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Historical Timeline for Hungary - A chronology of key events

Hungary Timeline[edit | edit source]

Date	Event
1918	at the end of the First World War, the defeat of the central empires leads to the dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian empire. Hungary becomes an independent republic.
1919	The Hungarian Socialist Party, under the leadership of Bela Kun, takes power and creates a “Republic of the Councils”, which lasts barely three months, overthrown by Romanian intervention. Admiral Horty is proclaimed regent and sets up a dictatorial regime.
1920	the Treaty of the Trianon ratifies the loss of Croatia, Ruthenia, Slovenia and Transylvania, reducing Hungary to a third of its former area and increasing its population from 20 to 7 million inhabitants; 3.5 million Magyars are found outside the new frontiers.
1940	adherence to the Tripartite Pact; Hungary takes possession of part of Transylvania.
1941	she goes to war alongside the Reich against the USSR.
1944	the Wehrmarcht occupies the country. After the entry of Soviet troops into Transylvania, Horty, who requested the armistice, was overthrown. The S.S. undertook the systematic deportation of Jews and Gypsies.
1945	Soviet troops take Budapest and drive out the Nazis. Dalnoki Moklos' provisional government votes for land reform. The first elections are won by the party of small owners.
1946-1948	the Communist Party, led by Matyas Rakosi, gradually eliminates the other political forces. Mines, heavy industry and banks are nationalized.
1949	proclamation of the Hungarian People's Republic. A Stalinist regime is established.
1953	after Stalin's death, a reformist wing emerges in the Party. Imre Nagy succeeds Matyas Rakosi and begins a relative liberalization before being removed from power.
1956	popular uprising. Imre Nagy is recalled to power and calls for Hungary's withdrawal from the Warsaw Pact. Soviet troops occupy Budapest, suppress the resistance of the population, causing several thousand victims, and set up a new government, led by Janos Kadar. Imre Nagy was executed two years later.
1960-1968	while remaining faithful to the Soviet Union, the regime introduced economic reforms aimed at reconciling centralized planning and the laws of the market.
1988	Karoly Grosz succeeds Janos Kadar, who is no longer supported by the father of perestroika, Mikhail Gorbachev. Hungary is then the richest socialist country and the most open to the West. Opposition movements are starting to take shape.
1989	The party leadership condemns the Soviet intervention of 1956 and rehabilitates the victims, including Imre Nagy. Parliament votes to return to multiparty politics. The border with Austria is open.
1990	the first free elections are won by the Democratic Forum (center-right) of József Antall. Árpád Göncz (liberal) becomes President of the Republic.
1991	departure of the last Soviet troops. The Warsaw Pact is dissolved.
1994	victory of the Hungarian Socialist Party (ex-reformist communists) in the legislative elections. Gyula Horn forms a coalition government with the Alliance of Free Democrats and pursues liberal policies.
1997	Hungarians vote by referendum for NATO membership.
1998	victory for Fidesz (right), led by Viktor Orban, in the legislative elections.
1999	Hungary joins NATO.
May 2002	the Socialist Party, led by Peter Medgyessy, wins the legislative elections.
May 2004	Hungary joins the European Union.
June 2004	the conservative opposition wins the European elections, ahead of the center-left coalition in power.
October 2004	investiture of the coalition government led by socialist Ferenc Gyurcsany. He succeeds Peter Medgyessy, who resigned in August.
December 2004	Parliament ratifies the constitutional treaty of the European Union.
April 2006	the center-left coalition wins the legislative elections with 54% of the vote.
End of September, 2006	violent demonstrations erupt following the broadcast of the recording of a speech by Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsany, in which he admits to having lied about his record to win the April elections.
October 1, 2006	the left-wing coalition in power suffers a setback in municipal elections, where the right wins 18 of the 19 provincial departmental assemblies.
October 23, 2006	Violent demonstrations disrupt the commemorations of the 1956 uprising.
December 2007	Hungary ratifies the Lisbon Treaty and joins the Schengen area.
March 9, 2008	the reform projects of the Gyurcsany government are overwhelmingly rejected in a referendum initiated by the right-wing opposition. These measures, aimed in particular at partially privatizing the health and education sectors, were intended to restore public finances.
April 27, 2008	collapse of the government coalition following the failure of the referendum. After the dismissal of the Minister of Health, member of the Liberal Party (SZDS), the other ministers of this party resign.
October 28, 2008	Undermined by the international financial crisis, Budapest obtains a loan for a total amount of 20 billion euros (12.5 billion promised by the IMF, 6.5 billion by the European Union, and one billion by the World Bank).
March 21, 2009	weakened by the crisis, Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsany announces his resignation.
April 14, 2009	Gordon Bajnai, Minister of the Economy of the resigning government is elected Prime Minister by the parliament. the new government is implementing austerity measures.
April 11, 2010	overwhelming victory for the right in the legislative elections in the first round with 52.7% of the vote. The left suffered a serious defeat (19.3%) and the far right took off (16.7%). Viktor Orban, who returns to the chair of Prime Minister, is able to form the first government without a coalition in Hungary since the fall of communism in 1989.
May 26, 2010	Hungary grants the three and a half million inhabitants of Magyar stock in neighboring countries, separated from their homeland by the Treaty of Trianon in 1920, the right to obtain Hungarian nationality. This measure increases the tension with Slovakia where the Hungarian minority constitutes 10% of the population.
July, 2010	for lack of agreement between the IMF and Budapest on the reforms necessary to restore public finances, the payment of new installments of the loan of 20 billion euros granted to the country in October 2008 is suspended.
October, 2010	an accident in an aluminum factory causes a toxic mud flow killing ten people and flooding seven villages. The amount of losses caused by the mudslide amounts to more than 200 million euros.
December, 2010	ten days before the inauguration of the Hungarian presidency of the European Union, Budapest adopts a law strengthening media control.