Hungary

**Hungary** (Hungarian: *Magyarország*, Serbo-Croatian: *Madjarska* or outd. *Ugarska*, Russian: *Венгрия*, German: *Ungarn*) is a state situated in Eastern Europe, in a plain surrounded by the Alps, the Carpathians and the Balkan Mountains. Neighboring states are the Byzantine Empire, the Holy Roman Empire, and Russia. The capital and biggest city is Budapest.

## History

### **Early history – independence and crisis (1850–1869)**

Hungary, after the failure of the 1848 revolution, remained a part of the Austrian Habsburg monarchy. Throughout the 1850s, the monarchy failed to prosper and kept more and more insecure, which meant that the German speaking half of the Empire was conquered by Bavaria in 1866. Hungary became de facto independent, the former Austrian colonies in Africa got divided out, so Gabon became a part of Bavaria, while Hungary kept the colony in Mozambique. But the new state lacked of a stable leadership, which soon favored further conquests by neighboring empires, such as the loss of Croatia to the Byzantine Empire and the Carpathian lands to Russia. At the end of 1868, Hungary would have lost more than a third of its former land as well as its sea access. Mozambique remained Hungarian, but uninhabited. The royal government lacked of influence, which led to a power vacuum.

### **Change of dynasty and recovery (1869–1875)**

Since the previous royal family gave up the throne in course of the crisis, the dynasty had to change. The former Minister of Diplomacy and Cultural Management, Ratko Nadj Szalay, who, from the side of his father Radovan Nadj Karadjordjevic, was a descendant of the Serbian royal family of Karadjordjevic, had already left Hungary for St. Petersburg before the Russian occupation of Munkács, Ungvár and the Latorica area, to serve under his cousin Boris Karadjordje, who had recently become Tsar of the Russian Empire. Boris used the chance to put Ratko, half-Hungarian from the side of his mother, onto the Hungarian throne. On August 19, 1869, Ratko was officially crowned.

A few months later, Ratko passed new state doctrines, in which he declared that, accepting his cousin's offer, Russia would be Hungary's protective power. He also officially recognized the Russian-Hungarian borders as they had been since the Russian conquest of Ruthenia. He expressed his consideration of moving the capital from Buda (since 1873 Budapest) to Sopron and promised to improve the infrastructure of the kingdom.

In the years following, Hungary recovered from their crisis and also established – following Russia – new diplomatic relationships to France, Qing, Italy and Greece, later also to the Byzantine Empire, Switzerland as well as the German states. The railway system was extended. At the end of 1874, most of Hungarian cities were connected by railroad. Also, there were railroads into Russia established. The new wealthiness made it possible to re-purchase Croatia from the Byzantine Empire and building up a seaport in Istria.

### **Structural reforms (1875)**

 Hungary, after the recovery, started to consider how to deal with Austrian heritage. As there were plannings about inhabiting and using the African colony, which became possible with the new sea access, the inner structure of the Hungarian government was felt like as burden by the Hungarians as well as the resident Slavs. In consequence, King Ratko Nadj Szalay, in the beginning of 1875, passed a structural reform package. He reduced the number of the administrative counties from 63 to eight, gave Croatia autonomy to a certain extent, and took most of political power from the counts. He re-established absolutism in Hungary, but in most regards stuck to the principles of the Habsburg constitution. He also guaranteed religious freedom for every citizen along with turning the government secular. At last he announced that he would completely move to Sopron and keep Budapest just as administrative capital.

### **Domestic security crisis (1875–1877)**

After a series of illegitimate bombard attacks in Paris as well as an arson attack in Budapest in late 1875, Hungary followed the example of many other states and passed the Hungarian Homeland Security Act (modified in 1878 and 1879), which included entry limits for foreigners, making citizens of non-allied states require a special invitation. Hungary also was the first state that officially declared to stop naturalizing any citizens seeming unfitting to the king. Also, expatriation penalty got introduced and should apply for a number of offenses.

At the turn of 1876/1877, King Ratko Nadj Szalay reacted to the Socialist Uprising in Russia and had emissaries and special police units investigate socialist cells in Hungary and Russia and also the supposed suicide of General Alexander Kuropatkin. He sent a special task force into the former Hungarian Carpathian lands to assassinate a Ukrainian cell leader and had his units spot more than twenty socialist cells in different Hungarian and Croatian cities. After one week of persecution, he stated the situation in Hungary as safe again.

### **Succession issues and Sopron attack (1878/1879)**

On July 26, 1878, King Ratko passed the modification of the Homeland Security Act and opened borders to Transvaal to stabilize the situation in Hungarian South Africa, which recently had been expanded by Rhodesia and populated with Hungarian and Croatian people. This was followed by founding the Hungarian South Africa Company the colony should be property of. – Atthe same day, he published the revision of succession arrangements in Hungary and the Karadjordje family, which led to his son Slavoljub Nadj being the rightful heir of the Russian throne and his cousin Boris to the heritage of the Hungarian throne in case Ratko died before him.

In the summer of 1879, Boris Karadjordje was executed during a new socialist uprising in Russia, which drove Ratko and his nation into a heavy crisis. He passed on the substitute leadership to his son Slavoljub and to his quite new and young general Sloven Selakov. Ratko went to Hungarian South Africa to see it for his first time and to found the cities Szalayfüred and Magdolna.

On September 18, 1879, unknown people – probably socialists – blew up the royal palace in Sopron and killed Slavoljub. Ratko, who now was aware of the mortality of his dynasty, decided to stay in Magdolna for the time being.