हङ्गरी

हंगरी मध्‍ये यूरोपे अस्‍ति. राजधानी - बूडापेस्‍ट जनसंख्‍या - १२ मिलियन

इतिहास

Tradition holds that Hungary was founded by Árpád, who led the Magyars into the Pannonian plains in the 9th century. The kingdom of Hungary was established in 1000 by Saint-King Stephen the Great. Initially the history of Hungary was made in the triangle with Poland and Bohemia, with the many liaisons with Popes and Emperors of the Holy Roman Empire.

Gradually Hungary turned into a big, independent kingdom, that formed a tolerant Central European culture, as a part of European civilisation. The Hungarian culture influenced others, i.e. Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.

The golden age ended with the Ottoman conquest at the beginning of the 16th century, when the rest of Hungary came under Austrian control in the 16th century, with Austria conquering all of Hungary by the end of the 17th century.

Under the Austrian Habsburg dynasty, Hungary would eventually, in 1867, become an autonomous part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, until the Empire's collapse following World War I. Hungary separated from Austria on October 31, 1918.

In March 1919 the communists joined the government, and in April, Bela Kun proclaimed the Hungarian Soviet Republic. A period of red terror began; the Romanian army invaded, the communist forces were defeated and the Soviet Republic toppled on August 6 1919. In January 1920, elections were held for a unicameral assembly. Admiral Miklós Horthy was elected Regent. In June, the Treaty of Trianon was signed, fixing Hungary's borders. Compared with the prewar Kingdom, the size and population of Hungary were reduced by about two-thirds.

Over a decade later, Horthy made a limited alliance with Nazi Germany in the 1930s, in the hope of revising the territorial losses that had followed World War I. Hungary was rewarded by Germany with territories belonging to Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia and Romania, and took an active part in World War II. However, in October 1944, Hitler had to replace Horthy with a Hungarian Nazi collaborator to avert Hungary's defection.

Following the fall of Hitler, Hungary once again was run by communists. In 1956, a revolt and announced withdrawal from the Warsaw Pact were met with a military intervention by the Soviet Union and led to the deposition and execution of prime minister Imre Nagy. In the late 1980s, Hungary led the movement to dissolve the Warsaw Pact and shifted toward multiparty democracy and a market-oriented economy. Following the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, Hungary developed closer ties with Western Europe, joined NATO in 1999 and joined the European Union on May 1, 2004.

राजनीति

The President of the Republic, elected by the parliament every 4 years, has a largely ceremonial role, but powers also include appointing the prime minister. The prime minister selects cabinet ministers and has the exclusive right to dismiss them. Each cabinet nominee appears before one or more parliamentary committees in consultative open hearings and must be formally approved by the president.

The unicameral, 386-member National Assembly (the Országgyűlés) is the highest organ of state authority and initiates and approves legislation sponsored by the prime minister. A party must win at least 5% of the national vote to form a parliamentary faction. National parliamentary elections are held every 4 years (the last was in April 2002). A 15-member Constitutional Court has power to challenge legislation on grounds of unconstitutionality.

Some 98% of the population speaks Hungarian, a Finno Ugric language unrelated to any neighbouring language. Several ethnic minorities exist, such as those of the Roma (4%), Germans (2.6%), Serbs (2%), Croats (0.9%), Slovaks (0.8%) and Romanians (0.7%), though most speak Hungarian. Several large Hungarian minorities exist across the border in neighbouring countries, notably in Ukraine (in Transcarpathia) , Slovakia, Romania (in Transylvania) and Serbia (in Vojvodina).

The largest religion in Hungary is Roman Catholicism (67.5%), with a Calvinist minority (20%). Other smaller denominations include Lutherans (5%) and Jews (0.2%). The remainder adheres to very small religions or is unaffiliated.

संस्‍कृति

• List of Hungarians
• List of Hungarian rulers
• List of Hungarian writers
• Music of Hungary
• Hungarian cuisine
• Common Hungarian surnames

विविध विषया:

• Communications in Hungary
• Transportation in Hungary
• Military of Hungary
• Foreign relations of Hungary

बाह्‍य ग्रन्‍थिया:

• History of Hungary - The Corvinus Library
• History of Hungary - Chronological Survey: 2500 BC - 2004 AD
• Hungarian Government Portal - Main (governmental) portal
• Kancellaria.gov.hu - Official prime ministerial site
• House of the Nation - Official parliamentary site
• Travel to Hungary Guide
• Hungarian History (Hungarian Folk Dance Chamber Group)
• Hungary in Pictures (Some pictures of Budapest and Hungarian towns)