serfdom, which secured the freedom of movement of serfs. Perpetual serfdom was abolished
alongside the word 'serf. The authority of manorial courts was also curtailed, so the landlord had no further right
over the life and death of peasants.
The failure of Josephs enlightened despotism
The growing unpopularity of the king made it difficult to carry out his reforms. The international difficulties
also contributed to the emperor's problems. In 1788 he launched a failed military campaign against the Turks
allied to the Russians. In 1789 the revolution broke out in France where the queen was Joseph's sister, Marie
Antoinette. At the time of the revolution, a national uprising broke out in the Austrian Netherlands, a distant
Habsburg province and the Hungarian nobility openly organized a conspiracy against the emperor. They wanted
to invite to the throne the son of the Prussian king. All these facts made Joseph II withdraw all his reforms except
for the decree on toleration and the decree on serfs on his deathbed.

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88. Economy and Society at the Beginning of the 19th Century

The impact of the Napoleonic wars in Hungary
The conservative, feudal nobility supported the Habsburgs in their war against Napoleon I. They voted
the troops and the war tax in the diets. Between 1792 and 1815 Hungary sent more than 100.000 soldiers to
fight against the French.
The war had a positive impact on Hungarian economy because the long-lasting war made the prices of
wheat higher and higher, so more and more money came into the country. Even the worse quality food and

wheat could be sold at a high price. Not only big landowners but also smallholders could produce for the market.
However, the long-lasting war had negative effects, too. The treasury became exhausted and by the end
of the war Austria went bankrupt. Because of this in the diet of 1811-12 the king devaluated the money against
the protest of the estates. The king dissolved the diet and did not convene it until 1825.

The situation of economy

At the end of the war the weaknesses of Hungarian economy became obvious: both in agriculture and
industry feudal features dominated, although the first signs of capitalist transformation appeared in the western

part of the country.

The law of entailment hindered capitalist enterprise as lands could not
be sold. It was only some wealthy Transdanubian aristocrats who could afford
to buy machines and modernize their estates: to introduce crop rotation, seed
drills and employ trained estate managers.
In industry stayed within the system of guilds. There were some
exceptions: manufactories, established especially by foreign entrepreneurs.
The discriminative tariff regulations introduced by Maria Theresa also
hindered the development of Hungarian economy as Hungary was forced to
produce agricultural goods and raw material.
The weakness of local market also contributed to the backwardness of
Hungarian economy. As most trade routes crossed the Danube at Pest, river
trade started to prosper. However roads were in a terrible condition, which
was the biggest obstacle in the development of trade.
Society
Aristocracy consisted of maximum 500-600 families. The families functioned as casts, it was almost

impossible to get into a family for an 'outsider. They were rich enough to lead a luxurious way of life and if they
wished, they could modernize their estates. They held state offices and they were mainly conservative, as they
were the most interested in conserving the status quo.
Lesser nobles had no aristocratic titles and held mainly county offices. They could make a career as

officers or officials. Their way of life was closely connected to their mansions and their wealth was only enough
to maintain a relatively high standard of living but for the lack of capital they needed quick reforms to prevent

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impoverishment. They were interested in capitalist development and reforms and they represented the greatest
opposition to the Court and aristocracy.
'Sandaled' nobles represented the majority of Hungarian nobility. Their number constantly increased as

there were more nobles descending from the middle layer. They were smallholders working on their own lands,
but despite the way of life similar to peasants, they insisted on their nobiliary privileges {e.g. tax exemption and
the right to vote). It was easy to influence them during elections and this led to corruption.
Peasants represented about 80% of the society. There was a huge difference between wealthy peasants

and cottars The way of life of wealthy peasants was similar to sandaled nobles and they could produce for the
market, which was helped by the agricultural boom of the Napoleonic wars. At the same time the number of
cottars started to increase mainly because the landlords tried to enlarge their manors. The main aim of peasants
was to abolish serfdom, personal dependency on landlords and achieve land ownership, but they were not
significantly active in political life.
The middle class represented about 5% of the population as people living in cities, but it was only 1%
real entrepreneurs. Being mostly German-speaking foreigners or Jews they did not play a significant role in
Hungarian political life and reforms. At the same time the supporters of reforms wanted the middle class to take
part in the process of capitalist transformation.
Intellectuals were advocated supporters of reforms and capitalist transformation. Among them we can

find the layer of so-called honoratior, intellectuals of middle class or peasant origin.

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89. Age of Reform - Szchenyi

The Diet of 1825-27
This diet cannot be considered the first of the reform diets, as no reform measures were passed. The
estates just listed their grievances and protested against the violation of the constitution (i.e. the diet had not
been convened for 13 years).
Count Szchenyi Istvn made his first appearance at this diet and he played a crucial role in founding the

Hungarian Learned Society, the later Academy of Sciences. He offered the interest of the annual income of his
estates for the promotion of national culture and the support of the Hungarian language. His example was
followed by other donors and the Academy started to operate under the patronage of Palatine Archduke Joseph.
(To the annoyance of his brother, the king, the favorite palatine of the Hungarians 'went native' and played a
leading role in the development of Pest and Buda, where he resided.)
Count Szchenyi Istvn (1791-1860)
He followed the example of his father and his uncle, as a patron of arts and sciences and of Hungarian
culture. Count Szchenyi Ferenc, his father, laid the foundations of the Hungarian National Library and the
Hungarian National Museum. Festetics Gyrgy, the brother of Szchenyi's mother Festetics Julianna established
the first Hungarian College of Economics, the Georgicon.
His extensive reading of social, economic and political ideas, as well as his travels in Western Europe,
awoke him to the backwardness of Hungary. He was particularly impressed by the laws, the economic and
social system of Great Britain. He strongly believed that the main cause of the backwardness of Hungary was the
prevailing feudal system. However, the policies of the Court and Hungary's dependence on Austria also had a

fair share in the responsibility for the country's underdeveloped economy and feudal society.
Szchenyi's aim was to civilize his people, and to turn the attitudes of the Hungarian aristocracy towards
reform. He expected the Hungarian elite to support capitalism, taking the British model as an example to follow
(the English gentry supported modernization).
In 1830 Szchenyi's main work. 'Credit" (Hitel), was published. In this essay on economy he explained
his reform ideas. The Hungarian land-owning nobility was much poorer than they might be if they modernized
and mechanized their estates. The nobility could not do this because of the lack of capital and lack of credit. The
Hungarian nobleman, though owner of vast lands, master of many serfs and exempt from taxes, could not offer
security to the bank, because of the antiquated laws of Aviticitas and Fiscalitas. Aviticitas meant entailment,
nobility could not sell his land - it was inalienable'. Fiscalitas meant that the Royal Treasury had a claim to the
noble's land when his family line came to an end. These antiquated feudal regulations, which dated back to the
Middle Ages, needed to be abolished, since they meant that the Hungarian nobility was not creditworthy.
He exposed the inefficiency of the feudal system as far as economy was concerned; in his subsequent
works, he tried to explain the necessity, not only of economic, but also of social reforms. (1831 'Light' (Vilg),
1833 'Stages' (Stadium)) He advocated the abolition of serfdom, socage work and feudal duties to the landlords
and to the Church; he was convinced that employing wage laborers instead of serfs was more effective and
more productive. He argued for equality before the law and an end to manorial jurisdiction by extending
constitutional rights to the peasants.He wanted to put a stop to any kind of bureaucratic government interference
in the economy, that is, he wanted to abolish guilds and state monopolies as well as internal tariffs. It was

152

necessary to establish modern infrastructure (good roads, railway network, bridges etc). He wished the
Hungarian language to be the official language instead of Latin.
On the model of English clubs he founded the National Casino in Pest, which soon became the rallying
point for young reformers. He initiated horse races for the same reason that is to provide another venue where
an exchange of Ideas could take place. He also encouraged horse-breeding. His more practical schemes
intended to overcome economic backwardness in Hungary. Szchenyi sacrificed much of his private property to
public goals. In his role as a royal commissioner, Szchenyi supervised the regulation of the Danube and the
Tisza, according to the plans of Vsrhelyi Pl. He was the moving spirit of steam-shipping on the River Danube

and on Lake Balaton. He initiated the building of a permanent bridge connecting Buda and Pest to enhance the
development of a united capital.
He expected the aristocracy, the Hungarian elite, to be the agents of capitalist transformation . He wished
to persuade the aristocracy to undertake the task of carrying out reforms voluntarily, which were forced by
bloody revolutions elsewhere.
He hoped the Court would be a partner in modernization; he did not consider that changes could be
successfully carried out against the will of the mighty Habsburg Empire. He was not indifferent to the cause of
national independence, but he could see that it would be pointless presenting constitutional grievances to
Vienna. However, the government led by the extreme conservative Metternich rejected all reform ideas that were
vaguely liberal.
The Diet of 1832-36
This diet can be considered as the first real reform diet because a liberal opposition of the nobility first
made its voice heard there in public. In the Lower House the leaders were Klcsey Ferenc and Dek Ferenc. The
leaders of the opposition in the Upper House were Count Szchenyi Istvn and Baron Wesselnyi Mikls
The reform-minded gentry, the non-noble intellectuals and the dietal youth took part in this diet. Dietal
youths were young law students, jurists, representing absent magnates; or they just attended the sessions of the
diet as students of politics. They were called as the 'reform party'.

Their aim was to achieve liberty and property.

They wanted to promote a union of interests' of different social layers by liberating the serfs from
feudal bondage through 'optional redemption'. Optional redemption meant that serfs would be
freed (or emancipated) if they compensated their landlords for their loss of land.

The main failures of the diet were that after long debates the urbarial proposal was rejected, and an attempt to
abolish entailment met a similar fate. The proposal for the right of the peasants to hold land was also rejected.
However, the proposal that everybody, including the nobles should pay a toll on the Lnchd was accepted, the
nobility agreed to pay the cost of the diets and from that time on laws should be drafted in Latin and Hungarian.

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90. Age of Reform - Kossuth

The Diet of 1839-40
In 1835, Francis I died and was succeeded by his feeble-minded son, Ferdinand V (1835-1848). All
political power was concentrated in the hands of Metternich, the extreme conservative chief minister. The
Habsburg government took action to silence the Hungarian opposition.
First the court turned against Baron Wesselnyi Mikls, accusing him of treason. Wesselnyi had been a
close friend and political associate of Szchenyi, but he was more radical. Whereas Szchenyi wished to avoid
confrontation with Vienna, Wesselnyi openly blamed the Habsburg absolute methods for the economic and
social backwardness of Hungary. He was imprisoned and went blind in prison. Yet, during his long trial he still
had the strength and bravery to save many lives in the disastrous flood of the Danube in 1838.
Kossuth, the supporter and political successor of Wesselnyi was arrested in 1837. He spent his three
years in prison reading classics of politics and economics and learning English. The Diet of 183940 refused to
discuss taxation and military recruitment before the issue of freedom of speech was settled and all the political
prisoners were set free. Finally it achieved amnesty for the political prisoners, and the passage of the act of
optional redemption. The proposal that the language of jurisdiction and legislation should be Hungarian was also

accepted. Reform laws relating to commerce, industry and banking established the legal framework for the
establishment of capitalism in Hungary.
Kossuth Lajos
Kossuth Lajos was born to a landless family of the lesser nobility, in 1802. He followed his father's
example and studied law. Kossuth took part in the Diet of 1832-36 as a young jurist, as the representative of an
absent magnate from Zempln County.
He edited the Dietal Reports (Orszggylsi Tudstsok) from 1832, in which he accurately reported the
work of the diet to the reading public. As censorship made the press an unreliable source of information,
Kossuth's reports were produced as hand-written copies. The dietal youth did the work of copying the reports,
which, in the form of private letters, avoided censorship.
After the diet ended, he went on editing the Municipal Reports (Trvnyhatsgi Tudstsok) giving an
account of issues debated in county assemblies. By so doing, he extended the public sphere, and more people
were informed about policy-making than ever. Kossuth soon became a popular leading figure of the reform
opposition. As long as he was a representative of the Hungarian diet, he could not be arrested, but as soon as
the diet ended, he was brought to trial and imprisoned.
Kossuth was not only given amnesty and released from prison, but was even permitted to edit a new
liberal newspaper, in January 1841, entitled Pesti Hrlap. He was offered a job as editor by Landerer Lajos, who
was not only a printer but also an agent of the secret police. In fact, the government wanted to kill two birds with
one stone. They expected that through censorship he could be kept under control. They also hoped that
Kossuth's radicalism would split the liberal movement.
Neither of these expectations of the government came true. Kossuth introduced a new type of political
journalism, against which traditional censorship was useless. He actually revolutionized Hungarian journalism.

This new style of press was marked by reasoning and the expression of opposing political opinions.
In his editorials he used his talent as a publicist to discuss central issues of the contemporary public
sphere and to explain his own program for the transformation of Hungary. The editorials exposed the bitterest
154

cases of social injustice and the most striking phenomena of backwardness. Although Kossuth believed in
democratic ideas, he did not want to alienate the less radical liberals. He was aware of the fact that he needed
the support of the most influential liberals led by Dek Ferenc, so he tried not to be too radical.
Kossuth wanted a total acceptance of capitalism in Hungary through social and political emancipation,
fairer distribution of burdens and economic modernization. The key principle of his political program was a true
'union of interest'. According to Kossuth, the nobility could take the lead in modernization only if they renounced

their privileges and reconciled their interests with the rest of the society, including the peasants.
In his opinion, a cornerstone of social emancipation was the compulsory liberation of serfs. (Through
optional redemption only 1% of the serfs could free themselves until 1848.) Kossuth emphasized that the earliest
possible liberation of serfs was the only way to avoid social explosion (i.e. revolution). Kossuth thought that
landlords should be compensated from state funds.
He was convinced that the landlords could start economic modernization with the money coming from
redemption. He also demanded the abolition of entailment so that landlords could get loans to finance the
modernization of agriculture. He also urged the abolition of tax exemption for nobles; public taxation would mean
a fairer distribution of burdens. However, the county nobility violently rejected the suggestion that they make a
proportionate contribution to local taxes.
Kossuth advocated equality before the law. He was convinced that, together with the liberation of the
serfs, manorial law courts should be abolished. He wanted political emancipation through a representative
system. Such a system would mean that not only nobles but a fairly broad layer of society would be represented

at the diet on a fairly liberal suffrage. (It did not mean general suffrage yet.)
He emphasized the importance of economic independence for Hungary, which he considered a
precondition of political independence. He championed the administrative reunion of Transylvania with Hungary.
Having studied economics, Kossuth turned from being an advocate of free trade to economic
protectionism. He realized that the lack of protective tariffs would expose Hungary's modest factories to the

competition of Austrian, Bohemian or even German industry.

Thanks to Kossuths propaganda, which considered protectionism as the precondition of economic
independence, the issue of protective tariffs was among the demands of the reform opposition at the Diet of
1843-44. The reform opposition demanded a protective tariff for Hungary so that an independent Hungarian
industry could develop. The only success was that Hungarian became the official language in Hungary In 1844.
The refusal of the bill for a protective tariff and Kossuths propaganda resulted in the rise of local 'Buy
Hungarian!' movements. Kossuth was elected director of the National Protectionist Association (Vdegylet)

established by distinguished liberal aristocrats in 1844. Its members pledged to buy only Hungarian
manufactured goods (if available) for 6 years. In the absence of a proper domestic industry its economic
importance could only be limited. Nevertheless, it was a nation-wide movement of the liberal opposition.

155

91. Debate between Szchenyi and Kossuth

Because of the basic differences between Szchenyis and Kossuth's reform theories, a heated debate
started between the two outstanding minds of the Age of Reform.

Szchenyi considered the aristocracy, Kossuth the lower nobility as the appropriate agents of the
reform process.

Szchenyis theory was mainly economic: he consciously avoided the constitutional issue. He
believed that reforms could be carried out only with the consent of the Viennese court. Kossuth
claimed self-determination for the Hungarian nation. He realized that no reforms could be carried
out against the wishes of the court, but the court did not agree to radical reforms, so he
demanded not only economic but also political independence within the Habsburg Empire.

In 1841 Szchenyi published a book-length pamphlet entitled "The People of the Orient'. In it he
apparently attacked Kossuth's manners; in fact, he criticized his political theory. He considered Kossuth's radical
claims dangerous: they would drive Hungary towards a revolution, he wrote. He added that Kossuth's assaults
on the existing order and authority endangered the reform itself.
In his reply Kossuth answered the charges of Szchenyi with respect. It was Kossuth who called
Szchenyi the 'Greatest Hungarian. He explained his political views, claiming that he wanted to introduce
capitalism to Hungary and self-determination of the nation was essential to it. Although Szchenyi wished to
create a moderate liberal centre, he was moving into a political vacuum instead. Kossuth became one of the
most influential leaders of the opposition; his more radical reforms were popular among broader layers of
society.

Debate between Szchenyi and Kossuth

156

92. Before the Revolution of 1848

The 'Cautious Progressives'
A group of young aristocrats, called new conservatives, realized that some minimum reforms were
necessary to make conservatism efficient and secure the support of the more liberal aristocracy. Led by
Dessewffy Aurl, they advocated limited reforms instead of repression. They gave support to those reforms
which disturbed their interests the least, like the optional redemption and equality before the law. They thought of
themselves as 'cautious progressives'. Metternich understood that the new conservatives could be effective
weapons against liberalism in Hungary. He also realized that the stronghold of the liberal opposition was the
nobiliary county so he employed new tactics to win a majority there. He introduced the system of administrators,
which meant that many of the bailiffs (ispn) were replaced by 'administrators', who followed the orders of the
court. The strong-handed management of the counties by the administrators brought about a considerable shift
towards conservatism. Finally, in 1846 the Conservative Party was formed.
The Radicals
In the 1840s political polarization took place among the Hungarian liberals, and different political groups
were formed. Szchenyi represented the moderate wing of Hungarian liberalism; but he was in a political
vacuum as most liberals supported Kossuth in the debate between them. Kossuth and his followers advocated
radical reforms.
The Centralists
The Centralists (Etvs Jzsef, Trefort goston) represented another grouping with a different vision of
reform. The Centralists rejected the nobiliary county system of feudal origin; instead they advocated
constitutional centralization, hence their name. In their opinion the ideal form of government was a strong,
central government responsible to the parliament.
The revolutionary democrats
The revolutionary democrats were even more radical than Kossuth. The elite of the Hungarian
intellectuals, poets and writers of the 1840s engaged more and more in politics. Petfi Sndor, Jkai Mr
novelist, Tncsics Mihly, the radical writer of peasant origin, Irnyi Jzsef, the inventor of the safety match,
belonged to the radical political group known as the revolutionary democrats and regularly met in Cafe Pilvax in
Pest. They broke away from the moderate liberalism of the Hungarian nobility; being more radical, they wanted
fundamental changes without considering the interests of the nobility. They idealized the French Revolution and
heralded a new wave of European revolutions.
The different opinions on the issues of
the reforms

157

The Opposition Party

Once the Conservative Party had been formed, the liberal opposition obviously needed to take steps to unify
their forces. In 1847 the Opposition Party was established. The founders were Kossuth, Dek and Batthyny.
Kossuth and Dek worked out the Opposition Manifesto:

A representative parliament and a responsible government,

General taxation,

Equality before the law,

Freedom of religion, speech and of the press,

Abolition of serfdom and entailment,

Union of Hungary and Transylvania.

The last feudal diet (1847-48)

The last feudal diet opened in November 1847. The opposition had a slight majority in parliament: its
leader was Kossuth in the Lower House and Batthyny in the Upper House. The opposition achieved moderate
success: the contribution of the nobility to municipal tax was accepted, however, general taxation was rejected.
Entailment was abolished, but the compulsory redemption of serfs was not passed.

By February 1848, a stand-off had developed in the diet. If there had not been the wave of revolutions of
1848, the Hungarian diet wouldn't have brought about an end to feudal society and economy and founded a
modern civil and bourgeois order in its place.

158

93. The Revolution of 1848 in Hungary

The wave of European revolutions
The revolutions of that year were the outcome of a combination of factors:

the general tension arising from the conservative international system created in 1815;

the wish of European nations, like Italians, Germans, to be united in a nation-state: and the
encouragement these peoples drew from each other in a chain-reaction of revolutions across the
continent.

The Hungarian revolution fitted smoothly into this chain-reaction. It was preceded by revolutions in Naples,
Palermo, Paris, Rome, Piedmont and Vienna, and it was followed by those in Berlin, Milan, Venice, Prague and
Bucharest. The news of the Parisian revolution in February 1848 reached Pozsony in March and Kossuth took
advantage of it without hesitation.
On 3rd March, he urged the immediate realization of the full program of the opposition (i.e. the Opposition
Manifesto). Kossuth demanded a constitution not only for Hungary but also for the hereditary provinces as well
as for Austria.
On 13th March revolution broke out in Vienna sweeping away Metternich's conservative system. At the
news of the Viennese revolution the Upper House approved of Kossuths proposal. A delegation of the diet set
off to present the document to the Habsburg ruler.
The 15th March in Pest-Buda
Kossuth requested the opposition circles in Pest, Hungary's effective capital, to support his struggle at
the diet by submitting a petition. So the revolutionary democrats, who came to be known as the "young men of
March", decided to take immediate action.
On 15th March 1848 they mobilized the students and began their historic march in Pest, starting from
Cafe Pilvax. They first marched to the printing workshop of Landerer and they had the Twelve Points and
Petfi's freshly written poem, Nemzeti Dal printed.
Then they went to the City Hall of Pest and made the council accept the Twelve Points (freedom of the
press, abolition of censorship, responsible government in Pest-Buda, equality before the law, general taxation,
abolition of serfdom and manorial duties of the peasants, the army should swear an oath to the constitution, only
Hungarian soldiers should stationed in Hungary, release of political prisoners, union with Transylvania). It was
drafted by the revolutionary democrats and became a truly revolutionary document, which summed up the
demands of the liberal opposition.
The first legal document of the revolution could thus be sent to Pozsony as the petition of the city. Next
they marched to Buda to the Resident Council where the counselors gave their consent to the Twelve Points.
The political prisoner, Tncsics Mihly was also released.

159

94. The April Laws

The First Independent Responsible Government in Hungary
In spite of the revolutionary events in Pest-Buda, the Diet at Pozsony remained the real instrument of change.
On March 18th Count Batthyny Lajos was appointed Prime Minister of Hungary with the task of forming a
cabinet.
The Batthynys government, which moved to Pest in April, was a coalition. This coalition reflected the
distribution of power. (Coalition is a union of different political parties for a special purpose usually for a limited
period of time, e.g. in times of elections parties can join forces to gain more electors.)
Liberals

Independent

Count Lajos Batthyny, Prime Minister;

Szchenyi Istvn, Minister of Transportation

Dek Ferenc, Minister of Justice;

Mszros Lzr, Minister of Defense

Kossuth Lajos, Minister of Finance;

Etvs Jzsef Minister of Education;
Szemere Bertalan, Interior Minister;

Conservative
Eszterhzy Pl. Minister to the Office of the King.

Klauzl Gbor, Minister of Agriculture and Industry.

The April Laws

When the revolution broke out in Hungary, the last feudal diet was already in session which proved to be
a real advantage. In the course of three weeks it codified the program of the opposition worked out by the liberal
reformers of the Age of Reform. The Hungarian revolution not only triumphed but its achievements were also
consolidated by law and sanctioned by Ferdinand V on 11th April, 1848.
Hungary became a hereditary constitutional monarchy which preserved the link with the Habsburg
Monarchy through the person of the king. Decisions of the king were not valid unless they were signed by one of
the Hungarian ministers. The ministers constituted the independent Hungarian government responsible to the

parliament. The annually convened legislature consisted of an upper house of the aristocracy and a lower house
elected every three years.
A representative parliament was born. The suffrage was more liberal than any other European system.
The property qualifications were broad enough to extend the vote from a former 1.6% to 8% of the population.

Citizens became equal before the law; security of the person and property was guaranteed.
The constitution liberated all serfs from personal bondage and manorial obligations and the peasants
became the owners of the plots on which they worked, formerly owned by the landlords. Landlords were
promised compensation from the state at an unspecified time in the future. Entailment and tax privileges were
abolished. Freedom of the press and freedom of religion was guaranteed. The reunion of Hungary and
Transylvania was proclaimed.
1848. vi V. trvnycikk az orszggylsi kveteknek npkpviselet alapjn vlasztsrl
A jelen v folyama alatt a IV-ik trvnycikk rtelmben Pesten tartand legkzelebbi orszggylsre kikldend kveteknek
npkpviselet alapjn vlasztsra nzve ideiglenesen kvezkezk rendeltetnek:
1. Politikai joglvezetet azoktk, kik annak eddig gyakorlatban voltak, elvenni, a jelen orszggyls hivatsnak nem
rezhetvn, mindazok, kik a megykben s szabad kerletekben az orszggylsi kvetek vlasztsban eddig szavazattal
birtak, e jog gyakorlatban ezennel meghagyatnak. Ezeken kivl:
160

2. Az orszgnak s kapcsolat rszeknek mindazon benszletett, vagy honositott, legalbb 20 ves, s sem atyai, sem
gymi, sem gazdai hatalom, sem pedig elkvetett hsgtelensg, csempszkeds, rabls, gyilkols s gyujtogats miatt
fenyitk alatt nem lev lakosai, a nket kivve, trvnyesen bevett vallsklnbsg nlkl, vlasztk:
a) Kik szabad kirlyi vrosokban, vagy rendezett tancscsal elltott kzsgekben 300e. ft. rtk hzat vagy fldet, egyb
kzsgekben pedig eddigi urbri rtelemben vett 1/4 telket, vagy ezzel hasonl kiterjeds birtokot, kizr tulajdonul, vagy
hitveseikkel, s illetleg kiskor gyermekeikkel kzsen birnak.
b) Kik mint kzmvesek, kereskedk, gyrosok telepedve vannak, ha tulajdon mhelylyel vagy kereskedsi teleppel, vagy
gyrral brnak, s ha kzmvesek, folytonosan legalbb egy segddel dolgoznak.
c) Kik, habr a fentebbi osztlyokba nem esnek is, sajt fldbirtokukbl vagy tkjkbl ered 100 ezst forint venknti
lland s biztos jvedelmet kimutatni kpesek.
d) Jvedelmkre val tekintet nlkl a tudorok, sebszek, gyvdek, mrnkk, academiai mvszek, tanrok, a magyar
tuds trsasg tagjai, gygyszerszek, lelkszek, segdlelkszek, kzsgi jegyzk s iskolatantk, azon vlaszt
kerletben, mellyben lland laksuk van.
e) Kik eddig vrosi polgrok voltak, ha a fentebbi pontokban leirt kpessggel nem brnak is.
3. Vlaszthat mindaz, ki vlaszt, ha letnek 24-ik vt betlttte, s a trvny azon rendeletnek, mindszerint
trvnyhozsi nyelv egyedl a magyar, megfelelni kpes.

Ethnic conflicts
The court appointed Josip Jelacic as Ban of Croatia He was a loyal officer of the Habsburg army and an
ardent Croat patriot. It proved to be a really dangerous appointment in the ethnic conflicts which followed. The
Hungarian liberal constitution made no concession to the rights of the minorities. According to the concept of the
"unitary Hungarian political nation" the constitution was silent about the collective rights of the ethnic minorities;
only individual rights were granted. Hungary's relation with Croatia-Slavonia and the national minorities had been
a fundamental problem from the very beginning. Slovaks demanded linguistic rights but they generally supported
the revolution. Romanians claimed autonomy and rejected the union of Transylvania and Hungary. Serbs
declared the political autonomy of the Serbian Voevodeship. Croats demanded an independent responsible
government .Jelacic, Ban of Croatia, started to organize an army to attack revolutionary Hungary. All the ethnic
minorities were in turmoil and demanded collective rights i.e. autonomy. They were encouraged by Vienna.

The first representative elections in Hungary

It was against this background that elections were held in June 1848. The first representative Hungarian
parliament was convened on 5th July 1848. About three-quarters of the MPs were noblemen; the people seemed
to acknowledge the political expertise and the former services of the liberal nobility. Besides a handful of
conservatives and radicals, the overwhelming majority was liberals and supported the government.
As Kossuth saw clearly, the Habsburg court would take advantage of the ethnic turmoil in Hungary, all
the more so since the imperial forces were engaged in Italy. Britain stood aloof in splendid isolation wanting to
keep the balance of power in Europe. France was occupied with its own internal problems.
The most urgent issue was to consolidate the army and to secure the necessary finances. Enthused by
Kossuth's speech, the MPs voted for 40 million forints of credit and 200,000 military recruits.

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95. The Beginning of the Hungarian War of Independence

The September turn
At the end of July, Marshal Radetzky defeated the Italian rebels and consolidated Northern Italy, so the
Viennese Court could devote all its attention to revolutionary Hungary.
The Batthyny government started to disintegrate as several ministers stepped down from power (e.g.
Szchenyi suffered a nervous breakdown, haunted by the vision of the death of the nation, and was taken to
Dbling, to a mental asylum).
On 11th September 1848 Batthyny himself handed in his resignation when Jelacic crossed the border
with his army with the permission of the Habsburg government. The September turn of events transformed the
Hungarian revolution into a war of self-defense.
The fight of Jelacic
Jelacic, encouraged by the court, crossed the Hungarian border in the south in September 1848.
However, his troops were halted and defeated in the Battle of Pkozd on 29th September. The commander of the
'honvd' battalions was General Mga Jnos. The core of the revolutionary national army was made up of

volunteers and the National Guards. Although the Hungarian forces chased the troops of the ban as far as the
Austrian border, the ex-Habsburg officers were reluctant to pursue them further.
The Viennese radicals, who idolized the Hungarian revolutionaries, arose in another revolution, which
triumphed on 6th October 1848. The Habsburg Court left the capital for Olmtz, Moravia, where severel steps
were taken: General Prince Windischgraetz was appointed the commander-in-chief of all Habsburg armies. The
emperor invested him with full powers to suppress the revolutions both in Vienna and in Hungary.
After weeks of hesitation, the Hungarian army finally did march onto Austrian soil. By that time, however,
the revolution in Vienna had been suppressed; thus Hungarian and Austrian revolutionaries couldn't join forces.
The Hungarian army was easily put to flight by the concentrated Austrian troops at the Battle of Schwechat on
30th October 1848.
The National Defense Committee
With the disintegration of the Batthyny government and the military threat of Jelacic, there was a need
to appoint another executive body. In the middle of September the diet set up a six-member National Defense
Committee headed by Kossuth to cope with the emergency of war. It was obviously fashioned after the famous

French Committee of Public Safety of the Jacobins.

On 4th October 1848 a royal decree dissolved the Hungarian parliament and subjected Hungary to
military rule under Jelacic (who was appointed royal commissioner).The country was considered to be in a state
of rebellion and those who continued to resist as guilty of high treason. However, the Hungarian parliament
regarded the decrees as unlawful and ignored them, investing the National Defence Committee with supreme
executive power.

Organizing the defense

After the lost battle of Schwechat, Kossuth appointed a 31-year-old colonel, Grgey Artr, commanderin-chief of the Hungarian army. It was an excellent decision as he was a talented military leader. Grgey's genius
as a strategist and his authority among the soldiers was essential in saving a beaten army from being routed.
Not only did he save the army but he also reorganized it so as to defy one of the Great Powers of the age.
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Grgey drilled the soldiers before engaging the enemy again. Kossuth and the National Defence
Committee together with the Ministry of War organized recruitment and logistical support. They created a war
industry, and established military hospitals. (Kossuth's sister, Zsuzsanna Kossuth set the patriotic Hungarian
ladies a good example by taking care of the wounded.) By spring 1849, Hungary had a strong army of about
170,000 soldiers. For months there was no need to recruit soldiers because of the many volunteers.
The deposition of Ferdinand V
In the meantime the Austrian government was also reorganizing and preparing to strike back. First step
was to remove die epileptic Ferdinand V, who conceded too much to liberalism by granting constitutions to
Austria and Hungary. Francis Joseph, Ferdinand's 18-year-old nephew was chosen to succeed him.
On December 2nd 1848 Ferdinand V was deposed and replaced by Francis Joseph on the throne of the
Habsburg Empire. The Hungarian parliament rejected Francis Joseph's succession and the Hungarians did not
recognize him as the King of Hungary. Only in 1867, after the Compromise was concluded. was he crowned with
the Holy Crown.
Defeat and retreat
On 13th December 1848 Windischgraetz launched a large-scale offensive campaign against revolutionary
Hungary.

Windischgraetz attacked from the west.

In the south the troops of Kiss Ern, Damjanich Jnos and Vcsey Kroly fought against the
Croatian and Serbian rebels.

General Schlick attacked from the north, from Galicia.

The troops of Grgey, Aulich Lajos and Klapka Gyrgy defended north-eastern Hungary.

In Transylvania an uprising led by the Sekler Gbor ron prevented the imperial forces of General
Puchner and the Romanian rebels getting to the Great Plain. Then the Polish general, Bem
Jzsef started a victorious campaign.

On 30th December 1848 a major Hungarian force was badly beaten just outside Pest at the Battle of Mr.
Kossuth ordered the evacuation of the capital. The revolutionary government along with the treasury, the mint
and the Holy Crown moved to Debrecen. A parliamentary delegation was sent to negotiate the terms of peace
with the Habsburg Commander-in-chief but Windischgraetz would only accept unconditional surrender.
Windischgraetz reported to Olmtz that the rebellion had been suppressed.
On 26-27th February 1849 the Battle of Kpolna brought victory for Windischgraetz over Dembinski, the
new commander of Hungarian troops. Again Windischgraetz exaggerated the importance of the victory when he
reported to the court that 'the rebellious hordes had been smashed'. Believing that Windischgraetz had
suppressed the Hungarian war of Independence the court issued a constitution to all the peoples of the
Hapsburg Empire on 4th March 1849. It was the "octroyed" constitution of Olmtz . Fortunately it remained only
on paper - it was never put into practice as it would have made Hungary a hereditary Habsburg province. The
main idea was to establish a centralized monarchy where the emperor would not be responsible to anybody.

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96. The End of the War of Independence and the Revenge

The declaration of Independence
The Hungarian reaction was the Spring Campaign. As Dembinski suffered a defeat from Windischgraetz,
he was removed and replaced by Grgey again. At the end of March 50.000 soldiers were ready for the counterattack. The campaign started with the victory at Hatvan on 2nd April, then on 4th April at Tpiobicske, on 6th at
Isaszeg and on 10th at Vc. Bcska and Temeskz were liberated by Perczel whereas Bem was victorious in

Transylvania. By the middle of May Hungary was liberated. After the victories of the Spring Campaign, in the
Calvinist Church in Debrecen, on the 14th April 1849 the parliament proclaimed the dethronement of the
Habsburg dynasty and the Declaration of Independence. The form of state was unspecified, but Kossuth was

made a governor-president whereas the new cabinet was formed by Szemere Bertalan.
Hungary after the declaration of Independence
The minorities took a relatively hostile position towards the Hungarians. The unsolved problems of the
peasants led to peasants' movements. 60% of the peasants were cottars and peasants living on manorial lands

did not own land either.

The new state had to face serious foreign problems as well. First of all, Hungary was not acknowledged
by European powers. According to the agreement of the conservative powers of the Holy Alliance on 9th May
1849 the Russian czar promised help to Francis Joseph and by the middle of June a 200,000 strong Russian
army was sent to Hungary. In late June Haynau launched an Austrian attack from the west and Grgey had to
retreat from him to the south. His intention was to meet Bem but by that time Bem's army had been annihilated
at Segesvr by the Russians. On 9th August the Hungarian army suffered a crucial defeat at Temesvr.
Surrender, the end of the Hungarian War of Independence
The question of the ethnic minorities was still unsolved until the last days of the war of independence. On
28th July 1849 a new minority law was passed, which gave self-government to the minorities and made the
language of the local majority the official language, but it was too late. The minorities had already turned against
the Hungarians and were unwilling to accept new regulations. On the other hand, the government had no time to
put the law in practice as the military situation turned worse.
The situation of the revolutionary government was also unstable. In early July they had to move from
Debrecen, first to Szeged then to Arad. On 11th August the members of the government resigned and gave
dictatorial power to Grgey. On 13th August 1849 Grgey surrendered unconditionally to the Russians at Vilgos.

The last stronghold of the revolution was Komrom, where Klapka Gyrgy surrendered on 2nd October.
Humiliated by the fact that the Hungarians surrendered to the Russians, the Viennese court took a
bloody revenge. On 6th October 1849 the former Prime Minister, Batthyny was executed in Pest and 13

generals were executed in Arad becoming the martyrs of the Hungarian independence. Grgey and Kossuth left
the country and Kossuth was followed by many emigrants who went mainly to Turkey.

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IMPERIALISM AND INDUSTRIALIZIATION

97. The Industrial Revolution Continues

In the early 1800s, coal and steam drove the machines of industry. By the late 1800s, new kinds of
energy were coming into use. One was gasoline, which powered the internal combustion engine. This engine
would make the automobile possible. Another kind of energy was electricity. In the 1870s, the electric
generator was developed, which produced a current that could power machines.

Inventors
Thomas Edison patented more than 1,000 inventions, including the light bulb and the phonograph. He
started a research laboratory where most of his important inventions were developed.
Alexander Graham Bell was a teacher of deaf students and he invented the telephone in his spare time.
The Italian inventor Marconi used theoretical discoveries about electromagnetic waves to create the first
radio in 1895. This device was important because it sent messages (using Morse code) through the air, without
the use of wires. Primitive radios soon became standard equipment for ships at sea.
In the 1880s, German inventors used a gasoline engine to power a vehiclethe automobile. Automobile
technology developed quickly, but since early cars were built by hand, they were expensive. An American
mechanic named Henry Ford decided to make cars that were affordable for most people. Ford used
standardized, interchangeable parts. He also built them on an assembly line, a line of workers who each put a
single piece on unfinished cars as they passed on a moving belt. Assembly line workers could put together an
entire Model T Ford in less than two hours. When Ford introduced this plain, black, reliable car in 1908, it sold
for $850. As his production costs fell, Ford lowered the price. Eventually it dropped to less than $300. Other
factories adopted Fords ideas. By 1916, more than 3.5 million cars were traveling around on Americas roads.
Two bicycle mechanics from Dayton, Ohio, named Wilbur and Orville Wright, solved the age-old riddle of
flight. In 1903, they flew a gasoline-powered flying machine. The longest flight lasted only 59 seconds, but it
started the aircraft industry.
An important breakthrough in the history of medicine was the germ theory of disease. It was developed by
French chemist Louis Pasteur in the mid-1800s. While examining the fermentation process of alcohol, Pasteur
discovered that it was caused by microscopic organisms he called bacteria. He also learned that heat killed
bacteria. This led him to develop the process of pasteurization to kill germs in liquids such as milk. Soon, it
became clear to Pasteur and others that bacteria also caused diseases.
Public officials, too, began to understand that cleanliness helped prevent the spread of disease. Cities built
plumbing and sewer systems and took other steps to improve public health. Meanwhile, medical researchers
developed vaccines or cures for such deadly diseases as typhus, typhoid fever, diphtheria, and yellow fever.
These advances helped people live longer, healthier lives.
A stronger and more durable variety of iron, steel was invented. The production of other new materials, like
plastic, rubber, aluminum, cement started in the late 19th Century and established a new branch of industry, the
chemical industry

.
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The Rise of Mass Culture

In earlier periods, art, music, and theater were enjoyed by the wealthy. This group had the money, leisure
time, and education to appreciate high culture. It was not until about 1900 that people could speak of mass
culturethe appeal of art, writing, music, and other forms of entertainment to a larger audience. There were
several causes for the rise of mass culture. The demand for leisure activities resulted in a variety of new way for
people to enjoy. People went to music performances, movies, and sporting events.
A popular leisure activity was a trip to the local music hall. On a typical evening, a music hall might offer a
dozen or more different acts. It might feature singers, dancers, comedians, jugglers, magicians, and acrobats.
The earliest motion pictures were black and white and lasted less than a minute. By the early 1900s,
filmmakers were producing the first feature films. Movies quickly became big business. By 1910, five million
Americans attended some 10,000 theaters each day.
More people began to enjoy sports and outdoor activities. Spectator sports now became entertainment. In
the United States, football and baseball soared in popularity. In Europe, the first professional soccer clubs
formed and drew big crowds. As a result of the growing interest in sports, the International Olympic Games
began in 1896. They revived the ancient Greek tradition of holding an athletic competition every four years. The
first modern Olympics took place in Athens, Greece, the country where the games had originated.

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98. Awekening of the Working Class

Socialists wanted to improve society
The socialists were thinkers of the 19th century who tried to find the ideal economic and social formation;
they sought reforms to improve society. Socialism appeared as a counter-movement to capitalism and
liberalism. It is an economic system characterised by social ownership, control of the means of production and
cooperative management of the economy, and a political philosophy advocating such a system

Utopian socialists
Among them we can mention Claude Henri de Saint-Simon, Charles Fourier and Robert Owen. They
established the principle of distribution of goods according to needs and the work done. They also introduced
the idea of government central planning and state ownership of property (factories, mines and railways).
Utopian socialists hoped that a new economic system like this would result in greater economic equality.

Petty bourgeois socialists

On the one hand, capitalist growth threatened them but on the other hand they also belonged to the
propertied class. This duality resulted in their controversial theories. For example: Proudhon was the forerunner
of anarchists, who denied all kind of authority and declared the right to freedom without limitations, Louis Blanc
declared the right to work and he wanted to end unemployment. Auguste Blanqui thought that not only
revolution but also dictatorship was necessary to realize economic and political equality.

Marx and Engels

Karl Marx and Friederich Engels were German philosophers; both devoted themselves to the study of the
position of the working class. They sought to reform it by giving economic and political power to the worked.
Both stayed in England for a time, where they could study the consequences of the Industrial Revolution in its
birthplace. Their political program was the Communist Manifesto with the slogan 'Workers of the world unite!
You have nothing to lose but your chains! The Communist Manifesto was published on the eve of the
revolutions, in February 1848. It set forth the theory that economic forces are the key to understanding history.
Human societies have always been divided into two classes: the 'haves' and the 'have-nots'. Controlling the
means of production, the haves possessed great wealth and political power. The have-nots produced the
goods with their labor, but they were deprived of the means of production, thus had no wealth and no political
power. The exploitation of the have-nots by the haves has caused a continuous class struggle. In different
periods of time the class struggle was fought by different social layers. In the age of the Industrial Revolution the
proletariat (i.e. the working class) struggled with the bourgeoisie (i.e. the capitalists). They established the idea
of a working class revolution. In their opinion, workers should join together to end their exploitation by
overthrowing the bourgeoisie. Then the victorious proletariat would create a new classless society based on
the principles of communism. It is a form of complete socialism in which the means of production - all lands,
mines, factories and railways - would be owned and controlled by the community. Private property would cease
to exist; all goods would be shared equally as common property.
Marx wrote his main work 'Capital' on economics. The surplus value theory is at the centre of political
economics, according to which the exploitation of workers produces extra profit, the surplus value. This is
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accumulated by the capitalists, and the capital is invested for technological improvement. Consequently fewer
workers are needed that causes unemployment and pauperization. This will also lead to a concentration of
capital ('big fish eat little fish') and overproduction crises occur more and more frequently. All these factors will
result in a socialist revolution, the dictatorship of the proletariat.
International alliance of workers
Due to a serious economic crisis in 1857, the worsening living standards the working class became more
organized, the membership of trade unions increased, strikes started throughout Europe more frequently. Two
basic wings of the working class movement came into being.

Social democrats wanted to extend democracy to the working class by achieving the right to vote. They
hoped to improve the position of the workers through general reforms and through parliament.

Communists: according to the communist theory the final solution was the dictatorship of the proletariat.
The most successful and popular branch of the working class movement was social democracy. In 1875

the German Social Democratic Labor Party, the first socialist mass party, was established. Following the
German example, social democratic mass parties were formed throughout Europe. They demanded general
suffrage, an 8-hour working day and safety provisions for workers. They also made 1st May a day of solidarity in
memory of a massacre during a protest march of workers in Chicago in 1886.
Christian democracy
A new tendency at the end of the Century was the appearance of Christian democracy. In 1891 Pope
Leo XIII summarized Christian social ideas in his encyclical entitled Rerum novarum (meaning 'new times /
concerning new things'). He stated that welfare was one of the natural rights of man. The state should take care
of the ill, the poor and the unemployed. A fairer distribution of wealth was needed but private property should be
protected. The state should serve the people and as no political system is ultimate, they should be perfected all
the time. This encyclical of Pope Leo XIII marked the beginning of the modern political activity of the Church.

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99. The Unification of Italy and Germany

European balance of power shifts
The revolutions of 1848 had failed. By 1871, however, both Germany and Italy would be unified. The
changes that made this possible began with the Crimean War. It was was the result of a long-term struggle
between Russia and the Ottoman Empire. The Ottoman Empire had long controlled most of the Balkans in
southeastern Europe. By 1800, however, the Ottoman Empire was in decline. Its authority over Balkan territories
began to weaken. Russia was a nation with little access to warm-water ports. It had always coveted territory in
the Balkans. Having this territory would allow Russian ships to sail through the Dardanelles, the straits between
the Black Sea and the Mediterranean. If Russia could achieve this goal, it would become the major power in
Eastern Europe and would even be able to challenge British naval control of the eastern Mediterranean. Other
European nations feared Russian ambitions but also hoped to gain some territory ifthe Ottoman Empire
collapsed.
In 1853, the Russians invaded the Turkish Balkan provinces of Moldavia and Walachia. In response, the
Ottoman Turks declared war on Russia. Great Britain and France, fearful of Russian gains, declared war on
Russia the following year. This conflict came to be called the Crimean War. The Crimean War was named for
the Russian peninsula in the Black Sea where important battles took place. The war was poorly planned and
poorly fought. Eventually, heavy losses caused the Russians to seek peace. By the Treaty of Paris, signed in
March 1856, Russia agreed to allow Moldavia and Walachia to be placed under the protection of all the great
powers.
The effect of the Crimean War was to destroy the Holy Alliance. Austria and Russia, the chief powers
maintaining the status quo before the 1850s, were now enemies. Austria, with its own interests in the Balkans,
had refused to support Russia in the Crimean War. A defeated and humiliated Russia withdrew from European
affairs for the next 20 years. Austria now had no friends among the great powers. This situation opened the door
to the unification of Italy and Germany.
Italian Unification
In 1850, Austria was still the dominant power on the Italian Peninsula. After the failure of the revolution of
1848, people began to look to the northern Italian state of Piedmont for leadership in achieving the unification of
Italy. The royal house of Savoy ruled the Kingdom of Piedmont. Included in the kingdom were Piedmont, the
island of Sardinia, Nice, and Savoy. The ruler of the kingdom, beginning in 1849, was King Victor Emmanuel II.
The king named Camillo di Cavour his prime minister in 1852. Cavour was a dedicated political leader. As
prime minister, he pursued a policy of economic expansion to increase government revenues and enable the
kingdom to equip a large army. Cavour, however, knew that Piedmonts army was not strong enough to defeat
the Austrians. So, he made an alliance with the French emperor Louis-Napoleon. Cavour then provoked the
Austrians into declaring war in 1859. Following that conflict, a peace settlement gave Nice and Savoy to the
French. Cavour had promised Nice and Savoy to the French in return for making the alliance. Lombardy, which
had been under Austrian control, was given to Piedmont. Austria retained control of Venetia.
Cavours success caused nationalists in other Italian states (Parma, Modena, and Tuscany) to overthrow
their governments and join their states to Piedmont. Meanwhile, in southern Italy, a new leader of Italian
unification had arisen. Giuseppe Garibaldi, a dedicated Italian patriot, raised an army of a thousand volunteers.
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A branch of the Bourbon dynasty ruled the Two Sicilies (Sicily and Naples), and a revolt had broken out in Sicily
against the king. Garibaldis forces landed in Sicily and, by the end of July 1860, controlled most of the island. In
August, Garibaldi and his forces crossed over to the mainland and began a victorious march up the Italian
Peninsula. Naples and the entire kingdom of the Two Sicilies fell in early September. Garibaldi chose to turn
over his conquests to Piedmont. In 1861, a new state of Italy was proclaimed under King Victor Emmanuel II.
The task of unification was not yet complete, however. Austria still held Venetia in the north; and Rome
was under the control of the pope, supported by French troops. The Italians gained control of Venetia as a result
of a war between Austria and Prussia 1866. In 1870, during the Franco-Prussian War, French troops withdrew
from Rome. Their withdrawal enabled the Italian army to annex Rome. Rome became the capital of the united
Italian state.

German Unification
According to the Peace Treaty of Westphalia (1648) Germany was divided into several states. In 1815 with the
fall of Napoleon's empire it was renamed the German Alliance. The leader of this confederation was the
Austrian Emperor. In 1834 the Zollverein (the German tax union) was formed. The member states agreed on
the abolition of internal taxes and they declared equality within the union.
There were two concepts as for how the unification of Germany should be
carried out: with the leadership of Austria or Prussia. The Large German Unity would
be led by Austria and it would involve the hereditary provinces (e.g. Bohemia, Hungary)
as well. The Small German Unity would be formed only by the German states and
Prussia would take the lead in it. The conditions of the German states and the
development of Prussia made the small unity more and more possible and this was so
mainly due to the policy of the Prussian king, Wilhelm I and Bismarck, the 'Iron
Chancellor'.
The biggest problem of German economic development was the disintegration of the country. The
Zollverein made cooperation easier but political disintegration was still a great problem. In 1862 Otto von
Bismarck was made chancellor by Wilhelm I. Bismarck's main tasks were to carry out military reform and reduce
the power of parliament, giving more influence to military leaders. On the basis of the previous industrial
development and military reforms Bismarck was ready to start an active foreign policy for the unification of
Germany. It led to a war between Prussia and Austria. Prussia quickly defeated Austria at Koniggratz in 1866
and Austria was ready to sign a peace treaty. Bismarck persuaded Wilhelm to ask a little price from Austria Prussia desired Austrian neutrality in a would-be French-Prussian conflict. Thus in 1866-67 the North-German
League was formed.
The two dominant powers in Western Europe were Prussia and France. The French did not want the
unification of the Northern League with the Southern German states as they did not want a strong neighbor
around. A diplomatic conflict arose between the two states, which led to a new military conflict, the PrussianFrench War (1870-71). French Public opinion urged Napoleon III to declare war on Prussia to protect French
interests. Finally he did so, despite his reservations, in summer 1870. In September of 1870, Napoleon III
suffered a crucial defeat at Sedan and was taken prisoner of war. Prussia marched into France, Paris fell and on
18th January 1871 the Second German Empire was declared in Versailles. France lost Alsace and Lorraine
(these provinces contained rich coal and iron ore mines) and had to pay an incredibly huge indemnity.
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100. War And Expansion In The United States

The United States won its independence from Britain in 1783. At the end of the Revolutionary War, the
Mississippi River marked the western boundary of the new republic. As the original United States filled with
settlers, land-hungry newcomers pushed beyond the Mississippi. The government helped them by acquiring new
territory for settlement. Meanwhile, tensions between northern and southern states over the issues of states
rights and slavery continued to grow and threatened to reach a boiling point.
Expansion

In 1803, President Thomas Jefferson bought the Louisiana Territory from France. The Louisiana
Purchase doubled the size of the new republic and extended its boundary to the Rocky Mountains.

In 1819, Spain gave up Florida to the United States. In 1846, a treaty with Great Britain gave the United
States part of the Oregon Territory. The nation now stretched from the Atlantic to the Pacific oceans.

The Indian Removal Act of 1830 enabled the federal government to force Native Americans living in the
East to move to the West. For example Georgias Cherokee tribe had to move. Most of them traveled
800 miles to Oklahoma, mainly on foot, on a journey later called the Trail of Tears. About a quarter of the
Cherokees died on the trip. When the Cherokees reached their destination, they ended up on land
inferior to that which they had left. As white settlers moved west during the 19th century, the government
continued to push Native Americans off their land.

Between 1845 and 1848, the United States annexed Texas, California and a huge area in the Southwest.

Civil War
Americas westward expansion raised questions about what laws and customs should be followed in the
West. Since the nations early days, the northern and southern parts of the United States had followed
different ways of life. Each section wanted to extend its own way of life to the new territories and states in the
West.

The North had a diversified economy, with both farms and industry. For both its factories and farms,
the North depended on free workers. They demanded high protective tariffs against the competition
of British goods.

The Souths economy was based on just a few cash crops, mainly cotton. Southern planters relied on
slave labor. Southerners advocated free trade.

The disagreement over slavery and trade fueled a debate about the rights of the individual states against
those of the federal government. Southern politicians argued that the states had freely joined the Union, and
so they could freely leave. Most Northerners felt that the Constitution had established the Union once and for
all.
Conflict between the North and South reached a climax in 1860, when Abraham Lincoln was elected
president, who had promised to stop the spread of slavery. One by one, Southern states began to secede, or
withdraw, from the Union. These states came together as the Confederate States of America. In 1861,
Confederate forces fired on Fort Sumter, a federal fort in Charleston, South Carolina. Lincoln ordered the
army to bring the rebel states back into the Union. The U.S. Civil War had begun. Four years of fighting
followed, most of it in the South. Although the South had superior military leadership, the North had a larger
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population, better transportation, greater resources, and more factories. These advantages proved too much,
and in April 1865, the South surrendered. Early in 1863, he issued the Emancipation Proclamation,
declaring that all slaves in the Confederate states were free and the U.S. Congress passed the Thirteenth
Amendment to the Constitution, which abolished slavery in the United States. The Fourteenth and Fifteenth
Amendments extended the rights of citizenship to all Americans and guaranteed former slaves the right to
vote.
The Postwar Economy
The need for mass production and distribution of goods during the Civil War speeded industrialization.
After the war, the United States experienced industrial expansion unmatched in history. By 1914, it was a
leading industrial power.
Industrialization could not have occurred so rapidly without immigrants. During the 1870s, immigrants
arrived at a rate of nearly 2,000 a day. By 1914, more than 20 million people had moved to the United States
from Europe and Asia. Many settled in the cities of the Northeast and Midwest. Others settled in the open
spaces of the West.
As settlers moved west, so did the nations rail system. In 1862, Congress had authorized money to build
a transcontinental railroad. For seven years, immigrants and other workers dug tunnels, built bridges, and laid
track. When the railroad was completed in 1869, railroads linked California with the eastern United States. By
1900, nearly 200,000 miles of track crossed the nation. This system linked farm to city and boosted trade and
industry. The railroads bought huge quantities of steel. Also, trains brought materials such as coal and iron ore
to factories and moved the finished goods to market. These developments helped to make the United States a
world leader.

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101. Imperialism
Imperialism is a policy in which one country seeks to extend its authority by conquering other countries or
by establishing economic and political dominance over other countries. The backward parts of the world, divided
into spheres of interests, were soon conquered militarily, for safety reasons. ("Where business goes, the flag will
soon follow.") Obviously; the most valuable territories went to the traditional colonial empires which started
colonizing earlier (e.g. Great Britain, France).
The rapidly developing, new-born Great Powers, Germany, the USA, Italy and Japan soon demanded their
share in colonies. The struggle for the repartitioning of the world began in the late 1800s. New lands could be
acquired only against another colonial empire. Colonial rivalry led to a series of crises creating international
tension.

Economic imperialism
As industry and world trade expanded so did the size of business. New inventions required costly
investments, which brought about the concentration of capital. Business leaders formed corporations, which
mean that entrepreneurs sold shares of stock in companies to raise the money needed to start a business.
Stockholders became part-owners of the business. If a company did well, stockholders could make money in two
ways; each stockholder shared in the company's profits proportionately, furthermore, stockholders could often
sell their shares at a higher price than they had paid for them.
Some corporations became so successful that they drove rivals out of business creating monopoly situation.
Monopoly was the situation when a single company or corporation controlled an entire industry, (e.g. Standard
Oil of Rockefeller controlled the whole oil business in the USA.)
Capital was accumulated in industrialized countries. Nevertheless, instead of investing it at home,
capitalists often invested their money in backward countries which lacked capital. Raw materials and a labor
force were cheaper there. The cost of transportation was also saved as both raw materials and workers were
abundant on the spot. Thus the export of capital yielded extra profit. However, exported capital was not
superfluous at home. It would have brought about further modernization. As a result, the economic growth of the
countries that exported the most capital slowed down. (e.g. Great Britain, France).
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THE DUALIST ERA

102. Neo-Absolutism in Hungary

Centralization
Having suppressed the Hungarian revolution and War of Independence, Hungary was governed by a
military dictatorship. Haynau's objective was revenge and intimidation. Kossuth and other leaders of the sizeable

political emigration were executed in effigy

(Their names were nailed on the gallows.) Largely as a result of

international indignation, the violence came to an end, and Haynau was forced to resign in 1850.
The forfeiture theory was applied to Hungary, which explained why Hungary was absorbed by the
Habsburg Empire. By rising up in armed revolt against the ruler, the Hungarians were supposed to have forfeited
the ancient constitutional privileges given to them in the Golden Bull and the Pragmatic Sanction. It was called
neo-absolutism or Bach period after the Imperial minister of the Interior Alexander Bach. Several measures were

taken to centralize and unify the empire.

Hungary was considered a conquered territory, a subordinate province of the Habsburg Empire.

German became the official language of the whole empire; open germanization was going on in all

spheres of public life.

The administration rested on foreign (German, Czech) administrators mockingly called " Bach hussars".
(Their uniform was a Hungarian garment with imperial eagles on the buttons.)

Besides the Bach hussars, neo-absolutism was supported and order was upheld by a network of police
informers, strict censorship, and several regiments of Austrian army.

A united customs area was created by abolishing the customs barrier separating Hungary from Austria.

The government and private companies started to build a vast railway system to connect Hungary with
the western provinces.

Passive resistance
In 1850 Dek was invited to take part in a conference on private law in Vienna. But he declined the
invitation, explaining: "After the woeful events of the recent past and among circumstances that prevail even
presently among us, it is impossible for me to participate actively in public affairs," Dek's famous sentence
became the starting point of 'passive resistance in Hungary. Although he didn't intend to persuade anyone to
follow his example, the Hungarian political elite adopted this policy. Passive resistance meant non-co-operation
with the Habsburg authorities such as refusing to take office and evading the payment of taxes.
Passive resistance became the dominant type of political attitude in Hungary during neo-absolutism.
Ferenc Dek was looked up to as the 'sage of the nation. He waited for the moment when international politics
made it possible for them to become active again. As the Habsburg Empire was indispensable for the European
balance of power, Dek and his followers were also convinced that it was indispensable as a protective shield for
Hungary wedged between Germans and Slavs. The task of the Hungarian political elite was to convince Vienna
that the Habsburg Empire could not be restored as a Great Power without the co-operation of Hungary. The way
to regain Hungarian support was to return to 1848, i.e. the April Laws, by granting Hungary self-government
within the empire.

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103. Antecedent of the compromise

International background in the 1860s

The international background turned disadvantageous for Austria in the late 1850s. The propaganda of
Hungarian migrs undermined the passive support Austria received from the western powers. The relationship
between Austria and Russia became worse due to the Crimean War (1853-1856), when Francis Joseph refused
to support the Russian Empire against Great Britain and France. The Franco-Sardinian-Austrian War broke out
in 1859 and ended in a humiliating defeat at Solferino in 1860 exposed the structural weakness of neoabsolutism.
Kossuth's Plan of the Danubian Confederation and the political emigration
Lajos Kossuth first lived in Turkey in exile. When he could leave Turkey in the 1850s he travelled to the
USA and to England to popularize the cause of Hungarian independence. Finally he settled in Turin (Torino),
Italy and died there in 1894. Kossuth and his followers, the political migrs, thought that the Hungarian War of
Independence was defeated because the ethnic minorities turned against the Hungarians and sided the court
and because of the international isolation of Hungary. They also blamed Grgey for betraying.
They were convinced that their struggle could be successful if the support of the Great Powers and the
ethnic minorities was secured. From 1862 Kossuth worked for the so-called Danubian Confederation, which
would have been the cooperation of the independent Balkan states and Hungary. Kossuth urged all Hungarian
migrs to stimulate favorable international atmosphere.

The Easter Article

Dek, the main leader of the opposition waited for the suitable international background for a new
negotiation with Austria. The situation was getting worse for the nobles as they became more and more
indebted. However, Austria was even in a deeper crisis: it was threatened by financial and military crisis. Dek

hesitated about the future of the two states and finally in April 1865 he published his point of view in his so-called
Easter Article. He gave up the traditional requirement of returning to 1848 and initiated a constitutional

compromise acceptable for both Vienna and Pest. As a response Francis Joseph called the Hungarian
parliament.
Although the Austrian regime was based on the military and on the bureaucracy, it proved unsuitable for
modern warfare and even for securing a reliable hinterland. Austria's position in the German world was
challenged by Bismarck, who wanted to exclude Austria from a Germany united under Prussian hegemony. In
the following Prussian-Austrian war Austrian military collapse was a matter of weeks (as in 1859). The
humiliating defeat at Kniggraetz in 1866 meant that Austria became excluded from Germany. It was high time
Austria realized its status as a Great Power could be preserved only If Austria compromised with the strongest
and most populous nationality within the empire; the Hungarians.

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104. The compromise of 1867

After a series of secret negotiations, in February 1867 Francis Joseph appointed Count Gyula Andrssy
Prime Minister and agreed to be crowned king of Hungary. The parliament was summoned and it accepted the
Compromise. Francis Joseph was crowned in June 1867 and the new state was the Austro-Hungarian
Monarchy.
The system of dualism
The new state was a dual monarchy, which meant it had two equal centers: Vienna and Pest. The two
countries were equal and the unity was secured by common affairs: foreign, military affairs and finance. These
affairs had their ministries in Vienna and they were controlled by common delegations sent from both countries.
Each delegation had 60 members and they were elected by the parliaments of the two parties of the monarchy.
The king himself insisted on controlling two fields: the army and the right to appoint ministers and accept laws.
The political compromise was followed by an economic compromise which was signed for ten years and was
to be renewed every ten years. The main points of the compromise were the following:

common currency (monetary union)

single measure system

the free flow of labor force and capital within the monarchy,

Hungary paid 30% of all common costs;

The Compromise - pros and cons

The supporters of the compromise emphasized that at that time it was the only possibility for both
countries to establish a stable state. Hungary gained much from it as Austria never returned to absolutism and
the country was ruled by the Hungarian parliament and government and on the basis of its own laws. The
economic compromise supported the capitalist development of the country started in 1848;
The opposition of the compromise argued that Hungary gave up the achievements of 1848-49 and they
blamed Dek for giving up the country's independence. Kossuth sent his famous Cassandra-letter in 1867 and
warned Dek that Hungary would be the stake at which Austria would be burnt.
The legislation of the dual monarchy
The Compromise restored the authority of the Hungarian parliament and from 1867 it could continue its
legal functioning. The main tasks were to revise the legislation of the absolute period, to continue liberal reforms
and settle the question of the minorities.
The compromise with Croatia (1868) established a common parliament for the two countries with Croatian

representatives in the Hungarian parliament. There was a minister of Croatian affairs and they had the right to
speak in their mother tongue in the parliamentary meetings.
The law of ethnic minorities declared that Hungary was one political state. The minorities did not receive

collective rights and they could only use their mother tongue in low scale institutions. In places where the ratio of
the minorities was above 20% Hungarian was not compulsory. Compared to the similar laws in other countries,
the Hungarian regulations were relatively liberal and it was not always the law but the politicians who could be
blamed for the offences of the minorities.

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105. Economy and Society

Capitalist development was helped by several laws. The Industrial Laws regulated the rights and duties of
employers and employees, abolished guilds and completed the liberation of serfs.
The private companies owned railway lines were nationalized and the MV was created. Gbor Baross was
the most significant politician who organized the new state railway company and for that reason he was called
the iron minister.
One of the most important laws was the Act on Education (1868) which
introduced compulsory education from ages 6-12, which resulted in the gradual
disappearance of illiteracy.
The relationship between the state and counties was also regulated: half of the
local representatives were elected but the other half was given by the main taxpayers of the community, which created a special situation in local government
(the so-called virilism).
In 1886 a single county system was introduced, the so-called free districts of
the Saxon, Sekler and Jsz communities were fused into the traditional counties.
Economy
The new system established free trade; accordingly the inner customs boundary between Austria and
Hungary was abolished. Nevertheless, the price had to be paid by the Hungarian nobility; their tax exemption
was also ended. The customs union brought short-term benefits for Hungary in that the trade of agricultural

produce increased rapidly. In the long run it meant that the agrarian sector remained dominant in the Hungarian
economy. The trade in corn and other agricultural produce flourished in this period. Agriculture was the main
means of living of the majority of the population; it remained the major branch of the Hungarian economy. At the
end of the century, a pool of steam-powered mills handled the significant export of flour. The domestic machine
industry meeting the demands of these steam-powered mills grew into an important segment of export and a
leading branch in manufacturing.
Food processing was the leading Industry in Hungary and flour-milling was the most successful branch of

it. There were some European-sized factories based on mining and metal industry (Ganz Works).
However, Szchenyi, back in 1846, broke ground for his gigantic project in flood control and regulation of
rivers. But the actual continuation of the venture could occur only after 1867. And in it, the landless cotters, who

had gained hardly a thing from the liberation of the serfs, found employment for decades; they were agricultural
laborers by this time. The construction of railroads and cities also required tremendous amounts of raw
manpower.
The most significant and dynamic changes went on in banking. After 1867 five great banks were
established by foreign investors and after the crisis of 1873 these banks were taken into national ownership. The
state remained the main investor, especially during the nationalization of the railways and in the construction of
bridges and roads. The famous iron minister, Baross Gbor was the father of the new Hungarian Railways.
By the end of the 1890s the production of the industry increased by 7% per year, and generally the
national production doubled. Monopolies were formed and the state supported the development of industry and
agriculture by subventions and loans. Intensive and extensive methods were equally used but the state tried to

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support changes in the ways of production (chemicals, machines) and the structure of things produced (cheap
pigs. new types of cows).

Society
The emancipation of peasants transferred 40% of arable land in the country into the possession of former
serfs, who constituted three-quarters of the population. However, it was distributed unequally between the
peasant families: only a small minority of former serfs could become wealthy peasants. Former cottars, on the
other hand, received dwarfhoIdings, which kept them on the verge of poverty. There was great variation in the
property owned by the Hungarian peasantry.
The nobility was the other layer of society greatly affected by the emancipation of serfs. The payment of
compensation took the form of bonds and those who needed immediate access to capital rushed to sell their
bonds, often at a lower price than their face value. Roughly four-fifth of the noble families did not possess
sufficient manorial land to sustain their former status as 'genteel landholders', as they lost the free labor that they
had had before.
A part of the lower nobility ended up in the ranks
of the peasantry, petty bourgeoisie or the genteel
middle class. The genteel middle class was a specific

Hungarian social layer of officers, public servants and

intellectuals of noble origin. They preserved a great
deal of their social superiority; they considered doing
physical work and being engaged in industry or commerce unworthy of their rank. They were willing to
serve only the king, the state or the Church.
The few hundred magnate families retained 25% of all land and their traditional political Influence and
social prestige. Because their influence extended to the banking sector, they could borrow money, and thus
invest in a large-scale modernization of their estates.
The upper bourgeoisie was made up of assimilated capitalist businessmen of foreign origin (German and
Jewish). Their political role did not match their economic importance. Although they were rich businessmen, they
did not have much say in politics, being non-nobles and foreigners.
Budapest
In 1873 the formerly separate but interdependent towns Buda, Pest and buda were integrated into one
administrative unit: Budapest. Due to concentration of capital and workforce and Budapest's prime position in the
country's railway system, brought about a prosperity never seen before. Steam-powered mills, metalworking,
electrical and chemical factories were the most important. Most public buildings were erected at that time. In
1870 following a modern concept of city planning, new main roads were designated and a triple ring of
boulevards together with a system of avenues were formed. Following London, Budapest built an underground
railway.

In 1896, Hungarians celebrated the Millennium of the Conquest. Externals were dazzling and a huge
building program had been managed by this time. The Millenary Monument in Heroes' Square, the
Vajdahunyad Castle and the neo-Gothic Parliament were built in Budapest. At this time the legendary bird of
the ancient Hungarians was again flying everywhere: the proud turul, or falcon.
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106. The Crisis of the Dual Monarchy

The problem of the national minorities
Compared with Southern and Eastern Europe the attitude towards national minorities was relatively
tolerant - the security of law was provided to all who were loyal to the 'unitary Hungarian political nation'. But
Hungarian nationalism appeared in the attempt to introduce a higher number of Hungarian lessons in schools.

Hungarians were promoted in all areas of public life (90% of civil servants spoke Hungarian as their first language).
In 1895, a Congress of Nationalities was held in Budapest, which demanded territorial autonomy. It
rejected the idea of the Hungarian nation-state; demanded the vote, and established a board which repeatedly
handed in claims to the Hungarian government.
In 1907, the 'Lex Apponyi' sought to spread Hungarian in non-Hungarian schools and Hungarian was
required on the state railways. In the same year, 1907, there was a conflict with Slovak protesters (7 were killed).
This news was spread in Western Europe, doing great damage to the reputation of Hungary.

Political crisis
New parties were born to represent the transformed Hungarian society. The Hungarian Social Democratic
Party was organized by the working class and aimed at universal suffrage and welfare reforms. (Frankel Le,

Szab Ervin) Agricultural movements were significant in the Viharsarok, where the flannel jackets tried to get
land. One of their leader was Sznt Kovcs Jnos in Hdmezvsrhely. The Radical Democrats represented
the modern intellectuals and emphasized the universal suffrage and the fair treatment with the ethnic minorities.
(Jszi Oszkr)

Land hunger, emigration

Between the 1880s and World War I emigration reached such proportions that it has often been
described as a "calamity" or "bitter Hungarian tradition." In this period, two million people left the country,
primarily for economic reasons. The land hunger and the assimilation together caused this phenomenon.

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THE AGE OF WORLD WARS

107. Marching Toward War

At the turn of the 20th century, the nations of Europe had been largely at peace with one another for nearly
30 years. Some Europeans believed that progress had made war a thing of the past. Yet in a little more than a
decade, a massive war would engulf Europe and spread across the globe. Below the surface of peace and
goodwill, Europe witnessed several gradual developments that would ultimately help propel the continent into
war.
Increasing rivalry
One such development was the growth of nationalism, or a deep devotion to ones nation. However, it also
can cause intense competition among nations, with each seeking to overpower the other. By the turn of the 20th
century, a fierce rivalry indeed had developed among Europes Great Powers. Those nations were Germany,
Austria-Hungary, Great Britain, Russia, Italy, and France. Another force that helped set the stage for war in
Europe was imperialism. The quest for colonies sometimes pushed European nations to the brink of war. Yet
another troubling development throughout the early years of the 20th century was the rise of a dangerous
European arms race. The nations of Europe believed that to be truly great, they needed to have a powerful
military and stressed the importance of being able to quickly mobilize, or organize and move troops in case of a
war. This policy was known as militarism. These features altogether caused competition for materials and
markets, territorial disputes and arms race.

France had never got over the loss of Alsace-Lorraine to Germany in the Franco-Prussian War (1870).

Austria-Hungary and Russia both tried to dominate in the Balkans. Russian political maneuvering in the
region destabilized peace and created "the Powder keg of Europe".

Italy demanded South Tirol from Austria where Italians were in majority and some of the Adriatic
coastline.

Germany and Italy wanted to repartition the colonized world as they had just a few colonies.

Germany started a navy shipbuilding program in rivalry with the British Royal Navy for world naval
supremacy.

Tangled Alliances
Growing rivalries and mutual mistrust had led to the creation of several military alliances among the
Great Powers as early as the 1870s. This alliance system had been designed to keep peace in Europe. But it
would instead help push the continent into war. In 1873, German Chancellor Bismarck negotiated the League of
the Three Emperors between the monarchs of AustriaHungary, Russia and Germany to isolate France. This

agreement failed because AustriaHungary and Russia could not agree over Balkan policy. In 1879, Bismarck
formed the Dual Alliance between Germany and Austria-Hungary. Three years later, Italy joined the two
countries, forming the Triple Alliance.

Russia responded by forming a defensive military alliance with France in 1892. Such an alliance had
been Bismarcks fear. War with either Russia or France would force Germany to fight a two-front war, or a war
on both its eastern and western borders. Great Britain, alarmed by the German shipbuilding program, created an
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entente, or alliance, with France. In 1907, Britain made the Triple Entente, this time with both France and Russia.

By 1907, two rival camps existed in Europe. On one side was the Triple AllianceGermany, Austria-Hungary,
and Italy. On the other side was the Triple EntenteGreat Britain, France, and Russia. A dispute between two
rival powers could draw all the nations of Europe into war.
Crisis in the Balkans
Nowhere was that dispute more likely to occur than on the Balkan Peninsula. This mountainous peninsula in
the southeastern corner of Europe was home to an assortment of ethnic groups. With a long history of nationalist
uprisings and ethnic clashes, the Balkans was known as the powder keg of Europe.
By the early 1900s, the Ottoman Empire, which included the Balkan region, was in rapid decline. While some
Balkan groups struggled to free themselves from the Ottoman Turks, others already had succeeded in breaking
away from their Turkish rulers. These peoples had formed new nations, including Bulgaria, Greece, Montenegro,
Romania, and Serbia. Nationalism was a powerful force in these countries. Each group longed to extend its
borders. Serbia, for example, had a large Slavic population. It hoped to absorb all the Slavs on the Balkan
Peninsula. Russia, itself a mostly Slavic nation, supported Serbian nationalism. However, Serbias powerful
northern neighbor, Austria-Hungary, opposed such an effort. Austria feared that efforts to create a Slavic state
would stir rebellion among its Slavic population. In 1908, Austria annexed, or took over, Bosnia and
Herzegovina. These were two Balkan areas with large Slavic populations.
Serbian leaders, who had sought to rule these provinces, were outraged. In the years that followed, tensions
between Serbia and Austria steadily rose. The Serbs continually vowed to take Bosnia and Herzegovina away
from Austria. In response, Austria-Hungary vowed to crush any Serbian effort to undermine its authority in the
Balkans.

The assassinate
On June 28, 1914, Archduke Franz Ferdinand, and his wife, Sophie paid a state visit to Sarajevo, the
capital of Bosnia. As Serbia (an ally of Russia) demanded Bosnia to herself, it was a very rude political
maneuver from Austria-Hungary. The royal pair was shot as they rode through the streets of Sarajevo in an open
car. The killer was Gavrilo Princip, a 19-year-old Serbian and member of the Black Hand. The Black Hand was a
secret society committed to ridding Bosnia of Austrian rule.

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108. World War I (1914-1918)

The Great War Begins
Because the assassin was a Serbian, Austria decided to use the murders as an excuse to punish Serbia.
On July 23, Austria presented Serbia with an ultimatum containing numerous demands. On July 28, Austria
rejected Serbias offer and declared war. In response to Austrias declaration of war, Russia, Serbias ally, began
moving its army toward the Russian-Austrian border. Expecting Germany to join Austria, Russia also mobilized
along the German border. On August 1, the German government declared war on Russia. Russia looked to its
ally France for help. Germany, however, did not even wait for France to react. Two days after declaring war on
Russia, Germany also declared war on France. Soon afterward, Great Britain declared war on Germany. Much
of Europe was now locked in battle. By mid-August 1914, the battle lines were clearly drawn.
On one side were Germany and Austria-Hungary. They were known as the Central Powers because of
their location in the heart of Europe. Bulgaria and the Ottoman Empire would later join the Central Powers in the
hopes of regaining lost territories.
On the other side were Great Britain, France, and Russia. Together, they were known as the Allied
Powers or the Allies. Japan joined the Allies within weeks. Italy joined later in 1915. Italy had been a member of

the Triple Alliance with Germany and Austria-Hungary. However, the Italians joined the other side as they were
promised to gain the Adriatic coastline after the victory.
The War
Facing a war on two fronts, Germany had developed a battle strategy known as the Schlieffen Plan,
named after its designer, General Alfred Graf von Schlieffen. The plan called for attacking and defeating France
in the west and then rushing east to fight Russia. The Germans felt they could carry out such a plan because
Russia lagged behind the rest of Europe in its railroad system and thus would take longer to supply its front
lines. By early September, German forces had swept into France and reached the outskirts of Paris. On
September 5, however, the Allies regrouped and attacked the Germans northeast of Paris, in the valley of the
Marne River. After four days of fighting, the German generals gave the order to retreat. A quick victory in the

west no longer seemed possible.

In the east, Russian forces had already invaded Germany. Germany was going to have to fight a long
war on two fronts. Realizing this, the German high command sent thousands of troops from France to aid its
forces in the east. Meanwhile, the war on the Western Front settled into a stalemate.
By early 1915, opposing armies on the Western Front had dug miles of parallel trenches to protect themselves
from enemy fire. This set the stage for what became known as trench warfare. In this type of warfare, soldiers
fought each other from trenches. The trenches swarmed with rats. Fresh food was nonexistent. Sleep was
nearly impossible.
The space between the opposing trenches won the grim name no mans land. When the officers
ordered an attack, their men went over the top of their trenches into this bombed-out landscape. There, they
usually met murderous rounds of machine-gun fire. Artillery fire brought death right into the trenches. The
trenches disappeared, filled with earth, the air was unbreathable. Poisonous gas killed the soldiers.

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The slaughter reached a peak in 1916. In February, the Germans launched a massive attack against the
French near Verdun. Each side lost more than 300,000 men. In July, the British army tried to relieve the pressure
on the French. British forces attacked the Germans northwest of Verdun, in the valley of the Somme River. In the
first day of battle alone, more than 20,000 British soldiers were killed. By the time the Battle of the Somme
ended in November, each side had suffered more than half a million casualties. What did the warring sides gain?
Near Verdun, the Germans advanced about four miles. In the Somme valley, the British gained about five miles.
As the war raged on, fighting spread beyond Europe to Africa, as well as to Southwest and Southeast
Asia. In the years after it began, the massive European conflict indeed became a world war.
America Joins the Fight
In 1917, the focus of the war shifted to the high seas. That year, the Germans intensified the submarine
warfare that had raged in the Atlantic Ocean since shortly after the war began. In January 1917, the Germans
announced that their submarines would sink without warning any ship in the waters around Britain. This policy
was called unrestricted submarine warfare. The Germans had tried this policy before. On May 7, 1915, a German
submarine, or U-boat, had sunk the British passenger ship Lusitania. The attack left 1,198 people dead,
including 128 U.S. citizens. Germany claimed that the ship had been carrying ammunition, which turned out to
be true. President Woodrow Wilson sent a strong protest to Germany. Germans knew it might lead to war with
the United States. They gambled that their naval blockade would starve Britain into defeat before the US army
arrives.
It simply proved to be the last straw. A large part of the American population already favored the Allies. In
particular, America felt a bond with England. The two nations shared a common ancestry and language, as well
as similar democratic institutions and legal systems. More important, Americas economic ties with the Allies
were far stronger than those with the Central Powers. On April 2, 1917, President Wilson asked Congress to
declare war on Germany. The United States entered the war on the side of the Allies.

War Affects the Home Front

By the time the United States joined the Allies, the war had been raging for nearly three years. In those
three years, Europe had lost more men in battle than in all the wars of the previous three centuries. The Great
War, as the conflict came to be known, affected everyone. It touched not only the soldiers in the trenches, but
civilians as well. World War I soon became a total war. This meant that countries devoted all their resources to
the war effort.
In Britain, Germany, Austria, Russia, and France, the entire force of government was dedicated to
winning the conflict. In each country, the wartime government took control of the economy. Governments told
factories what to produce and how much. Numerous facilities were converted to munitions factories. Nearly
every able-bodied civilian was put to work. So many goods were in short supply that governments turned to
rationing. Under this system, people could buy only small amounts of those items that were also needed for the

war effort. Eventually, rationing covered a wide range of goods, from butter to shoe leather.
In addition, they censored news about the war. Many leaders feared that honest reporting of the war
would turn people against it. Governments also used propaganda, one-sided information designed to persuade,
to keep up morale and support for the war.

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Total war meant that governments turned to help from women as never before. Thousands of women
replaced men in factories, offices, and shops. Women built tanks and munitions, plowed fields, paved streets,
and ran hospitals. They also kept troops supplied with food, clothing, and weapons. Although most women left
the work force when the war ended, they changed many peoples views of what women were capable of doing.
The Allies Win the War
In March 1917, civil unrest in Russiadue in large part to war-related shortages of food and fuelforced
Czar Nicholas to step down. In November 1917, Communist leader Vladimir Ilyich Lenin seized power. Lenin
insisted on ending his countrys involvement in the war. One of his first acts was to offer Germany a truce. In
March 1918, Germany and Russia signed the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, which ended the war between them.
Russias withdrawal from the war at last allowed Germany to send nearly all its forces to the Western Front.
In March 1918, the Germans mounted one final, massive attack on the Allies in France. As in the opening
weeks of the war, the German forces crushed everything in their path. By late May 1918, the Germans had
again reached the Marne River. Paris was less than 40 miles away. Victory seemed within reach.
By this time, however, the German military had weakened. The effort to reach the Marne had exhausted
men and supplies alike. Sensing this weakness, the Allieswith the aid of nearly 140,000 fresh U.S. troops
launched a counterattack. In July 1918, the Allies and Germans clashed at the Second Battle of the Marne.
Leading the Allied attack were some 350 tanks that rumbled slowly forward, smashing through the German lines.
With the arrival of 2 million more American troops, the Allied forces began to advance steadily toward Germany.
Soon, the Central Powers began to crumble. First the Bulgarians and then the Ottoman Turks
surrendered. In October, revolution swept through Austria-Hungary. In Germany, the public turned on the Kaiser.
On November 9, 1918, Kaiser Wilhelm II stepped down. Germany declared itself a republic. A representative of
the new German government met with French Commander Marshal Foch in a railway car near Paris. The two
signed an armistice, or an agreement to stop fighting. On November 11, World War I came to an end.

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109. A Flawed Peace

The Allies Meet and Debate
On January 18, 1919, a conference to establish the peace terms began at the Palace of Versailles,
outside Paris. At the Paris Peace Conference, there were delegates representing 32 countries. Despite
representatives from numerous countries, the meetings major decisions were hammered out by a group known
as the Big Four: Woodrow Wilson of the United States, Georges Clemenceau of France, David Lloyd George of
Great Britain, and Vittorio Orlando of Italy. Russia, in the grip of civil war, was not represented. Neither were
Germany and its allies.
Wilsons Plan for Peace
In January 1918, while the war was still raging, President Wilson had drawn up a series of peace proposals.
Known as the Fourteen Points, they outlined a plan for achieving a just and lasting peace.

an end to secret treaties,

freedom of the seas,

free trade,

reduced national armies and navies,

adjustment of colonial claims with fairness toward colonial peoples,

self -determination, allowing people to decide what government they wished to live under,

a general association of nations that would protect great and small states alike. This reflected Wilsons
hope for an organization that could peacefully negotiate solutions to world conflicts;

Adopting Wilsons fourteenth point, the treaty created a League of Nations. The league was to be an
international association whose goal would be to keep peace among nations. All of Germanys territories in
Africa and the Pacific were declared mandates, or territories to be administered by the League of Nations. Under
the peace agreement, the Allies would govern the mandates until they were judged ready for independence.
Britain and France showed little sign of agreeing to Wilsons vision of peace. Both nations were concerned
with national security. They also wanted to strip Germany of its war-making power. The differences in French,
British, and U.S. aims led to heated arguments among the nations leaders. Finally a compromise was reached.
The Treaty of Versailles between Germany and the Allied powers was signed on June 28, 1919. The defeated
nation lost substantial territory and had severe restrictions placed on its military operations. As tough as these
provisions were, the harshest was Article 231. It was also known as the war guilt clause. It placed sole
responsibility for the war on Germanys shoulders. As a result, Germany had to pay reparations to the Allies.
The Western powers signed separate peace treaties in 1919 and 1920 with each of the other defeated
nations: Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria, and the Ottoman Empire. These treaties, too, led to huge land losses for the
Central Powers. Several new countries were created out of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Austria, Hungary,
Czechoslovakia, and Yugoslavia were all recognized as independent nations. The Ottoman Turks could retaine
only the territory that is today the country of Turkey. Russia, which had left the war early, suffered land losses as
well. Romania and Poland both gained Russian territory. Finland, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, formerly part of
Russia, became independent nations.

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A Troubled Treaty
The treaty with Germany, in particular the war-guilt clause left a legacy of bitterness and hatred in the
hearts of the German people. Other countries felt cheated and betrayed by the peace settlements as well.
Throughout Africa and Asia, people in the mandated territories were angry at the way the Allies disregarded their
desire for independence. The European powers, it seemed to them, merely talked about the principle of national
self-determination. European colonialism, renamed as the mandate system, continued in Asia and Africa.
Some Allied powers, too, were embittered by the outcome. Both Japan and Italy, which had entered the
war to gain territory, had gained less than they wanted. In a little more than two decades, the treaties legacy of
bitterness would help plunge the world into another catastrophic war.

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110. Revolutions in Russia

In 1914, the Russian czar, Nicholas II made the fateful decision to drag Russia into World War I. Russia was
unprepared to handle the military and economic costs. Its weak generals and poorly equipped troops were no
match for the German army. Defeat followed defeat. Before a year had passed, more than 4 million Russian
soldiers had been killed, wounded, or taken prisoner. Russias involvement in World War I revealed the
weaknesses of czarist rule and military leadership. On the home front, food and fuel supplies were dwindling.
Prices were wildly inflated. People from all classes were clamoring for change and an end to the war.
The March Revolution
In March 1917, women textile workers in Petrograd led a citywide strike. In the next five days, riots flared

up over shortages of bread and fuel. Nearly 200,000 workers swarmed the streets shouting, The local protest
exploded into a general uprisingthe March Revolution. It forced Czar Nicholas II to abdicate his throne. A year
later revolutionaries executed Nicholas and his family.
The March Revolution succeeded in bringing down the czar. Yet the decision to continue fighting in World
War I cost the new provisional government the support of both soldiers and civilians. As the war dragged on,
conditions inside Russia worsened. Angry peasants demanded land. City workers grew more radical. Socialist
revolutionaries, i.e. the Bolsheviks, formed soviets. Soviets were local councils consisting of workers, peasants,
and soldiers. In many cities, the soviets had more influence than the government.

The Bolshevik Revolution

The Bolsheviks (communist) and their leader, Vladimir Ilyich Lenin soon gained control of the Petrograd
soviet, as well as the soviets in other major Russian cities. Lenin decided to take action. In November 1917,
without warning, armed factory workers stormed the Winter Palace in Petrograd. Calling themselves the
Bolshevik Red Guards, they took over government offices and arrested the leaders of the provisional
government. Within days after the Bolshevik takeover, Lenin ordered that all farmland be distributed among the
peasants. Lenin and the Bolsheviks gave control of factories to the workers.

The Bolshevik government also signed a truce with Germany to stop all fighting and began peace talks.
In March 1918, Russia and Germany signed the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk. Russia surrendered a large part of its
territory to Germany and its allies.

Lenin Restores Order

War and revolution destroyed the Russian economy. Trade was at a standstill. Industrial production dropped,
and many skilled workers fled to other countries. Lenin turned to reviving the economy and restructuring the
government. In March 1921, Lenin temporarily put aside his plan for a state-controlled economy. Instead, he
resorted to a small-scale version of capitalism called the New Economic Policy (NEP).
It allowed peasants to sell their surplus crops instead of turning them over to the government. The
government kept control of major industries, banks, and means of communication, but it let some small factories,
businesses, and farms operate under private ownership. By 1928, Russias farms and factories were producing
as much as they had before World War I.
Lenin organized Russia into several self-governing republics under the central government. In 1922, the
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country was named the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), in honor of the councils that helped launch
the Bolshevik Revolution.
The Bolsheviks renamed their party the Communist Party. He used the word communism to describe the
classless society that would exist after workers had seized power. In reality, Lenin had established a dictatorship
of the Communist Party, not a dictatorship of the proletariat, as Marx had promoted.

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111. Postwar Uncertainty

The horrors of World War I shattered the Enlightenment belief that progress would continue and reason
would prevail. In the postwar period, people began questioning traditional beliefs. As society became more open,
women demanded more rights, and young people adopted new values. Meanwhile, unconventional styles and
ideas in literature, philosophy, and music reflected the uncertain times.
A New Revolution in Science and Art
German-born physicist Albert Einstein offered startling new ideas on space, time, energy, and matter. In
1905, Einstein theorized that while the speed of light is constant, other things that seem constant, such as space
and time, are not. Space and time can change when measured relative to an object moving near the speed of
lightabout 299 337.98 kilometers per second. Since relative motion is the key to Einsteins idea, it is called the
theory of relativity. Einsteins ideas had implications not only for science but also for how people viewed the

world. Now uncertainty and relativity replaced Isaac Newtons comforting belief of a world operating according to
absolute laws of motion and gravity.
The ideas of Austrian physician Sigmund Freud were as revolutionary as Einsteins. Freud treated
patients with psychological problems. From his experiences, he constructed a theory about the human mind. He
believed that much of human behavior is irrational, or beyond reason. He called the irrational part of the mind the
unconscious. In the unconscious, a number of drives existed, especially pleasure-seeking drives, of which the

conscious mind was unaware. Freuds ideas weakened faith in reason. Even so, by the 1920s, Freuds theories
had developed widespread influence.
In their search for meaning in an uncertain world, some thinkers turned to the philosophy known as
existentialism. A major leader of this movement was the philosopher Jean Paul Sartre of France. Existentialists

believed that there is no universal meaning to life. Each person creates his or her own meaning in life through
choices made and actions taken. The existentialists were influenced by the German philosopher Friedrich
Nietzsche. In the 1880s, Nietzsche wrote that Western ideas such as reason, democracy, and progress had

stifled peoples creativity and actions. Nietzsche urged a return to the ancient heroic values of pride,
assertiveness, and strength. His ideas attracted growing attention in the 20th century and had a great impact on
politics in Italy and Germany in the 1920s and 1930s.
Surrealism, an art movement that sought to link the

world of dreams with real life, was inspired by Freuds ideas.

The term surreal means beyond or above reality.
Surrealists tried to call on the unconscious part of their
minds. Many of their paintings have an eerie, dreamlike
quality and depict objects in unrealistic ways.
A new popular musical style called jazz emerged in
the United States. It was developed by musicians, mainly
African Americans, in New Orleans, Memphis, and Chicago
. It swept the United States and Europe. The lively, loose beat The Persistence of Memory (1931), Salvador Dali
of jazz seemed to capture the new freedom of the age.

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Society Challenges Convention

World War I had disrupted traditional social patterns. New ideas and ways of life led to a new kind of
individual freedom during the 1920s. Young people especially were willing to break with the past and experiment

with modern values. The independent spirit of the times showed clearly in the changes women were making in
their lives. The war had allowed women to take on new roles. Their work in the war effort was decisive in helping
them win the right to vote. After the war, womens suffrage became law in many countries, including the United
States, Britain, Germany, Sweden and Austria.
Women abandoned restrictive clothing and hairstyles. They wore shorter, looser garments and had their
hair bobbed, or cut short. They also wore makeup, drove cars, and drank and smoked in public. Although most
women still followed traditional paths of marriage and family, a growing number spoke out for greater freedom in
their lives. As women sought new careers, the numbers of women in medicine, education, journalism, and other
professions increased.

Technological Advances Improve Life

During World War I, scientists developed new drugs and medical treatments that helped millions of
people in the postwar years. The wars technological advances were put to use to improve transportation and
communication after the war. In prewar Britain, autos were owned exclusively by the rich. British factories
produced 34,000 autos in 1913. After the war, prices dropped, and the middle class could afford cars. By 1937,
the British were producing 511,000 autos a year. Increased auto use by the average family led to lifestyle
changes. More people traveled for pleasure. People moved to suburbs and commuted to work in the cities. Most
of the worlds major passenger airlines were established during the 1920s. At first only the rich were able to
afford air travel. In 1920, the worlds first commercial radio stationKDKA in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvaniabegan
broadcasting. Radio mania swept the United States. Every major city had stations broadcasting news, plays, and
even live sporting events. Soon most families owned a radio.
Motion pictures were also a major industry in the 1920s. Many countries, from Cuba to Japan, produced

movies. In Europe, film was a serious art form. However, in the Hollywood district of Los Angeles, where 90
percent of all films were made, movies were entertainment. The king of Hollywoods silent screen was the
English-born Charlie Chaplin, a comic genius best known for his portrayal of the lonely little tramp bewildered by
life. In the late 1920s, the addition of sound transformed movies. Other very important labor-saving devices were
the washing machine, iron, refrigerator and vacuum-cleaner.

The advances in transportation and communication that followed the war had brought the world in closer
touch. Global prosperity came to depend on the economic well-being of all major nations, especially the United
States.

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112. Democracies between the World Wars

Wars end saw the sudden rise of new democracies. From 1914 to 1918, Europes last absolute rulers had
been overthrown. For the first time, most European nations had democratic governments. Many citizens of the
new democracies had little experience with representative government. Some countries had a dozen or more
political groups. In these countries, it was almost impossible for one party to win enough support to govern
effectively. When no single party won a majority, a coalition government, or temporary alliance of several parties,
was needed to form a parliamentary majority. Because the parties disagreed on so many policies, coalitions
seldom lasted very long. Frequent changes in government made it hard for democratic countries to develop
strong leadership and move toward long-term goals. The weaknesses of a coalition government became a major
problem in times of crisis. Voters in several countries were then willing to sacrifice democratic government for
strong, authoritarian leadership.

The Weimar Republic

Germanys new democratic government was set up in 1919. Known as the Weimar Republic, it was
named after the city where the national assembly met. The Weimar Republic had serious weaknesses from the
start. First, Germany lacked a strong democratic tradition. Worst of all, millions of Germans blamed the Weimar
government, not their wartime leaders, for the countrys defeat and postwar humiliation caused by the Versailles
Treaty. Germany also faced enormous economic problems. After Germanys defeat, the mark steadily lost its
value. Burdened with heavy reparations payments to the Allies and with other economic problems, Germany
printed even more money.
As a result, the value of the mark fell sharply. Severe inflation set in. Germans needed more and more
money to buy even the most basic goods. For example, in Berlin a loaf of bread cost less than a mark in 1918,
more than 160 marks in 1922, and some 200 billion marks by late 1923. As a result, many Germans questioned
the value of their new democratic government. Germany recovered from the 1923 inflation thanks largely to the
work of an international committee. Dawes Plan provided for a $200 million loan from American banks to stabilize
German currency and strengthen its economy. Put into effect in 1924, the Dawes Plan helped slow inflation. By
1929, German factories were producing as much as they had before the war.

Efforts at a Lasting Peace

As prosperity returned, Germanys foreign minister, Gustav Stresemann, and Frances foreign minister,
Aristide Briand, tried to improve relations between their countries. In 1925, the two ministers met in Locarno,
Switzerland, with officials from Belgium, Italy, and Britain. They signed a treaty promising that France and
Germany would never again make war against each other. Germany also agreed to respect the existing borders
of France and Belgium. In 1928, the hopes raised by the spirit of Locarno led to the Kellogg-Briand peace pact.
Frank Kellogg, the U.S. Secretary of State, arranged this agreement with Frances Briand. Almost every country
in the world, including the Soviet Union, signed. They pledged to renounce war as an instrument of national
policy.

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113. A Worldwide Depression

Financial Collapse
Despite prosperity, several weaknesses in the U.S. economy caused serious problems. These included
uneven distribution of wealth, overproduction by business and agriculture, and the fact that many Americans

were buying less.

By 1929, American factories were turning out nearly half of the worlds industrial goods. The rising
productivity led to enormous profits. However, this new wealth was not evenly distributed. The richest 5 percent
of the population received 33 percent of all personal income in 1929. Thus, most families were too poor to buy
the goods being produced. Unable to sell all their goods, store owners eventually cut back their orders from
factories. Factories in turn reduced production and laid off workers. A downward economic spiral began. As
more workers lost their jobs, families bought even fewer goods. In turn, factories made further cuts in production
and laid off more workers. During the 1920s, overproduction affected American farmers as well. The danger
signs of overproduction by factories and farms should have warned people against gambling on the stock
market.
In 1929, New York Citys Wall Street was the financial capital of the world. Banks and investment
companies lined its sidewalks. At Wall Streets New York Stock Exchange, optimism about the booming U.S.
economy showed in soaring prices for stocks. In September 1929, some investors began to think that stock
prices were unnaturally high. They started selling their stocks, believing the prices would soon go down. By
Thursday, October 24, the gradual lowering of stock prices had become an all-out slide downward. A panic
resulted. Everyone wanted to sell stocks, and no one wanted to buy. Prices plunged to a new low on Tuesday,
October 29. A record 16 million stocks were sold. Then the market collapsed.
Within months of the crash, unemployment rates began to rise as industrial production, prices, and wages
declined. A long business slump, which would come to be called the Great Depression, followed. The stock
market crash alone did not cause the Great Depression, but it quickened the collapse of the economy and made
the Depression more difficult. By 1932, factory production had been cut in half. Thousands of businesses failed,
and banks closed. Many farmers lost their lands when they could not make mortgage payments. By 1933, one-

fourth of all American workers had no jobs.

The collapse of the American economy sent shock waves around the world. Worried American bankers
demanded repayment of their overseas loans, and American investors withdrew their money from Europe. The
American market for European goods dropped sharply as the U.S. Congress placed high tariffs on imported
goods so that American dollars would stay in the United States and pay for American goods. This policy

backfired. Other nations imposed their own higher tariffs. World trade dropped by 65 percent. Because of war
debts and dependence on American loans and investments, Germany and Austria were particularly hard hit. The
crash was felt heavily in Asia and Latin America as well. As European and U.S. demand for such Latin American
products as sugar, beef, and copper dropped, prices collapsed.

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The Depression confronted democracies with a serious challenge to their economic and political systems.
Each country met the crisis in its own way.
The Depression hit Britain severely. To meet the emergency, British voters elected a multiparty coalition
known as the National Government. It passed high protective tariffs, increased taxes, and regulated the
currency. It also lowered interest rates to encourage industrial growth. These measures brought about a slow but
steady recovery.
France had a more self-sufficient economy. In 1930, it was still heavily agricultural and less dependent on

foreign trade. Nevertheless, by 1935, one million French workers were unemployed. The economic crisis caused
political instability. In 1933, five coalition governments formed and fell. In 1936, moderates, Socialists, and
Communists formed a coalition. The Popular Front, as it was called, passed a series of reforms to help the
workers.
The Socialist governments in the Scandinavian countries of Denmark, Sweden, and Norway built their
recovery programs on an existing tradition of cooperative community action. In Sweden, the government
sponsored massive public works projects that kept people employed and producing. All the Scandinavian
countries raised pensions for the elderly and increased unemployment insurance, subsidies for housing, and
other welfare benefits. This system is called welfare state.
In 1932, U.S. voters elected Franklin D. Roosevelt. Roosevelt immediately began a program of government
reform that he called the New Deal. Large public works projects helped to provide jobs for the unemployed. New
government agencies gave financial help to businesses and farms. Large amounts of public money were spent
on welfare and relief programs. Roosevelt and his advisers believed that government spending would create
jobs and start a recovery. Regulations were imposed to reform the stock market and the banking system. The
New Deal did eventually reform the American economic system.

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114. Totalitarianism
Totalitarianism is a form of government in which the national government takes control of all aspects of both

public and private life. It has an ideology or set of beliefs, that all citizens are expected to approve. It is often led
by a dynamic leader and a single political party. Mass communication technology helps a totalitarian government
spread its aims and support its policies. Also, technology makes it possible to keep track of the activities of many
people. Finally, violence, such as police terror, discourages those who disagree with the goals of the
government.
The forerunner of totalitarian states was the Communist Soviet Union. In Western Europe Communist
influence was not very significant and an extreme nationalist political movement was born, called Fascism.

Fascism
Fascism was a new, militant political movement that emphasized loyalty to the state and obedience to its

leader. Fascists preached an extreme form of nationalism, or loyalty to ones country. Fascists believed that
nations must strugglepeaceful states were doomed to be conquered. They pledged loyalty to an authoritarian
leader who guided and brought order to the state. In each nation, Fascists wore uniforms of a certain color, used
special salutes, and held mass rallies. In some ways, fascism was similar to communism.

Both systems were ruled by dictators who allowed only their own political party (one-party rule).

Both denied individual rights.

In both, the state was supreme. Neither practiced any kind of democracy.

However, unlike Communists, Fascists did not seek a classless society. Rather, they believed that each
class had its place and function. In most cases, Fascist parties were made up of aristocrats and industrialists,
war veterans, and the lower middle class. Also, Fascists were nationalists, while Communists were
internationalists, hoping to unite workers worldwide.
Fascisms Rise in Italy
Fascisms rise in Italy was fueled by bitter disappointment over the failure to win large territorial gains at the
1919 Paris Peace Conference. Rising inflation and unemployment also contributed to widespread social unrest.
A newspaper editor and politician named Benito Mussolini boldly promised to rescue Italy by reviving its
economy and rebuilding its armed forces. He vowed to give Italy strong leadership. Mussolini had founded the
Fascist Party in 1919. As economic conditions worsened, his popularity rapidly increased. Finally, Mussolini

publicly criticized Italys government. Groups of Fascists wearing black shirts attacked Communists and
Socialists on the streets. Because Mussolini played on the fear of a workers revolt, he began to win support
from the middle classes, the aristocracy, and industrial leaders. In October 1922, about 30,000 Fascists
marched on Rome. They demanded that King Victor Emmanuel III put Mussolini in charge of the government.
After widespread violence and a threatened uprising, Mussolini took power legally. Mussolini was now Il Duce,
or the leader.
He abolished democracy and outlawed all political parties except the Fascists. Secret police jailed his
opponents. Government censors forced radio stations and publications to broadcast or publish only Fascist
doctrines. Strikes were outlawed. However, Mussolini never had the total control achieved by Joseph Stalin in
the Soviet Union or Adolf Hitler in Germany.
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115. Nacism
Hitler Rises to Power in Germany
When World War I broke out, Adolf Hitler volunteered for the German army and was twice awarded the Iron
Cross, a medal for bravery. At the end of the war, Hitler settled in Munich. In 1919, he joined a tiny right-wing
political group. This group shared his belief that Germany had to overturn the Treaty of Versailles and combat
communism. The group later named itself the National Socialist German Workers Party, called Nazi for short. The
party adopted the swastika, or hooked cross, as its symbol. The Nazis also set up a private militia called the
storm troopers (SA) or Brown Shirts. Within a short time, Hitlers success as an organizer and speaker led him to

be chosen der Fhrer, or the leader, of the Nazi party. Inspired by Mussolinis march on Rome, Hitler and the
Nazis plotted to seize power in Munich in 1923. The attempt failed, and Hitler was arrested. He spent less than
nine months in the prison. During this time, Hitler wrote Mein Kampf (My Struggle). This book set forth his beliefs
and his goals for Germany.

Hitler asserted that the Germans, whom he incorrectly called Aryans, were a master race.

He declared that non-Aryan races, such as Jews, Slavs, and Gypsies, were inferior.

He called the Versailles Treaty an outrage and vowed to regain German lands.

Hitler also declared that Germany was overcrowded and needed more lebensraum, or living space. He
promised to get that space by conquering Eastern Europe and Russia.

Most Germans ignored him and his angry message until the Great Depression ended the nations brief
postwar recovery and the German economy collapsed. Germans now turned to Hitler, hoping for security and
firm leadership. The Nazis had become the largest political party by 1932. Conservative leaders mistakenly
believed they could control Hitler and use him for their purposes. In January 1933, they advised President Paul
von Hindenburg to name Hitler chancellor. Thus Hitler came to power legally.
Once in office, Hitler called for new elections, hoping to win a parliamentary majority. Six days before the
election, a fire destroyed the Reichstag building, where the parliament met. The Nazis blamed the Communists.
By stirring up fear of the Communists the Nazis and their allies won by a slim majority. Hitler used his new power
to turn Germany into a totalitarian state.

He banned all other political parties and had opponents arrested.

An elite, black-uniformed unit called the SS (Schutzstaffel, or protection squad) was created. It was loyal
only to Hitler.

In 1934, the Gestapo, the Nazi secret police, arrested and murdered hundreds of Hitlers enemies. This
brutal action and the terror shocked most Germans into total obedience.

New laws banned strikes, dissolved independent labor unions, and gave the government authority over
business and labor.

Hitler put millions of Germans to work. They constructed factories, built highways, manufactured
weapons, and served in the military. As a result, the number of unemployed dropped from about 6 million
to 1.5 million in 1936.

To shape public opinion and to win praise for his leadership, Hitler turned the press, radio, literature,
painting, and film into propaganda tools. Books that did not conform to Nazi beliefs were burned in huge
bonfires. Churches were forbidden to criticize the Nazis or the government.

Schoolchildren had to join the Hitler Youth (for boys) or the League of German Girls.
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Hatred of Jews, or anti-Semitism, was a key part of Nazi ideology. Although Jews were less than 1 percent of
the population, the Nazis used them as scapegoats for all Germanys troubles since the war. This led to a wave
of anti-Semitism across Germany. Beginning in 1933, the Nazis passed laws depriving Jews of most of their
rights. Violence against Jews mounted. On the night of November 9, 1938, Nazi mobs attacked Jews in their

homes and on the streets and destroyed thousands of Jewish-owned buildings. This rampage, called
Kristallnacht (Night of the Broken Glass), signaled the real start of the process of eliminating the Jews from

German life.

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116. Stalinism
Stalin Becomes Dictator
Lenin suffered a stroke in 1922. He survived, but the incident set in motion competition for heading up the
Communist Party. Two of the most notable men were Leon Trotsky and Joseph Stalin. Stalin was cold, hard, and
impersonal. During his early days as a Bolshevik, he changed his name to Stalin, which means man of steel in
Russian. The name fit well. In 1922, as general secretary of the Communist Party, Stalin worked behind the
scenes to move his supporters into positions of power. By 1928, Stalin was in total command of the Communist
Party. Trotsky, forced into exile in 1929, was no longer a threat. Stalin now stood poised to wield absolute power

as a dictator.
Stalin aimed to create a perfect Communist state in Russia. To realize his vision, Stalin planned to transform
the Soviet Union into a totalitarian state. He began building his totalitarian state by destroying his enemies
real and imagined.

Stalins secret police used tanks and armored cars to stop riots. They monitored telephone lines, read
mail, and planted informers everywhere. Even children told authorities about disloyal remarks they heard
at home. Every family came to fear the knock on the door in the early morning hours, which usually
meant the arrest of a family member. The secret police arrested and executed millions of so-called
traitors.

In 1937, Stalin launched the Great Purge, a campaign of terror directed at eliminating anyone who
threatened his power. Thousands of old Bolsheviks who helped stage the Revolution in 1917 stood trial.
They were executed or sent to labor camps (GULAG) for crimes against the Soviet state. When the
Great Purge ended in 1938, Stalin had gained total control of the Soviet government and the Communist
Party. Historians estimate that during this time he was responsible for 8 million to 13 million deaths.

Stalins government controlled all newspapers, motion pictures, radio, and other sources of information.
Many Soviet writers, composers, and other artists also fell victim to official censorship. Soviet
newspapers and radio broadcasts glorified the achievements of communism, Stalin, and his economic
programs.

Communists aimed to replace religious teachings with the ideals of communism. The police destroyed
magnificent churches and synagogues, and many religious leaders were killed or sent to labor camps.

As Stalin began to gain complete control of society, he was setting plans to improve the economy. He
announced, We are fifty or a hundred years behind the advanced countries. We must make good this distance
in ten years. In 1928 Stalins plans called for a command economy, a system in which the government made all
economic decisions. Under this system, political leaders identify the countrys economic needs and determine
how to fulfill them. Stalin outlined the first of several Five-Year Plans for the development of the Soviet Unions
economy. The Five-Year Plans set impossibly high quotas, or numerical goals, to increase the output of steel,
coal, oil, and electricity. To reach these targets, the government limited production of consumer goods.
As a result, people faced severe shortages of housing, food, clothing, and other necessary goods. From
1928 to 1937, industrial production of steel increased more than 25 percent. In1928, the government began to
seize over 25 million privately owned farms in the USSR. It combined them into large, government owned farms,
called collective farms (KOLHOZ). Hundreds of families worked on these farms, called collectives, producing food
for the state. The government expected that the modern machinery on the collective farms would boost food
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production and reduce the number of workers.

Resistance was especially strong among kulaks, a class of wealthy peasants. The Soviet government
decided to eliminate them. Peasants actively fought the governments attempt to take their land. Many killed
livestock and destroyed crops in protest. Between 5 million and 10 million peasants died as a direct result of
Stalins agricultural revolution. By 1938, more than 90 percent of all peasants lived on collective farms. The
agricultural production was on the upswing.
Stalins totalitarian rule revolutionized Soviet society. The dramatic changes in peoples lives came at great
cost. Soviet citizens found their personal freedoms limited, consumer goods in short supply. Everybody was
controlled through their workplace, school or an organization, like the Young Communists.
Stalins economic plans created a high demand for many skilled workers. University and technical training
became the key to a better life. Everyone had to hop the quotas due to the Stakhanovism movement.
The state provided child care for all working mothers. Some young women performed the same jobs as men.
Millions of women worked in factories and in construction. Besides having full-time jobs, they were responsible
for housework and child care.

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117. Precedings of the World War II

Hitler Defies Versailles Treaty
The treaty limited the size of Germanys army. In March 1935, the Fhrer announced that Germany would
not obey these restrictions. The Leagues failure to stop Germany from rearming convinced Hitler to take even
greater risks. The treaty had forbidden German troops to enter a 30-mile-wide zone on either side of the Rhine
River. Known as the Rhineland, the zone formed a buffer between Germany and France. It was also an
important industrial area. On March 7, 1936, German troops moved into the Rhineland. The British urged
appeasement, giving in to an aggressor to keep peace.

The Axis
The German reoccupation of the Rhineland marked a turning point in the march toward war. First, it
strengthened Hitlers power and prestige within Germany. Second, the weak response by France and Britain
encouraged Hitler to speed up his expansion. Hitlers growing strength convinced Mussolini that he should seek
an alliance with Germany. In October 1936, the two dictators reached an agreement that became known as the
Rome-Berlin Axis. A month later, Germany also made an agreement with Japan. Germany, Italy, and Japan

came to be called the Axis Powers.

Civil War in Spain
Spain had been a monarchy until 1931, when a republic was declared. The government, run by Liberals

and Socialists, held office amid many crises. In July 1936, army leaders, favoring a Fascist-style government,
joined General Francisco Franco in a revolt. Thus began a civil war that dragged on for three years. Hitler and
Mussolini sent troops, tanks, and airplanes to help Francos forces, which were called the Nationalists. The
armed forces of the Republicans received little help from abroad. The Western democracies remained neutral.
Only the Soviet Union sent equipment and advisers. An international brigade of volunteers fought on the
Republican side. Early in 1939, Republican resistance collapsed. Franco became Spains Fascist dictator.
Democratic Nations Try to Preserve Peace
Instead of taking a stand against Fascist aggression in the 1930s, Britain and France repeatedly made
concessions, hoping to keep peace. Both nations were dealing with serious economic problems as a result of
the Great Depression. In addition, the horrors of World War I had created a deep desire to avoid war. Many
Americans supported isolationism, the belief that political ties to other countries should be avoided.
The German Reich Expands
The Treaty of Versailles prohibited Anschluss (a union) between Austria and Germany. However, many
Austrians supported unity with Germany. In March 1938, Hitler sent his army into Austria and annexed it. France
and Britain ignored their pledge to protect Austrian independence.

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Hitler next turned to Czechoslovakia. About three million German-speaking people lived in the western
border regions of Czechoslovakia called the Sudetenland. This heavily fortified area formed the Czechs main
defense against Germany. In September 1938, Hitler demanded that the Sudetenland be given to Germany. The
Czechs refused and asked France for help. France and Britain were preparing for war when Mussolini proposed
a meeting of Germany, France, Britain, and Italy in Munich, Germany.
The Munich Conference was held on September 29, 1938. The Czechs were not invited. British Prime

Minister Neville Chamberlain believed that he could preserve peace by giving in to Hitlers demand. Britain and
France agreed that Hitler could take the Sudetenland. In exchange, Hitler pledged to respect Czechoslovakias
new borders. Less than six months after the Munich meeting, Hitler took Czechoslovakia.
Then Hitler demanded that Poland return the former German port of Danzig. The Poles refused and
turned to Britain and France for aid. But appeasement had convinced Hitler that neither nation would risk war.
Britain and France asked the Soviet Union to join them in stopping Hitlers aggression. As Stalin talked with
Britain and France, he also bargained with Hitler.
The two dictators reached an agreement. Once bitter enemies, Fascist Germany and Communist Russia
now publicly pledged never to attack one another. On August 23, 1939, their leaders signed a nonaggression
pact. In a secret part of the pact, Germany and the Soviet Union agreed to divide Poland between them. They

also agreed that the USSR could take over Finland and the Baltic countries of Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia. As
the Axis Powers moved unchecked at the end of the decade, war appeared inevitable.

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118. World War II The Axis powers advance (1939-1942)

Germanys Lightning Attack
After signing this nonaggression pact, Hitler quickly moved ahead with plans to conquer Poland. His
surprise attack took place at dawn on September 1, 1939. German tanks and troop trucks rumbled across the
Polish border. At the same time, German aircraft and artillery began a merciless bombing of Polands capital,
Warsaw. France and Great Britain declared war on Germany on September 3. But Poland fell some time before
those nations could make any military response. After his victory, Hitler annexed the western half of Poland.
That region had a large German population.
The German invasion of Poland was the first test of Germanys newest military strategythe blitzkrieg,
or lightning war. It involved using fast-moving airplanes and tanks, followed by massive infantry forces, to take

enemy defenders by surprise and quickly overwhelm them. In the case of Poland, the strategy worked. On
September 17, Stalin sent Soviet troops to occupy the eastern half of Poland. Stalin then moved to annex
countries to the north of Poland. Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and Finland fell.
The Fall of Western Europe
After they declared war on Germany, the French and British had mobilized their armies. They stationed
their troops along the Maginot Line, a system of fortifications along Frances border with Germany. There they
waited for the Germans to attackbut nothing happened in that phony war.
Suddenly, on April 9, 1940, the calm ended. Hitler launched a surprise invasion of Denmark and Norway.
The Germans then began to build bases along the Norwegian and Danish coasts from which they could launch
strikes on Great Britain.
In May of 1940, Hitler began a dramatic sweep through the Netherlands, Belgium, and Luxembourg. This
was part of a strategy to strike at France. They moved across France and reached the countrys northern coast
in ten days. By June 14, the Germans had taken Paris. Accepting the inevitable, French leaders surrendered on
June 22, 1940. The Germans took control of the northern part of the country. They left the southern part to a
puppet government headed by Marshal Philippe Ptain, a French hero from World War I. The headquarters of

this government was in the city of Vichy. After France fell, Charles de Gaulle, a French general, set up a
government-in-exile in London. He devoted all his energy to reconquering France.
The Battle of Britain
With the fall of France, Great Britain stood alone against the Nazis. Winston Churchill, the new British
prime minister, had already declared that his nation would never give in. Hitler now turned his mind to an
invasion of Great Britain. His plan was first to knock out the Royal Air Force (RAF) and then to land more than
250,000 soldiers on Englands shores. In the summer of 1940, the Luftwaffe Germanys air force began bombing
Great Britain. At first, the Germans targeted British airfields and aircraft factories. Then, on September 7, 1940,
they began focusing on the cities, especially London, to break British morale. Despite the destruction and loss of
life, the British did not surrender.

Londoners flocked to the subways, which served as air-raid shelters. A

technological device helped turn the tide in the RAFs favor. It was an electronic tracking system known as radar.
Developed in the late 1930s, radar could tell the number, speed, and direction of incoming warplanes. This
Battle of Britain continued until May 10, 1941. Stunned by British resistance, Hitler decided to call off his attacks.

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The Mediterranean and Balkan Front

While the Battle of Britain was raging, Mussolini ordered his army to attack British-controlled Egypt.
Egypts Suez Canal was the key reach the oil fields of the Middle East. The result was a disaster for the Italians.
To reinforce them, Hitler sent a German tank force, the Afrika Korps, under the command of General Erwin
Rommel. The British forces retreated east to Egypt. Rommels successes in North Africa earned him the

nickname Desert Fox.

By early 1941, through the threat of force, Hitler had persuaded Bulgaria, Romania, and Hungary to join
the Axis powers. Yugoslavia and Greece, which had pro-British governments, resisted. In early April 1941, Hitler
invaded both countries.
The Eastern Front
With the Balkans firmly in control, Hitler could move ahead with Operation Barbarossa, his plan to invade
the Soviet Union. Early in the morning of June 22, 1941, the roar of German tanks and aircraft announced the
beginning of the invasion. The Soviet Union was not prepared for this attack. Although it had the largest army in
the world, its troops were neither well equipped nor well trained. The invasion rolled on until the Germans had
pushed 804.67 kilometers inside the Soviet Union.
As the Soviet troops retreated, they burned and destroyed everything in the enemys path. The Russians
had used this scorched-earth strategy against Napoleon. By early November, Leningrad was completely cut off
from the rest of the Soviet Union. Nearly one million people died in Leningrad during the winter of 19411942.
Yet the city refused to fall. By December 1941, the Germans had advanced to the outskirts of Moscow. Soviet
General Georgi Zhukov counterattacked. As temperatures fell, the Germans, in summer uniforms, retreated.
The United States Aids Its Allies
Most Americans felt that the United States should not get involved in the war. But President Roosevelt knew that
if the Allies fell, the United States would be drawn into the war. Under the Lend-Lease Act, passed in March
1941, the president could lend or lease arms and other supplies to any country vital to the United States. In
response, Hitler ordered his submarines to sink any cargo ships they met. Roosevelt and Churchill met secretly
and issued a joint declaration called the Atlantic Charter. It upheld free trade among nations and the right of
people to choose their own government. To almost everyones surprise, however, the attack that actually drew
the United States into the war did not come from Germany. It came from Japan.
The Japanese attack
In the morning of December 7, 1941, American sailors at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii awoke to the roar of
explosives. Within two hours, the Japanese had sunk or damaged 19 ships, including 8 battleships. More than
2,300 Americans were killedwith over 1,100 wounded. The Congress quickly accepted Roosevelts request for
a declaration of war on Japan and its allies. By 1942, Japan had taken control of more than 1 million square
miles of Asian land. About 150 million people lived in this vast area.

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119. World War II The Allied powers advance (1942-1945)

Pacific Front
In the Pacific Ocean both sides used a new kind of naval warfare. The opposing ships did not fire a single
shot. In fact, they often could not see one another. Instead, airplanes taking off from huge aircraft carriers
attacked the ships. On June 4 1942, American forces destroyed 332 Japanese planes, all four aircraft carriers,
and one support ship. Yamamoto ordered his crippled fleet to withdraw. The Battle of Midway turned the tide of
war in the Pacific.
The North African Campaign
In 1942, London sent General Bernard Montgomery to take control of British forces in North Africa. He
decided to start a massive frontal attack. The Battle of El Alamein began on the night of October 23. By
November 4, however, Rommels army had been beaten. He and his forces fell back. As Rommel retreated
west, the Allies launched Operation Torch. On November 8, an Allied force of more than 100,000 troopsmostly
Americans landed in Morocco and Algeria. American general Dwight D. Eisenhower led this force. Caught
between Montgomerys and Eisenhowers armies, Rommels Afrika Korps was finally crushed in May 1943.
The Battle for Stalingrad
When the summer of 1942 arrived, however, Hitler sent his Sixth Army, under the command of General
Friedrich Paulus, to seize the oil fields in the Caucasus Mountains. The army was also to capture Stalingrad, a

major industrial center on the Volga River. The Battle of Stalingrad began on August 23, 1942. By early
November 1942, Germans controlled 90 percent of the ruined city. On November 19, Soviet troops outside the
city launched a counterattack. Closing in around Stalingrad, they trapped the Germans inside and cut off their
supplies.
On February 2, 1943, some 90,000 frostbitten, half-starved German troops surrendered to the Soviets.
These pitiful survivors were all that remained of an army of 330,000. Stalingrads defense had cost the Soviets
over one million soldiers. However, the Germans were now on the defensive, with the Soviets pushing them
steadily westward.

The Invasion of Italy

As the Battle of Stalingrad raged, Stalin continued to urge the British and Americans to invade France.
However, Roosevelt and Churchill decided to attack Italy first. On July 10, 1943, Allied forces landed on Sicily
and captured it from Italian and German troops about a month later. The conquest of Sicily toppled Mussolini
from power. Finally, the Germans retreated northward, and the victorious Allies entered Rome on June 4, 1944.

Fighting in Italy, however, continued until Germany fell in May 1945.

Victory in Europe
In 1943, the Allies began secretly building an invasion force in Great Britain. Their plan was to launch an
attack on German held France across the English Channel. By May 1944, the invasion force was ready.
Thousands of planes, ships, tanks, and landing craft and more than three million troops awaited the order to
attack. General Dwight D. Eisenhower, the commander of this enormous force, planned to strike on the coast of
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Normandy, in northwestern France. Code-named Operation Overlord, the invasion of Normandy was the largest
land and sea attack in history.
The invasion began on June 6, 1944known as D-Day. At dawn on that day, British, American, French,
and Canadian troops fought their way onto a 60-mile stretch of beach in Normandy.Then, US troops broke out. A
month later, the Allies marched triumphantly into Paris.
In late March 1945, the Allies rolled across the Rhine River into Germany. By the middle of April, a noose
was closing around Berlin. About three million Allied soldiers approached Berlin from the southwest. Another six
million Soviet troops approached from the east. By April 25, 1945, the Soviets had surrounded the capital and
were pounding the city with artillery fire. Hitler and his wife Eva Braun committed suicide in an underground
bunker. Their bodies were then carried outside and burned. On May 7, 1945, General Eisenhower accepted the
unconditional surrender of the Third Reich from the German military.

President Roosevelt died suddenly on April 12, as Allied armies were advancing toward Berlin.
Roosevelts successor, Harry Truman, received the news of the Nazi surrender. On May 9, the surrender was
officially signed in Berlin. The war in Europe had ended.
Victory in the Pacific
Although the war in Europe was over, the Allies were still fighting the Japanese in the Pacific. President
Trumans advisers had informed him that an invasion of the Japanese homeland might cost the Allies half a
million lives. Truman had to make a decision whether to use a powerful new weapon called the atomic bomb, or
A-bomb. Most of his advisers felt that using it would bring the war to the quickest possible end. The bomb had

been developed by the top-secret Manhattan Project. Truman then warned the Japanese. The Japanese did not
reply. So, on August 6, 1945, the United States dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima, a Japanese city of
nearly 350,000 people. Between 70,000 and 80,000 people died in the attack. Three days later, on August 9, a
second bomb was dropped on Nagasaki, a city of 270,000. More than 70,000 people were killed immediately.
Radiation fallout from the two explosions killed many more. The Japanese finally surrendered to General
Douglas MacArthur on September 2. With Japans surrender, the war had ended. Now, countries faced the task
of rebuilding a war-torn world.
The Nuremberg Trials
During 1945 and 1946, an International Military Tribunal representing 23 nations put Nazi war criminals on trial in
Nuremberg, Germany. In the first of these Nuremberg Trials, 22 Nazi leaders were charged with waging a war of
aggression. They were also accused of committing crimes against humanitythe murder of 11 million people.
Adolf Hitler, SS chief Heinrich Himmler, and Minister of Propaganda Joseph Goebbels had committed suicide
long before the trials began. However, Hermann Gring, the commander of the Luftwaffe; Rudolf Hess, Hitlers
former deputy; and other high-ranking Nazi leaders remained to face the charges. Hess was found guilty and
was sentenced to life in prison. Gring received a death sentence, but cheated the executioner by committing
suicide. Ten other Nazi leaders were hanged on October 16, 1946. The bodies of those executed were burned
at the concentration camp of Dachau. They were cremated in the same ovens that had burned so many of their
victims.

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120. The Holocaust

As part of their vision for Europe, the Nazis proposed a new racial order. They proclaimed that the Germanic
peoples, or Aryans, were a master race. The Nazis claimed that all non-Aryan peoples, particularly Jewish
people, were inferior. This racist message would eventually lead to the Holocaust, the systematic mass slaughter
of Jews and other groups judged inferior by the Nazis.
The Nuremberg Laws, passed in 1935, deprived Jews of their rights to German citizenship and forbade marriages
between Jews and non-Jews. Laws passed later also limited the kinds of work that Jews could do. In 1938, Nazi
leaders launched a violent attack on the Jewish community. On November 9, Nazi storm troopers attacked
Jewish homes, businesses, and synagogues across Germany and murdered close to 100 Jews. The night of
November 9 became known as Kristallnacht, or Night of Broken Glass.
By the end of 1939, a number of German Jews had fled to other countries. Many however, remained in
Germany. Later, Hitler conquered territories in which millions more Jews lived. At first, Hitler favored emigration
as a solution to what he called the Jewish problem. After admitting tens of thousands of Jewish refugees, such
countries as France, Britain, and the United States closed their doors to further immigration.
When Hitler found that he could not get rid of Jews through emigration, he put another plan into effect.
He ordered Jews in all countries under his control to be moved to designated cities. In those cities, the Nazis
herded the Jews into dismal, overcrowded ghettos, or segregated Jewish areas. The Nazis then sealed off the
ghettos with barbed wire and stone walls. They hoped that the Jews inside would starve to death or die from
disease.
Hitler finally decided to take more direct action. His plan was called the Final Solution. It was actually a
program of genocide, the systematic killing of an entire people. It included Roma, Poles, Russians,
homosexuals, the insane, the disabled, and the incurably ill. But the Nazis focused especially on the Jews. Units
from the SS moved from town to town to hunt down Jews. The SS and their collaborators shot the local Jewish
population in pits that became the prisoners graves.
Many Jews were taken to concentration camps, or slave-labor prisons. These camps were located mainly
in Germany and Poland. The prisoners worked seven days a week as slaves for the SS or for German
businesses. Guards severely beat or killed their prisoners for not working fast enough. With meals of thin soup, a
scrap of bread, and potato peelings, most prisoners lost 20 - 25 kilograms in the first few months.
In 1942, the Nazis built extermination camps equipped with huge gas chambers that could kill as many as
6,000 human beings in a day. When prisoners arrived at Auschwitz, the largest of the extermination camps, they
paraded before a committee of SS doctors. With a wave of the hand, these doctors separated the strong
mostly menfrom the weakmostly women, young children, the elderly, and the sick. Those labeled as weak
would die that day. They were told to undress for a shower and then led into a chamber with fake showerheads.
After the doors were closed, cyanide gas poured from the showerheads or holes in the ceiling. All inside were
killed in a matter of minutes. Later, the Nazis installed crematoriums, or ovens, to burn the bodies.
Some six million European Jews died in these death camps and in Nazi massacres. Fewer than four
million survived. Some escaped the horrors of the death camps with help from non-Jewish people. These
rescuers, at great risk to their own lives, hid Jews in their homes or helped them escape to neutral countries.

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HUNGARY AND THE WORLD WARS

121. The Aster Revolution

The Hungarian National Council
In October of 1918 Istvn Tisza, the Hungarian Prime Minister admitted that Hungary had lost the war.
Count Mihly Krolyi, a popular pacifist leader of the opposition, organized the Hungarian National Council from

members of the opposition on 24th October 1918. The Hungarian National Council functioned as a countergovernment in the following weeks; however, the Charles IV hesitated to call Krolyi to office.
Krolyi demanded immediate peace treaty, the independence of Hungary, an end to the German alliance,
reconciliation with the ethnic minorities without harm to the territorial integrity of the country, far-reaching
democratic reforms (e.g. land reform) and immediate elections based on general suffrage.

Revolution and republic

The revolution started on 28th October 1918 with the Battle of Chain Bridge. A mass of protesters marched
from Pest to the Buda Castle to demand Krolyis appointment as Prime Minister. Strikes and further protests
followed while Krolyi and the National Council advised moderation and awaited the outcome. Revolutionaries
chose asters as their symbol: the white aster symbolized hope and bloodless revolution. Deserted soldiers
replaced their insignia with the flower.
The revolution finally triumphed with the appointment of Krolyi as Prime minister on 31st October 1918.
The revolution claimed few lives, one of the victims being Istvn Tisza, the symbol of the old regime, the head of
the government under which Hungary joined the war, who was murdered in his own home by unknown soldiers.
On 16th November 1918 the Hungarian People's Republic was proclaimed. After 400 years Hungary once again
became an independent country.

The armistice
The most urgent task of the new government was to conclude an armistice with the Entente Powers as
since the Serbian, Czechoslovak and Romanian armies crossed the borders of historic Hungary with the
approval of the Entente. On 13 November 1918, Krolyi led a Hungarian delegation and Hungary finally signed
an armistice with the Entente, the so-called Belgrade Military Convention. It contained harsh terms:

Hungary evacuated southern and eastern territories and Hungarian troops had to withdraw beyond
demarcation lines.

Serb-Croat troops occupied Hungarian territories in the south up to the Rivers Maros and Drva.

Romanian troops invaded southern Transylvania.

Hungary had to give up the whole of Upper Hungary to Czechoslovakia.

The expectations regarding territorial integrity evaporated fairly soon. In the meantime demobilized soldiers and
released prisoners of war returned home by the thousands. However, they were not called to arms again, as a
great percentage of the soldiers of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy were of the ethnic minorities. Those soldiers
could hardly be ordered to defend the territorial integrity of Hungary against their own national armies. Hungary
had no army in the most tragic moment of its history.

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122. The Krolyi Government

It was a general hope that fair treatment of the nationalities, combined with Krolyi's good relations with
the Entente politicians, could save the territorial integrity of Hungary However, the Entente had concluded secret
agreements with the Slavs and the Romanians during the war and the western Allies seemed more ready to
satisfy their partners in the region than to reward the political changes in Hungary.
Democratic attempts
As the foreign policy of the Krolyi government largely failed, Krolyi wanted to strengthen the foundations of
the bourgeois democratic regime with democratic reforms:

introduction of general suffrage involving women,

land reform,

the introduction of unemployment benefit, an eight-hour working day.

The land reform was passed in February 1919, according to which estates over 500 acres were to be

distributed among the peasantry. However it was only a part of Krolyi's own estate near Kpolna that was, in a
rather demonstrative way, distributed a week after the decree was passed. The fate of the broad electoral reform
was similar as the situation was further worsened by the increasing economic and military hardship.
Economic problems
The blockade of the neighboring countries caused shortages of raw material and fuel, which brought about
chaos in the productive sector. Rationing was upheld as there was food shortage due to the millions of soldiers,
prisoners of war and refugees from beyond the demarcation lines. What's more, many landowners and peasants
left their lands uncultivated awaiting the results of the land reform. Moreover, a wave of strikes and land seizures
swept through the country in January 1919.
The Vix Memorandum
On March 20th 1919, the Krolyi government received a memorandum from the French General Vix, which
communicated the decision of the peace conference concerning the borders between the new-born nation-states
and Hungary. It authorized the Romanian troops to advance even beyond the earlier demarcation line up to the
River Tisza and ordered Hungary to evacuate a neutral zone including major Hungarian cities like Debrecen and

Szeged. Krolyi couldn't reject the Vix memorandum officially as the head of state - it would have meant war with
the Entente powers and he couldn't accept it either. As a result, he resigned.

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123. The Hungarian Republic of Councils

Communist takeover in Hungary
After Krolyis resignation on 21st March 1919 the Social Democrats and Communists formed the
Revolutionary Governing Council, led by the Communist Bla Kun. The dictatorship of the proletariat was

established in Hungary. The new regime did introduce political and economic reforms, which changed the old
system of political pluralism based on private property.

The system of councils (Soviets) replaced the old local, municipal or county bureaucracies. Executive
power was exercised by the Revolutionary Governing Council; its members were called people's
commissars. Bla Kun was the people's commissar for foreign affairs.

The Red Guard was organized to take over the functions of the police and the gendarmes. To suppress

counter-revolutionary movements 'Red Terror' was introduced.

Banks, factories and mines were nationalized (taken over by the state.)

All large and medium-sized estates were confiscated; however, land was not distributed among the
peasants but became the property of the proletarian state, to be worked by the co-operatives of the
peasants. It embittered not only the well-to-do peasants, who actually lost land, but also the lower strata
of the peasantry, whose dreams of becoming independent farmers were ended.

War-time communist methods were introduced to improve supply - compulsory delivery of agricultural
surplus and requisitioning.

National defense
As the communist Hungary threatened the European bourgeois order, the 'Little Entente' countries Due to
a massive Romanian offensive, the territories east of the River Tisza came under the control of the Romanian
army. It was reinforced by a Czechoslovak invasion from the north. The superiority of the hostile forces was to
some extent counterbalanced by the recruitment campaign of the Revolutionary Governing Council by the end of
May. Even talented officers of the army of the Monarchy joined the Red Army to fight a war of independence in
self-defense against intervention armies invading Hungary.
The Hungarian Red Army started its so-called Northern Campaign on 30th May, 1919. The Miskolc area
was soon liberated, Upper Hungary was taken back. The goal of the campaign was to drive a wedge between
the Czech and the Romanian armies and to join forces with the Soviet Red Army over the Carpathians.

The collapse of the Council's Republic in Hungary

The French Prime Minister Clemenceau sent another memorandum to Hungary in June. It communicated
the decision of the peace conference on the new Hungarian borders and demanded that the Hungarian Red
Army be withdrawn behind them. The government, after heated debates, decided to give in to the demand of the
Entente powers. They hoped that the Communist state would gain international acknowledgment afterward.
They withdrew Hungarian forces from Slovakia behind the demarcation lines; however, the Romanian troops
crossed the Tisza at Szolnok, and marched towards Budapest unhindered. On 1st August 1919 the Revolutionary
Governing Council resigned, Kun and the other commissars fled to Austria.

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124. The Formation of a New State

'Monarchy with the throne vacant'
There was an impossible situation in Hungary; a sovereign government was out of the question until the
larger half of the country and the capital were under foreign occupation. This fact was recognized by the western
Allies as well and finally, they made the Romanian forces withdrew from Budapest and Horthy Mikls, a right
wing politician, who had an army of former soldiers, was allowed to replace them.
The next task was to hold the elections in January 1920. As no one was strong enough to secure the
freedom of the elections especially against the will of the right-wing terror, the Social Democratic Party boycotted
the elections and thus withdrew from political life until 1922. The strongest parties in the elections were the
Christian Democratic Party and the Smallholders. Their first task was to determine the form of state. They all

agreed to drop republicanism, but monarchists were sharply divided into free electors and legitimists.

Free electors insisted on the ancient right of the Hungarian nobility to elect a king freely and they did not

wish there to be a Habsburg on the Hungarian throne any more.

Legitimists, on the other hand, were loyal to the Habsburg dynasty and expected Hungary's recovery

with the restoration of the Habsburgs.

The deputies finally agreed on a special form of state, 'monarchy with the throne vacant' and instead of a
king a regent was to be the head of state. Those who wanted an independent monarchy relied on Horthy since
he was the only political figure who had the political influence and military forces needed for a strong and
independent state. As a result, on 1st March 1920, the day of the election of a regent, the army occupied the
square in front of the parliament and some also went into the building itself and Horthy was elected regent with
moderately strong presidential power.

'Conservative Democracy'
Mikls Horthy as the Regent, the new head of state of Hungary, gave his name to the whole era; the
inter-war period in Hungary is usually referred to as the Horthy era or the Horthy regime. As the western Allies
expected, Horthy first restored order, then he returned to parliamentary democracy. The old conservative-liberal
political elite (big-landowners and capitalists) gradually returned to the political scene.
They advocated a 'conservative democracy' guided by the traditional political elite: aristocracy and landed
nobility. Conservative democracy meant that the conception and ambitions of both the extreme left and the
extreme right were rejected. These priorities influenced the political consolidation of Hungary in the 1920s.

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125. The Peace Treaty of Trianon

On 4th June 1920 the Peace Treaty of Trianon was signed by two representatives of Hungary. The Hungarian

delegation was led by Count Albert Apponyi and they demanded the alteration of some of the borders suggested
and proposed plebiscite in the disputed areas. They produced historical, ethnic, economic and strategic
arguments against the terms worked out by the peace-makers, but in vain. Although the British warned that
peace would be unstable with one third of ethnic Hungarians surrendered to the neighboring states, the treaty
was left unaltered. Only the successor states most extreme demands were refused: a 'Slav corridor' between
Zagreb and Bratislava, the Czechoslovak claim to the Miskolc industrial region and the Romanian claim to the
area around Debrecen. Only in and around Sopron was a plebiscite held according to the results of which the
territory remained under Hungarian control. With it Sopron earned the title 'the most loyal city'.
All in all, the peace treaty deprived Hungary of two thirds of its former territory (without Croatia - 93,000
square kilometers out of 282,000 square kilometers remained) and 60% of its population including 30% of ethnic
Hungarians. Besides its new neighbors - Austria, Czechoslovakia, Romania and the Serb-Croat-Slovene
Kingdom (later Yugoslavia) - even Italy and Poland obtained territories from Hungary.
Hungarians beyond the borders found themselves in minority status, however, they lived in compact blocks
contiguous with Hungary, no wonder that a flow of refugees to Hungary started. Paradoxically, Austria and
Hungary, formerly multinational countries, became ethnically homogeneous, while the successor states became
multinational countries. Besides the territorial changes, Hungary

was required to pay reparations,

was banned from maintaining an army larger than 35,000 soldiers,

was forbidden to be reunited with Austria;

The Habsburg dynasty was not allowed to be restored on the thrones of any successor state.

The impact of Trianon

On the day the Treaty of Trianon was signed hundreds of thousands protested against it in the streets of
Budapest. Ever since it has haunted the Hungarian collective memory. It was a national tragedy and yet it had to
be signed as it was the condition of recognizing the sovereignty of Hungary.
Hungarian economy suffered greatly due to the territorial losses. The country retained none of its salt and
precious metal mines, resources of raw material (e.g. coal, iron) went beyond the new borders; Hungary, more
than ever before, became dependant on exports thus extremely vulnerable to changes in world economy. Huge
valuable arable land in the south and east also tame under foreign control. The Hungarian railway system was
cut so it could not serve properly the economy anymore. The Paris peace settlement tore apart a wellfunctioning economic unit. Each successor state wanted economic self-sufficiency; instead of co-operation, they
introduced high protective tariffs.
The treaty had a similarly significant influence on politics. Revisionism, i.e. the revision of Trianon
became the alpha and omega of the Hungarian political scene. All Hungarian parties were united in slogans like
'Justice for Hungary'. Some of the country's economic and social problems could indeed be blamed on the
peace settlement, however, at the same time it became a convenient ideological pretext for a nationalist regime
opposed to far-reaching reform to blame the vicious treaty for all hardship.

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126. Consolidation and Stabilization in Hungary

The Teleki government
The appointment of the generally respected Count Pl Teleki at the head of the cabinet in 1920 marked the
end of the period of transitional governments and with it the return of the traditional elite to politics. Teleki's
priorities were to strengthen central power and restore the prestige of the government. First he set out to gain
support among a broader layer of society.
In 1920 the 'Numerus Clausus' law was passed to create stability by satisfying the anti-Semitic Christian
middle class. It limited academic freedom by regulating university admission so as to reduce the ratio of Jewish
students. The law allowed the admission of Jews to the universities according to the proportion of Jews within
society, i.e. 6%.
In 1921 a law against political extremism was passed. It was against extremist political groups, which
wanted to upset the existing social order. It was against communists in the first place, but occasionally it was
used against radical right wing.
Horthy even established the 'Order of Valiant' (Vitzi Rend) to reward those who proved their commitment to
Christian and national values (and their loyalty to the Regent) by distinguishing themselves in the fight against
revolution.
Finally, Teleki's government was brought down by the royalty issue. In the belief that the legitimists had
prepared the ground for him, Charles IV returned from his exile in March 1921 unexpectedly. The neighboring
states mobilized their armies to prevent a Habsburg restoration. Charles could do nothing but leave the country
again and return to exile in Switzerland. The compromised Teleki resigned after the failed royal coup. The

new

Prime Minister, Istvn Bethlen, also faced a royal coup in October, but after the Battle of Budars, Charles and
his wife, Zita were exiled to the Island of Madeira, where the last king of Hungary died within a year. The western
powers insisted on the official dethronement of the Habsburgs so in November 1921 the Hungarian parliament
enacted the dethronement of the House of Habsburg.

The Bethlen government

After the dethronement of the Habsburg dynasty, Istvn Bethlen, the new Prime Minister set out to
consolidate political life and to stabilize the economy. It was due to Bethlen's exceptional talent as a politician
that he managed to handle the several important issues of consolidation. That's why the 1920s, during which he
governed the country as Prime Minister (1921-31), are often referred to as the era of the 'Bethlenite
consolidation'.

After the final settlement of the border issue, Hungary was granted membership of the League of Nations
in 1922. However, by that time the successor states, Czechoslovakia, Romania and the Serb-Croat-Slovene

Kingdom had signed bilateral treaties of defense which made up the 'Little Entente'. It was an alliance system
under French tutelage whose aim was the protection of the Versailles status quo in Central Europe.
Bethlen considered it important that the Social Democratic Party be represented in parliament to improve the
image of Hungary abroad and to be a safety valve at home. The Bethlen-Peyer Pact was concluded in
December, 1921 when an agreement was reached between the Prime Minister, Bethlen and the leader of the
Social Democrats, Kroly Peyer. Peyer agreed not to organize public servants and agricultural laborers and also
strikes for political reasons. In return for these concessions the party was granted legality and representation in
parliament.
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The Smallholders meant a strong opposition to the government as, besides the Christian National Unity
Party; the Smallholder Party emerged as the strongest party at the elections. Bethlen was determined to create
a united governing party. In January, 1922 with a number of his followers, he simply joined the Smallholder Party.
Within one party, the supporters of Bethlen gained the key posts although Istvn Nagyatdi Szab, head of the
former Smallholder Party, formally remained president of the united party, renamed the Party of Unity (Egysges
Prt).
Bethlen introduced a new electoral law in 1922 to secure the lasting majority of the conservative governing
party. It lowered the proportion of voters from 40% to 28%. Even worse, voting was made public outside the
capital and the big cities. It meant that the majority of the deputies were not elected by secret ballot which made
it possible for the local authorities to abuse power.
In 1926 Bethlen restored the Upper House in the Hungarian legislature to counterbalance the possible liberal
or radical attempts of the Lower House.
The land reform scheme of Istvn Nagyatdi Szab was carried out under the Bethlen government during
1921-22. A mere 8.5% of landed property was distributed among the peasants. Therefore, the land reform did not

affect the structure of society. It added to the number of dwarf holdings and still left nearly half of the population
landless agricultural laborers. The economic weight and the social prestige of the aristocracy remained a striking
feature of Hungary.

The crown, the currency of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy, which had once been strong, lost its former
value. It was obvious that inflationary policies relying on internal resources were doomed to failure. That's why
Bethlen applied for a loan from the League of Nations. To carry out the stabilization, the National Bank of Hungary
(MNB) was established in 1924. On 1st January 1927, a new Hungarian currency, the peng was introduced.
Financial stabilization was enhanced by increased taxes and the reduction in the size of the bureaucracy.
The plan of the revision of the peace treaty was the most important issue in the Hungarian foreign policy.
The so-called irrendentism was based on co-operation with Italy in the 1920s. Although a winner in the war, Italy
received less territory than expected. Mussolini was seeking an ally against Yugoslavia as he was longing for the
Dalmatian coastline. Hungary willingly responded to the initiatives of Mussolini. In 1927 the Italian-Hungarian
treaty of friendship and cooperation was signed in Rome. Mussolini and Bethlen agreed that the status quo

created by the Paris peace settlement was temporary and both expected Germany to play a major role in
changing it. This treaty marked the end of Hungary's international isolation.

212

127. Cultural Policy and Political Thinking in the 1920s

Cultural politics in the inter-war period
Cultural policies also served revisionist aims. The question of how Hungarian culture could survive arose
for most Hungarians. The conception of the state of St. Stephen (Szent Istvni llameszme) was revived,
according to which Hungary couldn't be limited to the territories where Hungarians lived; it should include the
whole of the Carpathian Basin. The alleged cultural superiority (kultrflny koncepci) of Hungary was the
basis for revisionist claims to restore historic Hungary. Due to the restriction of the Peace Treaty of Trianon the
huge costs of the military could be turned to finance cultural politics.
Count Kun Klebelsberg, who served as Minister of Culture under Bethlen as Prime Minister, emphasized the

importance of public elementary education. He wished to educate people in the spirit of the Christian-national
idea.

The result was a considerable rise in school-attendance, ultimately causing the decrease of illiteracy. Further
education was also improved; the Universities of Pozsony and Kolozsvr were re-established as the Universities
of Pcs and Szeged. The University of Debrecen and the Faculty of Economics in Budapest were also founded
under Klebelsberg ministry. Extra-curricular activities like the boy-scout movement or the specifically Hungarian
'levente' movement were also favored. They emphasized Christian spirit and put great emphasis on physical

training, so they were a kind of substitute for military education.

Political thinking in Hungary in the inter-war period
There was no unified ideology in the Horthy era, but the anti-liberal, anti-revolutionary, anti-communist
and anti-Semitic tendencies combined in the Christian-national idea (keresztny-nemzeti eszme).
Extremist representatives of the Christian-national idea advocated the so-called 'Szeged idea' (szegedi
gondolat). Szeged came to be the symbol of counter-revolution, being the place during the Council's Republic
where counter-revolutionary forces gathered. The organizer of the extreme right, Gyula Gmbs, initiated the
political program of the 'changing of the guard', a chauvinistic and anti-Semitic program. Chauvinism is the
extreme form of nationalism, the proud belief that one's country is politically, militarily and morally better than all
others. The extreme right was hostile to the old aristocracy and the Jewish bourgeoisie. They sought the
redistribution of political and economic advantages in favor of the Christian middle class.
The greatest influence, however, was exerted by the moderate conservatives and the Christian
conservatives, who emphasized the positive features of the Christian-national idea. Ottokr Prohszka, the

Bishop of Szkesfehrvr, was an outstanding representative of the Christian conservatives; he advocated the
'social state' ideal, based on a controlled market economy and extensive social security.

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128. The Gmbs Government

The impact of the Great Depression in Hungary
Being an agrarian country, Hungary was struck by drastically diminished prices for agricultural products
following the Wall Street Crash. Hungary lost 60 % of its exports-generated income and limited imports also
changed the internal market. Smallholders had contracted debts to modernize their plots and now they were
deeply hit by the depression. About 500,000 people lost their jobs and about the same number lived on
starvation wages.
Industry was also hit by the depression, production had to be cut, factories were closed down and
unemployment rose to 30 % among industrial workers. No unemployment benefit was available, although wages
were cut. The same situation applied to state employees and professionals; their salaries also decreased. The
government was unable to stop the process. The National Bank nearly collapsed.
Gmbs's 'strong hand policy'
Although the main character of the Horthy regime did not change fundamentally, from 1932 the previously
dominant conservatives alternated with the radical right. One of the main leaders of the right was Gyula Gmbs.
Finally in 1932 he was accepted as Prime Minister. The main aim was to create a totalitarian state along fascist
lines. This is why he was given the nickname Gmblini (obviously fashioned after Mussolini).
For the first time in Hungarian history Gmbs announced his political program on the radio in 95 points
entitled the National Work Plan. It was a list of demagogical promises: it promised land and tax reform, boosted
agricultural exports to solve the crisis, progressive social legislation and a 'Greater Hungary'.
He attacked and blamed the Jewish bourgeoisie for the economic crisis and its consequences and he also
promised to cleanse Hungary of non-Hungarian elements, Jewish profiteers in the first place. The rightist
orientation of the government gave way to other extreme right movements; this period saw the formation of the
Party of National Will by Ferenc Szlasi.

The governing party was renamed National Party of Unity (Nemzeti Egysg Prtja) as a totalitarian mass
party, which was active all the time, not only at elections time like the bourgeois parties.
In 1935 Gmbs worked out a plan to transform Hungary into a corporate state. This plan was opposed by
the Social Democrats and trade unions for the ban on strikes; and by industrialists for the state interference in
private enterprise.
The representatives of the traditional aristocracy also worried that this would lead to an exclusive
commitment to the fascist states and ruin relations with western democracies.
The foreign policy of the Gmbs government
In 1933 his first state visit was to Mussolini and Gmbs was eager to take advantage of the changes in
Germany to find a market for Hungarian products and form a German-Italian-Austrian-Hungarian alliance. The
results were ambivalent; the economic ties became stronger, agricultural exports to Germany increased which
indeed contributed to a slow recovery from the crisis. Hungarian rearmament was also supported both by Italy
and Germany but Germany was unwilling to take part in a greater revisionist alliance as Hitler wanted good
relations with Romania and Yugoslavia. The failure of his foreign policy internal tension caused his isolation. It
was his premature death in October 1936 that prevented his dismissal.

214

129. Hungary towards World War II

Klmn Darnyi's government (1936-38)
The expectations raised by Darnyi were great: he was expected to oppress fascist groups within and
outside the government and to settle Hungary's revisionism with the approval of western democracies. This
attempt failed partly because the economic advantages of cooperating with Germany were too great; western
powers couldn't compete with it and consequently Germany remained dominant in Central Eastern Europe. At
the same time with Hungary's growing economic dependence on Germany the German political pressure also
increased in Hungary.
The German Anschluss with Austria encouraged the Darnyi government to start rearmament. In March
1938 Darnyi gave a famous speech in Gyr, which announced a massive Hungarian rearmament program with

the aim to equip a fighting force twice as much as was allowed by the Treaty of Trianon.
Finally being too co-operative with the German and the Hungarian extremists, Horthy dismissed him.
Bla Imrdy's government (1938-39)
Imrdy had the reputation of an outstanding financial expert and an Anglophile, however, he soon
changed his political attitude and it was under Imrdy's premiership that Hungary's commitment to the German
side became complete and irreversible. The political course of the Imrdy government was changed by the
Munich Conference (October 1938) where Hitler forced to settle the question of the Polish and Hungarian

minorities as well as the Sudeten German issue. The Czechoslovak-Hungarian negotiations about the question
proved fruitless and Germany and Italy acted as arbiters. On 2n" November 1938 the First Vienna Award gave the
Southern part of Upper Hungary, nearly 12,000 square kilometers with over a million inhabitants back to
Hungary. 80-85% of the population of the newly awarded territory was Hungarian.
Consequences of the First Vienna Award
The First Vienna Award made it clear that any further success in the revision of Trianon would depend on
German support. The price for revisionist success was German alliance, which had its influence on Hungarian
domestic affairs as well. Imrdy made the parliament accept the new Military Act, which aimed at a 21%
increase in military output. It was also he who introduced anti-Jewish legislation in 1938 by accepting the First
Anti-Jewish Law, which discriminated the Jews on religious grounds not yet on racial grounds. This act limited

the number of Jews (followers of the Israelite faith) in business and professions to 20%. As a result of this act
some 15,000 people lost their jobs.
As Imrdy's main intention was to satisfy the German claims, so finally Imrdy was dismissed by Horthy
in February 1939.
Pl Teleki's second government (1939-41)
The main goals of Teleki's premiership were to return to traditional conservative values and secure
political consolidation, but the advance of fascism and National Socialism, and Hitler's growing intervention in
Hungary's political life on behalf of the German minority did not help this process.
In March 1939 Hungary acquired the Carpathian-Ukraine. The military occupation of the territory was
justified on strategic and historical rather than on ethnic grounds; the vast majority of the population was
Ruthenes. The new revisionist success had its consequence on domestic politics: the Second Anti-Jewish Law
was accepted in 1939. This was a 'limitation of the encroachment of Jews in public life and on the economy' and
215

the criteria for defining Jews shifted from religion to race, which meant that indirectly all Jews were affected.
At the dawn of the war the general atmosphere was quite optimistic. Hungary successfully recovered
from the crisis, mainly due to the rearmament and the opening of the German market. The doubtful success of
revisionism also gave to many the false hope of Hungary's resurrection. At the outbreak of World War II the
Teleki government did not participate in the campaign of Nazi Germany invading Poland. Furthermore, it also
refused to let the passage of German troops through the country and the use of Hungarian railway lines by them.
Teleki declared Hungary a non-belligerent country and Hungary even gave refuge to Polish refugees.
Although Teleki secretly hoped for the ultimate victory of the western democracies, he saw it clearly that
Nazi Germany as an ally was more likely to help in further revision. That's why he adopted the controversial
slogans of 'peaceful revision' and 'armed neutrality'.

The Second Vienna Award

In 1940, the Soviet Union started to express its revisionist claims against Romania according to the
Molotov-Ribbentrop pact. Teleki thought it was high time for Hungary to demand Transylvania from Romania.
And when Romania did give back Bessarabia and Bukovina to the Soviets, Teleki started mobilization on the
Romanian border. Hitler and Mussolini offered arbitration again. Accordingly, on 30th August 1940 the Second
Vienna Award returned Northern Transylvania, 43,000 square kilometers with 2.5 million inhabitants (about half

of them were Hungarians).

German influence was ever-growing in Hungary affecting economic and domestic policies. Transportation
of food supply and raw material to Germany increased. The country's resources were completely turned to the
service of the war, in other words Hungarian economic resources served the German war effort. 50 % of the oil,
90% of bauxite production and agricultural products were exported to Germany The population did not benefit
from the growth of iron and steel production, but basic needs were not affected until relatively late in the war.
Furthermore, Hungary was obliged to abandon its policy of neutrality by joining the Tripartite Pact (Axis powers).
Teleki's suicide
In December 1940 a 'treaty of eternal friendship' was signed between Hungary and Yugoslavia. Teleki
wanted to keep up western orientation through good relationship with the relatively independent Yugoslavia.
When Hitler decided to attack Yugoslavia he required Hungary to send forces, too, offering the return of the
southern provinces lost at Trianon. Teleki and the Hungarian leaders faced a vicious dilemma:

They either took part in the war against Yugoslavia at the cost of losing whatever friendship western
powers still had towards Hungary.

Or they defied their mighty ally, retaining the sympathy of western allies but risking German occupation of
the country.

Teleki collapsed under the weight of moral and political responsibility; he could see it clearly that whatever he
would do in this hopeless situation of Hungary, the result would be tragedy. Therefore, on 3 April 1941 Teleki
committed suicide.

216

130. Hungary at War

The Brdossy government (1941-42)
After the death of Teleki, Horthy appointed the former ambassador to Berlin, Lszl Brdossy as Prime
Minister. To meet the demand of Hitler, he immediately instructed the Hungarian army to cross the Yugoslavian
border on 11th April 1941. This move resulted in yet another revisionist success; the return of Southern territories
- Bcska, the Baranya triangle and the Murakz - with more than 1 million people (30% of whom were
Hungarians). Soon the most infamous of Hungarian atrocities during the war took place there; in retaliation for
guerrilla activity in the area, the Hungarian army committed the massacre of more than 3.000 civilians in jvidk.
Great Britain and the USA broke diplomatic relations with Hungary . It was the price Hungary paid for

revisionist successes with German help.

Under Brdossys premiership the third anti-Jewish law was passed in August 1941. This made Jewish and
non-Jewish mixed marriages illegal and declared such sexual relations 'defamation of race'. Jews couldn't do
armed military service; conscripted Jews were sent to labor battalions unarmed.
Besides the growing dependence on Germany, widespread anti-bolshevism and the influence of the extreme
right led to the governmental decision to join the German campaign against the Soviet Union. Actually Hungary
had to compete for German goodwill with the other satellites of Nazi Germany; we couldn't afford to stay out of
the war as Slovakia, Romania and Croatia had declared war against the SU before us. On 26th June 1941
Kassa was bombed by unmarked planes (Soviet or German?). It served as the false allegation for the Hungarian
declaration of war against the SU.
The rapid army corps was sent to the Russian Front (approximately 40,000 soldiers). Hungary had obliged

itself on the side of the fascist powers.

By December 1941, when the German troops were stopped before Moscow, the idea of Blitzkrieg had faded
away. In January German generals came to Budapest and demanded a more intensive military involvement of
Hungry. Brdossy agreed to send the Second Hungarian Army (200,000 people) to Russia and allowed SS
recruitment among the Germany minority in Hungary.
The Kllay government (1942-44)
As Brdossy had gone too much on the German side and the moderate circles wanted to maintain a
minimum of independent political life, in March 1942 the Prime Minister was finally replaced by Mikls Kllay, an
opponent of Nazism.
The tragedy of the Second Hungarian Army in January 1943 at the River Don (Voronezh) shook the country.
The Hungarian army was under German military command and was ordered to defend a 200 km line to defend
at the River Don. The Second Hungarian Army was annihilated by the superior Soviet forces; two-third of the
fighting force died, were wounded or taken captive. (Many Hungarian soldiers died of hunger or cold as well.)
Kllay refused to send another army to the Soviet Union and took steps to pull out of the war. His doubleedged policy was an attempt to avoid the German anger and to end the Hungarian participation in the war.

In secret, the government started negotiating an armistice with the western powers. Mikls Horthy junior
became head of the bureau established to prepare these steps and to coordinate the armistice talks. In
September 1943 in Istanbul a 'preliminary armistice agreement' was signed with the Allies. This required
Hungary to diminish its contribution to German war efforts, to withdraw from Soviet territory and to surrender
unconditionally as the Allies reached the borders of Hungary. Kllay accepted these conditions and although
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Hitler tried to convince Horthy that he should dismiss the prime minister, he wasn't removed. Meanwhile,
Germany was preparing for Operation Margaret, the military occupation of Hungary, as the German secret
police had detailed information about Kllays peace talks.
German occupation of Hungary
As the advance of Soviet troops increased the strategic importance of Hungary, the Fhrer ordered the
military occupation of the country 19 March 1944. As a first step they removed Kllay, who fled to the Turkish
embassy. The new prime minister was Dme Sztjay and he established an exclusively extreme right-wing
government.
Opposition parties were outlawed and around 3.000 people were arrested by the Gestapo (the Germans
arrived with a list containing names of antifascist politicians to be arrested).
The First Hungarian Army was sent to the Soviet Union and as a reaction the Allied bombing of Budapest
and major cities was started.
Jews were sent 10 extermination camps, but in July 1944 Horthy stopped the deportations, thus rescuing
200.000 Jews living in Budapest.
Hungary later had to pay the price that the Germans upheld the apparent independence of the country As
the Hungarian state authority served the occupying German forces; the anti-fascist coalition did not regard
Hungary as a country occupied by the Germans but as an ally of Germany.
Attempts to get out of the war
The Independent Smallholders' Party, the National Peasant Party, the Peace Party (former Communist
Party) and the Apostolic Cross Alliance formed a Hungarian Front and started to organize an underground
resistance movement. They kept in touch with Horthy and with the citizens and hoped for a good chance to get

out of the war.

In August 1944, Romania changed its side and joined the Allied Powers. When the Soviet troops reached the
borders of Hungary Horthy sent a secret mission to Moscow. (The Germans knew about it!) In October 1944 a
preliminary armistice was signed, with the following Soviet conditions:

Hungary had to declare war on Germany and join the Red Army.

Hungary had to give up the territories re-annexed since 1938.

On 15th October 1944 Horthy proclaimed on the radio that he had signed the preliminary armistice.
Nonetheless, Horthy's plan to end the war for Hungary was ill-prepared and his proclamation took the staff of
officers by surprise; the pro-German and anti-Bolshevik general staff refused to obey and they did not
communicate the order to the troops. To make the situation even more complicated, the Germans had
kidnapped Horthy's son and blackmailed with it Horthy, who withdrew his proclamation the following day
The Arrowcross reign of terror
The Germans had ready-made plans for such a turn of the Hungarian government and alerted Szlasi,
leader of the Arrowcross Party to prepare to take control. On I6th October 1944, on German request Ferenc
Szlasi was appointed premier as 'Leader of the Nation; he united power of head of state and premier in one

person. Mikls Horthy resigned from the regentship; the Horthy regime collapsed. Still inspired with the
obsession of ultimate German victory, the Arrowcross party introduced a reign of terror causing immense
suffering to the people of Hungary.
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With Arrowcross assistance the Germans plundered Hungary - factory

equipment, crops, cattle and everything moveable was taken away by the
retreating Germans.The remaining leaders of the opposition were arrested
and executed thus beheading the resistance movement.
Deportation

of

Jews

started

again;

Eichmann

organized

the

extermination of Hungarian Jews. Szlasi announced total mobilization

extending to all men between 14 and 70 years.
Soviet 'liberation' of Hungary
The Soviet Red Army reached the Hungarian border at the end of
August 1944. After the failure of the Hungarian troops sent against them,
they started their irresistible push westward. The Germans were retreating
to Austria and they left it for Szlasi to win time for them. By Christmas
1944 Soviet forces had surrounded Budapest. Although ecclesiastical
leaders asked the 'Leader of the Nation' to abandon Budapest, he rejected
it thus inflicting a long siege of the capital. Heavy bombardment and bitter
street warfare made the siege of Budapest a 'second Stalingrad'. On 13th
February 1945 Budapest was finally taken by the Red Army.
The last German attempt to launch a counter offensive in
Transdanubia (in the area between Lake Velencei and Lake Balaton) failed. Armed hostility ceased on
Hungarian territory on 12th April 1945, however, the Soviet news agency reported that the Red Army had
liberated Hungary by 4tn April 1945. During the socialist era Hungary celebrated the liberation of the country on
4th April.

Did the Red Army's victory over the German troops bring liberation or occupation of Hungary by the
Soviets? The Soviet forces acted as occupying forces; plunder and violence was common. Even Hungarian
civilians, including women, were carried off on 'malenkij robot' to forced labor camps in the Soviet Union. On the
other hand, the same Soviet army indeed liberated Hungary from the Nazis.

219

THE COLD WAR AND GLOBAL ISSUES

131. Superpowers Face Off

Yalta Conference
The war was not yet over in February 1945. But the leaders of the United States, Britain, and the Soviet Union
met at the Soviet Black Sea resort of Yalta. There, they agreed:

To divide Germany into zones of occupation controlled by the Allied military forces.

Germany also would have to pay the Soviet Union to compensate for its loss of life and property.

Stalin agreed to join the war against Japan.

He also promised that Eastern Europeans would have free elections.

Creation of the United Nations

In

June

1945,

the

United States and the Soviet

Union temporarily set aside
their differences. They joined
48 other countries in forming
the United Nations (UN). This
international organization was
intended

to

protect

the

members against aggression.

It was to be based in New
York. The charter for the new
peacekeeping
established

organization
a

large

body

called the General Assembly.

There, each UN member nation could cast its vote on a broad range of issues. An 11-member body called the
Security Council had the real power to investigate and settle disputes, though. Its five permanent members were
Britain, China, France, the United States, and the Soviet Union . Each could veto any Security Council action. This

provision was intended to prevent any members of the Council from voting as a bloc to override the others.

Differing U.S. and Soviet Goals

The United States and the Soviet Union split sharply after the war. The war had affected them very
differently. The United States, the worlds richest and most powerful country, suffered 400,000 deaths. But its
cities and factories remained intact. The Soviet Union had at least 50 times as many fatalities. One in four
Soviets was wounded or killed. Also, many Soviet cities were demolished. These contrasting situations, as well
as political and economic differences, affected the two countries postwar goals.

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Eastern Europes Iron Curtain

A major goal of the Soviet Union was to shield itself from another invasion from the west. As World War II
drew to a close, the Soviet troops pushed the Nazis back across Eastern Europe. At wars end, these troops
occupied a strip of countries along the Soviet Unions own western border. Stalin regarded these countries as a
necessary buffer, or wall of protection. He ignored the Yalta agreement and installed or secured Communist
governments in Albania, Bulgaria, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Romania, Poland, and Yugoslavia.
To Truman, Stalins reluctance to allow free elections in Eastern European nations was a clear violation
of those countries rights. Truman, Stalin, and Churchill met at Potsdam, Germany, in July 1945. There, Truman
pressed Stalin to permit free elections in Eastern Europe. The Soviet leader refused. In a speech in early 1946,
Stalin declared that communism and capitalism could not exist in the same world. Europe now lay divided
between East and West. Germany had been split into two sections. The Soviets controlled the eastern part,
including half of the capital, Berlin. Under a Communist government, the German Democratic Republic was
formed from East Germany. The western zones became the Federal Republic of Germany in 1949.
From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic, an iron curtain has descended across the continent. Behind that
line lie all the capitals of the ancient states of Central and Eastern Europe. . . . All these famous cities and the populations
around them lie in the Soviet sphere and all are subject in one form or another, not only to Soviet influence but to a very
high and increasing measure of control from Moscow. CHURCHILL, March 5, 1946

Churchills phrase iron curtain came to represent Europes political, cultural and economic division into
mostly democratic Western Europe and Communist Eastern Europe.

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132. The Cold War

United States Tries to Contain Soviets
President Truman adopted a foreign policy called containment. It was a policy directed at blocking Soviet
influence and stopping the expansion of communism. Containment policies included forming alliances and
helping weak countries resist Soviet advances. Trumans support for countries that rejected communism was
called the Truman Doctrine.
Much of Western Europe lay in ruins after the war. There was also economic turmoila scarcity of jobs
and food. In 1947, U.S. Secretary of State George Marshall proposed that the United States give aid to needy
European countries. This assistance program, called the Marshall Plan, would provide food, machinery, and
other materials to rebuild Western Europe. As Congress debated the $12.5 billion program in 1948, the
Communists seized power in Czechoslovakia. Congress immediately voted approval. The plan was a
spectacular success. Even Communist Yugoslavia received aid after it broke away from Soviet domination.
In 1948, the United States and its allies clashed with the Soviet Union over Germany. The Soviet Union
blockaded West Berlin. Although Berlin lay well within the Soviet occupation zone of Germany, it too had been

divided into four zones. The Soviet Union cut off highway, water, and rail traffic into Berlins western zones. The
city faced starvation. Stalin gambled that the Allies would surrender West Berlin or give up their idea of
reunifying Germany. But American and British officials flew food and supplies into West Berlin for nearly 11
months. In May 1949, the Soviet Union admitted defeat and lifted the blockade.

The Cold War Divides the World

These conflicts marked the start of the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union. A cold
war is a struggle over political differences carried on by means short of military action or war. Beginning in 1949,
the superpowers used spying, propaganda, diplomacy, and secret operations in their dealings with each other.
Much of the world allied with one side or the other.
The Berlin blockade heightened Western Europes fears of Soviet aggression. As a result, in 1949, ten
western European nations joined with the United States and Canada to form a defensive military alliance. It was
called the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). An attack on any NATO member would be met with armed
force by all member nations. The Soviet Union saw NATO as a threat and formed its own alliance in 1955. It was
called the Warsaw Pact and included the Soviet Union, East Germany, Czechoslovakia, Poland, Hungary,
Romania, Bulgaria, and Albania. In 1961, the East Germans built a wall to separate East and West Berlin. The
Berlin Wall symbolized a world divided into rival camps.

However, not every country joined the new alliances. Some, like India, chose not to align with either side.
And China, the largest Communist country, came to distrust the Soviet Union. It remained nonaligned. In 1955,
many leaders from Asia and Africa arrived at the Bandung Conference. They met to form what they called a
third force of independent countries, or nonaligned nations. Some nations, such as India and Indonesia, were
able to maintain their neutrality. But others took sides with the superpowers or played competing sides against
each other.
As these alliances were forming, the Cold War threatened to heat up enough to destroy the world. The
United States already had atomic bombs. In 1949, the Soviet Union exploded its own atomic weapon. President
Truman was determined to develop a more deadly weapon before the Soviets did. The so called hydrogen or H222

bomb would be thousands of times more powerful than the A-bomb. In 1952, the United States tested the first H-

bomb. The Soviets exploded their own in 1953.

Dwight D. Eisenhower became the U.S. president in 1953. The United States strengthened its air force
and began producing stockpiles of nuclear weapons. The Soviet Union responded with its own military buildup,
beginning an arms race that would go on for four decades. The Cold War also affected the science and
education programs of the two countries. In August 1957, the Soviets announced the development of a rocket
that could travel great distancesan intercontinental ballistic missile, or ICBM. On October 4, the Soviets used
an ICBM to push Sputnik, the first unmanned satellite, above the earths atmosphere. Americans felt they had
fallen behind in science and technology, and the government poured money into science education. In 1958, the
United States launched its own satellite.

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133. Hot Spots in the Cold War

Korean War (1950-1953)

When World War II ended, Korea became a divided nation as the North was occupied bye the Soviet
forces, the South by American troops. As in Germany, two nations developed. One was the Communist
industrial north, whose government had been set up by the Soviets. The other was the non-Communist rural
south, supported by the Western powers. In 1949, the Soviet Union and China supplied North Korea with tanks,
airplanes, and money in an attempt to take over the peninsula. After the Northern troops had penetrated deep
into the South in 1950, the UN sent an international force to Korea to stop the invasion. A total of 15 nations,
including the United States and Britain, participated. Over the next two years, UN forces fought to drive the
Chinese and North Koreans back. By 1952, UN troops had regained control of South Korea. Finally, in July
1953, the UN forces and North Korea signed a cease-fire agreement. The border between the two Koreas was
set where it had been before the war. In the meantime, 4 million soldiers and civilians had died.
Vietnamese war (1964-1975)
In 1954 the Vietnamese communists liberated their country from the French rule. The United States saw
a rising threat to the rest of Asia. President Eisenhower described this threat in terms of the domino theory. The
Southeast Asian nations were like a row of dominos, he said. The fall of one to communism would lead to the fall
of its neighbors. This theory became a major justification for U.S. foreign policy during the Cold War era. In
August 1964, U.S. President Lyndon Johnson sent U.S. troops to fight in Vietnam. By 1968, more than half a
million U.S. soldiers were in combat there. The United States had the best-equipped, most advanced army in the
world. Yet it faced two major difficulties. First, U.S. soldiers were fighting a guerrilla war in unfamiliar jungle
terrain. At the same time, support for the Vietcong (Vietnamese communist army) grew, with help and supplies
from the Soviet Union and China. During the late 1960s, the war grew increasingly unpopular in the United
States. Dissatisfied young people began to protest the tremendous loss of life in a conflict on the other side of
the world. President Richard Nixon began withdrawing U.S. troops from Vietnam in 1969. The last left in 1973.
Two years later, the North Vietnamese overran South Vietnam. The war ended, but more than 1.5 million
Vietnamese and 58,000 Americans lost their lives.
Cuban Revolution and the Missile Crisis
In the 1950s, Cuba was ruled by an unpopular dictator, Fulgencio Batista, who had U.S. support. Cuban
resentment led to a popular revolution, which overthrew Batista in January 1959. A young lawyer named Fidel
Castro led that revolution. Castro was a harsh dictator. He suspended elections, jailed or executed his

opponents, and tightly controlled the press. When Castro nationalized the Cuban economy, he took over U.S.owned sugar mills and refineries. In response, Eisenhower ordered an embargo on all trade with Cuba. Castro
then turned to the Soviets for economic and military aid. The Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev was convinced
that the United States would not resist Soviet expansion in Latin America. So, in July 1962, Khrushchev secretly
began to build 42 missile sites in Cuba. In October, an American spy plane discovered the sites. President John
F. Kennedy declared that missiles so close to the U.S. mainland were a threat. He demanded their removal and

also announced a naval blockade of Cuba to prevent the Soviets from installing more missiles. It put the United
224

States and the Soviet Union on a collision course. People around the world feared nuclear war. Fortunately,
Khrushchev agreed to remove the missiles in return for a U.S. promise not to invade Cuba.

225

134. Decolonization
Decolonization is the undoing of colonialism. Most of the colonized countries in Africa and Asia gained

back their independence after the World War II as the former colonizer European countries had weakened and
struggled with financial problems. Although the decolonization was basically a very positive process since
practically all nations became free and independent, we have to consider those factors as well that led to
numerous wars, slaughtering of millions and suffering of the survivors.
India
The British had ruled India for almost two centuries. Indian resistance to Britain, which had existed from
the beginning, intensified in 1939. Indian leader Mohandas Gandhi launched a nonviolent campaign of
noncooperation with the British. Officials imprisoned numerous nationalists for this action. As they intensified

their struggle against the British, Indians also struggled with each other. India has long been home to two main
religious groups. In the 1940s, India had approximately 350 million Hindus and about 100 million Muslims.
When World War II ended, Britain found itself faced with enormous war debts. As a result, British leaders
began to rethink the expense of maintaining and governing distant colonies. With India continuing to push for
independence, the stage was set for the British to hand over power. However, rioting between the two religious
groups broke out in several Indian cities. British officials soon became convinced that partition would be the only
way to ensure a safe and secure region. Partition was the term given to the division of India into separate Hindu
and Muslim nations. The northwest and eastern regions of India, where most Muslims lived, would become the
new nation of Pakistan. The British House of Commons passed an act on July 16, 1947, that granted two
nations, India and Pakistan, independence in one months time.
In that short period, the administration of the courts, the military, the railways, and the policethe whole
of the civil servicehad to be divided down to the last paper clip. Most difficult of all, millions of Indian citizens
Hindus, Muslims had to decide where to go. During the summer of 1947, 10 million people were on the move in
the Indian subcontinent. As people scrambled to relocate, violence among the different religious groups erupted.
In all, an estimated 1 million died. What is there to celebrate? Gandhi mourned. I see nothing but rivers of
blood. Gandhi personally went to the Indian capital of Delhi to plead for fair treatment of Muslim refugees. While
there, he himself became a victim of the nations violence. A Hindu extremist who thought Gandhi too protective
of Muslims shot and killed him on January 30, 1948. Soon a war broke out for to change the border. The two
countries continue to struggle even today.

Algeria
Frances principal overseas colony, Algeria, had a population of one million French colonists and nine
million Arabs and Berber Muslims. After World War II, the French colonists refused to share political power with
the native Algerians. In 1954, the Algerian National Liberation Front, or FLN, announced its intention to fight for
independence. The French sent about half a million troops into Algeria to fight the FLN. Both sides committed

atrocities. The FLN won, and Algeria gained its independence in July 1962. Afterward a civil war broke out
between Islamic militants and the new government. The war continues on and off, to this day.

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135. The Soviet Block

Destalinization
More moderate Soviet leaders came to power after Stalins death (1953). They allowed satellite countries
somewhat more independence, as long as they remained allied with the Soviet Union. Besides the military
Warswaw pact, a co-operation was organized in order to improve the economic situation of the Communist
states. It was the Comecon (Council for Mutual Economic Assistance) but due to the weaknesses of the
communist economic policy it couldnt compete with the capitalist free market.
In 1953, Nikita Khrushchev became the dominant Soviet leader. In 1956, the shrewd, tough Khrushchev
denounced Stalin for jailing and killing loyal Soviet citizens. His speech signaled the start of a policy called
destalinization, or purging the country of Stalins memory. Workers destroyed monuments of the former dictator.

Khrushchev called for peaceful competition with capitalist states. But this new Soviet outlook did not change
life in satellite countries. Their resentment at times turned to active protest.

Rumblings of Protest
In October 1956, Hungarian army joined protesters to overthrow Hungarys Soviet-controlled government.
A popular and liberal Hungarian Communist leader named Imre Nagy formed a new government. Nagy promised
free elections and demanded Soviet troops leave. In response, Soviet tanks and infantry entered Budapest in
November. Thousands of Hungarian freedom fighters armed themselves with pistols and bottles, but were
overwhelmed. A pro-Soviet government was installed, and Nagy was eventually executed.
In 1964, the new Soviet leader, Leonid Brezhnev, quickly adopted repressive domestic and international
policies. Brezhnev made clear that he would not tolerate dissent in Eastern Europe either. His policy was put to
the test in early 1968. At that time, Czech Communist leader Alexander Dubcek loosened controls on censorship
to offer his country socialism with a human face. This period of reform, when Czechoslovakias capital bloomed
with new ideas, became known as Prague Spring. However, it did not survive the summer. On August 20, armed
forces from the Warsaw Pact nations invaded Czechoslovakia. Brezhnev justified this invasion by claiming the
Soviet Union had the right to prevent its satellites from rejecting communism, a policy known as the Brezhnev
Doctrine.

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136. End of the Cold War

From Brinkmanship to Dtente

In the 1970s, the United States and the Soviet Union finally backed away from the aggressive policies of
brinkmanship that they had followed during the early postwar years. The superpowers slowly moved to lower
tensions. Dtente, a policy of lessening Cold War tensions, replaced brinkmanship under Richard M. Nixon. He
became the first U.S. president to visit Communist China. Three months after visiting Beijing in February 1972,
Nixon visited the Soviet Union. After a series of meetings called the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks (SALT),
Nixon and Brezhnev signed the SALT I Treaty. This five-year agreement, limited to 1972 levels the number of
intercontinental ballistic and submarine-launched missiles each country could have. In 1975, 33 nations joined
the United States and the Soviet Union in signing a commitment to dtente and cooperation, the Helsinki
Accords.

A fiercely anti-Communist U.S. president, Ronald Reagan, took office in 1981. He increased defense
spending, putting both economic and military pressure on the Soviets. Tensions increased as U.S. supported
activities such as arming anticommunist movements around the world.
Gorbachev Moves toward Democracy
In 1985, a new Soviet leader, Mikhail Gorbachev got the power. At 54, he was the youngest Soviet leader
since Stalin. Gorbachev realized that economic and social reforms could not occur without a free flow of ideas
and information. In 1985, he announced a policy known as glasnost, or openness. It released dissidents from
prison and allowed the publication of books by previously banned authors. Reporters investigated problems and
criticized officials.
The new openness allowed Soviet citizens to complain about economic problems. Consumers protested that
they had to stand in lines to buy food and other basics. Gorbachev blamed these problems on the Soviet
Unions inefficient system of central planning.
In 1985, Gorbachev introduced the idea of perestroika, or economic restructuring. In 1986, he made changes
to revive the Soviet economy. Gorbachevs goal was not to out communism, but to make the economic system
more efficient and productive. Local managers gained greater authority over their farms and factories, people
were allowed to open small private businesses.
In 1987, he unveiled a third new policy, called democratization. This would be a gradual opening of the
political system. The plan called for the election of a new legislative body. In the past, voters had merely
approved candidates who were handpicked by the Communist Party. Now, voters could choose from a list of
candidates for each office. The election produced many surprises. In several places, voters chose lesser-known
candidates and reformers over powerful party bosses.
Soviet foreign policy also changed. To compete militarily with the Soviet Union, President Ronald Reagan

had begun the most expensive military buildup in peacetime history, costing more than $2 trillion. Under
pressure from U.S. military spending, Gorbachev realized that the Soviet economy could not afford the costly
arms race. Arms control became one of Gorbachevs top priorities. In December 1987, he and Reagan signed
the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty. This treaty banned nuclear missiles with ranges of 300 to 3,400
miles.
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137. Collapse of Communism

Wind of Change in Eastern Europe
Poland was the first country in Eastern Europe to start the struggle. In 1980, Polish workers at the

Gdansk shipyard went on strike, demanding government recognition of their union, Solidarity. When millions of
Poles supported the action, the government gave in to the unions demands. Union leader Lech Walesa became
a national hero. The next year, however, the Polish government banned Solidarity again and declared martial
law. The Communist Party discovered that military rule could not revive Polands failing economy. In 1989, the
declining industrial production and rising foreign debt caused the crisis that led to a free election and Lech
Walesa became president.
Inspired by the changes in Poland, Hungarian leaders launched a sweeping reform program. To stimulate
economic growth, reformers encouraged private enterprise and allowed a small stock market to operate. A new
constitution permitted a multiparty system with free elections. The pace of change grew faster when radical
reformers took over a Communist Party congress in October 1989. The radicals deposed the partys leaders and
then dissolved the party itself. A year later, in national elections, the nations voters put a non-Communist
government in power.
While Poland and Hungary were moving toward reform, East Germanys 77-year-old party boss, Erich
Honecker, dismissed reforms as unnecessary. Then, in 1989, Hungary allowed vacationing East German tourists
to cross the border into Austria. From there they could travel to West Germany. Thousands of East Germans

took this new escape route to the west. By October 1989, huge demonstrations had broken out in cities across
East Germany. The protesters demanded the right to travel freely, and later added the demand for free
elections. On November 9, 1989, the Berlin Wall was opened. With the fall of Communism in East Germany,
many Germans began to speak of reunificationthe merging of the two Germanys. Germany was officially
reunited on October 3, 1990.

By late 1989, only Romania seemed unmoved by the calls for reform. Romanias ruthless Communist
dictator Nicolae Ceausescu maintained a firm grip on power. In December, Ceausescu ordered the army to fire
on demonstrators in the city of Timisoara The army killed and wounded hundreds of people. The massacre in
Timisoara ignited a popular uprising against Ceausescu. Within days, the army joined the people. Shocked by
the collapse of his power, Ceausescu and his wife were captured, tried and executed on Christmas Day, 1989.
Ethnic conflict plagued Yugoslavia. This country, formed after World War I, had eight major ethnic
groupsSerbs, Croats, Muslims, Slovenes, Macedonians, Albanians, Hungarians, and Montenegrins. Ethnic

and religious differences dating back centuries caused these groups to view one another with suspicion. After
World War II, Yugoslavia became a federation of six republics. Each republic had a mixed population. Nationalist
Serbian leader Slobodan Milosevic asserted leadership over Yugoslavia. Two republics, Slovenia and Croatia,
declared independence. In June 1991, the Serbian-led Yugoslav army invaded both republics. After months of
bloody fighting, both republics freed themselves from Serbian rule.
Early in 1992, Bosnia-Herzegovina joined Slovenia and Croatia in declaring independence. Bosnias
population included Muslims (44%), Serbs (31%), and Croats (17%). While Bosnias Muslims and Croats backed
independence, Bosnian Serbs strongly opposed it. Supported by Serbia, the Bosnian Serbs launched a war in
March 1992. During the war, Serbian military forces used violence and forced emigration against Bosnian
Muslims living in Serb-held lands. Called ethnic cleansing, this policy was intended to rid Bosnia of its Muslim
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population. In September 1996, Bosnians made a peace treaty and elected a three-person presidency, one
leader from each ethnic group.

End of the Soviet Union

Various nationalities in the Soviet Union began to call for their freedom. More than 100 ethnic groups
lived in the Soviet Union. Ethnic tensions brewed beneath the surface of Soviet society. The first challenge came
from the Baltic nations of Lithuania, Estonia, and Latvia. In March 1990, Lithuania declared its independence. On
August 18, 1991, the hardliner communist leaders organized a coup against Gorbachev. However, the Soviet
people were willing to defend their freedom. On August 20, the hardliners ordered troops to attack the parliament
building, but they refused, and the military withdrew its forces from Moscow.
The coup played a decisive role in accelerating the breakup of the Soviet Union. Estonia and Latvia
quickly declared their independence. Other republics soon followed. By early December, all 15 republics had
declared independence. On Christmas Day 1991, Gorbachev announced his resignation as president of the
Soviet Union, a country that ceased to exist.

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138. Globalization
Economies in different parts of the world have been linked for centuries through trade and through national
policies, such as colonialism. However, a true global economy did not begin to take shape until well into the
second half of the 1800s. The global economy includes all the financial interactionsamong people,
businesses, and governmentsthat cross international borders. In recent decades, several factors hastened the
process of globalization. Huge cargo ships could inexpensively carry enormous supplies of fuels and other
goods from one part of the world to another.

Telephone and computer linkages made global financial

transactions quick and easy. Multinational corporations developed around the world.
In recent years, there has been considerable debate on the impact of globalization. Supporters suggest that
open, competitive markets and the free flow of goods, services, technology, and investments benefit all nations.
Globalization, they argue, has resulted in a dramatic increase in the standard of living across the world. Even
some opponents agree that practically all nations have seen some benefit from globalization. However, they
note that the developed nations have benefited the most. Other opponents charge that globalization has been a
disaster for the poorest countries. They suggest that many poor countries are worse off today than they were in
the past. They argue that investment practices, trade agreements, and aid packages must be designed to
protect the interests of the poorest nations.
Political Impacts of Global Development
The development of the global economy has had a notable impact on the use of energy and other
resources. Worldwide demand for these resources has led to both political and environmental problems.
Manufacturing requires the processing of raw materials. Trade requires the transport of finished goods. These
activities, essential for development, require the use of much energy. For the past 50 years, one of the main
sources of energy used by developed and emerging nations has been oil.
For nations with little of this resource available in their own land, disruption of the distribution of oil
causes economic and political problems. On the other hand, nations possessing oil reserves have the power to
affect economic and political situations in countries all over the world. For example, in the 1970s the Organization
of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) declared an oil embargo a restriction of trade. This contributed to a
significant economic decline in many developed nations during that decade. In 1990, Iraq invaded Kuwait and
seized the Kuwaiti oil fields. Fears began to mount that Iraq would also invade Saudi Arabia, another major
source of oil. This would have put most of the worlds petroleum supplies under Iraqi control. Economic
sanctions imposed by the UN failed to persuade Iraq to withdraw from Kuwait. Then, in early 1991, a coalition of

some 39 nations declared war on Iraq. After several weeks of fighting, the Iraqis left Kuwait and accepted a
cease-fire. This Persian Gulf War showed the extent to which the economies of nations are globally linked.
Environmental Impacts of Global Development
Economic development has had a major impact on the environment. The burning of coal and oil as an
energy source releases carbon-dioxide into the atmosphere, causing health-damaging air pollution and acid rain.
The buildup of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere also has contributed to global warming. The release of
chemicals called chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), used in refrigerators, air conditioners, and manufacturing
processes, has destroyed ozone in Earths upper atmosphere. The ozone layer is our main protection against the
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Suns damaging ultraviolet rays. With the increase in ultraviolet radiation reaching Earths surface, the incidence
of skin cancer continues to rise in many parts of the world. Increased ultraviolet radiation also may result in
damage to populations of plants and plankton at the bases of the food chains, which sustain all life on Earth.
It has also led to problems with the land. Large-scale soil erosion is a worldwide problem due to
damaging farming techniques. The habitat destruction that comes from land development has also led to
shrinking numbers of wildlife around the world. At present, the extinction rate of plants and animals is about a
thousand times greater than it would naturally be, and appears to be increasing. The resulting loss of wildlife
could endanger complex and life-sustaining processes that keep Earth in balance. But greener growth, also
known as sustainable growth, is possible. Working together, economists and scientists are looking for ways to
reduce the negative effect that development has on the environment. This involves two goals: meeting current
economic needs, while ensuring the preservation of the environment and the conservation of resources for
future generations.

Population Movement
The global movement of people has increased dramatically in recent years. This migration has taken
place for both negative and positive reasons. People often move because they feel pushed out of their
homelands. Lack of food due to drought, natural disasters, and political oppression are examples of push factors
of migration. In 2005, the number of refugeespeople who leave their country to move to another to find
safetystood at 19.2 million.

Not only negative events push people to migrate. Most people have strong

connections to their home countries and do not leave unless strong positive attractions pull them away. They
hope for a better life for themselves and for their children, and thus migrate to developed nations. For example,
hundreds of thousands of people migrate from Africa to Europe and from Latin America to the United States every
year. Everyone has the right to leave his or her country. However, the country to which a migrant wants to move
may not accept that person. The receiving country might have one policy about accepting refugees from political
situations, and another about migrants coming for economic reasons. Because of the huge volume of people
migrating from war-torn, famine-stricken, and politically unstable regions, millions of immigrants have no place to
go. Crowded into refugee camps, often under squalid conditions, these migrants face a very uncertain future. On
the positive side, immigrants often are a valuable addition to their new country. They help offset labor shortages
in a variety of industries. They bring experiences and knowledge that can spur the economy. In addition, they
contribute to the sharing, shaping, and blending of a newly enriched culture.

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139. The European Union

The European Union (EU) is an economic and political union of 27 member states which are located
primarily in Europe. The History of the formation on the European Union takes us back around 1951, with
the formation of European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) between France, West Germany, Belgium,
Luxembourg and the Netherlands to pool the steel and coal resources of its member-states. This treaty was sign
at Paris. This was a fulfillment of a plan developed by a French economist Jean Monnet, publicized by the
French foreign minister Robert Schuman, which was also strongly supported by the United States. The Treaty
of Paris entered in force by 1952. This coalition was very important because steel had played an important part
in arms production in World War II and was a fundamental resource of the western European states. The goal
was a common program of post-war production and consumption of steel and coal that will unite in cooperation
and reconciliation between the two countries: France and Germany by controlling steel and coal which were
fundamental to war industries.
Since the 1950s the EU has grown in size by the accession of new member states and, in power, by the
addition of policy areas to its remit. The Maastricht Treaty established the European Union under its current
name in 1993. The last amendment to the constitutional basis of the EU, the Treaty of Lisbon, came into force
in 2009.
The EU operates through a hybrid system of supranational independent institutions and intergovernmental
made decisions negotiated by the member states. Important institutions and leaders of the EU

the European Commission (government)

the European Council (head of the union, the leaders of the member states)

the European Parliament (legislation, elected every five years by EU citizens)

the Court of Justice of the European Union (jurisdiction)

the European Central Bank (monetary politics of the euro zone)

Herman Van Rompuy, the President of the European Council

Jos Manuel Barroso, Commission President

Catherine Ashton, the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy

The EU has developed a single market through a standardized system of laws which apply in all member states
including the abolition of passport controls within the Schengen area. It ensures the free movement of people,
goods, services, and capital, enacts legislation in justice and home affairs, and maintains common policies on
trade, agriculture, fisheries and regional development. A monetary union, the euro zone, was established in
1999 and is currently composed of seventeen member states. Through the Common Foreign and Security Policy
the EU has developed a limited role in external relations and defense. With a combined population of 500 million
inhabitants, the EU generated an estimated 21% (US$ 14.8 trillion) share of the global economy (GDP PPP) in
2009. As a trading bloc the EU accounts for 20% of global imports and exports.
The Enlargement
The Enlargement of the Union stated in 1973 as the United Kingdom, Denmark and Ireland joined the Union.
In the 1980s, Greece submitted its membership application in June 1975 and joined on January 1, 1981.
Portugal submitted its application in March 1977 and Spain in July 1977 and on 1 January 1986, Spain and
Portugal joined the union together.
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In 1993 the European Union established some new internal rules in the Copenhagen criteria that define
whether a nation is eligible to join the European Union or not. Latter after the Reunification of Germany, Austria,
Finland and Sweden also join the European Union in 1995.
Another wave of enlargement for the European Union was made in 2004 when 10 candidate members:
Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia, Slovenia, Malta and Cyprus joined.
These countries had a population of almost 75 million and a gross domestic product at about 840 billion US
dollars at that time. This was the largest wave on enlargement of the union with states that where very different
as history, economics and political status and few of them just begun building democracies and had not finalized
their transition to a market economy. But culturally and linguistically, this enlargement greatly increased the
number of languages spoken within the EU, reflecting the increased cultural heterogeneity and level of diversity,
so therefore this can be called one of the most ambitious enlargements of the European Union yet.
For 2007, European Union negotiated and sign a treaty in 2005, so at the next wave on integration, two
states out if three will enter the European Union: Romania and Bulgaria. This year, under the Hungarian
presidency, Croatia is about to sign the Entrance contract and probably will join in 2013.

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HUNGARY IN THE POSTWAR PERIOD

140. The Provisional Government

As the Red Army was driving the Germans out of the country and the wartime government collapsed, there
was a need to organize a kind of nationwide authority in Hungary that would be acknowledged by the Allies,
victors in the war. On 2nd December 1944 the Hungarian National Independence Front was established in Szeged
by

the Independent Smallholder's Party,

the Social Democratic Party,

the Communist party,

the National Peasant Party,

the Bourgeois Democratic Party

and the trade unions.

The Hungarian National Independence Front was an anti-fascist, democratic, collective organization and the
Allies acknowledged it as the body representing the political efforts to consolidate the situation in Hungary. The
political program of the National Front included:

the promise to declare war on Nazi Germany and to dissolve fascist organizations,

the demand to punish war criminals and those politicians responsible for Hungary's policies during the
war,

the promise to abandon revisionism,

the intention to create a friendly relationship with the Soviet Union.

At the end of 1944 the Provisional National Government was formed in Debrecen and the cabinet was headed by
Dlnoki Mikls Bla. It was a coalition government with members who came from different parties of tile

Independence Front. However, under the influence of the Red Army, the Communists got the most important
ministries.

Measures of the Provisional Government

On 20th January 1945 the armistice with the Allies was signed; Hungary had to withdraw beyond its borders
in 1937. All pro-German organizations had to be liquidated and troops had to be sent against Germany. Hungary

had to accept the supervision of the Allied Control Commission (Szvetsgi Ellenrz Bizottsg) and, it being
under the command of Soviet Marshall Voroshilov, this clause legalized Soviet influence in Hungary.
People in responsible positions had to prove they had not committed war crimes in front of justifying
committees (igazol bizottsg) and those who were charged with war crimes were persecuted and taken to
people's courts (npbrsg). They were arrested by the State Security Department (VH) led by Pter Gbor.

The gendarmerie was dissolved and its tasks were transferred to a reorganized police.
The land reform passed in March 1945. It affected 35% of the country's arable land. All parties of the
coalition agreed that large estates had to be abolished, but the Communist Minister of Agriculture, Imre Nagy
became remembered as the 'land distributor'. The lands of the Church and large estates (over 1500 acres or
1000 'hold') were redistributed, whereas smaller estates could be kept. The lands of war criminals and
collaborators were confiscated without compensation. The political, social and economic consequences of the
land reform were far-reaching. The aristocracy and gentry; which had dominated the Hungarian politics for
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centuries, disappeared; actually it meant the destruction of the traditional political elite. The land given to
peasants was hardly bigger than the plots of classical dwarf holdings.
Elections in 1945
By autumn 1945 the coalition parties had drafted their programs:

the Smallholders' Party (FKGP) led by Zoltn Tildy and Ferenc Nagy wanted a peasant-bourgeois
democracy based on private property,

the Peasants' Party (represented by Pter Veres, Imre Kovcs or Gyula Illys) wanted to put the land
reform into practice as soon as possible.

the Social Democrats led by Anna Kthly, Gyrgy Marosn and rpd Szakasits were popular among
urban and industrial workers; their declared political aim was to build socialism,

the Communist Party (Mtys Rkosi, Ern Ger, Jnos Kdr, Lszl Rajk) wanted people's
democracy, carefully avoiding the long-term goal of communists: the dictatorship of the proletariat. They
emphasized the most urgent tasks of the time: reconstruction and democratic reforms; careful rhetoric
was part of their election campaign. Despite their initially small number by the time of the elections the
Communists managed to create a mass party of half a million members.

The elections were held by universal suffrage and secret ballot without a census in November 1945. Only
dissolved parties, war criminals and the clergy were banned from voting. Nearly 90 % of the enfranchised took
part in the elections and they expressed their preference of a bourgeois democracy as opposed to a soviet
system. Smallholders, winning in all the districts, collected 57% of the votes, both the Social Democrats and the
Communists scored around 17% and the National Peasant Party collected 7% of the votes. Nevertheless,

Marshall Voroshilov made it clear that a 'grand coalition' was the only kind of government acceptable to the
Soviets, with the Communists preserving the gains already secured, i.e. the Ministry of the Interior and the
control over the police. The Prime Minister was Zoltn Tildy, Mtys Rkosi was Deputy Premier. The ministries
of transportation, interior and welfare were dominated by communists.
One of the major questions that had to be decided after the war was the question of the form of state and the
majority voted for the republic. As a result on 1st February 1946 Tildy was elected President and Ferenc Nagy
became Prime Minister.

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141. Consolidation
Inflation, stabilization and reconstruction
Hungary suffered serious losses during the war and the most urgent task was to
rebuild the country. The economic plundering of the country destroyed 40% of the
national wealth, an even greater proportion of factory equipment, railway links and

rolling stock were lost, and bridges were blown up. Also the housing stock was
badly damaged, especially in Budapest. There was a shortage of food and fuel
and a great difficulty of supply. Rationing was upheld at starvation level. The
presence of Soviet soldiers and reparations were likely to worsen the situation of the economy. Furthermore, a
considerable proportion of the male population fit for work was either prisoners of war, or fled Hungary upon the
Arrowcross order to evacuate the country; or were deported by the Soviets to labor camps in the SU. (Many
civilians were carried away for 'malenkiy robot' and many returned only after 1947 or later.)
There was hyperinflation: in July 1946 prices went up by 300% daily; 1 peng of July
1945 was worth 50 billion peng a year later. (The largest banknote in history was issued
in Hungary: 1 billion trillion Peng.) To solve this situation production had to be started,
the SU eased the conditions of war reparations payment and the USA returned the gold
reserve of the Hungarian National Bank taken away by the Nazis. As a result of these
measures on 1st August 1946 a new currency, the forint was introduced.

The peace treaty and the issue of ethnic minorities

The peace treaty was signed in Paris on 10th February 1947. Hungary had to give up all territories regained
with German help, the size of the army and air force were restricted to 60,000 and 5.000 soldiers. Hungary had
to pay reparations: to the SU 200 million dollars, to Yugoslavia 70 million, to Czechoslovakia 50 million. The
greatest problem of the ethnic minorities remained unsettled; there was no guarantee of their rights. The reason
for that was in the further communist aim: proletarian internationalism, which would have made these problems
unimportant. Hungarian minorities living outside the borders suffered from severe conflicts. In Yugoslavia the
Serbian troops took a bloody revenge for the massacres in jvidk, in Romania terrorist actions against the
Hungarians caused such turmoil that Soviet military administration had to be introduced for a time.
Czechoslovakia also violated the rights of Hungarian and German citizens: the principle of collective guilt
was applied to both groups and they were not given basic civil rights. Benes, the President of the Czech
Republic, proposed deportation, or as an alternative proposal he suggested population exchange and it was
finally carried out. Hungarians were also humiliated by the program of reslovakisation - they could only stay in
Slovakia if they denied their Hungarian nationality.
On the other hand, the deportation of the German ethnic minority was carried out in Hungary as well, based
on the principle of collective guilt; 180,000 Germans were deported from Hungary to Germany (To apply the
principle of collective guilt to the German ethnic minorities in Central-Eastern Europe was the decision of the
Allies at the Potsdam Conference.)

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142.

The Communist Takeover

The communist 'salami tactics'

As the communists controlled some very important ministries and offices like VH and the police, they
did not hesitate to exploit these positions against the newborn democratic state of Hungary. Soon the Left Wing
Block was formed by the communists with the participation of the Social Democratic Party, the Peasant Party

and leftist politicians of the Smallholder Parry on 5 March 1946.

After merging the other left wing parties - following the orders from Moscow - the Hungarian communists
accelerated the elimination of their political rivals little by little. Rkosi called it 'salami tactics', which was the
way how the communists "sliced up' the anti-communist groups and excluded democratic politicians,
organizations and parties out of power, eliminating their rivals one by one.
The liquidation of the Smallholder Party
The communists regarded many Christian and civic organizations (like the Catholic Youth Association
and the Boy Scout Movement) as 'reactionary' and so they were banned. The primary target of the communists
was Bla Kovcs, the party secretary of the Smallholders famous for his anti-communist opinions. When the legislation refused to suspend Kovcs's parliamentary immunity, the Soviet military forces arrested him for spying
for western intelligence services and he was imprisoned in the Soviet Union.
To protest against the treatment of their party secretary, another 50 Smallholders left the party (they
established the Hungarian Independence Party), thus the Smallholder Party lost its absolute majority in the
parliament. While on holiday in Switzerland, the Prime Minister, Ferenc Nagy was also charged with
participating in the 'conspiracy'. Blackmailed with his family (Rkosi phoned him promising that his family would
be allowed to follow him if he agreed to step down from power) he was forced to resign from the premiership.
The transition
The implementation of the First Three-Year Plan started in August 1947 and the State Planning Office was
also created soon (following the Soviet example). The State Planning Office was entitled to intervene in the
decision-making of large-companies, to grant state loans and to distribute raw material. At the same time, upon
pressure from Moscow. Hungary refused the invitation to the conference discussing the Marshall Plan.
After ratifying the peace treaty of Paris, the allied forces were supposed to withdraw from Hungary within 3
months. However, the addition that the SU had the right to maintain forces needed to secure communication
with its occupation zone in Austria annulled this promise.
A new electoral law was pushed through by the communists: it excluded about half a million people from the
vote on grounds of political unreliability. In the 1947 general elections in Hungary blue chits were issued to verify
that the bearer had the right to vote and used by those voting away from home (students in higher education,
election officials etc.) On Election Day activists of the Communist Party supplied themselves with these and vote
several times at different polling stations. This was the most notorious of several frauds committed by the party
during the poll, which became known as the blue-chit election.
Nevertheless, they only managed to increase their votes to 22% and even with other parties of the Left
Wing Block they did not manage to win an absolute majority. As a result, the old Coalition remained and the
communist could lead it from the background.
In September 1947 the SU declared to accelerate the pace of communist takeover in Central Eastern
Europe. The reason for this step was the announcement of the Truman Doctrine and the policy of containment
238

as well as the introduction of the Marshall Plan. The Cold War had started. As a result, the Communist Party
continued to realize its goals with intimidation and political purges. The most important events were:

the two left-wing parties fused in June 1948 and it was followed by the Congress of the Hungarian
Workers' Party (MDP), of which Mtys Rkosi was elected general secretary. This fusion completed the

process of building the one-party system.

The main program of the party was to build socialism, uphold friendship with the SU and other people's
democracies and continue nationalization and economic planning. 1948 became remembered as 'the
year of the turning point'; soon all area of the public life - economy; society, education and culture

were transformed following the directives of Stalin.

Characteristics of the one-party system
By 1949 a communist proletarian dictatorship, a soviet type of state authority had come into being in Hungary
similarly to East Germany, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Romania, Bulgaria and Albania. As regards the political
system it was the copy of the Stalinist dictatorship:

A communist one-party system was built; there was only one party, the Hungarian Workers' Party.

The new parliament, consisting almost exclusively of communists or sympathizers, passed a new
constitution in 1949. It was modeled on the Soviet Constitution of 1936. Hungary became a people's
republic.

A municipal reform was carried out - a network of Soviets was organized on the village, town, district and
county level to carry out administration.

Party secretaries were mighty functionaries who received directives from above. It was almost
impossible to make a career if one was not a party member.

The institution of terror and indoctrination was employed to ensure party-influence on society until 1953.
The main organ of terror was the VH with about 30.000 officers. They prosecuted and tortured civilians,
fabricated evidence that was collected by many informers employed by the political police; the enemies
of the party were sentenced at show trials.

The Political Committee, which met every week, had the most significance. Within the Political
Committee the triumvirate of Mtys Rkosi, Ern Ger and Mihly Farkas emerged as the most powerful
leaders. Rkosi, the head of the party and the Popular Front stood above all others and was gradually
surrounded by a personality cult similar to that of Stalin in the Soviet Union. 'Stalin's best Hungarian
disciple' followed the 'master', true to his byname. From 1948, the VH fabricated charges against the

rivals of the communist leaders within the party. The infamous show trial of Lszl Rajk opened a series
of purges in the Hungarian Workers Party.

239

143. Social and Economic Changes in the 1950s

Socialist transformation of industry
In the year of the turning point the industrial sector was nearly completely nationalized; large banks and
big companies employing more than 100 workers were taken into state ownership by decree. By 1949 the
companies with more than 10 employees were taken into state ownership and the private sector was confined
to some repair services.
The "Three Year Plan' (1947-49) set the target to transform Hungary into 'the country of iron and steel'.
This led to forced industrialization; huge sums were pumped into heavy industry - taking money away from
agriculture and public service. The economic target of the First Five-Year Plan (1950-54) remained the same.
Lacking raw materials, Hungary was placed at the mercy of the Soviet Union. The senseless economic policy
neglected the development of modern industries (like electronics, precision engineering), which would have
needed more expertise than raw materials. Instead dozens of new industrial monsters like the chemical works in
Kazincbarcika and Leninvros (Tiszajvros) and the metallurgical complex of Sztlinvros (Dunajvros) were
erected.
Unemployment in fact disappeared as the artificially swollen industrial sector and large-scale
constructions swallowed many workers, men and women alike. The state planning institution forced quantitative
growth, which led to an incredible amount of sub-standard goods as the quality demands were low. The workers

were required to buy so-called peace loan bonds to raise money to finance industrialization (10% of their salary
was 'offered' to the state.)The standards of living leveled (down), professionals earned less than in the interwar
period.

Wages between 1938 and 1956 in Hungary.

Socialist transformation of agriculture

The greatest loser of the 1950s was the peasantry for several reasons. In 1948 Rkosi started a
campaign against propertied peasants: the land tax was trebled and kulaks (the class enemies of the
countryside) had to pay extras. In principle the kulaks were well-to-do peasants, bur in practice anybody could
be labeled kulak who was considered unreliable by the party. It shows that class warfare was transferred to the
countryside in the 1950s.
240

The greatest burden was compulsory delivery. Peasants had to deliver their products for central
redistribution at low prices - 'the sweeping of the lofts' under the supervision of the VH was an everyday reality
in the 1950s. Peasants had to face fabricated charges of endangering public supply if they failed to deliver the
required amount of crops, eggs, meat, milk etc.
Collectivization went on forcibly: peasants had to exchange lands with the co-operatives and the aim
was to establish more economical farming. Some 5.000 co-operatives (TSZ/termel szvetkezet) and state
forms (G/lIami gazdasg) were formed.

Social changes
The communists launched the project of social leveling; the systematic remolding of the social structure
aimed at achieving the communist ideal of classless society. As a result of this process, the magnates, the
capitalists and the Christian middle class did not only lose their economic and political influence, but ceased to
exist as social classes.
The rural and urban working class became the leading layer of society, thus the social status as well as
the living standards of the poor layers were improving. The key idea of totalitarianism was that the individual is
only capable of self-realization as a member of the community. Full conformity with the official ideology was
required and controlled by communist institutions from childhood; young pioneers, pioneers, the Communist
Youth Association (KISZ) and the Party. Any dissent or criticism was punished: it was the task of a network of
informers to keep an eye on the citizens.

Educational and cultural policy

To ensure the educational background for building socialism around 6,000 schools were nationalized
and religious instruction was forbidden. Cardinal Mindszenty took the lead in protesting against the educational
policy but he was labeled the head of 'clerical reaction' and was taken to court on fabricated charges of
espionage. Finally he was sentenced to life imprisonment on the basis of an extorted confession.

241

144. The Crisis of the Rkosi Dictatorship

De-Stalinization
By the time Stalin died in March 1953, the Hungarian society had been fed tip with the economic
anomalies caused by state planning and everybody hated the personality cult, the ideological terror not to
mention police repression. The Hungarian society, in which all were equal except for a few who were more
equal than the others, was totally disillusioned with the regime.
Then de-Stalinization started in the SU and in the satellites as well. In June 1953 Rkosi was summoned
to Moscow by the new Soviet leaders Khrushchev and Mikoyan - for his policy (which was the imitation of the
earlier Soviet practice). As decided in the Kremlin Rkosi stepped down as Prime Minister and was replaced by
Imre Nagy. Rkosi remained the party secretary and the division between reform communists (the followers of
Nagy) and hardliner communists (the followers of Rkosi) became obvious.
The government program of Imre Nagy
It promised corrections of economic policy and legality. This period is described as the period of a 'new
course'. The expenditure on heavy and military industry was cut back; the production of consumer goods was
subsidized to raise living standards, which represented a reasonable economic policy. Forced collectivization
was abandoned and peasants became free to leave the co-operatives. The reign of terror decreased, labor
camps were closed. Many political prisoners received amnesty and were rehabilitated, but it was a slow
process.
When a new wave of power struggle started in Moscow it provided an opportunity for the hardliner
communists to regain strength and power. As Imre Nagy was criticized by Moscow for his radicalism, Rkosi
replaced and even expelled him from the party.
The 20th Congress of the Soviet Communist Party in February 1956 showed signs of further deStalinization. The Munich-based Radio Free Europe (listening to that was illegal) broadcast the secret speech
made by Khrushchev in the congress. Thus Hungarians were informed that the Soviet leadership pledged to
continue de-Stalinization, to tolerate the different national paths to communism and accepted the peaceful coexistence of the two world blocks. The congress made clear that Stalin was responsible for imprisoning,
torturing and executing millions of innocent Soviet citizens.
Moscow decided to replace Rkosi to prevent rioting like in Poland. There, a similarly explosive situation
in Poznan ended in the rioting of workers in June 1956 and a reform communist, Wladyslas Gomulka was made
party secretary. So Rkosi was dismissed because of 'ill health' and was taken to the SU for medical treatment'.

242

145. The Revolution of 1956

At universities debating circles of young intellectuals called Petfi Circles were formed and they spoke about
the abuses of the Rkosi era and they urged further changes. They drafted a list of demands, which urged the
renewal of socialism in Hungary:

reconsideration of Hungarian-Soviet economic and political relations

withdrawal of Soviet troops from Hungary

a new government headed by Imre Nagy

free plural (multi-party) elections and democratic rights

punishment of Rkosi and other party leaders responsible for the reign of terror

adjustment of economic planning to Hungary's conditions

return to old national symbols and declaring March 15th a national holiday.

Revolution
By late October 1956 dissatisfaction reached boiling point among intellectuals and university students,
Hearing the news that the situation in Poland was stabilized with the appointment of Gomulka. Hungary decided
to hold peaceful demonstrations of solidarity on 23rd October 1956.The revolution started with these peaceful
demonstrations from the Statue of Petfi and Josef Bern. The crowd grew to some 200,000 chanting their
revolutionary demands: 'Nagy into the government, Rkosi into the Danube!" 'Russians go home!' They also
pulled down the gigantic statue of Stalin and then the crowd went to the headquarters of the radio to have their
demands broadcast.
Armed uprising started with the siege of the Radio, where the demonstrators cut out the socialist coat of
arms from the Hungarian flag. The Hungarian flag with a hole in the middle became the symbol of the
Revolution of 1956.

However, the VH was ready to start an armed struggle against the rebels. Soon fighting started
between Soviet tanks and young urban guerillas fighting with Molotov cocktails and weapons taken from
barracks.
On 25 October an even larger crowd marched to Kossuth Square in front of the parliament. VH forces
started shooting at the crowd from nearby roofs, killing almost a hundred people. Furthermore, news of similar
incidents was arriving from some towns like Miskolc and Mosonmagyarvr, which further infuriated the people.
These massacres released new passions; a hunt of the VH members started ending in lynching.
The achievements of the revolution
Imre Nagy was appointed Prime Minister on 23 October. After the radicalization of the uprising Nagy had to
decide between crushing the uprising with the help of Soviet arms or trying to solve the crisis in co-operation
with the revolutionaries and he chose the second alternative.

His cabinet was formed on the basis of political pluralism, including Communist, Social Democratic,
Smallholder and Peasant Party ministers.

Nagy dropped the label 'counter-revolution' and started to talk about a national democratic movement.

The government achieved an agreement with the Soviets about the withdrawal of Soviet troops from
Budapest and abolished the VH.
243

As the party organization and the local administration subordinated to it started to collapse, their role
was taken over by revolutionary committees and workers' councils.

The Hungarian Workers' Party was also reformed; Ern Ger was replaced by Jnos Kdr as the party
secretary, the new leadership included prominent reform-minded communists and the party was
renamed Hungarian Socialist Workers' Party (MSZMP).

The revolution was consolidated, however it involved the collapse of the whole system of institutions of the
party-state. In the end it was unacceptable to Moscow as they feared losing a country of Hungary's favorable
geographical location.
Soviet intervention
At first Hungary's full sovereignty in domestic affairs by maintaining close co-operation with the SU seemed a
real possibility in the last days of October 1956. The withdrawal of Soviet troops from Budapest showed the
willingness to negotiate. However, the radicalization of the revolution and the changes in the international scene
turned unfavorable. The Suez crisis provided an opportunity for the SU for a military showdown as on 29th
October British-French and Israeli troops intervened in Egypt to prevent the nationalization of the Suez Canal by
the Soviet-supported Nasser government. Neither super-power was interested in a military conflict, so the SU
promised to remain neutral in Egypt and in the Middle East if the USA promised to be passive in Hungary and
not give them military help. Hungary's fate became dependent on the super-powers' bargaining.
Informed about the planned Soviet intervention, Nagy announced Hungary's neutral status and denounced
the Warsaw Pact on 1st November 1956. The Soviet intervention had already been decided in the Kremlin after

the US President declared that he regarded Hungary as a part of the Soviet sphere of interest.
The Hungarian leaders were invited to negotiate at the Soviet headquarters in Tkl, where Pl Malter, the
minister of defense was arrested, so the army could not resist when the Soviet offensive started on 4 th
November 1956. On that day two radio announcements were made in the morning, which actually put an end to
the Hungarian revolution:

First Imre Nagy announced that a Soviet offensive had started against the lawful and democratic
government.

Then Jnos Kdr announced the formation of the Revolutionary Workers' and Peasants' Government
and it proclaimed its struggle against the counter-revolution. This speech was broadcast from a Soviet
radio station in Szolnok. Jnos Kdr, a member of the Nagy government left Budapest on 1st November
and was taken to Moscow. He was selected by the Soviet leadership and his task was to steer Hungary
into the right course, i.e. a course acceptable for the Soviet Union. Having undertaken his role, he
returned to Budapest on 7th November I956 in a Soviet tank.

244

146. The Kdr Regime

Retaliation and restoring the order
For November and December 1956 the borders were open, there was a gap in the 'iron curtain' through
which some 200,000 refugees left the country as 'dissidents'. From December 1956 a wave of retaliation started
upon the order from Moscow.

The security forces of the new government - the so-called pufajksok (later they became the members
of the new armed forces of the party, the Workers' Militia) - arrested the leaders of the revolutionary
committees and workers' councils.

300-400 people were convicted by summary courts; many of them were executed on the spot, while
others were executed after years of imprisonment. Several 16-17 year-old students were sentenced to
death and executed when they were 18. 22,000 people were sent to prison and 229 were executed.

Although the leaders of the revolution fled to the Yugoslavian Embassy the Soviet forces kidnapped
them and after a secret trial Imre Nagy and other members of his government were executed in June
1958.

Characteristics of the Kdr regime

After 1958 and the purges Kdr reached some consolidation of his personal authority and this process
coincided with Khrushchev's decision to break with Stalinism. In 1962 a new doctrine was announced: 'he who
is not against us is with us. This meant that people were not expected to be enthusiastic towards the regime;

just not to be hostile.

Agrarian policy
The regime tried to handle some delicate questions in a practical way. The process of collectivization
was solved in a dual way: 75% of the peasantry became members of the co-operatives, but 15% of the
collectivized land remained household forms (hztji gazdasg), cultivated individually by intensive methods,
which soon yielded about 40% of the total produce of co-operatives, especially in meat, poultry, milk and fruit.
Life in the Kdr regime
The style of the political leaders also
changed a lot compared to the Rkosi era;
Kdr

refrained

from

establishing

personality cult, the privileges of the leaders

became less obvious and first of all the
political life was separated from everyday
life. It became possible to travel abroad. Of
course it was much easier to travel to
socialist countries, while if someone wanted to go west, they could do it only once every four years and with a
limited amount of western currency. In addition they had to be 'reliable', those who had dissidents in the family
were not given permission to go west. The new 'soft dictatorship' created a so-called 'goulash communism',
245

where the majority of the population were satisfied with their living standards.
The Hungarian Socialist Workers' Party had a membership of 871.000 people, which meant 11% of adult
citizens. The young between 14 and 26 could join the Communist Youth League, which could provide certain
advantages in higher education. Trade unions did not fulfill their representative tasks, for most people they only
meant the opportunity of a cheap holiday. It was almost compulsory to join the trade union; this is why about
96% of workers were members of a trade union.
Cultural policy
Unlike in other socialist countries, from the middle of the 1960s members of the opposition had the
opportunity to make a career provided they did not interfere in politics. The key figure of cultural policy was
Gyrgy Aczl, whose most important task was to find subtle ways to control cultural life. The cultural policy of
the 'three Ts (tilt, tr, tmogat i.e. prohibit, permit and promote) was introduced. The Hungarian specialty was
the wide range of permitted things. Censorship did not have strictly outlined requirements; everything depended
on the taste of the censors. There were relatively few, but firmly established taboos e.g. the leading role of the
party; the relations with the Soviet Union and membership in the Warsaw Pact.

246

147. The Crisis of the Kdr Regime

The 'New Economic Mechanism'
By the mid 60s it became obvious that the industrialization of the 1950s had not been effective and instead
of the increase in quantity a greater emphasis should be put on higher technological expertise and quality. The
leaders decided to introduce a new economic mechanism from January 1968. The new policy was worked out by
Rezs Nyers, a reform-communist.

In the new approach the five-year plans were preserved but the autonomy of the companies in decisionmaking increased.

The government introduced a new pricing system: 60-70% of the prices of raw materials and agricultural
goods were liberalized.

Also the differentiation in wages and benefits became more significant.

These reforms meant a slow change from a command economy to a market economy. The annual
agricultural growth doubled, intensive cultivation became more widespread (fertilizers and motorization
appeared). Industry had more modest results: the greatest achievement was that shortages were cut and the
quality of goods improved compared with international standards. Due to the reform, infrastructure also
developed: electrification saw a significant development; electric engines appeared and also road transport
improved. Tourism also went through an improvement, especially in the most popular tourist destinations like
the Danube-bend, the Balaton area and Budapest.
And finally living standards started to rise mainly due to social welfare reforms: state subvention of housing,
social security, free education and medical care, advanced nursery education and uniform pension regulations.

Deficiencies of the New Economic Mechanism

However, the New Economic Mechanism could not be successful as it was financed from international
loans but in the long run they burdened the budget and it became more and more difficult to pay the debts and

interest. On the other hand, from 1972-74 the hardliner communists started to criticize the reforms as it did not
keep the monopoly of state property and the reformers were blamed for their toleration of the revival of 'petty
bourgeoisie'. Brezhnev, the Soviet party secretary also criticized Kdr and forced him to exclude many
intellectuals form the party, remove them from their jobs and some even left the country.
The next challenge to the New Mechanism was the oil crisis of 1973, when international oil prices saw a
fivefold increase. As the SU could not provide Hungarian industry with oil, the regime had to face important
economic problems. The Kdr regime being based on growing living standards and full employment; they
could not respond to the crisis with reductions, closing factories or dismissals. At the same time, prices of
imported goods went up significantly while the prices of Hungarian goods exported did not see an increase.
Between 1970 and 1980 the government became more dependent on foreign loans and the debts went out of
control. In 1978 the government introduced a new reform attempt, but the biggest problems could not be solved
and a relatively new problem appeared: inflation. In order to avoid economic collapse in 1981 Kdr decided to
join the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. However, these reforms were not far-reaching enough
to solve the crisis as the general reform would have affected the very basis of the regime.

247

Year
International
loan (billion $)

1975

1980

1985

1990

1994

3,9

9,1

14,0

21,3

28,5

248

148. Hungary's Peaceful Revolution

The activation of the opposition
The opposition to the regime became active at the beginning of the 1980s, but it was not at all
homogeneous. The urbanite and populist-national division survived inside the opposition.

The urbanites (Gbor Demszki, Ottilia Solt) started the first 'samizdat' (illegal publication) called 'Beszl'
and turned to liberal democratic traditions: human rights and democratic norms.

At the same time the populists (Sndor Csori, Istvn Csurka) emphasized the importance of the
national issues: the situation of minorities in the neighboring countries, demographic problems and the

condition of the Churches.

In 1985 in Monor the two wings tried to work out the conditions of a possible co-operation but the meeting only
brought forward the differences.

Reformers (Mikls Nmeth, Imre Pozsgay) within the communist party also realized the importance of

far-reaching reforms but they could not get into the leadership until the late 1980s.
In 1987 'Beszl' published the program of the opposition, entitled 'Social Contract', which openly stated:
Kdr must go. The other side of the opposition, the populists, found the program too radical, so in 1987 they
did not invite the democratic opposition to Lakitelek, where they founded the Hungarian Democratic Forum MDF. The urbanite counterparts of the MDF were formed in 1988: the Alliance of Young Democrats - FIDESZ and

the Alliance of Free Democrats - SZDSZ.

Transition to the plural system
In May 1988 the Hungarian Workers' Party held a decisive congress. The most important decision was
that Kdr lost his power, Grsz became the new leader and reform-communists were introduced into the
Political Committee. In November 1988 Grsz gave premiership to the young Mikls Nmeth, who eventually
helped the transition to the plural system. In March 1989 Nmeth decided to negotiate with the opposition and
established the Opposition Round Table with 8 organizations. A significant change from a political point of view
could be seen in a radio speech made by lmre Pozsgay in January 1989, when he first called the events of 1956
a national uprising.
In spring 1989, Hungary began dismantling its fortified border with Austria. A few months later, the first
crack in the Iron Curtain opened when hundreds of East Germans fled across the Austrian-Hungarian border.

On 16 June 1989 Imre Nagy and other victims of the purges after 1956 were reburied. Three weeks later Kdr
died. In October 1989 the Hungarian Socialist Workers' Party dissolved itself. The majority founded the
Hungarian Socialist Party MSZP.

On 23rd October 1989 the Third Republic was declared by Mtys Szrs, Temporary President of the
republic. In March 1990 the leaders agreed with the Soviet Union on the withdrawal of the Soviet troops from
Hungary and still in March the first free elections were held. The winning parties: MDF, the Independent
Smallholders' Party (FKGP) and the Christian Democratic Peoples' Party formed a coalition and Jzsef Antall
became Prime Minister. In August 1990 the MDF and SZDSZ agreed that the president would be elected by the
parliament and the coalition supported the candidate of the SZDSZ, rpd Gncz.

249

The economic changes of the early 1990s resulted in declining living standards for most people in
Hungary. From 1991 most state subsidies were removed, leading to a severe recession to reduce inflation and
stimulate investment. This made life difficult for many Hungarians, and in the May 1994 elections the Hungarian
Socialist Party led by former Communists won an absolute majority in parliament. In March 1996, Horn was reelected as Socialist Party leader and confirmed that he would push ahead with the party's economic stabilization
program, called the Bokros Pack.
In 1997 at a national referendum 85% voted for joining the NATO that occurred in 1999. A year later
the European Union began negotiations with Hungary on full membership and Hungary joined in 2004.

The demographic changes in Hungary

The structure of employment in Hungary

250

Gypsy population and unemployment in Hungary in 1990s

251

149. The electoral system from 2014

General rules

One round system instead of the two round system

199 seats (decreased from 386)
106 constituency seats (decreased from 176, increased from 45.6% to 53.3% of all seats)
93 party-list seats, including minority-list seats (decreased from 210 regional- and national list seats,

decreased from 54.4% to 46.7% of all seats)

5% threshold still exists in case of party-list, and 10% in case of two parties' joint list, 15% in case of three or
more parties' joint list
Minorities will be able to set a minority-list. Minorities, that will not reach the 5% threshold (out of all minoritylist votes, not out of all votes) or will not get at least one seat, will be able to send a minority spokesman to
the National Assembly from 2014, who has right only to speak but not to vote
Registration will be required for Hungarian citizens without Hungarian residence.
Suffrage: for Hungarian citizens with or without Hungarian residence over 18.

Nomination of candidates

general requirement: at least 18 year old, Hungarian citizen

for constituency seats: at least 1000 recommandations
party-list: parties, that have set candidates in at least 27 constituencies (out of the 106) in at least 9 county
(out of 19) and Budapest
minority-list: minority councils can set minority-lists without restrictions (one list per minority)
minorities, that will be able to set minority-list in 2014: Armenian, Bulgarian, Croatian, German, Greek,
Gypsy, Polish, Romanian, Ruthen, Serbian, Slovakian, Slovenian, Ukrainian)

Voting

Hungarian citizens with Hungarian residence have one vote for a party-list and one vote for a constituency
candidate
Hungarian citizens without Hungarian residence have one vote for a party-list
Hungarian citizens with Hungarian residence registered as minority voter one vote for a constituency
candidate one vote either for a party-list or for a minority-list

Results
In case of constituency seats, the candidate received the most votes in the constituency gets the constituency
seat (not necessarily more than 50%). In case of the party-list seats, parties receive seats (out of the 93) in
proportion to the votes received out of all the party-list and minority-list votes. If constituency candidates are
also a party-list candidates and they have obtained the seat in their constituency then they are replaced in the
party-list by the following party-list candidate. So for example someone being the 50th on a party-list can get
into the National Assembly even if their party has won only 30 party-list seats, if at least 20 candidates listed
earlier than them win in their constituency.
By-election
It is an election held to fill a constituency seat that has become vacant between regularly scheduled elections. In
case of the vacancy of a party-list seat, the next person on the list that is still interested, gets to the National
Assembly.

252

150.

Requirements for the Maturation exam

1. Az kor s kultrja
TMK
1.1. Valls s
kultra az
kori Keleten
1.2. A
demokrcia
kialakulsa
Athnban
1.3. A
rmai
kztrsasg
virgkora s
vlsga, az
egyeduralo
m
1.4. Az antik
kialakulsa
hitvilg,
mvszet,
tudomny

1.5. A
keresztnys
g kialakulsa
s
elterjedse
1.6. A
npvndorls,
az antik
civilizci
felbomlsa

VIZSGASZINTEK
Kzpszin
Emelt
szint
Az egyes civilizcik tvallsi s
Egy folyam menti civilizci
jellemzi
kulturlis jellemzinek azonostsa.
(pl. Egyiptom, Kna). Az egyistenhit a
zsid vallsban.
Az athni demokrcia
Az athni demokrcia
intzmnyei, mkdse.
kialakulsnak folyamata.
A sprtai llam
A hdt hbork trsadalmi s
Augustus principtusnak jellemz
vonsai
politikai kvetkezmnyei a
kztrsasg korban.

A grg hitvilg nhny jellemz vonsa

(pl. tbbistenhit, halhatatlan istenek), a
legfontosabb istenek nevnek ismerete.
A klasszikus kor s a hellenizmus
kimagasl
kulturlis emlkei.
A rmai ptszet jelents
alkotsainak azonostsa.
A rmai vrospts jellegzetessgei s
emlkei
Pannniban.
A keresztnysg
fbb tantsai.

A Nyugat-rmai Birodalom buksa

s a npvndorls.

A grg tudomny egyes terleteinek

egy- egy alkotja (trtnetrs,
termszettudomnyok, filozfia).
A rmai trtnetrs egy-egy jelents
alkotja
(pl. Livius, Tacitus).

A keresztnysg trtnetnek nhny

llomsa az korban (pl. pli fordulat,
ldztets, milni ediktum, niceai
zsinat).
A
npvndorls
legfontosabb
mozzanatainak
s
rsztvevinek
ismerete,
trbeli
elhelyezse
(pl.
germnok, hunok).

2. A kzpkor
TMK
2.1. A
feudlis
trsadalmi s
gazdasgi
rend jellemzi
2.2. A nyugati
s keleti
keresztnysg

2.3. Az iszlm
valls s az
arab vilg; a
vilgvallsok
elterjedse
2.4. A
kzpkori
vrosok
2.5. Egyhzi
s vilgi
kultra a
kzpkorban

VIZSGASZINTEK
Kzpszin
Emelt
t jellemz vonsai
A kzpkori uradalom
A Frank Birodalomszint
trtnetnek
(pl. vr, majorsg, jobbgytelek).
fbb llomsai (pl. Poitiers,
A mezgazdasgi technika fejldsnek
Verdun).
nhny jellemz
mozzanata a X-XI.
szzadban.
Az egyhz politikai szerepe a
A legfontosabb szerzetesrendek jellemzi
nyugati keresztnysgben.
(pl. bencsek, ferencesek).
Az ortodox s a nyugati keresztnysg
fbb
jellemzi (pl. nll nemzeti egyhzak,
eltr
Az iszlm valls kialakulsa s
Az arab hdts, az iszlm
liturgia
s egyhzmvszet).
fbb tantsai.
elterjesztsnek
fontosabb szakaszai (pl.
A vilgvallsok civilizciforml szerepe. 635 Damaszkusz, 732
Poitiers).
Egy kzpkori vros
jellemzinek bemutatsa.
A kzpkori kereskedelem sajtossgai.
Az egyhz szerepe a kzpkori
mveldsben s a
mindennapokban.
A romantika s a gtika fbb stlusjegyei.
A lovagi kultra s rtkrend nhny
eleme.

A kzpkori ches ipar bemutatsa.

Hres egyetemek Nyugat- s KzpEurpban (pl. Prizs, Oxford, Prga),

az egyetemi oktats jellemzi, a
skolasztika (Aquini Szent Tams).

253

2.6. A
humanizmus s
a renesznsz
Itliban
2.7. Az angol s
a francia rendi
llam mkdse
2.8. Az
Oszmn
Birodalom
terjeszkedse

A humanizmus s a renesznsz
fbb jellemzi.

A humanizmus s a renesznsz jellemzi

(pl. emberkzpontsg, antik
embereszmny) s fontosabb itliai
kpviseli (pl. Petrarca, Machiavelli s
Raffaello).
A rendi llam kialakulsa s mkdse
Angliban s Franciaorszgban.

Az Oszmn Birodalom katonai

rendszernek jellemz vonsai forrsok
alapjn.
Az oszmn hdts irnyai,
legfontosabb llomsai a XIV-XVI.
szzadban.

Az Oszmn Birodalom jellemz vonsai

s trsadalmi httere (pl. szolglati
birtok, szphi, gyermekad, janicsr).

3. A kzpkori magyar llam megteremtse s virgkora

TMK

VIZSGASZINTEK
Kzpszin
Emelt
t
szintkpe a korabeli
3.1. A magyar
A magyar np vndorlsa
trkp alapjn. A vndorl magyarsg
np strtnete
forrsokban (pl. arab s biznci
s vndorlsa
forrsok). Eltr tudomnyos
elkpzelsek a magyar strtnettel
kapcsolatban (pl. eredet, shaza).
3.2. A
A honfoglals.
A kalandoz magyarok kpe a
honfoglalstl
A honfoglal magyarsg
korabeli forrsokban.
az
trsadalma s letmdja forrsok
Szent Istvn trvnyalkot tevkenysge.
llamalaptsig
alapjn.
Gza fejedelemsge s Szent
llamszervez
3.3. Az rpd-kor Istvn
Az Aranybulla.
Az j rend megszilrdulsa Szent Lszl
tevkenysge.
s
A
tatrjrs s az orszg jjptse IV.
Knyves Klmn idejn.
Bla idejn.
3.4. Trsadalmi
Kroly Rbert gazdasgi reformjai.
Nagy Lajos trvnyei s az Anjous gazdasgi
A magyar vrosfejlds korai szakasza.
kori trsadalom.
vltozsok Kroly
Zsigmond kirly klpolitikja (pl. a
Rbert, Nagy
nyugati egyhzszakads megszntetse,
Lajos,
a huszita krds kezelse, oszmnok
Luxemburgi
elleni vdekezs).
Zsigmond
idejn
3.5. A Hunyadiak
Mtys kirly bel- s klpolitikja.
Hunyadi Jnos harcai a trk ellen.
Mtys kirly uralkodi portrja
intzkedsei alapjn.
Mtys kirly s a renesznsz.
3.6. Kultra
Jelents rpd- s Anjou-kori
s mvelds
mvszeti emlkek felismerse.

4. Szellemi, trsadalmi s politikai vltozsok az jkorban

TMK
4.1. A nagy
fldrajzi
felfedezsek
s
kvetkezmny
4.2. Reformci
ei
s katolikus
megjuls

4.3. A
kontinentlis
abszolutizmus s
a parlamentris
monarchia
megszletse
Angliban

VIZSGASZINTEK
Kzpszin
Emelt
t
szint
A nagy fldrajzi felfedezsek
A kapitalista vilggazdasgi
rendszer
legfontosabb llomsai trkp alapjn.
kialakulsnak kezdetei, a legfbb
trsadalmi s gazdasgi folyamatok a
Az Eurpn kvli civilizcik hatsa
XVI-XVII. szzadban Nyugat-Eurpban.
Eurpra s a gyarmatosts.
A reformci fbb irnyzatai
Nagyhatalmi konfliktusok s vallsi
forrsok alapjn (luthernus,
ellenttek a korajkori Eurpban (pl.
klvinista).
francia-Habsburg vetlkeds,
harmincves hbor).
A katolikus megjuls, az
ellenreformci kibontakozsa.
AA barokk
jellemzi.XIV. Lajos
francia stlus
abszolutizmus
Az angolszsz kapitalizlds, a
korban. Az alkotmnyos monarchia
polgri fejlds s a mindennapi let a
mkdse.
kora jkori Angliban
Nagyhatalmi erviszonyok, az
eurpai egyensly a XVIII.
szzadban.

254

4.4. A
tudomnyos
vilgkp
talakulsa, a
felvilgosods

A felvilgosods legjelentsebb
gondolatai s fbb kpviseli forrsok
alapjn.

Az j vilgszemllet kialakulsa (pl.

racionalizmus), az jkori
termszettudomnyok (pl. mechanika,
newtoni fizika) s trsadalomtudomnyok
(pl. trsadalmi szerzds, llamelmlet)
kibontakozsa.

5. Magyarorszg a Habsburg Birodalomban

TMK
5.1. A mohcsi
csata s az
orszg hrom
rszre
szakadsa
5.2. Az
Erdlyi
Fejedelemsg
virgkora
5.3. A trk
kizse s a
Rkczi
szabadsgha
rc
5.4.
Magyarorszg a
XVIII. szzadi
Habsburg
Birodalomban
5.5. Mvelds,
egyhzak,
iskolk

VIZSGASZINTEK
Kzpszin
t orszg
A mohcsi vsz s az
rszekre szakadsa.
Vgvri kzdelmek.

Erdly sajtos etnikai s vallsi helyzete

(pl. hrom nemzet, vallsi tolerancia).
A Rkczi szabadsgharc
fordulpontjai. A szatmri bke.

Demogrfiai vltozsok, a
nemzetisgi arnyok alakulsa.
Mria Terzia s II. Jzsef reformjai.
A hazai reformci s a barokk
kulturlis hatsai forrsok alapjn.

Emelt
szint erk a hrom
sszetart s elvlaszt
orszgrszben (pl. trkk elleni
vdekezs, gazdasg, valls).
A rendi s vallsi trekvsek
sszekapcsoldsa a Bocskaifle szabadsgharcban.
Bethlen Gbor kl- s belpolitikja.

A trk kizsnek krdsei s Zrnyi

Mikls.
A spanyol rksdsi hbor s a
Rkczi szabadsgharc.
Az udvar s a rendek viszonynak
alakulsa.

Az llami oktatspolitika fbb

intzkedsei.

6. A polgri talakuls, a nemzetllamok s az imperializmus kora

TMK

VIZSGASZINTEK
Kzpszin
Emelt
szint
6.1. A francia
Az Emberi s Polgrit Jogok
A fbb irnyzatok (pl.
polgri
Nyilatkozatnak alapkrdsei.
alkotmnyos monarchistk,
forradalom
girondiak), valamint kpviselik
Az alkotmnyos monarchia vlsga
politikai
s buksa.
trsadalmi s politikai
irnyzatai, az
elkpzelseinek
Emberi s Polgri
sszehasonltsa.
Jogok
AA jakobinus
6.2. A napleoni
napleonidiktatra.
hbork fordulpontjai
Nyilatkozata
hbork
s a
(pl. Moszkva, Lipcse).
Szent Szvetsg
A nagyhatalmi egyttmkds cljai
Eurpja
s rendszere a bcsi kongresszus
nyomn.
6.3. A XIX.
A korszak fbb eszmeramlatainak
szzad eszmi
(liberalizmus, nacionalizmus,
konzervativizmus s szocializmus)
jellemzi forrsok alapjn.
A legfontosabb llam- s
alkotmnyjogi fogalmak (pl.
alkotmny, parlament, kpviseleti
rendszer, szavazati jog,
hatalommegoszts).
6.4. Az ipari
Az ipari forradalom legjelentsebb
Az ipari forradalom eredmnyeinek
forradalom s
terletei (knnyipar, nehzipar,
(pl. vrosiasods, demogrfiai
kvetkezmny
kzlekeds) s nhny tallmnya.
robbans) kibontakozsa s
ei
egymsra hatsa.
Az ipari forradalom teremtette
ellentmondsok (pl.
krnyezetszennyezs,
letmdvltozs,
a nyomor
krdse).
6.5.
Az USA kialakulsa
s
A szvetsgi rendszerek kialakulsnak
Nagyhatalmak s nagyhatalomm vlsa.
okai az els vilghbor eltt.
katonai-politikai
Nmetorszg nagyhatalomm
Gyarmatok s
szvetsgek a
vlsa. A balkni konfliktusok
gyarmattartk a
szzadforduln
okai.
szzadforduln.

255

6.6.
Tudomnyos,
technikai
felfedezsek,
jtsok s
kvetkezmnyeik

A msodik ipari forradalom alapvet

vonsainak bemutatsa.
A technikai fejlds hatsa a
krnyezetre s az letmdra konkrt
pldk alapjn.

Az ipari forradalom legfontosabb

tallmnyainak s felfedezinek
bemutatsa (pl. Benz, Edison, a
robbanmotor, telefon). A tudomnyos s
technikai fejlds hatsa a trsadalomra,
a gondolkodsra, az letmdra s a
krnyezetre.

7. A polgrosods kezdetei s kibontakozsa Magyarorszgon

TMK
7.1. A
reformmozgalo
m
kibontakozsa,
a polgrosods
f krdsei
7.2. A reformkori
mvelds,
kultra
7.3. A
polgri
forradalom
7.4. A
szabadsgharc

7.5. A
kiegyezs
elzmnyei s
megszletse
7.6. Gazdasgi
eredmnyek s
trsadalmi
vltozsok a
dualizmus
korban
7.7. Az letmd,
a tudomnyos s
mvszeti let
fejldse

VIZSGASZINTEK
Kzpszin
Emelt
t
szint
A reformkor f krdsei.
A rendi orszggyls
s a
Szchenyi s Kossuth reformprogramja.
megyerendszer mkdse.
A gazdasgi talakuls
jellemzse s elemzse.
A magyar trsadalom rtegzdse s
letformi.
A korszak kulturlis letnek fbb
A nemzeti rzs megersdse a
jellemzi.
magyarsg s a nemzetisgek krben.
A pesti forradalom
A nmet, az olasz s ausztriai
esemnyei. Az prilisi
mozgalmak hatsa a magyar
trvnyek.
szabadsgharcra. Nemzetisgi
trekvsek a Habsburg birodalomban.
A fbb hadjratok, a katonai
Ausztria s Magyarorszg
erviszonyok alakulsa, a veresg okai.
kzjogi viszonynak alakulsa.
A Fggetlensgi Nyilatkozat.
Nagyhatalmi elkpzelsek KzpEurpa szereprl.
A kiegyezs megszletsnek
A kiegyezs alternatvi, a
okai. A kiegyezs tartalma s
kiegyezshez fzd vitk (pl. dunai
rtkelse.
konfderci, Kasszandra levl).
Kibontakoz ipar, fejld
A polgri llam kiplse
mezgazdasg, kzlekeds.
Magyarorszgon (pl. kzigazgats,
kzegszsggy, iskolahlzat).
Budapest vilgvross fejldse.
Az talakul trsadalom
Magyar nemzetisgi politika s
sajtossgai. Nemzetisgek a
nemzetisgi trekvsek.
dualizmus korban.
A krnyezet talaktsnak
kvetkezmnyei
A cignysg helye a magyar
(pl.
vastpts, nhny
vrosfejlds,
iparosts).
trsadalomban.
Az
letmd
vltozsai
a
A tmegkultra
jelensge
szzadforduln. A magyar tudomny
Magyarorszgon (pl. divat, szrakozs,
s mvszet nhny kiemelked
sport, sajt).
szemlyisge.

8. Az els vilghbortl a ktplus vilg felbomlsig

TMK

VIZSGASZINTEK
Kzpszin
Emelt
t frontok, az j
szint
A htorszg szerepe
a
Szvetsgi rendszerek,
hborban. Nagyhatalmi rdekek
tpus hadvisels jellemzi.
A Prizs krnyki bkk terleti, etnikai s s ellenttek a
bketrgyalsokon.
gazdasgi vonatkozsainak elemzse.
A modern letforma nhny
A vilggazdasg trendezdse a
jellegzetessge
hbor utn.
(pl. mozi, aut).
A gyarmati vilg sztessnek kezdetei
A nk szerepnek vltozsa.
(pl. India, Kzel-Kelet).
Az olasz fasizmus jellemzi.
Tekintlyuralmi rendszerek
bemutatsa Kzp-Eurpban s a
Balknon.

8.1. Az els
vilghbor
jellege, jellemzi;
a Prizs krnyki
bkk
8.2. A gazdasg
s a trsadalom
j jelensgei a
fejlett vilgban
8.3.
Tekintlyuralmi
rendszerek
KzpEurpban s az
olasz
fasizmus
8.4. Az
USA s az A vilgvlsg jelensgei,
1929-33-as
gazdasgi s trsadalmi
kvetkezmnyei.
gazdasgi
vlsg

Az USA gazdasgi fellendlse

s nemzetkzi szerepe.
A vlsg kezelsnek mdjai egy
adott orszgban (pl. USA, NagyBritannia).

256

8.5. A
nemzetiszocializm
u s hatalomra
jutsa
s mkdsi
mechanizmus
8.6. A bolsevik
a
ideolgia s a
sztlini diktatra
az
1920-30as
8.7. A msodik
vekben
vilghbor
elzmnyei
jelents fordulatai
8.8.
A
hideghbor s a
ktplus
vilg
jellemzi

A nci Nmetorszg legfbb

jellemzi. A nci ideolgia s
propaganda.

A totlis llam kiptse Nmetorszgban.

A bolsevik hatalomtvtel
krlmnyei. A sztlini diktatra
legfbb jellemzi.

A bolsevizmus ideolgija.
A bolsevik propaganda fbb
jellemzi. A sztlini
gazdasgpolitika.

A vilghbor elzmnyei, katonai

s politikai fordulpontjai.
A holokauszt.

8.9. A
szocialista
rendszerek
buksa

A szovjet blokk kialakulsa s

jellemzi. Rendszervltozs KeletKzp-Eurpban.

A szvetsges hatalmak
egyttmkdsnek elemzse.
Hborellenes katonai s
polgri erfesztsek.
Nyugat-Eurpa jjptse s a kzs
eurpai intzmnyek kialakulsnak
kezdetei.
A gyarmati rendszer felbomlsa - a
harmadik vilg kialakulsa.
Gandhi
mozgalma.
A nmeterszakmentes
krds.

Az ENSZ ltrejtte, mkdse.

Nemzetkzi konfliktusok a
hideghbor idejn (pl. Korea, Kuba,
Szuez).

9. Magyarorszg trtnete az els vilghbortl a msodik vilghborig

TMK
9.1. Az OszrkMagyar
Monarchia
felbomlsa s
kvetkezmnyei

VIZSGASZINTEK
Kzpszin
t
Az Oszrk-Magyar Monarchia
felbomlsa. Trianon gazdasgi,
trsadalmi s etnikai hatsai.

9.2. A Horthyrendszer jellege

s jellemzi

Az ellenforradalmi rendszer
konszolidcijnak legfontosabb
lpsei.

9.3.
Mveldsi
viszonyok s
az letmd

Trsadalmi rtegzds s letmd a

hszas- harmincas vekben.

9.4. A
magyar
klpolitika
mozgstere,
alternatvi
9.5.
Magyarorszg
rszvtele a
vilghborban
9.6. A nmet
megszlls s
a holokauszt
Magyarorszgo
n

A magyar klpolitika cljai s

kapcsolatai a kt vilghbor kztt.

Magyarorszg hborba lpse s

rszvtele a Szovjetuni elleni
harcokban.
Magyarorszg nmet megszllsa s a
nyilas hatalomtvtel.
A holokauszt Magyarorszgon (pl.
zsidtrvnyek gettsts, deportls).

Emelt
A Krolyi-kormny szint
bel- s
klpolitikai mozgstere s
intzkedsei.
A tancskormny uralomra
kerlse, politikja, buksnak
okai.
Trianon
bel- s s
Politikaitrsadalmi
letplyk s
bemutatsa
klpolitikai
kvetkezmnyei.
elemzse (pl.
Bethlen Istvn, Teleki Pl).
Gazdasgi vlsg s radikalizlds a
belpolitikban (Gmbs s ksrlete).
A klebelsbergi kultrpolitika
kibontakozsa s fbb jellemzi (pl.
kultrflny, vallserklcsi nevels).
Tudomny s mvszet fbb kpviseli a
kt vilghbor kztti Magyarorszgon
(pl. Szent-Gyrgyi Albert, Bartk Bla).
Magyarorszg a nci birodalom
rnykban (pl. gazdasgi s politikai
knyszerek, kitrsi ksrletek).
A terleti revzi lpsei.
Kllay Mikls miniszterelnksge.
Hborellenes trekvsek (pl.
Magyar Trtnelmi Emlkbizottsg,
szrszi tallkoz).
Az antiszemitizmus s a zsidkrds
Magyarorszgon.

10. Magyarorszg 1945-tl a rendszervltozsig

TMK

VIZSGASZINTEK
Kzpszin
t

Emelt
szint

257

10.1.
A
szovjet
felszabadts
s
megszlls
10.2.
A hatron
tli magyarsg
sorsa
10.3. A
kommunista
diktatra
kiptse s
mkdse
10.4. Az 1956os forradalom
s
szabadsgharc
10.5. A Kdrrendszer
jellege,
jellemzi
10.6. A
rendszervltozs

A szovjet felszabadts s megszlls.

Az orszg hbors emberldozata s
anyagi vesztesge.
A magyarsg helyzetnek fbb
jellemzi a szomszdos orszgokban.
Az 50-es vek jellemzi, a
rendszer mkdse a Rkosikorszakban. letmd s
mindennapok.
Az 1956-os forradalom s
szabadsgharc kitrsnek okai s
fbb esemnyei.
A megtorls megnyilvnulsi formi,
ldozatai.
A rendszer jellemzi a Kdrkorszakban. letmd s mindennapok.
A rendszervltozs tartalma
s kvetkezmnyei (pl.
llamforma, szabadsgjogok,
fggetlensg).

A nemzetkzi helyzet hatsa a magyar

belpolitika alakulsra 1945 s 1948
kztt (pl. SZEB intzkedsei, nmetek
kiteleptse).
Az elnyoms formi s gpezete.

A magyar forradalom nemzetkzi

jelentsge s sszefggsei (pl. szuezi
vlsg szerepe, a magyar krds az
ENSZ-ben).
A kdri trsadalom- s
kultrpolitika alakulsa (pl. gulysvagy fridzsiderkommunizmus,
hrom
T).
Magyarorszg
a kilencvenes vekben
(pl. jogalkots, trsadalmi vltozsok vesztesek s gyztesek).

11. A jelenkor
TMK
11.1. A kzpeurpai rgi
jellemzi,
tvlatai, a
posztszovjet
rendszerek
problmi
11.2. Az eurpai
integrci
trtnete
11.3. A
harmadik vilg
11.4.
Fogyaszti
trsadalom;
kolgiai
problmk, a
fenntarthat
fejlds
1 .5. A globlis
vilg kihvsai
s
ellentmondsai

VIZSGASZINTEK
Kzpszin
Emelt
t
szint
A kzp-eurpai rgi sajtos problmi. A balkni konfliktusok,
Jugoszlvia felbomlsa.
Nemzeti, etnikai, vallsi kisebbsgek
helyzete
nhny orszgban (pl.
Romnia, Magyarorszg,
Ukrajna).
Az Eurpai Uni legfontosabb
A Hatok Kzs Piactl az Eurpai
intzmnyei.
Uniig (1957-1992), az integrci fbb
llomsai. Egyttmkds s eltr
rdekek az uniban. Az Eurpai Uni
helye
a vilggazdasgban.
A fejld orszgok fbb problmi (pl.
A demogrfiai
vlsg trsadalmi s
npessgnvekeds, szegnysg,
gazdasgi okai.
lelmezsi s adssgvlsg).
A technikai civilizci s a gazdasgi
A krnyezettudatos magatarts
nvekeds hatsa a termszeti
kulturlis, gazdasgi s politikai
krnyezetre.
felttelei.

A tmegkultra j jelensgei (pl.

film, reklm).

12. A mai magyar trsadalom s letmd

TMK

VIZSGASZINTEK
Kzpszin
t

Emelt
szint

258

12.1.
Alapvet
llampolgri
ismeretek
12.2. Etnikumok
s nemzetisgek a
magyar
trsadalomban
12.3. A
magyarorsz
gi romk
12.4. A
parlamenti
demokrcia
mkdse s az
nkormnyzatisg
12.5.
Trsadalmi,
gazdasgi s
demogrfiai
vltozsok

Az emberi jogok ismerete s a

jogegyenlsg elvnek bemutatsa.
Az llampolgri jogok, ktelessgek.
Nemzetisgek a mai magyar
trsadalomban (pl. szmuk, arnyuk,
helyzetk, intzmnyeik).
A hazai romk helyzete (oktats,
lakhats, egszsggy, foglalkoztats).
A diszkriminci fogalma.
A vlasztsi rendszer. A helyi
nkormnyzatok feladatai,
szervezetei s mkdsk.
Demogrfiai vltozsok
Magyarorszgon az elmlt fl
vszzadban.

A szocilis piacgazdasg jellemzi.

A magyar alkotmnyossg elemei (pl. a

konstruktv bizalmatlansg intzmnye,
npszavazs) s intzmnyei (pl.
alkotmnybrsg, ombudsmani
intzmny).
A magyar trsadalom
szerkezetvltozsai az elmlt fl
vszzadban. Magyarorszg gazdasga
s beilleszkedse az eurpai, illetve
vilggazdasgba.

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