Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Left
Magyar invasion
Centre
Budapest ghetto
Right
Hungary becomes a republic, 1989
Moments in History
!
AD 409: Huns Conquer
elect their king, and ceded the
crown to the Habsburg Empire.
In one guise or another, they
ruled Hungary until 1918.
%
1849: Chain Bridge Links
Aquincum
Established in the area that now
lies on the city's northern periph-
ery, Aquincum
(see p95)
was an
important town and military garri-
son in the Roman province of
Pannonia. It was conquered by
the Huns in 409, and subse-
quently ruled by the Goths, the
Longobards and the Avars.
@
896: Árpád Leads the
Buda and Pest
The irst permanent bridge over
the Danube, the Chain Bridge was
designed by the Englishman
William Tierney Clark, and built
by a Scotsman, Adam Clark. Its
completion in 1849 allowed the
uniication of Buda, Óbuda and
Pest some 20 years later.
^
1916: Charles IV
Magyars into Pannonia
Prince Árpád led the nomadic
Magyars - tribes who
originated in the Urals
and inhabited an area
east of the River Tisza -
into Pannonia in 896. He
settled irst on Csepel
Island, in the middle of
the Danube in southern
Budapest, and later in
Óbuda (meaning Ancient
Buda in Hungarian).
#
1000: Stephen I
Crowned Last
King of Hungary
On the death of
Emperor Franz József
in 1916, Charles IV was
crowned king of
Hungary. He abdicated
in November 1918, and
despite attempting to
regain the throne in
1919 after the defeat of
Béla Kun's Communists,
he was exiled to
Madeira, Portugal,
where he died in 1922.
&
1944: The Budapest
Crowned King
Stephen (István) was
the irst Magyar to
accept Christianity, and for doing
so, the pope crowned him king.
He cemented the Árpád dynasty,
which lasted a further 300 years.
$
1687: The Beginning of
Emperor Franz József I
(1830-1916)
Ghetto
In 1944, the Nazi regime and their
Hungarian allies, the Arrow Cross,
herded over 70,000 Jews into the
area around the Great Synagogue
(see p84)
. Though well over
20,000 Jews perished, 50,000
survived and were liberated by the
Soviet army in February 1945.
the Age of the Habsburgs
The Habsburgs became rulers of
Hungary more by stealth than
conquest. They completed their
takeover in 1687, when the
Hungarians gave up their right to
34
