Demography and ethnics in

th
Hungary in the 18 century
 Definitions
● Demography: the study of statistics such as births,
deaths, income, or the incidence of disease, which
illustrate the changing structure of human populations
● Census: an official count or survey, especially of a
population.
● Nation:a large body of people united by common
descent, history, culture, or language, inhabiting a
particular state or territory.
● Minority: a part of a population differing from others in
some characteristics and often subjected to differential
treatment
● Ethnic: relating to a population subgroup (within a larger
or dominant national or cultural group) with a common
national or cultural tradition.
The Hungarian Kingdom in the beginning of the
18th century
● Between 1526 and 1697 the population of
the country reduced from 4.5 million to 3.5-
4 million
● The losses were increased by periodic
outbreaks of plague and typhus ( morbus
hungaricus)
● Introduced by Ottoman army in 1542 when
it marched from the Balkans to Buda
● The number of fatalities were up to 30.000
 1544
● Christian army set off to recapture Buda
also lost 30,000 people without having fired
a single shot
● It was in this period- two Fifteen Years'
War(1591-1606, 1683-1699)- that ethnic
composition of Hungary changed
substantially
● Significant loss of lives caused by fights
and campaigns (Ottoman occupied Great
Plain, Northeast Hungary (Habsburgs),
incursions of Tartars and Turks
Demographic disasters
● Fifteen Years War (1593-1606)
● Habsburgs vs Turks (1663-1664)
● Expulsion of Turks (1683-1699)
● Rákóczi Revolt (1703-1711)
 The Expulsion of Ottomans
● Not accompanied by enthusiasm
● The movement of Imeperial army accompanied
by extreme deprivation (special taxes levied, war
contribution, looting accompanied by deprivation
of rights)
● Diet waived its right of free election of King
(1687), Transylvania subject to separate
governance and rights of estates impaired
● The above reasons trigger Kuruc movement
 Questions
● Entire regions became depopulated
( Délvidék, Dél-Dunántúl, Duna mentén
Pest térsége, Felvidék déli része, Erdélyi
medence) Why did these territories
suffer so much devastation?
● These territories were spared from
destruction ( Felvidék Északi része,
Erdélyi szigethegység, Székely és
Szászföld, Kárpátalja) Why?
 Consequences
● Destroyed populations were replaced a) in
the middle of the country, in the plains, in
river valleys
● By settlers coming from a) the peripheries
b) the Carpathians
● Foreignors were settled: in upper Hungary
(Slovakia); Southern Transdanubia, areas
where Tranyslvania and Great Plain meet
 The population of Hungary
doubled
● Natural growth: reproduction and recovery of
population
● Immigration: People mostly artisan and
peasants coming to Hungary spontaneously
● Settling: The Habsburg court settled foreigners
in Hungary.
Besides these processes, an intensive migration started as
well, people moved from the densely habited northern and
western territories to the deserted area of the former
territory under Turkish rule.
Consequently, at the end of the 18th century,
Hungarian population doubled and the ethnic
relations changed as well. Only the 40 per
cent of the population was Hungarian, this
way, it was the Hungarians who became the
strongest minority within the Hungarian
Kingdom.
Habsburg absolutism and Germanisation:
The Habsburg Court settled foreign, mostly
Catholic people everywhere in Hungary. In
addition, they settled them in coherent blocks.
The Court deliberately used the minorities as
a ‘demographic’ weapon against Hungary as
Hungarians were the second strongest
minority after the Austrians within the
Habsburg Empire.
 Consequences of the ethnic changes: During the era of
national awakening, the Habsburg Court set the Hungarian
minorities against the Hungarian state (e.g. Jellacic and the
Serbian attack against Hungary in September 1848). On
behalf of nationalism, the ethnic minorities of Hungary wanted
national states, which could tear the Kingdom of Saint
Stephen apart. That is why, the Hungarian state safeguarded
its integrity guaranteeing only the protection of personal rights
of the ethnic minorities and denying their collective rights and
autonomies after 1848. As the ethnic minorities were settled
in coherent blocks in the 18th century, they could not be
assimilated by the central power and these blocks ( with
Hungarian diasporas around them) were handed over to the
newborn states in the peace treaty of Trianon (4th June 1920)
which neglected both national borders and Hungarian
autonomy.