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Hungary: A Short History
The victors of the First World War created Hungary from the ruins of the Austro-Hungarian empire, but, in the centuries before, many called for its creation. Norman Stone traces the country's roots from the traditional representative councils of land-owning nobles to the Magyar nationalists of the nineteenth century and the first wars of independence.
Hungary's history since 1918 has not been a happy one. Economic collapse and hyperinflation in the post-war years led to fascist dictatorships and then Nazi occupation. Optimism at the end of the Second World War ended when the Iron Curtain descended, and Soviet tanks crushed the last hopes for independence in 1956 along with the peaceful protests in Budapest. Even after the fall of the Berlin Wall, consistent economic growth has remained elusive.
This is an extraordinary history - unique yet also representative of both the post-Soviet bloc and of nations forged from the fall of empires.
Hungary's history since 1918 has not been a happy one. Economic collapse and hyperinflation in the post-war years led to fascist dictatorships and then Nazi occupation. Optimism at the end of the Second World War ended when the Iron Curtain descended, and Soviet tanks crushed the last hopes for independence in 1956 along with the peaceful protests in Budapest. Even after the fall of the Berlin Wall, consistent economic growth has remained elusive.
This is an extraordinary history - unique yet also representative of both the post-Soviet bloc and of nations forged from the fall of empires.
- GenresHistoryNonfictionHungary
288 pages, Paperback
Published December 5, 2019
53 people are currently reading
328 people want to read
About the author
Norman Stone
55 books52 followersNorman Stone was a Scottish historian and author, who was a Professor in the Department of International Relations at Bilkent University, Ankara. He is a former Professor at the University of Oxford, Lecturer at the University of Cambridge, and adviser to Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher.
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Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews
June 13, 2019
I’m not sure why readers dislike this book but I think it is excellent. It is well written and very readable. I did not agree with all of Stone’s conclusions but there is no doubt that he has an excellent grasp of what has gone on in Hungary over the last 150 years. The history of Hungary is very complex and those who sought to influence the future were often choosing what they felt were the best of pretty poor options. If you are a decision maker at times you have to act even though you do not have the full facts.
As someone who has spent 6 weeks in the last 3 years in Hungary I found this a most helpful book. It is easy for those of us who live on island at the edge of Europe to isolate ourselves with the protection of miles of sea. Central Europe is a very different place. I now get why Hungarians feel bereft about the loss of Transylvania. That does not mean that I thinks frontiers should be moved but the pain is deep. Norman Stone has written a highly informed and thoughtful history which I found very helpful.
As someone who has spent 6 weeks in the last 3 years in Hungary I found this a most helpful book. It is easy for those of us who live on island at the edge of Europe to isolate ourselves with the protection of miles of sea. Central Europe is a very different place. I now get why Hungarians feel bereft about the loss of Transylvania. That does not mean that I thinks frontiers should be moved but the pain is deep. Norman Stone has written a highly informed and thoughtful history which I found very helpful.
September 15, 2019
Slightly chaotic and pretty boring. It sums up all the important milestones of recent Hungarian history but in the most boring of fashions, jumping from one name and event to another, not even trying to create an interesting narrative (which is painfully obvious mainly in the end). Write a detailed 800-page history book or choose an at-least-slightly original viewpoint and try to be interesting in the space of 200-300 pages.
March 12, 2022
This is quite good and has a lot of useful and interesting information. The writing style is witty and entertaining. However, I have some reservations about the book. Stylistically, it has a slightly slapdash feel, and there are far too many commas for my liking – this makes it sometimes feel inelegantly expressed.
I found myself in agreement with the author on many of his opinions, such as: the Treaty of Trianon was immoral and broke President Wilson’s own rules regarding nation states; and Admiral Horthy was certainly a conservative but also an anti Fascist – although his anti Semitic laws were a blot on his record.
In the 1980’s Hungarians suffered record levels of obesity and suicide. Barbed wire – an essential component of oppressive regimes – had to be imported from the West because the home grown variety was so substandard. And yet Hungarian Communism was, in Stone’s opinion, less useless and repressive than the Polish or Romanian varieties. I suppose it’s all relative.
This book is a useful general introduction but the biggest problem is that it is so heavily concentrated on recent history. There is almost nothing here on Hungary before the nineteenth century, and really everything before the first world war is dealt with in a disappointingly brief and sketchy manner. I would have liked a lot more; but it is a “Short History”, after all, so maybe one should look elsewhere for detailed analysis and discussion.
I never met Professor Stone, although he was a don at Oxford when I was there in the 1980’s. His reputation – which may or not have been deserved – was of a highly entertaining and erudite right-winger with a fondness for fine wine and chatting up attractive female undergraduates. This was unremarkable then, but would probably have got him cancelled now. But everyone agreed – whether they liked him or not – that he was certainly colourful.
I found myself in agreement with the author on many of his opinions, such as: the Treaty of Trianon was immoral and broke President Wilson’s own rules regarding nation states; and Admiral Horthy was certainly a conservative but also an anti Fascist – although his anti Semitic laws were a blot on his record.
In the 1980’s Hungarians suffered record levels of obesity and suicide. Barbed wire – an essential component of oppressive regimes – had to be imported from the West because the home grown variety was so substandard. And yet Hungarian Communism was, in Stone’s opinion, less useless and repressive than the Polish or Romanian varieties. I suppose it’s all relative.
This book is a useful general introduction but the biggest problem is that it is so heavily concentrated on recent history. There is almost nothing here on Hungary before the nineteenth century, and really everything before the first world war is dealt with in a disappointingly brief and sketchy manner. I would have liked a lot more; but it is a “Short History”, after all, so maybe one should look elsewhere for detailed analysis and discussion.
I never met Professor Stone, although he was a don at Oxford when I was there in the 1980’s. His reputation – which may or not have been deserved – was of a highly entertaining and erudite right-winger with a fondness for fine wine and chatting up attractive female undergraduates. This was unremarkable then, but would probably have got him cancelled now. But everyone agreed – whether they liked him or not – that he was certainly colourful.
September 10, 2019
The book is a must if you wish to know more of Hungarian (and Central European) history. Norman Stone spends most of the book on Hungary after 1918 and writes succinctly about the complexity of political life between the wars and on the Communist takeover. It’s both learned and witty which makes it a pleasure to read.
May 23, 2020
Oddly written
Difficult to follow
Weird writing style
Difficult to follow
Weird writing style
November 4, 2025
Decent introduction/overview of Magyar history but Stone should've been a little more careful with the 50-60s. His biases let him down and there's a much more complicated picture than the one presented. Also, it's a minor point, but some facts are repeated needlessly a few times - an editor should've picked this up
January 28, 2019
The writer does a great job describing the last 200 or so years of Hungarian history. I found the book entertaining and gave me an impartial view of history. However, I found it hard here and there to follow the timeline and the historic figures. It was a great help that I'm Hungarian and have studied history and was familiar with the politicians already. I would imagine it could be a tougher read for a foreigner.
August 4, 2021
I was hoping for a bit of medieval history, but Norman Stone's book gets going in the late nineteenth century. I guess that is how he could make it 'short'. It is hard to follow in places, especially if you are not used to Hungarian names, but does deliver a succinct explanation of what the Hungarians have endured thanks to their neighbours, and why they have elected an anti-immigrant strongman as their Prime Minister.
December 26, 2021
Lots of good history but it's hard to follow. Every paragraph skips between different events and people.
Felt like a tennis ball machine that keeps shooting facts without end.
Still, I appreciate it. There wasn't any other book on Hungarian history in the store. Would've loved some year 1000-1800 history though!
Felt like a tennis ball machine that keeps shooting facts without end.
Still, I appreciate it. There wasn't any other book on Hungarian history in the store. Would've loved some year 1000-1800 history though!
July 5, 2024
A small country in Eastern Europe whose people are claiming themselves as the descendants of Turkic Horsemen, The Magyars, Hungary was grander as it was than it is now, especially in its size. In the past, Kingdom of Hungary was the bulwark of Christian Europe against the encroachments of Muslim, Ottoman Turks. Its rolling fields, being Habsburg's breadbasket for quite a long time, became the site of numerous battles between two clashing religions. As the largest (and most unruly) jewel in Habsburg Crown, and due to its geographical not-closeness to Habsburg's centre of power, Hungarians are often forced to walk the different destiny from its Germanic, and Slavic brethren.
During the era of Reformation, Hungary became the hotbed of Protestantism, both Lutheranism and Calvinist Reform proliferated there. However, while during the subsequent, Habsburg-sponsored Counter-Reformation swept over and Catholic Church reasserted itself, the Protestants were mostly tolerated, while the Jews in Hungary had it better than their compatriots in, say, Poland or Russia. At its peak, Kingdom of Hungary occupied lands stretching from Adriatic Coast in the west and Carpathian Mountains in the East. Habsburg ruled the lands of Hungary through its alliances with local nobles, people who later would became source of endless headaches for Habsburg Emperors (and Empress).
1848 brought waves of Revolutions across Europe, and in Hungary, national consciousness arose. After a failed uprising, A compromise was made with Habsburg Austrian Empire was turned into Dual Monarchy of Austro-Hungary, with separate crown and parliament for Hungary. Unfortunately, this parliament was reduced into a chamber of bickering politicians and nobles, with the conflicting drives of Austro-Germanic Centralization versus enlargement of Hungarian autonomy.
The end of World War I in 1918 saw Hungary as its biggest loser, for it lost the most, in territory, population and resources, all ceded to its immediate neighbors, even when compared to other Habsurg Empire nationalities. After the failed attempt at communism, and recently abdicated Habsburg king's attempt to regain Hungarian Crown, Kingdom of Hungary was put into a funny position of being a Kingdom who did not have a King, whose Regent was an Admiral who did not have a ship (since Hungary's coast was ceded to newly formed Yugoslavia), one called Admiral Horthy. Horthy's innate anticommunism, backed with the strong, popular feeling of revanchism, steered Hungary towards alliance with Nazi Germany. It is to note however, that Horthy's government was not an avid persecutor of Hungarian Jews, and only when the Germans toppled Horthy and installed the more German-pliant government Hungarian contribution to Final Solution became more pronounced.
As the tide of war went against the Axis, Horthy began to seek ways to have separate peace with the Allies, thus sparing him and most of his government members from trials by Allied Tribunals. However, Hungary's fate to become member of the East Bloc was sealed through Churchill and Stalin secret agreement, which ceded Greece to Britain's sphere of influence while Hungary became Soviet's. With Stalin's blessing, Hungarian communists from who were exiling themselves in Soviet Union returned home. Led by Matyas Rakosi, the communists took over gradually by deploying the famed salami tactic. When fully in power, they tried to replicated Stalin's disastrous formula of modernization which focused on Heavy industry and farm collectivization, with similar, disastrous results. However, Hungarians failure was compounded with its geographical conditions, its lands were too rural and small, and Hungarians stood to gain more by replicating countries such as Denmark or Sweden rather than Soviet Union.
The continuous economic hardships caused the reformists in Hungary to rise up and in 1956, came an uprising in which the Communists were nearly toppled. Only a well-timed Soviet intervention requested by Janos Kadar, the latest communist leader, saved Hungarian Communist Party from extinction. In 1956, De-Stalinization became the path taken by Khrushchev's Soviet Union, and Kadar was one of its most loyal vanguards. Hungary became the happiest barrack in Eastern camp and the term goulash communism, which means communist policies sprinkled with elements of capitalism, was coined, with both positive and negative meanings.
However, as Soviet Union walked into stagnation and eventual demise, Hungary was doomed into walking the same path. By the eighties, Hungary was burdened with debts, ironically, gained from its contact with the western world. As communism fell all over the world, Hungarian Communist Party voted to dissolve itself, and after numerous democratically elected leaders who failed to deliver its promises, Hungarians elected Viktor Orban, now known as one of the Strongmen in Europe. In the end, this book is a short, but very informative source of knowledge on a little tiny country in Eastern Europe.
During the era of Reformation, Hungary became the hotbed of Protestantism, both Lutheranism and Calvinist Reform proliferated there. However, while during the subsequent, Habsburg-sponsored Counter-Reformation swept over and Catholic Church reasserted itself, the Protestants were mostly tolerated, while the Jews in Hungary had it better than their compatriots in, say, Poland or Russia. At its peak, Kingdom of Hungary occupied lands stretching from Adriatic Coast in the west and Carpathian Mountains in the East. Habsburg ruled the lands of Hungary through its alliances with local nobles, people who later would became source of endless headaches for Habsburg Emperors (and Empress).
1848 brought waves of Revolutions across Europe, and in Hungary, national consciousness arose. After a failed uprising, A compromise was made with Habsburg Austrian Empire was turned into Dual Monarchy of Austro-Hungary, with separate crown and parliament for Hungary. Unfortunately, this parliament was reduced into a chamber of bickering politicians and nobles, with the conflicting drives of Austro-Germanic Centralization versus enlargement of Hungarian autonomy.
The end of World War I in 1918 saw Hungary as its biggest loser, for it lost the most, in territory, population and resources, all ceded to its immediate neighbors, even when compared to other Habsurg Empire nationalities. After the failed attempt at communism, and recently abdicated Habsburg king's attempt to regain Hungarian Crown, Kingdom of Hungary was put into a funny position of being a Kingdom who did not have a King, whose Regent was an Admiral who did not have a ship (since Hungary's coast was ceded to newly formed Yugoslavia), one called Admiral Horthy. Horthy's innate anticommunism, backed with the strong, popular feeling of revanchism, steered Hungary towards alliance with Nazi Germany. It is to note however, that Horthy's government was not an avid persecutor of Hungarian Jews, and only when the Germans toppled Horthy and installed the more German-pliant government Hungarian contribution to Final Solution became more pronounced.
As the tide of war went against the Axis, Horthy began to seek ways to have separate peace with the Allies, thus sparing him and most of his government members from trials by Allied Tribunals. However, Hungary's fate to become member of the East Bloc was sealed through Churchill and Stalin secret agreement, which ceded Greece to Britain's sphere of influence while Hungary became Soviet's. With Stalin's blessing, Hungarian communists from who were exiling themselves in Soviet Union returned home. Led by Matyas Rakosi, the communists took over gradually by deploying the famed salami tactic. When fully in power, they tried to replicated Stalin's disastrous formula of modernization which focused on Heavy industry and farm collectivization, with similar, disastrous results. However, Hungarians failure was compounded with its geographical conditions, its lands were too rural and small, and Hungarians stood to gain more by replicating countries such as Denmark or Sweden rather than Soviet Union.
The continuous economic hardships caused the reformists in Hungary to rise up and in 1956, came an uprising in which the Communists were nearly toppled. Only a well-timed Soviet intervention requested by Janos Kadar, the latest communist leader, saved Hungarian Communist Party from extinction. In 1956, De-Stalinization became the path taken by Khrushchev's Soviet Union, and Kadar was one of its most loyal vanguards. Hungary became the happiest barrack in Eastern camp and the term goulash communism, which means communist policies sprinkled with elements of capitalism, was coined, with both positive and negative meanings.
However, as Soviet Union walked into stagnation and eventual demise, Hungary was doomed into walking the same path. By the eighties, Hungary was burdened with debts, ironically, gained from its contact with the western world. As communism fell all over the world, Hungarian Communist Party voted to dissolve itself, and after numerous democratically elected leaders who failed to deliver its promises, Hungarians elected Viktor Orban, now known as one of the Strongmen in Europe. In the end, this book is a short, but very informative source of knowledge on a little tiny country in Eastern Europe.
January 14, 2025
If all students had access to Norman Stone’s histories, their love of history would be absolute. His research, his writing cadence, his wit all come together to produce compact but insightful works on critical countries and world events. I picked up this excellent history of Hungary while visiting Budapest and in a few short days had a much better and more complete understanding of what i saw and experienced. He deftly positions Hungarian developments in the contact of Turkic,Germanic and Russian interference over a thousand years of documented history. The Austrian-Hungarian empire; teh Horthy regime and WW2, the Soviet occupation and then the transition to democracy are well covered. Economic, religious and ethnic themes are explored and the main players are vividly unwrapped, often with unexpected and brutal frankness and language. A super read
November 26, 2019
Good overview of the key milestones of a Hungarian history.
However, analysis of themes and events in Hungarian history is missing such as the influence of the Arpad dynasty on Magyar culture and identity, which is a shame as Hungary is a fascinating and interesting country.
One advantage of this history book is the due regard given to Hungarian Jews and their impact on Hungary.
However, analysis of themes and events in Hungarian history is missing such as the influence of the Arpad dynasty on Magyar culture and identity, which is a shame as Hungary is a fascinating and interesting country.
One advantage of this history book is the due regard given to Hungarian Jews and their impact on Hungary.
April 12, 2024
This is a very confusing read as the book is pretty hard to follow and author just issues opinions on huge bits/events/ personalities without bothering to explain what really happened.
No doubt Mr. Stone knew a thing or two about history and Hungary history in particular but could just not for moment consider how a reader could approach such a chaotic text.
I did not manage to finish this book
No doubt Mr. Stone knew a thing or two about history and Hungary history in particular but could just not for moment consider how a reader could approach such a chaotic text.
I did not manage to finish this book
August 27, 2023
Really only two and a half stars.
As someone else said rather slapdash. He races through history making it hard to get a good understanding. Again, as someone else said, he has a weird writing style. The main positive is that it provides many good references for further reading.
As someone else said rather slapdash. He races through history making it hard to get a good understanding. Again, as someone else said, he has a weird writing style. The main positive is that it provides many good references for further reading.
February 23, 2019
A very readable, often amusing, account of the very complicated history of this country by an expert historian. Well worth reading
March 14, 2019
Hungarian history
Good readable history of modern Hungary. What I would have loved would have been to see a little more of older mediaeval history.
Good readable history of modern Hungary. What I would have loved would have been to see a little more of older mediaeval history.
May 9, 2020
A very readable introduction to modern Hungarian history, not much substance though.
November 15, 2021
Very interesting to hear Hungary's history from an outsider's point of view!
August 13, 2023
Finally finished, though I only read a couple of pages a night but this didn't really answer the questions about all the history of Budapest.
May 8, 2024
So entertainingly put together.
September 25, 2024
Not quite as entertaining read as I was expecting. The author goes easy on Orban, presumably because of some combination of his own conservatism and that he was his student...
April 19, 2023
Definitely not a short history of Hungary. Borrowed this book to prepare for a trip to Budapest that was eventually canceled. Meandering writing style with confusing chronology that made it hard to digest. At a high level, the evolution of the nation from being part of Austro-Hungary empire to several counter revolutionaries before WW2. Fought on the wrong side with the Nazi, post-war Hungary was essentially a Soviet satellite state. Another few counter revolutionaries and collapse of Soviet Union, Hungary became an independent democratic republic till today.
Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews