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In this video I talk about the territorial evolution of Hungary. How its people first arrived in the region and how the territory they ruled changed through time, understanding the historical events and context associated with each of those changes. Thank you to Fabio for the great animations he did for this video.
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TIMESTAMPS:
00:00 Intro
00:37 Scentbird Sponsorship
01:42 The Arrival to Central Europe
02:57 The "Hungarian Land Taking"
03:36 Expansion after the Kingdom establishment
04:22 The Mongols Arrive
05:27 Retaking the Kingdom
06:00 Expanion to Wallonia and Moldova
06:33 Matthias Corvinus
07:25 Fall of the Kingdom & Ottoman Occupation
08:25 Arrival of the Habsburgs
09:01 Holy League Reconquest
09:33 Hungary within the Habsburg Empire
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0:00
Hungary is a country in Central Europe. Today it is rather small, at just over 93,000 square
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kilometers. But previously in its history, Hungary was much larger, with its rule stretching over
0:14
vast lands outside what is today their national territory. In this video, I want to take a look
0:19
at that territorial evolution, understanding how the Hungarian state was first created
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how it evolved throughout time until modern days, and how its territory evolved and changed
0:30
alongside that history. This is the territorial evolution of Hungary. Before we keep going on with the video, a quick message from this week's sponsor
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It's just a little over $7 for your first month. Available in the US and Canada. And now
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back to the video. The earliest we can trace the arrival of Hungarians to the general area
1:46
in which they exist today, is the time of the Magyar invasion. Before this, Hungarian territories
1:52
were ruled by various people, namely the Roman Empire, the Huns, the Austrogoths, or the Awar
1:58
Cagnat. But during the 9th century, the Magyars arrived, conquering the Carpathian Basin and
2:04
allowing these early Hungarians to settle for the first time in Central Europe. And they were no
2:09
strangers to that land. You see, other than the Romans, the Huns, or the Austrogoths, the Carpathian
2:15
basin had also later been ruled by three early medieval powers, the first Bulgarian empire
2:21
East Francia and Moravia, which had fought each other for the control of this Carpathian
2:26
basin, and each occasionally hired Hungarian horsemen as soldiers. Therefore, the Hungarians
2:32
who dwelled in the Pontic steppes east of the Carpathians were already very familiar
2:37
with their future homeland when the conquest began. There are various theories as to why
2:42
these Hungarians moved towards Central Europe after dwelling in the East for so long. Some
2:48
state it was fully planned by them, wanting to establish a new homeland in a more prosperous
2:53
region. But others state that they were pushed to the West by the attack of other Eastern peoples
2:58
the Peschnegs and the Bulgarians. This great gif shows us that theory and the process of what
3:04
became known as the Hungarian land taking, pushing back those who rule those areas and settling them
3:11
themselves, either by founding new settlements or joining those that already existed
3:15
Finally, establishing a Christian kingdom in around the year 1000, which lasted until
3:21
1918 that almost 1000 years Granted the regime changed a lot and the amount of sovereignty they technically had also did and most importantly their territory So let take a look at that In the following years after that year 1000 establishment the Kingdom of Hungary
3:39
which already occupied a pretty gigantic territory in Central Europe, expanded even further
3:45
moving past Pannonia and onto the Adriatic coast. The name Pannonian comes from the province of the Roman Empire, which included part of these territories
3:54
By 1190, during the Kingdom of Bela III, Hungary included all of this territory, encompassing what
4:01
is today Hungary itself, but also Romanian Transylvania, Slovakia, Slavonia, Croatia, and Bosnia. They didn't rule each area directly, and there were a good number of local autonomies
4:12
by the late 1200s, in addition to an impressive administrative division, especially for a medieval
4:18
state. But this Hungarian glory was short-lived, and the reason was simple. The Mongols
4:24
In 1241, the Mongolian hordes, led by Batu Khan, invaded Hungary. Severely outnumbered, the Hungarians were defeated decisively in the Battle of Mohi
4:35
One of the sources that wrote about this Mongolian invasion wrote, More than 500,000 Hungarian people were massacred and the whole kingdom reduced to ashes
4:44
Historians estimate the losses between 20 and 50% of the population. In the plains, between 50 and 80% of the settlements were destroyed
4:54
This allows us to really understand the aggressiveness and the devastation that the Mongolian invasions brought
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A few years later, in 1301, the ruling dynasty ran its course and was extinct
5:07
The last king's death created an opportunity for lower lords, who had by that time achieved de facto independence to strengthen their local autonomy
5:15
creating an interregnum of the kingdom's existence until 1308. One took over Slovakia
5:22
another administered Transylvania, and Croatia became temporarily independent as well. Eventually, a new heir regained those lands by 1323, fighting a difficult war of unification. And so
5:33
their temporarily shattered territory was restored. The new king, Charles I, now of the
5:40
The Angevon dynasty successively restored power and Hungary was thriving once again
5:44
One of the reasons those initial tribes had moved in was due to the wealth of the Hungarian
5:49
territory, namely in gold. At this time, they were producing 1,350 kilograms of gold a year
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That was one third of the global production at the time. The second Hungarian king of the Angevon line, Louis the Great, extended his rule as far
6:04
as the Adriatic Sea and occupied the kingdom of Naples several times
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In two successful wars against Venice, he was able to annex Dalmatia, Ragusa, and further
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territories on the Adriatic coastline. Some Balkan states, such as Wallachia, Moldova
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Serbia, and Bosnia, became his vassals, and successful campaigns were led against the Ottomans
6:25
In this map, we can see just how far their reach extended during the 14th century
6:29
although rule over Wallachia and Moldova was temporary. The last strong Hungarian king was Matias Korvinus, who ruled from 1458 to 1490
6:40
and he was the last ruler which attempted a further territorial expansion. He set out to
6:45
build a realm that would expand to the south and northwest, and while he lost some small territories
6:52
and failed to conquer or reconquer many of the others, he was actually successful in conquering
6:58
lands to the west and north We can see his main campaigns in this map He wanted Hungary to become strong enough to fully push back the Ottomans which he deemed their biggest threat
7:08
And so he moved against the Holy Roman Empire, going to war with Austria and also Bohemia
7:14
thinking that if he could defeat those powers and conquer territory from them, then he would become
7:19
powerful enough to face the Ottomans and beat them decisively using a standing mercenary army
7:26
called the Black Army. But again, the great success was short-lived. Matias died without
7:31
a direct successor and the following rulers allowed Hungary to fall into chaos, weakening it
7:36
and opening the door for Ottoman conquest of their territories. In 1521, the strongest Hungarian
7:43
fortress in the south where modern Belgrade is in Serbia fell to the Turks. And in 1526
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the Hungarian army was crushed at the Battle of Moaks. After this, the Ottomans conquered large
7:54
areas of Hungarian territory, expanding their rule up to 1556, we can see it here on this
8:00
map, the territory previously held by the Hungarians was almost entirely occupied by the Ottomans
8:06
reorganizing it into Eyalets, an administrative division of the Turks, including the area where
8:11
modern Hungary is. This period of history is really confusing, but from what I could understand
8:17
the remaining Hungarian lands actually broke up into two, the Principality of Upper Hungary
8:21
and Royal Hungary. The principality maintained some autonomy but was essentially an Ottoman
8:27
vassal state. But correct me in the comments if I'm wrong about this. While Royal Hungary became a
8:33
part of the Habsburg monarchy with the Habsburg king holding most control over it. In fact
8:38
the northwestern part of the old kingdom of Hungary, present-day Slovakia, western Transdanubia
8:43
and Burgenland plus western Croatia and parts of present-day Hungary itself remained under Habsburg
8:49
rule. On this map, we can see how the control of the Habsburgs grew so much during this period and
8:55
also the one that followed. The Habsburg emperors would, from then on, be crowned also as kings of
9:01
Hungary. Only over 100 years later, in 1686, did a large European force come together, known as the
9:07
Holy League, to retake the Balkans from the Turks. A joint army of 74,000 men with German, Croat
9:14
Hungarian, Italian, even Danish, French, English, and Spanish soldiers defeated the Ottomans and
9:21
reconquered all the former Hungarian lands. In the Treaty of Karlovyc in 1699, these territorial
9:27
changes were officially recognized, and in 1718, the entire kingdom of Hungary was removed from
9:33
Ottoman rule. But while political control of the lands was restored, the amount of Hungarian people
9:37
that were effectively left and living in those areas was significantly diminished. As a consequence
9:43
of the constant war of over a century, and it was arguably not the same as before. Hungary was now
9:49
directly connected with the Habsburgs, and they were the true rulers of Hungary for a great period
9:54
of time. The territory was restored, in great similarity to what they initially had in that
9:59
great first kingdom, but the kingdom itself was not. What followed from this point onward was the
10:05
evolution of Hungary's status within the Habsburg Empire, then transforming into Austria-Hungary
10:10
which existed from 1867 to 1918. As far as I know, during this period, there were no significant
10:15
territorial changes, if any at all, to Hungary's territory within the empire, save in 1868 when
10:21
Croatia was recognized as an autonomous region. In this map, we can see the counties of the Kingdom
10:26
of Hungary within the empire in 1880 and in this one the percentage of Magyars in the territory It very interesting to see that Despite the distribution being throughout the whole territory the areas in which the highest concentration took place are in the shape of modern Hungary The only exception is the highest values being at
10:44
this eastern tip of Transylvania where a large Hungarian population exists even today. And by
10:49
this time, we are getting close to Hungary's modern form. However, two key moments of territorial
10:55
changes were still about to take place, each of them connected to one of the world wars
11:00
In the First World War, Hungary was a part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire still, a member
11:04
of the Central Powers which were defeated. Upon defeat, the Empire was dissolved and its territories divided
11:10
Hungary especially lost the vast majority of its land through the Treaty of Tryanon
11:15
In this map, we can see which territories they lost and to who
11:19
Austria, Yugoslavia, Czechoslovakia, and Romania each took a piece of the former Kingdom of Hungary
11:26
map, we can see the composition of the population in each area, and we can see how there were
11:31
in fact, a good number of Hungarians in both Slovakia and Transylvania, and it was a very
11:36
significant loss of territory. They even made propaganda posters of other countries attempting
11:41
to illustrate to them what such a loss would mean in their context, the US, the UK, Germany
11:47
France, and Italy. Of course, the argument was that those territories were not rightfully Hungarian
11:52
being populated in majority by other peoples, which wasn't the case for the comparisons they made
11:57
After this moment, Hungary was finally the way we know it today
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But one key moment is missing, World War II. As Hungary sided with the Axis powers, its territory grew throughout the war
12:08
In 1938, the First Vienna Award granted them a small part of Slovakia when the Germans had annexed the rest
12:15
Soon after, they also occupied Carpathian Ruthenia in 1939, just as the war was beginning
12:20
The Second Vienna Award awarded them Transylvania once again, taking it away from Romania in 1940
12:26
And finally, in 1941, they annexed some of the Yugoslav territories, almost entirely
12:31
restoring their losses from the Treaty of Trianon. However, the Axis powers were also defeated, and so all of these territorial gains were
12:39
lost for Hungary, which at the end of the conflict was, once again, reduced, reaching
12:44
the territory it has today. Thanks again to Scentbird for sponsoring this video
12:50
Remember to use the link in the description and the code GK55 if you want to try it out
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and get 55% off your first month. So, that is the territorial evolution of Hungary, how it began from an early migratory people
13:04
arriving to Central Europe and settling there, to their expanse across neighboring territories
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across the many issues they faced such as the Mongols and the Ottomans, as well as internal
13:14
struggles which, at times, led to the loss of land, but allowing us to see how gigantic
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their territory once was, whether rightfully or not. Being reduced, then recovered, about three different times, but then finally consolidating
13:28
the land in which the descendants of those original Magyars were, in fact, most common in
13:34
The land we today know as Hungary, where they still live, along with many others who joined
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them there and are, rightfully, Hungarian as well, perhaps arriving to the region today
13:42
from somewhere else as the Magyars themselves did in the 9th century. Many Hungarians still
13:48
live in the areas they lost in 1918 and then again in 1945 and that loss is sometimes still
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an issue discussed, especially when it comes to Transylvania. Thanks so much for watching this
13:58
video, subscribe if you want and leave a comment below with which country I should do this type of
14:03
video on next. I will see you next time for more general knowledge
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